Posted in Goings On on January 31, 2009 | 2 Comments »
The letter, the amazing story, the miracle has been recorded and is undergoing its revisions. The release date has been moved up to Tuesday. It will go out via JECA Update letter (at least partially) and will also be posted on TBAP.
It’s been an amazing month and there are still 2 1/2 hours left to see what else will happen.
Posted in Preposterous! on January 31, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
This week, the council made it official, saying it was banning the punctuation mark from signs in a bid to end the dispute once and for all.
Councilor Martin Mullaney, who heads the city’s transport scrutiny committee, said he decided to act after yet another interminable debate into whether “Kings Heath,” a Birmingham suburb, should be rewritten with an apostrophe.
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qas_writeAd();“I had to make a final decision on this,” he said Friday. “We keep debating apostrophes in meetings and we have other things to do.”
No More Street Sign Apostrophes in England’s Second-Largest City
Posted in Classical Education, Goings On, Pleased with God on January 30, 2009 | 1 Comment »
JECA’s germ stage is over. Over the past 12 days God has wrought an amazing miracle. I can’t wait to tell you about it next Friday. (Sorry)
Posted in Pleased with God on January 28, 2009 | 1 Comment »
Posted in Goings On on January 28, 2009 | 2 Comments »
Regarding my post about having a big day Monday…things are still undecided but it took a significant turn tonight and looks quite promising for the first time.
I can’t wait to give details. You should be equally excited to find out what in the world I’m talking about.
Posted in The Things of This World, Variety Pack on January 27, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Here is a video with still photos by two photopgraphers from Time reflect on their eight years in the White House with President Bush.
Posted in The Things of This World, Variety Pack on January 27, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
An insightful, readable and interesting article: Why This Stimulus Package Won’t Work–And What Will
Posted in Variety Pack on January 27, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Posted in News and Sports, Quote of the Day on January 27, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
They both hailed from Illinois. They are both tall and slender. I cannot think of any other obvious similarities.
Mark Salter laments the too oft-repeated comparisons between the 16th and 44th Presidents. Enough Lincoln Already
Posted in Biographical, Goings On on January 25, 2009 | 4 Comments »
Monday, January 26th, 2009 is (in foresight of the planned schedule) going to prove to be one of the biggest days of my life. It will rank somewhere between #3-5 depending on how we are counting. A group of men I barely know is going to assemble in the evening to make a decision that radically affects the way my life and ministry turn.
If they decide in the negative, life and ministry go on sweetly and progressively. If they decide in the affirmative, everything explodes into a million, little possibilities. God is absolutely sovereign, faithful and good at all times and after any decision. I rest on Him utterly and confidently.
Since I saved so much on my auto insurance by switching to Progeckowide, I have hired this duo to follow me around all day singing this tune:
Thanks for praying with us.
Posted in Gospel, Quote of the Day on January 24, 2009 | 1 Comment »
We all have a perverse capacity to be comfortable with what God says is wrong. So God blesses us with violent, uncomfortable grace. Yes, he really does love us enough to crush us, so that we would feel the pain of our sin and run to him for forgiveness and deliverance…. So God’s grace isn’t always comfortable because he isn’t primarily working on our comfort; he’s working on our character. With violent grace he will crush us because he loves us and is committed to our restoration, deliverance, and refinement. And that’s something worth celebrating.
Paul David Tripp – Whiter Than Snow, p. 34-35
Posted in Family on January 24, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Since words only gain full meaning when set in a specific context, husbands and wives must learn to speak to one another carefully–but there are two kinds of “carefully.” You should not have to be careful because you are handling a high explosive that might go off at any time. Rather, you should be careful because you are a jeweler of words–you are setting a fourteen-carat words in their appropriate place, and when you are done, it will be worth ten thousand dollars. This is the right kind of “carefully.”
Douglas Wilson – For a Glory and Covering, p. 122
Posted in Gospel on January 24, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Here is a good summary history of the English Bible translations previous to and up to the King James Version. The other articles pertain to translation also and look interesting.
