Boffo book sale

Desiring God will be selling all its books online for only $5.00, June 27 and 28. That's a pretty terrific deal. Future Grace was particularly helpful to me, personally.

I expect to be making some purchases... well, if Oklahoma has The Internets, yet.

(Do they have WLANs in Oklahoma? And internet cafe's? And three-hole plugs? Anybody know? Anyone? Bueller?)

Fantastic Four: the Rise of the Silver Surfer — for what it's worth

Saw it. Liked it.

My advice: go in expecting a soul-searching exploration of human angst, and you'll be disappointed.

Go in expecting a live-action comic book — with attendant plot-holes — and you may just have fun.

I needed a lean-my-brain-by-the-door period of escape, with my youngest sons (7 and 11). We all enjoyed. Parents will like Richards' "Yeah, I'm a nerd" speech.

That's it. See? I can write brief reviews.

Sorry. Please stand by

I haven't been regularly posting at any of my blogs, and I know The First Rule of Blogging is... write! And I haven't been.

The last three-plus weeks have been uniquely brutal to me on a personal level. I have reason to believe something will shift soon, in some way. I hope to return to more regular writing at that point.

My desire and commitment are unchanged. The problem, at the moment, is ability.

Sorry. Please don't utterly give up. And any prayers you Christians can spare for my family, and for yr. obdt. svt. would be appreciated deeply.

The perfect gift for Father's Day

What does any Christian father most want for Father's Day?

The proverbs of Solomon.
A wise son makes a glad father,
but a foolish son is a sorrow to his mother.
(Proverbs 10:1)

A wise son makes a glad father,
but a foolish man despises his mother.
(Proverbs 15:20)

The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice;
he who fathers a wise son will be glad in him.
25 Let your father and mother be glad;
let her who bore you rejoice.
26My son, give me your heart,
and let your eyes observe my ways.
27 For a prostitute is a deep pit;
an adulteress is a narrow well.
28 She lies in wait like a robber
and increases the traitors among mankind.
(Proverbs 23:24-28)

Be wise, my son, and make my heart glad,
that I may answer him who reproaches me.
(Proverbs 27:11)

He who loves wisdom makes his father glad,
but a companion of prostitutes squanders his wealth.
(Proverbs 29:3)

...my little children, for whom I am again in the anguish of childbirth until Christ is formed in you!
(Galatians 4:19)

...And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? "My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. 6 For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives." 7 It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? 8 If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. 9 Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? 10 For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. 11 For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
(Hebrews 12:5-11)

I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.
(3 John 1:4)

See also:
Why God gave you parents, etc.
A word to Christian yoots

Kidner on Proverbs 13:1

In my personal reading, I'm doing the Proverbs/Psalms thing currently. That is, I'm reading a chapter of Proverbs, and five psalms, each day.

Derek Kidner's commentary on Proverbs is really quite marvelous. I could wish he'd revisited it, and written one 3-4 times as large; but its beauty is, in part, its brevity. I didn't appreciate this when I first got the commentary, but I have come to after decades of use.

Here is the first verse I read in Proverbs today:

A wise son hears his father's instruction,
but a scoffer does not listen to rebuke
(Proverbs 13:1)

And here is Kidner's proverbially terse comment:

The pairing of a son, under training, with a scorner, who is a fool in the last stages of folly (cf. 26:12 [or see 21:24, or 24:9]), suggests that if you cannot stand home truths from your own father you are well on the way to becoming insufferable.
(Kidner, Proverbs, p. 100)

Ah yes. This is why God gave us parents, etc.

Man hugs

Just in case.




(h-t Joe Fleener)

Cat haiku

My wife Valerie sent me this. Don't know the ultimate source (pretty sure Valerie didn't write them!), and maybe it's old news to you, but I thought they were cute. Maybe you can use a chuckle as much as I:

Haiku is an unrhymed verse form of Japanese origin having three lines
containing usually 5, 7, and 5 syllables respectively. Uniquely Japanese, they
somehow seem utterly appropriate for felines -- indeed, one could almost
imagine them being a cat's preferred form of communication!

The food in my bowl
Is old, and more to the point
Contains no tuna.
----
So you want to play.
Will I claw at dancing string?
Your ankle's closer.
----
There's no dignity
In being sick - which is why
I don't tell you where.
----
Seeking solitude
I am locked in the closet.
For once I need you.
----
Tiny can, dumped in
Plastic bowl. Presentation,
One star; service: none.
----
Am I in your way?
You seem to have it backwards:
This pillow's taken.
----
Your mouth is moving;
Up and down, emitting noise.
I've lost interest.
----
The dog wags his tail,
Seeking approval. See mine?
Different message.
----
My brain: walnut-sized.
Yours: largest among primates.
Yet, who leaves for work?
----
Most problems can be
Ignored. The more difficult
Ones can be slept through.
----
My affection is conditional.
Don't stand up,
It's your lap I love.
----
Cats can't steal the breath
Of children. But if my tail's
Pulled again, I'll learn.
----
I don't mind being
Teased, any more than you mind
A skin graft or two.
----
So you call this thing
Your "cat carrier." I call
These my "blades of death."

CdbgD? (Doctor of Calvidispiebaptogelicology?)

A prospective seminary student emailed me, asking which seminaries are Calvinistic and dispensationalist.

As I've often observed, the two systems should be, yet seldom are, bestest-buddies. The grammatico-historical hermeneutic that yields the doctrines of grace, yields the essentials of dispensationalism — yet the two camps seemed to separate early on, and only recently starting to rediscover each others and start patching it up.

So I don't offhand know of a seminary that is officially both five-point Calvinist and dispensationalist.

Best I can say is that both views at least used to be accepted and represented at what is now Talbot School of Theology, and I'm sure both must be welcome at Master's Seminary. I would think you can be both at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School.

However, I heard that Dallas Theological Seminary ran out its 5-point Calvinists some time ago.

Anyone have anything more up-to-date?

Isn't evolution wonderful? — 2

(See Isn't evolution wonderful? — 1, for explanation.)