Russell Moore on Glenn Beck

Here's a quick link to an article that I found very helpful. I'm pretty sure lots of evangelicals give Glenn Beck's Mormonism a pass simply because he doesn't like President Obama. Russell Moore's insights are always penetrating and valuable in an age of manipulative soundbites.

Here's a taste:

It’s sad to see so many Christians confusing Mormon politics or American nationalism with the gospel of Jesus Christ. But, don’t get me wrong, I’m not pessimistic. Jesus will build his church, and he will build it on the gospel. He doesn’t need American Christianity to do it. Vibrant, loving, orthodox Christianity will flourish, perhaps among the poor of Haiti or the persecuted of Sudan or the outlawed of China, but it will flourish.

Some things

Well, it's Friday of my first week back in school and there's a few things to update y'all on.

Tonight is the final night of the summer softball season. We get to play twice: at 8:00pm and 9:15pm. The later game is against Bloodline, a team made up of a large extended family in our church (along with some friends) and our rivals. I'm really looking forward to it. This is my fourth summer playing softball with the men from our church. I love it because I get to play a sport (which doesn't happen much anymore), but more than that, I love it because I get to know people in the church that I wouldn't get to know any other way. Also, our games have tons of fans in the bleachers because bunches of people from the church come and watch our games, which just adds to the fun.

In other exciting news, our friends the Rehrers are in the process of adopting a little girl from Africa! That's really exciting and something Amy and I have tossed around as an idea for the future. It will be fun and informative to see them go through this process.

Some people have been waiting - with bated breath no doubt - to hear about why I shaved my head. In fact, I believe my mom's exact word was "yuck." Thanks mom. Anyway, two weeks ago I was trying to hustle so I could get to church in time for our weekly staff meeting. I needed to shave and my sideburns were also getting a little long, so I decided to pull out the hair clippers and give the burns a little trim. However, in my rush, I forgot to put a guard on the clippers! So when I whooshed upwards with the clippers, my sideburns did not get trimmed, they got shaved! Not only that, but I went past the sideburns.

I called Amy and told her what happened. I said that I thought I would have to shave my head. She said not to. I took a picture with my phone and then sent it to Amy. She said I should shave my head! That's the story.

New Sneakers

Remember when you were little and you got a new pair of sneakers and really believed you could run faster and jump higher? I used to wear my new sneakers (or shoes) to bed at night before wearing them outside because I was so excited about the new-ness.

That's how I feel today.

Alice has been sleeping "through the night" since she was 5 weeks old, but that really only means she slept for 4-5 hours at a time, which was wonderful in comparison to only 2, but not quite enough for mommy to function on a day to day basis. For the past week or so, she's been sleeping 8-10 hours at night, allowing mommy to now have a full week (minus one night) of being well rested.

The sun is brighter, the breeze is sweeter and the Lord has perfect timing!

Palm Springs and a New School Year

Sunday through Tuesday, Amy, Alice and I were in Palm Springs with Pastor Ron and Susie and their three kids: Mark, Jeffrey and Alicia. As you'd expect, it was hotter than hot, averaging about 110 degrees while we were there. We stayed in a two-bedroom condo that a generous person in our church let us stay in for fairly cheap. The air conditioning was cranked up (down?) the whole time we were there, making for an almost 40 degree difference between the outside and inside temperatures during the hottest part of the day. We took several pictures and videos, which you can view here.

This coming Wednesday marks the beginning of my fifth semester at Talbot. I'm taking Apologetics, Biblical Leadership & Management, and Exegesis in Acts and the Epistles. Yep, that last mouthful is my last required Greek class! That means two things: 1) People now will (mistakenly!) expect me to be proficient in biblical Greek, and 2)I can begin taking Hebrew in the spring!

Last night I checked online to see if any of my professors had posted syllabi and was ridiculously excited to see my Apologetics syllabus up. My professor, Garrett DeWeese, not only posted the syllabus, but also all the supplementary reading, the first day of class' powerpoint slides, and other miscellaneous links and resources. Besides the last day of class, I think the first day of class is my favorite day of the semester!

