“She was the kind of woman whose absolute support was freely and completely given, until it gave way like a saturated California hillside. Then it was mostly at the bottom with a car or two underneath. The final event that would cause the hillside to give way might be completely trivial — perhaps a robin …
Central as in Central Heating
“An accurate awareness of the other’s faults does not mean that you yourself are sinless. It is, rather, quite possibly an indication that you are the central problem” (For a Glory and a Covering, p. 96).
Eating the Bag Itself
This morning I sent out a link to what I called an edifying food rant, which you can read here. Having done so, I thought it might be good for me to summarize a few basic observations about food and the modern Christian. This is by no means exhaustive, but it should give the lay …
A New Book is Upon Us!
Death By Living is due to be released in just a few weeks. A follow-up to Notes From the Tilt-a-Whirl, this book brings us a lot more of the same — Chestertonian exuberance, vivid descriptions, and the romance of orthodoxy. One of the perks we have in our family is that we get to read …
When There Is No Ham in the Ham Sandwich
Here is a post that illustrates, as few other things could, the need to read our political and historical narratives in a biblical way. In this post, the author, Jada Thacker, argues that the Constitution was not about limited government at all, and that Tea Partiers and their ilk (ilk is just a great word, …
Evolutionary Heritage Days
The next chapter of Coyne’s book is on vestigia, atavistic throwbacks, embryonic recapitulation, topped off with alleged screw-ups in the so-called process of intelligent design. Let’s start with this last item, since we should be able to dispense with it in a paragraph or so. The structure of this argument is strange, in that Coyne …
Arriving Daily
“Pastoral snarls are like the mercies of God — they are new every morning” (Evangellyfish, p. 175).
Always Ready to Forgive
“But you can have a heart full of forgiveness, full to the brim, ready to overflow the moment repentance appears. Until that happens, there is no forgiveness. We need to distinguish forgiveness in principle and forgiveness accomplished” (For a Glory and a Covering, p. 95).
The Fourth of July: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Genuine patriotism is not surprised or derailed by flaws, sins or wickedness in the object of our love. Sentimental patriotism, by contrast, treats love of country the same way a maudlin Hallmark card writer would treat, after three beers, love of mother. Mothers Day becomes a high, holy, and sacred thing — a sanctifying thing, …