This is a big date for me; in fact, it marks the most pivotal day in my life. Thirty-eight years ago today, the work of the Holy Spirit on my heart culminated in my confessing my need of Jesus Christ, and imploring Him to be my Savior and Lord. To God be all glory for the plan laid in eternity past, accomplished by the Lord Jesus, and applied to me by the Holy Spirit, and for His faithful, patient forbearance with me since.
Back to hithery eclecticity. To help you make it all the way to the weekend — always keeping in mind the perennials — I give you this:
- We had fun watching the Super Bowl, our one (1) football game per year. Don't know why this reminds me of that:
- Actually, I totally do.
- And then there's this:
- This is cute enough to be worth a glance: 10 things Star Wars has taught me about running a fascist dictatorship.
- Hoo-boy, speaking at least as a guy, the new X-men trailer looks very cool indeed.
- Smoothly segueing to a cool find from Fred Butler: an animation of the growth of the international space station.
Some of those look pretty nasty. [Oops.] - In a sadder development (?), Fred also can tell you about sixteen sodas you'll never drink again. If you ask him. Some of those look pretty nasty. [There.]
- Some of you will really think this is funny.
- Courtesy of reader Aaron G, here is a timely warning as the warmer months approach. Don't trust your GPS for off-road travel. This isn't the first set of sad stories I've read.
- Same topic, abrupt mood-change from sad to funny. Reader Robert Sakovich reminds us of a very funny GPS-themed insurance commercial.
- I know he's not perfect, but would you like to hear a politician talking straight, face to face with an opponent? Sad thing is, you probably know exactly who I mean before I say it, because he's such a rare breed. Governor Chris Christie explains to a police officer why he's not going to get paid what he wants. Or, again, here Christie takes off after the inactivity and "nothin' but hot air and two-page press releases with bullet points" of the NJ Senate.
- A social psychologist calls out the crushing lack of ideological diversity among social psychologists. Look for nothing to change.
- As 2012 presidential season approaches, don't let Morphin' Mitt fool you about Morphin' Mitt.
- "Religion of Peace" notes. First, Susan notes that Britain's PM David Cameron has had about enough of the advantage state multiculturalism has given to Islamicists. He was joined by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who said that multiculturalism has failed. But don't think of that as an "over there" problem. An "honor killing" trial is nearing its conclusion way in Arizona.
- Now: guess which state senate passed a resolution honoring someone who has been called an "Islamist cult leader" who incites to violence? Massachusetts? California? Washington? Delaware?
- Nope, nope, nope. How 'bout Texas?
- Win-cake!
- Paula found a chart illustrating Obama's (self-)vaunted "budget cuts." Bring a microscope.
- Blast from the past: my boys and I were chuckling about this one, so I looked it up. From June of last year, I quote me: "...look, this is just hysterical, but it does feature one crude phrase — which, if you follow the news, you know the President used recently. I hesitated, but my Dear Wife said it was a must. Warned enough? Perfect. Here you go."
- For you who like the occasional family pix: here's Josiah and Timothe, chillin' at dinnertime.
- On the subject of Josiah, I had the great joy of baptizing him as a believer last Sunday. His testimony gave glory to God. It was a blessing.
- Reader Chris noted a piece suggesting that the Obama administration is sitting on the latest abortion statistics, which often play a part in the debate over policy.
- In happier news, Ohio State Representative Lynn R. Wachtmann is crafting a bill to outlaw abortion after the child's heart begins to beat. Since this milestone occurs as soon as 18 days after conception, it would amount to a ban on abortion. But I love the way Wachtmann is framing the debate. Legislators will have to vote for or against stopping a beating heart; and maybe the public will be educated.
- Oh, by the way, in case someone has wandered by still clinging to the belief that "there's not a dime's worth of difference between the parties" — guess the party of Rep. Wachtmann. You know, don't you? Of course you do.
- Here's a bit more about the cute little guy in the Volkswagen Darth Vader commercial. Turns out the youngster has a heart disease.
- You think Darth Vader "sucks"? He thinks you suck.
- As do other things.
- Kerry Garrett found a little spot on a kinetic sculptor who built some very creative "animals" — and gives a tip of the hat to the Creator of creators.