Today I have Alice until 11ish and then a church friend will be watching her. She's getting big, but especially growing long. Here's a video for you to enjoy!

Blog, Interrupted

So I was going to blog today about the 30 Days of Prayer for the Muslim World that started today. However, the inimitable Justin Taylor covered it well at his blog. I'm praying that God uses this next month to transform my own heart in my attitudes, understanding and love for Muslim people.

As long I'm linking, see what Dr. Mohler has to say about Prop. 8 being overturned last week. As always, expect insightful analysis.

Daddy-Daughter Day the Fourth!

Today was another Daddy-Daughter Day, and a pretty successful one methinks. Of course, when your almost-three month old daughter is wearing her Cal onesie (thanks Grandma!), it's automatically a great start!

Alice slept really well and we had some good play time before and after her meals. In the afternoon, she guzzled almost seven ounces of milk and then slept for almost three hours. This allowed me to read a bunch today and with school coming in two weeks, this was very much appreciated.

Go here to see more pics!

Another New Daddy

Check out my friend Eric Durso's blog. He blogs much more consistently than we do and has some good thoughts on the recent birth of his daughter Emma.

Daddy-Daughter Day Dos

Try saying that 10 times fast!

Today was my second Monday watching Alice. Pan-Pacific Plumbing has been very gracious in providing a nanny three days a week in the same building that Amy works in. Those days are Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Fridays are days where various people in our church watch Alice and Mondays are all mine!

Alice hadn't eaten from a bottle for five days, so I was a little scared she wouldn't drink from the bottle and just cry all day. She wasn't as voracious as she was two weeks ago during our first Daddy-Daughter Day, but she did pretty well nonetheless. I had her at my office at church for about three hours and she did just as well there as at home.

Per my grandmother's request, I've uploaded a bunch of pictures to our web albums, which you can access here. I'll also be posting some of the many videos that we've taken recently. Enjoy!

Halfway there . . . almost!

So this year I had the audacious goal of reading 60 books in a year. What made this crazy was the fact that I hadn't reached my goal of 50 books in a year since 2007. Below you'll find my reading list so far in 2010:

1. The Runaway Jury by John Grisham
2. Understanding Four Views of the Lord’s Supper ed. by John Armstrong
3. Peace Like A River by Leif Enger
4. The Reason For God by Tim Keller
5. College Ministry 101 by Chuck Bomar
6. Right Thinking in a World Gone Wrong by John MacArthur, et al.
7. Adopted For Life by Russell Moore
8. The Art of Pastoring by David Hansen
9. Jesus and the Gospels by Craig Blomberg
10. John Calvin: A Pilgrim’s Life by Herman Selderhuis
11. The Prodigal God by Tim Keller
12. Calvin and the Atonement by Robert Peterson
13. Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
14. Counterfeit Gods by Tim Keller
15. What is the Gospel? by Greg Gilbert
16. The Jesus I Never Knew by Philip Yancey
17. Start Your Family by Steve & Candice Watters
18. A Little Exercise for Young Theologians by Helmut Thielicke
19. Pendragon by Stephen R. Lawhead
20. Invitation to Biblical Preaching by Don Sunukjian
21. A Harmony of the Gospels by Stanley Gundry and Robert L. Thomas
22. The Words and Works of Jesus Christ by Dwight Pentecost
23. Grail by Stephen R. Lawhead
24. Ashamed of the Gospel by John MacArthur
25. Rescuing Ambition by Dave Harvey
26. Sticky Teams by Larry Osborne
27. War by Sebastian Junger

A Sad Day

I was just saddened to hear that today is the last day of the Albert Mohler Radio Program. I've listened to every single broadcast for the last three years and found it a very helpful look at news and events happening all over the world. Dr. Mohler still offers tons of resources at his website, and I will continue to use those to help me evaluate news and offer resources to the parents of youth at our church.
Thanks Dr. Mohler!