Rotundus.com

In theory this quote is about parenting, but really this seems to apply to pretty much all of life if you swap in "It's" as I've done below:

[It's] all about living by the principle of prepared spontaneity. You don’t really know what’s going to happen next. You don’t really know when you’ll have to enforce a command, intervene in an argument, confront a wrong, hold out for a better way, remind someone of a truth, call for forgiveness, lead someone to confession, point to Jesus, restore peace, hold someone accountable, explain a wisdom principle, give a hug of love, laugh in the face of adversity, help someone complete a task, mediate an argument, stop with someone and pray, assist someone to see his heart, or talk once again about what it means to live together in a community of love.

What you do know is that Scripture gives you the wisdom that you need, and your always-present Messiah gives you the grace that you need to be ready to respond to the moments of opportunity he will give you.

- Paul Tripp

TV Cooking vs. Real Cooking

Some criticism of food tv after the author witnessed a mishap on a Food Network set - "Things catch fire sometimes, even in 'real' kitchens. Things overcook, they undercook, they look like something the cat dragged in, they’re oversalted, underspiced, soggy when they should be crisp, dry when they should be moist . . . in restaurants, good restaurants, chefs do these over. On TV, chefs gloss these over. Rarely are you given a sense of what really goes on. "

Is homemade always better?

"I have had to swallow my pride and recognise that there are some things I just can't make as well as products I can buy." What you can make that's better is likely to be dependant on your level of skill, although then how do you learn to make stuff better? Of course, for me, the set of things that I can buy better than I can make is pretty large.

How Did the Church Interpret the Days of Creation before Darwin?

"Before the Westminster Assembly there were a variety of interpretations of Genesis 1 and its days. If the text of Genesis is so clear-cut why did the church down the centuries not see it that way? Does that not say something not only about the interpreters but also the text? Claims that a literal reading of the days of Genesis 1 is obvious fall down when the history of interpretation is taken into consideration."

Scoping Out The Sad State Of Affairs At A Borders Liquidation Sale

Basically even at a physical bookstore in liquidation, it's probably cheaper to instead buy items online at Amazon

A recent post by Tullian Tchividjian entitled Reminders Are More Effective Than Rebukes reminded me a bit of a quote that I came across a while back from Mike Horton (Christless Christianity, p. 116):

It is interesting that when the apostle Paul had to write a disciplinary letter to the Corinthian church for its sexual immorality, hypocrisy, strife, and pride, he began by telling them the gospel all over again. He never assumed it. In fact, he assumed that if the church is in a particular mess ethically, it probably did not really get the message yet. Only after once again preaching Christ and him crucified would Paul turn to the practical exhortation to live in the light of their high calling in Christ.

There was an interesting bit in an article responding to the Obama administration's decision not to further defend in court the Defense of Marriage Act:

Doesn’t this sound strangely like Richard Nixon’s approach to the law? It was Nixon who told David Frost in 1977, "When the president does it, that means that it is not illegal." So when the president and his attorney general refuse to defend a law they have taken an oath to uphold, isn’t that the other side of the same coin? Imagine the reaction from the left had George W. Bush announced his administration would no longer defend Roe v. Wade because he thought it unconstitutional and it would eventually be overturned by the Supreme Court.

Source: World Magazine

(That said, I'm not a big fan of the act in question. It seems to me that the legal changes made in the last century or so have already made the legal definition of marriage relatively meaningless - there's not much left to defend).

HT: Trevin Wax