- A number of readers (I think tobekiwi was the first) alerted me to: Romanism? There's an app for that!
- Reader Ody Fabregas notes that it's Bishop-approved! Yet on the other hand, Martin van Dooremalen learned that it is Vatican-disapproved. Wow, battling papists. I guess the Vatican trumps a Bishop, though, right? I'm unclear on the rules.
- Praise God for not having to know them.
- Until next Friday... here's looking at you.
- Plus a bumper-crop of these:
Posts
41 comments:
"If you come to France, you accept to melt into a single community… and if you do not want to accept that, you cannot be welcome in France,"… Who’d a thunk it… the day I’d have more respect for the leader of France than the U.S.
I totally thought that Obama pie chart represented something else. Red-how often he claims to be a Christian, Blue-how often he does something anti-Christian and Green-the chance he really is a Christian.
Oh Dan, thanks for the Obama “kick butt” blast from the past. The most pathetic part has to be at about 52 seconds where Matt Lauer tells Obama to ”just give them a piece of his mind”. Poor Matt, you can just see how much he knows (in his own mind) that Obama can do it. Obama looks at Matt like, “oh my… this guy is a true believer”. Lol
Cute picture of kids… spoon ready… just waiting for the chow. Also, Congrats on Josiah baptizing.
Obama stalling on Abortion Data... why, I thought (according to people like Don Miller) Obama was going to lower abortions?!?
Wachtmann a republican?!?… shocker!
Strandbeests…fascinating to look at and to think about, especially from an evolutionary/Designer perspective.
Catholic app. and Bishop vs. Vatican... how sad that so people believe (especially as told often by Hollywood) that Catholicism represents Christianity.
Last week Obama/Carter morf, this week Jane Fonda with anyone... just cruel Dan, simply just Cruel.
Tristan Nickerson 6th grader?!?... obviously not homeschooled. ;-)
Great H&T Dan! Thanks.
That was a kid in the vader suit? I was preparing myself to find out it was a 38 year-old midget from Indonesia.
On people getting lost by GPS. I sort of lost my confidence in GPS the day my brother, who was in the army at the time, told me the NORAAD guys can change the grid coordinates at the flip of a switch in the event of a national emergency.
No, no, no! It's not the bottle itself that's made in Oregon, but the emptiness inside it that was made in Oregon. It came directly from some enviro-nut's mind! (You can tell, because the bottle is colored green)
Dude, happy spiritual birth day!!
And....Ooooooo...pizza...
Word Verification: Pangs. Seriously.
Happy Birthday!
For me it was 38 years this past July 24th, so we are of the same spiritual "generation" (or is that "regeneration"?)
Dan,
Praise God for His grace and mercy in your life!
T-t-talkin' 'bout our (re-) generation....
I began to doubt my GPS when it tried to get me to turn into the oncoming lane of a divided street ("turn left, then turn right immediately...recalculating...)"
My kids (five and three) figured out the red light-saber thing on their own. They have two light sabers - one blue and one red. They fight over the red one, saying, "I wanna be the bad guy!" - "No! I do!" I'm not sure what it means that they both would rather be the Sith than the Jedi, but I suppose it makes me feel better about one thing: when they were handing out Star Wars names to everyone in the family I was dubbed "The Emperor."
I wonder if this abortion bill will bring to light the fact that the baby's organs are developed so quickly. Or will the media just bury that under the trash they like to peddle?
I lost my confidence in GPS a long time ago. When I see friends relying more on their GPS than on actual directions from actual people who have been to the actual restaurant, that settles it for me. Great if you are in an unfamiliar city, really bad to let them guide your life.
I've eaten a Pickle Pop. It's like drinking salty water with food dye.
That GPS/desert story is so sad. This part reminds me of Hagar and Ishmael in the wilderness:
"Sanchez told me that her son had become delirious and confused before he died, telling her he was 'speaking to my grandfather in heaven' and that 'a woman is reading a story to me.' Both her and her son believed they were going to die. She told me at one time he prayed out loud, 'Oh God, take me now.'"
When I see friends relying more on their GPS than on actual directions from actual people who have been to the actual restaurant, that settles it for me. Great if you are in an unfamiliar city, really bad to let them guide your life.