Posted in Classical Education, Culture Wars, Just Thought I'd Ask on January 24, 2009 | 2 Comments »
Some classical schools ban computers altogether (except for notetaking). I love the premise and give a lot of credence to the arguments. But I am so close to technology as a source of information and communication, that it is easy to to disagree with myself.
Justin Taylor today pointed at this short article: Teaching People How to Use Books. In part it says:
I teach literature, and I believe that my primary job in the classroom is to instruct students in better use of the technology of the book. There is no more evidently false assumption than the assumption that people — even academically successful people — are comfortable with books and use them well.
As a parent, your child is absolutely going to learn how to use a computer, and probably very early. They live in your house and you are so adept and culturally wise that you read TBAP! There is value to certain computer classes that advance certain programs and teach overall concepts, bis that what the school should spend their time and resources.
Should they value books or Wikipedia (which they can carry in easily, readable form on their hip holster)?
I know there is a maelstrom of opinions out there and that I am in the minority. What’s yours?
Posted in Goings On on January 22, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
We wish to extend to you a simple yet weighty request for prayer. This past weekend JECA was approached with an offer that was beyond our expectations and immediate capacities. It is an offer that excites us immensely but still causes us to be very cautious. It is a proposal that could advance the ministry many years past where we hoped to be in even 10 years time. Our time-frame is exceptionally short. By this time next week, the decisions will have likely been finalized.
Please pray that:
Thank you for your help in prayer,
The JECA Board
Posted in Gospel, News and Sports on January 22, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
If God guides geese so precisely, he also guides the captain’s hands. God knew that when he took the plane down, he would also give a spectacular deliverance. So why would he do that? If he means for all to live, why not just skip the crash?
Because he meant to give our nation a parable of his power and mercy the week before a new President takes office. God can take down a plane any time he pleases—and if he does, he wrongs no one. Apart from Christ, none of us deserves anything from God but judgment. We have belittled him so consistently that he would be perfectly just to take any of us any time in any way he chooses.
–John Piper writing of the crash of the USAir flight and the inaugaration of our new President: The President, the Passengers, and the Patience of God.
Posted in Variety Pack on January 21, 2009 | 1 Comment »
Posted in News and Sports on January 20, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
I was able to watch 20-30 minutes of inaugaration events this morning up to the actual swearing in (and the foible was the Judge’s error–he said it wrong the first time and it sounded weird from his first attempt). It’s an amazing transition and ceremony. I really liked Feinstein’s initial comments, but this was my favorite part:
Also, at the exact moment of the swearing in, the White House website reflected a change in leadership and suddenly the White House got its first blog.
Posted in Pilgrimesque, Quote of the Day on January 20, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Every uncorrected error and unrepented sin is, in its own right, a fountain of fresh error and fresh sin flowing on to the end of time.
Posted in Culture Wars, News and Sports on January 19, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem. From time to time we’ve been tempted to believe that society has become too complex to be managed by self-rule, that government by an elite group is superior to government for, by, and of the people. Well, if no one among us is capable of governing himself, then who among us has the capacity to govern someone else? All of us together, in and out of government, must bear the burden.
Ronald Reagan’s First Inaugural Address
Posted in News and Sports on January 19, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Here is a simulation of Saturday’s amazing plane crash. God was good to preserve those lives to hear the Gospel.
Posted in Apologetics on January 19, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Russell Moore declares why he hates Sanctity of Life Sunday.
Posted in Gospel, Quote of the Day on January 19, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Throughout the history of the church the greatest preachers have been those who have recognized that they have no authority in themselves, and have seen their task as being to explain the words of Scripture and apply them clearly to the lives of their hearers. Their preaching has drawn its power not from the proclamation of their own Christian experiences or the experiences of others, nor from their own opinions, creative ideas, or rhetorical skills, but from God’s powerful words. Essentially, they stood in the pulpit, pointed to the biblical text, and said in effect to the congregation, “This is what this verse means. Do you see that meaning here as well? Then you must believe it and obey it with all your heart, for God himself, your Creator and you Lord, is saying this to you today!” Only the written words of Scripture can give this kind of authority to preaching.
