my burg

Here is the final version of our expansion: Here is the original version, which some have felt bears a remarkable similarity to Minas Tirith...

What a treat: Gerry sent me an autographed copy of Understanding Jonathan Edwards . These are essays given at a conference last year in Budapest. This was the first European conference on Jonathan Edwards, who is increasingly being seen as America's greatest theologian.

My wife & kids did a great job decorating it, as I was laid low with a virus. (That was good timing, huh?)

...at home sick. I sure hope this is the flu, I'd hate to think a cold could feel this bad. Maybe I should just call it a virus.

What I like to do on my day off (when I take it & when kids are in school)... Read the Word Catch up on other reading Journaling Blog and facebook Get lunch or coffee with my wife Work on old fountain pens. I'm currently stuck in my repair of this old (pre-1956) Sheaffer Snorkel TM with palladium Triumph nib:

I appreciate the work of Dave Walker , a UK Anglican, for his humorous insights into the life of the church...

Jeremiah's first prophecy of the new covenant comes in chapter three: "'And I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding. And when you have multiplied and increased in the land, in those days, declares the LORD, they shall no more say, "The ark of the covenant of the LORD." It shall not come to mind or be remembered or missed; it shall not be made again. At that time Jerusalem shall be called the throne of the LORD, and all nations shall gather to it, to the presence of the LORD in Jerusalem, and they shall no more stubbornly follow their own evil heart. In those days the house of Judah shall join the house of Israel, and together they shall come from the land of the north to the land that I gave your fathers for a heritage. (Jeremiah 3:15-18 ESV) I think there will be a literal fulfillment of these conditions in the millennial reign of Christ, and it certainly foreshadows the new heavens and new earth. But...

Reading David Wells' Above All Earthly Powers this afternoon, and came upon this quote from Reinhold Niebuhr, written back in the 1950s: "We are somewhat embarrassed by the fact that we are the first culture which is in danger of being subordinated to its economy. We have to live as luxuriously as possible in order to keep our productive enterprise from stalling." Is that prescient or what?

Taking a distinct liking to vintage Sheaffer Balances. They write so well. This black Balance was made sometime around 1940.

"My son, be attentive to my words; incline your ear to my sayings. Let them not escape from your sight; keep them within your heart. For they are life to those who find them, and healing to all their flesh." (Proverbs 4:20-22) My friend Ambrose at The Evangelism Institute writes... But do you treasure the words of God? Do you really believe that God's Word has value? One of the great Puritan writers, John Owen, said this: "The principal end of the Scriptures is... to beget in the minds of men faith, fear, obedience, and reverence of God - to make them holy and righteous... Unto this end every truth is disposed of in the Scripture as it ought to be. If any expect that the Scripture should be written with respect unto opinions, notions, and speculations, to render men skillful and cunning in them, able to talk and dispute... they are mistaken. It is given to make us humble, holy, wise in spiritual things; to direct us in our duties, to relieve us in our temptation...

Really been thinking about this verse. The almond tree has early blossoms and hence its branches "watch" ( šäqëd ) for spring. God also "watches" ( šöqëd ) over his word, to see that it is fulfilled. What a promise! f

Orion Martin, seen here making a tackle vs. Georgia Tech, just scored a defensive touchdown against Boston College in the ACC championship game!

"Thus says the LORD, 'I remember the devotion of your youth, your love as a bride, how you followed me in the wilderness, in a land not sown.'" (Jeremiah 2:2) Jeremiah is a big book, containing many prophecies, both in warnings and promises. But his judgments begin here: the loss of youthful love for the Lord. He refers to the devotion of a new bride to her husband. That is, the willingness to follow anywhere and to have no other joy than in her new lifelong companion. It is a love like that which often characterizes the first months of betrothal and marriage. This is what the Lord really wants from us -- and the source of all good things to follow -- our fervant and devoted love, that we personally delight in him like no other: And I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy. I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And you shall know the LORD... And I will have mercy on No Mercy,...

Reading Jeremiah, chapter one, about his call to be a prophet. Noticing... The word of the Lord "comes". (1:1, 4, 11, 13) It is not thought up, dreamed up, arrived at... but rather is delivered by revelation from God and is to be delivered in that form. God says, they are "my words" which he will put in Jeremiah's mouth. (1:9) God "watches over" his word, in order to see it fulfilled. (1:11) Whether judgment or promise, God assures that it will come to pass. We often think of God watching over his people with care, but he also watches over his word and its proclamation with great care. The ministry of the Word involves both tearing down (cf 2 Cor 10:4-6) and building up (1:10). There will be both negative and positive aspects, warnings and promises, and truths both convicting and comforting. The one who delivers God's word will himself be delivered. (1:8) The minister of the word is not be be dismayed by opposition but should "dress ...

... we see that technology is not the answer to our deepest human problem of sin, darkness, hate, and rebellion: The heavily armed attackers who set out for Mumbai by sea last week navigated with Global Positioning System equipment, according to Indian investigators and police. They carried BlackBerrys, CDs holding high-resolution satellite images like those used for Google Earth maps, and multiple cellphones with switchable SIM cards that would be hard to track. They spoke by satellite telephone. And as television channels broadcast live coverage of the young men carrying out the terrorist attack, TV sets were turned on in the hotel rooms occupied by the gunmen, eyewitnesses recalled... (The Washington Post, Dec 3)

"But just as you excel in everything-in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in your love for us-see that you also excel in this grace of giving. I am not commanding you, but I want to test the sincerity of your love by comparing it with the earnestness of others. For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich." (2 Corinthians 8:7-9) “Now thank we all our God, with heart and hands and voices, Who wondrous things has done, in Whom this world rejoices; Who from our mothers’ arms has blessed us on our way With countless gifts of love, and still is ours today. O may this bounteous God through all our life be near us, With ever joyful hearts and blessèd peace to cheer us; And keep us in His grace, and guide us when perplexed; And free us from all ills, in this world and the next! All praise and thanks to God the Father now be given; The Son and ...

Read and pondered John Bunyan's defense of using story-line, parable and metaphor to communicate truth. Was struck by his reference to God's own incarnation and humiliation as an apologetic for imaginative literature: That they will take my meaning in these lines Far better than this lies in silver shrines. Come, truth, although in swaddling clothes, I find Informs the judgment, rectifies the mind... "Well, yet I am not fully satisfied, That this your book will stand, when soundly tried." Why, what's the matter? "It is dark." What though? "But it is feigned." What of that ? I trow Some men by feigned words, as dark as mine, Make truth to spangle, and its rays to shine. "But they want solidness. Speak, man, thy mind. They drown the weak; metaphors make us blind." Solidity, indeed, becomes the pen Of him that writeth things divine to men: But must I needs wants solidness, because By metaphors I speak? Were not God's laws, His gospe...