Hither and thither 4/6/12

For openers, a visualization and recontextualization of Judges 17:6; 21:25.

• A good Good Friday thought in Michael Kelley's When “Abba” Became “My God.” Excerpt: " we now cry, “Abba, Father,” precisely because He cried “My God.” (h-t Trevin)
• Trevin also links to a marvelous, moving reflection by the late W. A. Criswell, titled When the Light of the World Flickered Out.
• Now to lighter fare.

• Some nice developments for both books, since the last H&T:
• First, TWTG received a nomination by the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA) in the New Authors category. Phil Johnson tells me that this is a really big deal; me, I don't know.
• Also really nice: Jaci Greggs reviewed the Proverbs book. If you don't follow her on Twitter, I recommend that you do.
• Aside: I know that a number of people have bought and are reading the book, but it's a much slower read than TWTG, so reviews like Jaci's and Fred's and Robert's and Rachael's and Casey's, and the excerpts in Robert and Kjos, are fewer and farther between.
• Second aside, on Casey: meaning to return a favor to Casey and do one for Tim Challies (his publisher), I made the time for a last-minute read and endorsement of his little book But God. I'm really glad I did. Good read: Bibley, Gospelly, encouraging. If you haven't read it, I commend it to you again.
• Also really nice: Dr. Thomas Schreiner reviewed TWTG for Themelios. I used to read that journal in and before my seminary days, never dreaming that one of my books would receive such a gracious review from such a prominent scholar.
• And BTW: Dr. Schreiner's friendly criticisms are both very well-taken. As to the first, I've only recently grown to see the prominence of that theme myself. Were I doing a second edition of the book (and allowed a few more pages), that theme would figure in much more prominently. As to the second, I intended to focus on the local church in a followup book, if sales of TWTG made it a wise investment for the publisher.
• Vegan bacon. Exactly. (h-t KDY)
• Reader Keith Lamborn suggests an iPad case especially for BibChr readers.
• New York City? Figures alert: tax-funded group teaches homeless how to invade and occupy apartments. (thx Chris Carney)
• So how would you like your, you know, squid?

• Sonja found us a nice article on the founders of Logos Software — though the closing use of Prov. 22:4 suggests one more title that might be good to convert.
• Jeremiah Halstead directs us to a Star Wars Chess set. Pricey.
• My dear wife found us one idea as to how Stonehenge was created.
• Little picture from The Coming Robot Overlord Coalition's meeting for kids.

• You can meet the middle kid at the Band O' Clinkers function.
• Everyone knows Macs are malware-proof. Except when they're not.
• Ed Driscoll says this is the week Obama jumped the shark. My responses:
• One: how many such weeks have there already been?
• Two: that's premised on an informed, educated, and sane voting public, which I believe our legal friends might call "assuming facts not in evidence." (I.e. if we had such a voting public, we'd not be having this conversation.)
• Three: get back to me after November 6, and we'll see.
• This week's Perfect Food nominee:

• Followed by this brief dose of reality.

• I'm hearing good things about October Baby, which Chris Carney notes was rejected by major studios. Seen it?
• Kerry Allen found a cat busting some pretty cool Yoda moves on a couple of doggy-thugs.
• Well, at least evolutionists are starting to be a bit more up-front.

• Marla Beale found an awfully cute collection of crocheted Star Wars figures.
• I don't do Easter Eggs like I don't do Halloween; but if you do, Martin Pitcher can show you how to make Lego Easter Eggs.
• And Martin would like to believe this, but I suspect a joke.
• But this, also from Martin, is no joke, Matey.

• Until some entrepreneur seizes on it.
• Ed Welch (not generally regarded as a "squish," I believe) has some interesting positive input on some psychiatric medications. (h-t Tim)
• Yes, thank you for asking, I am still loving Texas.

• I think that if I were to do this, I'd spend one day reading the New York Times — or an Oprah Book Club selection, or Origin of the Species — then the next reading the Bible. It might make the point more forcefully. (Chris Carney and Russell Sherrard)
• So until next time, goodbye, hope to see you at T4G next week, and... be nice to your fish.

• Then...

THE USUALS WILL BE OBSERVED