Welcome to the weekend!  Lot’s happened this week, so let’s get to it!

First, Rev. Russell Moore wrote a must-read column called, ‘Sorry, the Bible Doesn’t Promise to Make America Great Again’.  I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard 2 Chronicles 7:14 wrongly applied to America. And in light of all that the Presidential candidates are saying right now, this is a good reminder/perspective.

The big things that happened this week: Obama gave his final (thank goodness) State of the Union address, The GOP had a rather nasty  (but entertaining) debate, the stock market continued to plunge, Christ continued His reign.

What else? Well…

Walmart said its closing a lot of stores – here’s the list.

Jeb Bush continued to hemorrhage support (donors can’t wait to jump ship). And Chris Cillizza says its pretty hard to imagine him winning the nomination. 

Marco Rubio was endorsed by a “Controversial Theologian” (I couldn’t be laughing harder right now at Time Mag’s definition of “controversial”!)

Ted Cruz (born in the home of Maple Leafs) and his citizenship continued to persist as a topic of debate (thanks to Donald Trump who tweeted about it even this morning!). Here’s the controversial WaPo article discussing the matter.

Other interesting items…

Sean Penn stirred up his share of controversy when Rolling Stone released an interview he conducted of El Chapo (mexican drug scumbag). The only thing I can say about this article is that it was so disgustingly self-righteous and so disgustingly long, that I couldn’t even make it to the interview part. I’m only posting as an FYI so you know what’s going on in the world…I’m not advocating you spend time reading the whole thing!

More controversy…super swimmers!  This is definitely a sign of the times. What bothers me is that we see similar issues invading the church today.

Nice little blip about how John Kasich still attends (or tries to) a bi-weekly Bible Study.

And, did anyone else see this?? Kinda sad…

Shrill: Ann Coulter says “Deport Nickki Haley” 

Best blog of the week! Challies on ‘Amusing 1-Star Reviews of Great Books’

Another MUST READ for people trying to figure out the difference between Cruz and Rubio – look at the type of evangelicals who are supporting these two men. From my own observation, Cruz is probably a more devout or at least educated Christian. But I still can’t help but wince when I read articles like this…

Under the Radar: More Hillary email issues – looking like a Smoking Gun

Unfortunate reality setting in: J.I. Packer can no longer read or write. This is a man whose books have moved generations to their knees, and to a better understanding of their Creator. If you’ve never read any of his books, you owe it to yourself to pickup a copy of ‘Knowing God’

TECHNOLOGY: How to Use Snapchat (for those of us over 30). I found this pretty funny – and helpful (sadly)

Perspective: ‘Istanbul Suicide Bomber Entered Turkey as Syrian Refugee, Officials Say’.  Not the type of article that makes the case for letting in a mass of Syrian refugees to America.

This is just Gross! 

Finally, this is a long, but interesting read: ’50 years later, disagreements over young Trump’s military academy record’

That’s it! Have a great weekend!

PJW

Happy Weekend and Happy New Year to you!  After a brief holiday break, the Weekend Reading is back. So here are the most interesting articles, videos and blogs I collected throughout the last few weeks.

As you know there’s sort of standoff right now between the Bundy’s and the federal government out in the desert in OR. One of the most interesting articles I read was on how these guys are Mormons – militant Mormons! Which led me to wonder more about Captain Moroni, which led me to wonder more about these so-called ‘Nephites‘.  Enjoy the rabbit trail!

King….errr….President Obama recently issued an executive order having to do with gun control. Breitbart gives the rundown on why its a constitutional overreach.

Speaking of guns and gun control, The Donald recently had an interesting proposal for Hillary Clinton to consider.  

And there was a bit of a dust-up in the wake of John Piper’s article on whether or not Christians should carry guns – which itself was a reaction to the President of Liberty University encouraging students to “arm themselves.” I may have posted Tim Challies’ article on this a while back (which is an excellent summary of the matter), but just recently I was sent James White’s post on these matters and thought it worth passing along as a follow up. (h/t my Kate).

Back to the POTUS race, I thought this Presidential candidate tracker for 2015 was pretty cool. And this was my favorite Politico piece over the holidays: the 2015 Holiday Gif Guide!

I must have read the most random stuff during the holiday break, because here’s a hilarious story about how one guy several years back went home for the holidays only to realize that his bedding/sleeping setup looked, well ridiculous. He took some pictures, posted them online, and in the U.K. its become a sort of hilarious holiday tradition to do this…

Funny: College Students are Renting out their Dorm Rooms on AIRBNB: What Could Go Wrong?

If you’re like me, then you may have taken the family to the movie theater over Christmas to see the new Star Wars movie. My opinion? It was excellent!  But in follow up to that, Buzzfeed did what they do best, organized a list of 30 things you “definitely missed” in the movie (h/t Parris P. — and of course there are spoilers here).

And…if you’re like me, you used some of your free time over the holiday season to do some fun things – like draw BB-8!  I enjoyed this tutorial video…

Kind of an odd story that peaked my interest this week: This Robot Suit is Designed to Make You Feel 100 Years Old. 

And this is depressing…the cake bakers in OR who refused to make a cake for a lesbian wedding are being “silenced” by a judge and fined etc etc.  The hits just keep on coming for these guys.

Random: This was the Christmas music (lists) played by the Obama’s. This is probably the most secular list of Christmas songs I’ve seen in a long time. I mean, its hard to avoid good Christmas hymns since they makeup the bulk of the Christmas music montage, but boy to the Obama’s do a good job of it! (at least they kept on Silent Night and Away in a Manger).

