Dating

Jack and Grace met through a mutual friend. From day one they seemed to be the perfect match. Grace was everything Jack had always wanted. She was beautiful, outgoing, caring - always there when Jack needed her.

For the first five months they were inseparable. Jack could hardly think of anything but Grace. He didn't need to look further, he told friends, "She's the one."

Now almost three years have passed. Jack still enjoys the comfort and familiarity of being with Grace, but the spark is gone. Grace's flaws seem more obvious. He's not sure he finds her as attractive as he once did. And he's beginning to resent all the time she wants to spend with him.

One night, when she asks if they can define the nature of their relationship, Jack blows up. "We're together aren't we?" he asks angrily. "Why isn't that enough for you?"

Obviously, Jack isn't ready for commitment. And it's unclear if he ever will be....

Have you ever been in a relationship like this? I'm writing this because I believe God has something better for you. He wants you in a relationships defined by both passion and commitment. But before you can take hold of this wonderful plan, you need to know something about this couple. There are millions of Jacks walking around today. And Grace isn't a girl.

Grace is a church.

- Intro from "Stop Dating The Church!" by Joshua Harris

Abortion

Check out www.Abort73.com

"Abort73.com has the potential of penetrating the world of teenagers and young adults...I would love to see Abort73 become a movement led by courageous, smart, Wilberforce-like young people who won’t let it go until abortion is as unthinkable in our land as slavery." -John Piper

Also, check out Piper's latest sermon called When Is Abortion Racism? If you don't have time to read it then just watch or listen to the excerpt or read parts of the conclusion like I did.

John Piper is Bad - Extended Edition

This video contains the clip of Louie Giglio interviewing Piper about the video, as well as more pictures of other really good people who are bad.

What happens to infants?

This article is worth reading. I don't think I've read this position before. I hope I don't agree just because I'm biased....

Revival

Adrian has some awesome Spurgeon quotes about revival on his blog.

Here is just one of them:

"What is taught to us by a revival? I think it is just this—that God is absolute monarch of the hearts of men. God does not say here if men are willing; but he gives an absolute promise of a blessing. As much as to say, "I have the key of men's hearts; I can induce the ploughman to overtake the reaper; I am master of the soil — however hard and rocky it may be, I can break it and I can make it fruitful." When God promises to bless his Church and to save sinners, he does not add, "If the sinners be willing to be saved." No, great God! Thou leadest free will in sweet captivity, and thy free grace is all triumphant. Man has a free will, and God does not violate it; but the free will is sweetly bound with fetters of the divine love till it becomes more free than it ever was before. The Lord, when he means to save sinners, does not stop to ask them whether they mean to be saved, but like a rushing mighty wind the divine influence sweeps away every obstacle; the unwilling heart bends before the potent gale of grace, and sinners that would not yield are made to yield by God." (A revival sermon based on Amos 9:13)

Poem

But often, in the world's most crowded streets,
But often, in the din of strife,
There rises an unspeakable desire
After the knowledge of our buried life:
A thirst to spend our fire and restless force
In tracking out our true, original course;
A longing to inquire
Into the mystery of this heart which beats
So wild, so deep in us - to know
Whence our lives come and where they go.

Calvin and Hobbes

I've been on a bit of a Calvin and Hobbes kick lately. Laughter is the best medicine and I those of us who live in the real world can always use some.

Here is a good one that I read today that show's off Calvin's Dad's great wisdom!

Cornelius Van Til

David Heska emailed me some quotes from Joe Boot's book "Why I Still Believe." I really liked this one and found it helpful for some things I've been thinking about lately.

"Shall we say that that in my early life I was conditioned to believe in God, while you were left free to your own judgment as you pleased? But this will hardly do. You know as well as I that every child is conditioned by its environment. You were as thoroughly conditioned not to believe in God as I was to believe in God. So let us not call each other names. If you want to say that belief was poured down my throat, I shall retort by saying that unbelief was poured down your throat." - Cornelius Van Til

MindTrap

Averil gave me an awesome game called MindTrap for Christmas. It's a bunch of word puzzles that are really fun to try to figure out. This puzzle is the craziest one we have come across so far. See if you can figure out the answer without typing it into google or cheating some other way!

Three men checked into a hotel room for which they paid $30. The next day, the manager glanced at the records and realized that the men had been overcharged. She gave the bellhop $5 to return to the three men. On the way to their room the bellhop decided to keep $2 for himself, and give each of the three men one dollar. The three men had now paid $9 each, or a total of $27. This, plus the $2 the bellhop kept makes a total of $29. What happend to the other dollar?