There has to be an apologetic sermon in this comment somewhere.
I know it's part of the "perennials," but really, don't forget to check back. It's not even 9am, and there have already been a bunch of updates. Three hours to go.
Is that a piece of Pizza the Hutt Darth is confiscating? Or am I mixing up my movies?
@ Mike - chuckling over green Oregon bottle. Yes!
And the fascist tips from Star Wars. Mr. Grasshopper being an architect, we tend to ponder design flaws. Take Helm's Deep, in LOTR, for example. The orcs march up the long ramp with a huge battering ram. Now why doesn't that ramp have a 90 degree bend right before the door???
Congrats to Uncle Josiah on his baptism - what a sweet moment! And so near your spiritual b'day - congrats to you both, and cute pic of Timothe.
Love Gov. Christie telling the guy, "don't get mad at the first guy who tells you the truth." Amen to that.
Oh, so sad about the folks in Death Valley. Technology is fallible. (Hey, try sailing to Hawaii with an old LORAN. Told me we were in Iowa. Yah.)
Happy Friday, all.
Julie
Before I forget, congratulations on the baptism of your son. I know that I pray and am hopeful for the salvation of our two boys and it would be a joyful day to see them baptized.
GPS Mayhem… I’ve never had GPS until I got my new phone which has a GPS app on it. I haven’t used it much yet but so far it’s done very well. The best part of it is that it has a woman’s voice and, quite frankly, she sounds drunk. My kids and I have a pretty good time making fun of the hammered voice that keeps coming out of my phone. After she gets us somewhere we often tell her, “thanks, now go sleep it off”. I’m sure the day is coming when she gets even by running me off of a bridge somewhere.
Happy rebirthday DJP!
Bridgestone tires has a funny commercial using gps:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpxwXUjh71g
Professional driver so do not attempt. :)
As an aside, when out on errands this morning I passed my neighborhood Baptist church and the sign was welcoming their new pastor, Barry Doom. That's such an awesome name for a pastor I thought about visiting to see if he lives up to his name so checked their website. Alas, some pranksters rearranged "Odom". Kinda bummed out.
I prefer to print out maps than use my GPS.
When the boy and I were road-tripping through Nevada/Idaho/Washington, I turned on the GPS for a little bit and it recommended a short-cut. So I turned my mileage-meter to 0 and headed out. I ended up spending the next 1.5 hours freaking out because we kept going through little ghost-farming-towns reminiscent of a variety of horror movies, only to find out the shortcut took 5 miles off of the total.
So ridiculously dumb.
Thankfully (or not), most of the places we road-trip to have long stretches (hundreds of miles) where there is no satellite reception. I've gotten out of the habit of using GPS.
Yay for Josiah's baptism!!!!
Happy born-again anniversary, Dan! And how lovely that you had the joy of baptizing your son yourself. God is good.
... and you don't look a new day over 37!
Okay, I went and watched that video of Governor Chris Christie. How about this for a money quote?
"A whole bunch of politicians who came before me on the local level and the state level made you promises that they couldn't keep. And they knew they couldn't keep them when they made them. So, I understand you being angry. But I suggest to you, respectfully, don't be angry at the first guy who told you the truth."
That would be a nice t-shirt, or bumper sticker, or something. I love it.
I'm not excited about Romney getting the nomination but it appears the Republican nomination is his to lose.
Strangely enough, according to a FNC poll voters prefer Obama over Romney by 7 points.
Hey gang,
I agree with the GPS comments to a point. it's really a great tool. But, when you deny reality over a tool (and this is true with computer models in weather forecasting), you're in trouble. You know, kind of like denying Christ because Oprah says so...
But I submit that GPS or no, why in any sane world would you want to go off-road in Death Valley, and many of it's features being named after fateful outcomes and death?
And happy re-birthday, Dan!
"Thankfully (or not), most of the places we road-trip to have long stretches (hundreds of miles) where there is no satellite reception. I've gotten out of the habit of using GPS."
Technically, this shouldn't be possible, unless you're in a tunnel or in an extremely deep canyon. Generally, no matter where you are on the planet, if you can see a decent amount of sky, your receiver should be able to pick up at least 7 or 8 of the 30+ GPS satellites in orbit (bare minimum is 4).