Wayne Grudem – Bible Doctrine – p. 40
HT: Justin Childers
Posted in Classical Education, Goings On on January 19, 2009 | 1 Comment »
Here is an auction link for a rare A. Lincoln handwritten speech manuscript. Good luck!
And then here is some other cool Americana that will be auctioned the same day.
Posted in Gospel, Pilgrimesque, Quote of the Day on January 18, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Hudson Taylor wrote to a friend, expressing his confidence,
“We have $.87 and all the promises of God.”
HT: Future uber-blogger JMF
Posted in Variety Pack on January 18, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Wow. That’s cool. At this pace, TBAP will pass 2008′s number of views by early June!
Thanks.
Posted in Apologetics, Goings On, Quote of the Day on January 17, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
And I am reminded that:
Nothing exceeds Thy power, nothing is too great for Thee to do, nothing too good for Thee to give…. I ask great things of a great God.”
Valley of Vision – p. 9
Posted in Culture Wars, Quote of the Day on January 17, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
1. Trying to change what can never change.
2. Not trying to change what can be changed.
3. Not knowing the difference between 1 and 2.
Posted in AMUSEMENT: "Muse" Means to Think and "A" Means..., Goings On, Variety Pack on January 15, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Much is being made of this cold snap across the country. It’s 20 degrees here in the Nashville area right now. It’s supposed to get near zero tonight, which doesn’t phase my very Northern pretensions. After all I’ve lived here for seven months. My sister Dana was complaining about ice “inside” her Wisconsin windows this morning. That’s more like it!
I think I’ve posted this before but can’t find it. This video will please make us everyone a bit more cheery about their “cold” weather.
Condition 1 Weather – McMurdo Station – Antarctica
Posted in News and Sports on January 15, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
I suppose that since I hail from Michigan, I should root for the lowly Lions. Well I have since the days of Barry Sanders and since I’ve been paying attention. Well, now I only exhort them when they aren’t playing the Titans. Congratulations on hiring a coach from the Titans today, Lions.
The bright spot in their dismal year was their placekicker, Jason Hanson. Today Randy Alcorn wrote this about his friend Jason:
Jason Hanson…ranks number eight in total points scored in NFL history, and is still going strong.
Jason kicked for Washington State, setting NCAA records that stand to this day. He was teammates with retired quarterback Drew Bledsoe. He holds the all-time college record for most field goals from 50 yards and more (20), and 40 yards and more (39).
As of this season Jason now holds the all-time NFL record for field goals 50 yards and greater–41 of them. Jason kicked eight field goals over fifty this year, tying the NFL record set by Morton Anderson, and surpassing Anderson’s lifetime record.
It was a rough year for the Detroit Lions, but an incredible year for Jason, who missed only one field goal from any distance, which was blocked. He’s a pro-bowl alternate. And at age 38, having played with the Lions sixteen years, he’s been with the same team longer than any other active NFL player.
Most importantly, Jason is not only a great competitor, but a humble follower of Christ, who uses his gifts for God’s glory. He loves his wonderful wife and children and is a real role model, a man to be admired off the field even more than on. Listen to Jason’s thoughtful words.
The way he’s kicking, Jason could have another five years or more as a pro. When he finally does retire, in my opinion (which counts for nothing, since I don’t get a vote) Jason will have had a hall of fame career. And speaking of the Hall of Fame, Jason is already there, as of last month, because the uniform he wore and the football he kicked to break that NFL career record for 50-yard-plus field goals were officially handed over to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. Congratulations, brother.
Isn’t it fun to know that God has his people everywhere, in grocery stores and tire shops, in offices, at colleges and in professional sports?