The GPS satellites are orbiting quite far out - roughly 12,500 miles from earth's surface. For comparison, the International Space Station is only a stone's throw of 220 miles up.
Yes, Happy New-Birth Day Mr. Phillips!
Quite the assortment again this week. First off, how wonderful you baptized your son. Wonderful for both of you :o).
DH first told me about the mayhem commercial, but the tragic story about the woman and boy in Death Valley, don't have a GPS, and will stick with a map. Lego cake is really awesome,Justin Bieber---Jane Fonda, that's just too funny. Always love the food pictures. Thank you.
CGrim,
My mistake; I should have said cell phone reception and since my GPS is on my phone, I'm without both :)
Thirty-eight years ago today,
Praise God for His grace to you DJP. I'm glad you're a brother from another mother who is IN the LORD.
I once attended a fundamentlaist CalviDispiBaptiGelical type church for a short time, and the pastor said that if you don't remember when you were born again, then you probably never were.
I think that's going too far. I was saved in the winter of 1993. I don't have an exact date, but I know I was saved. My story is truly an example of sovereign grace at work in me.
But this is not about me, but you. And again I say...Praise God.
The GPS story really isn't about a GPS vs. a map. An old map can have the same problems. The problem is that people blindly follow the GPS throwing out all common sense and even what they see with their own eyes.
@DJP- Aaron G = Sir Aaron (not sure you knew that). And that Star Wars list is totally lame. The guy should read some of the expanded universe. That would answer most of the points he brought up.
@Pierre - I think that is ridiculous also. I don't recall the date I was saved. I remember the events leading to it, but don't recall the year. Plus my experience was over a period of time. But by his logic, I wouldn't be married or have kids. Because I don't really remember those dates either. And I certainly don't know the day I graduated high school or college. I can tell you the year but not the date.
"...little ghost-farming-towns reminiscent of a variety of horror movies..."
Oh, Wendy, excellent writing! Not to knock Dan's great H&T, but that comment was the biggest smile of the day for me!
:o)
Squirrel
Yep, Pierre, there's no Biblical warrant for that. In my case, it was pretty crystalline: I was a Christ-denying cultist, the Holy Spirit did a number on me over a space of months, I repented and confessed Christ as my Lord and Savior, and was never the same.
But if you're raised in a Christian family? Not necessarily so simple.
Wendy - ours was a trip in Kentucky along windy roads with insufficient signs and guys in their coveralls in their yards with trucks. My wife was lucky; had not ever seen Deliverance.
Gov Christie has this habit of not being PC that I love. Just thought you'd like to know.
@DJP: all of that, plus some people just don't keep track of dates. I recall events, I just don't put a lot of emphasis on dates so I don't recall them well.
@jeremiah - no doubt Christie has been a good public speaker, but he's a little worrisome on some important issues.
@Mrs. Grasshopper: I know exactly what happened in LOTR. The architect suggested the 90 degree bend, but the King decided against it when he got the quote from the general contractor.
Or Peter Jackson decided against it, like when he thought he needed to 'humanize' Faramir, etc...
Oh my goodness, don't even get me and my family STARTED on what Jackson did to Faramir. Let alone Denethor!
I tried reading through the books and had trouble. Just didn't enjoy it much. Maybe I'll give it a second try.
I share your re-birthday (just a few years ago myself) - so many reasons to give thanks! You had the pleasure of baptizing your son - how wonderful! I have had the pleasure of hearing my mother testify of complete surrender just this week myself - and to be asked to help with the physical cleaning out of things in the house that she felt just had to go now! What grace and glory to see and participate in these things - what good gifts our Father gives us!
The leg-shaving graphic though - I had several bars of "Did I Shave My Legs for This?" ringing through my head. (Old country song from my pre-regenerate life) Heh.
Oh Barbara,
What exciting news about your mom! And Happy 're' birthday to you, too :D
@Sir Aaron - you NAILED it. Can't tell you how many times Mr. Grasshopper has poured his heart and soul into a design, and then the client (or more often the contractor) has cut corners. Kinda hard to look at the finished product and tell the client, "Please. Don't tell anyone I designed this." UGH.
/rant
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