Speaking of the holidays at the White House, here’s a nifty little feature you may have missed about the gingerbread cakes they made…

Now that its the new year, there are all kinds of challenges being issued, and expectations to live up to. I like the 100 book challenge that Tim Challies put out, and this follow up article on how to achieve it. John Piper makes the point, however, that there’s only one must-read book this year…

Lastly, here’s an article I haven’t been able to read yet but looks fascinating. It’s from 2013 and was mentioned in a recent seminary lecture of mine this week: From Hitler’s Wolves to Christ’s Lambs. 

Have a great weekend!  I’ll leave you with a great verse for the new year – a “restoring” reminder of God’s care and joyful love for His people:

The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing. (Zephaniah 3:17 ESV)

 

Welcome to the weekend!!!  Here’s a quick roundup of my favorite stories, blogs, videos and more from the week that was.

First off, this is Star Wars opening weekend and I got to see the ‘Force Awakens‘ with my daughter Chloe last night. I won’t post any spoilers here, but it looks like the film will break a lot of records. Here are some fan reactions from CNet (there ARE spoilers here).  All I will say is that our experience was really enjoyable, and that comparatively this may be the best Star Wars movie ever made – and that’s coming from someone who has been enjoying these movies since I was a kid. It left the prequels in the dust, corrected any of the problems that fans had with Ep.’s 1-3, took the best of Ep.’s 4-6 and enhanced the experience with better acting, well timed comedy, endearing new characters, and (of course) great fighting scenes.

There was another GOP debate this week, and I got to watch this one with my grandparents, in Portland, which was a lot of fun! In the days after the debate polling showed that Trump remained on top of the field. Politico has a rundown with the 13 biggest moments of the debate here. I enjoyed some parts of the debate – the parts I found most interesting were the exchanges on foreign policy between Sen. Rubio and Sen. Cruz – and the most annoying part of the debate for me was Gov. Christie bursting in with a dismissive word for ‘American viewers’ re: the Rubio/Cruz exchange. To him (and he supposed to us) these policy exchanges were just a bunch of boring Senate debate – In other words we had hit a moment in the debate where people were actually debating substance and Big Boy didn’t think Americans wanted to hear that. Overall I felt like it was an informative event though.

There’s some bad lip reading out...but not of the debate…(h/t Alex W.)

Kate told me she really enjoyed this new Rain for Roots album for Advent. I listened to some of it, and its worth checking out.

Maybe you caught this already, but the other night Jason Day and his wife were attending a Cavs game when LeBron James ‘plowed into her’.  She seems to be doing okay though. I was really impressed by James’ response, and frankly all parties public comms on this one were very dignified. Was trying to imagine what Tiger Woods would have said…(that would make a great Mad Lib wouldn’t it!?).

Speaking of Woods, apparently he’s making an effort to be human these days. According to a featurette I read in Time Magazine whilst I traveled to the left coast this week, he’s sounding pretty compassionate…almost…humble, actually.

Did you know: C.S. Lewis was a Secret Agent? (h/t Tim Challies)

Challies also posted a few articles about Circle, which I may have mentioned before. It looks very interesting and worthy of checking out. Circle is a device that sits in your home and governs the internet – protecting your family, and providing analytics, and even the ability to “pause” the internet for certain users. Interview with the founder here. Challies’ review here. It is worth scrolling through and reading what this can do and what they have coming up in the future – for $99, this is a worthy investment.

Speaking of Challies, he had an original post called ‘You Don’t Need a Date Night’ which was fantastic. I really agree with him on this one.

Now…a series of the best videos from the week…

• Hilarious: “An announcement from the 43rd President of the United States, George W. Bush.”
• AWESOME: former Navy Seal makes fun of an ISIS recruitment video…(lesson: don’t carry a knife in your mouth…)
• WWII Meme that traveled the world
• What goes on at Westminster Bookstore anyway?

Finally, I really enjoyed Joel Miller’s blog, ‘What we’re missing when it comes to nativity scenes‘ – I actually learned something new about nativity scenes in this one!, and appreciated his historical perspective.

That’s it! Have a great weekend!

PJW

Good morning – and welcome to your weekend!  What an interesting (and sad) week it’s been in the world. In all things though, we know Who is in control, who rules the world, and holds all things in the palm of His hand. Nothing happens apart from His say-so.  I’ve been memorizing these verses with some friends of mine that reminds me of these truths:

Thus says the LORD: “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool; what is the house that you would build for me, and what is the place of my rest? All these things my hand has made, and so all these things came to be, declares the LORD. But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word. (Isaiah 66:1-2)

Now to the most interesting things I read, watched, and listened to this week…

Amazing Investigation: This is shocking, and eye-opening, ‘Terrorists Once Used Refugee Program to Settle in US.’ And along similar lines: House sets up task force on Syrian resettlement plan.

Re: immigration and the Syrian controversy, Kevin DeYoung has written a piece that should help Christians think through the situation. How do we balance compassion for others + our American heritage with the obvious danger (not to mention the unfairness) posed by allowing hundreds of thousands of refugees from Muslim lands to skip ahead of the line and get fast-tracked citizenship?

The NY Times has a Map of those settled thus far…

Best blog I didn’t get a chance to read: What Tolkein and Lewis teach us about surviving dark times. 

Article I didn’t get to read by wished I did: The End of ‘One China’

A helpful video review of the new iPad Pro from the Wall Street Journal. Once this thing actually has a way to save files/a file management system that is NOT just in the cloud, I’ll examine it a little closer.

Blog of the Week: A Call for Christian Extremists, by Tim Challies.  This is a must read.

I bet you didn’t know that the day before Parris, Beirut weathered a giant ISIS attack – you didn’t know because no one is talking about it. 

Speaking of France, their retaliation: Drop 20 bombs

Key Op-Ed: Wake up ,Mr. President. Excerpt, “The Paris massacre should mark the end of that self-deception. Jimmy Cartershed his illusions about the Soviet Union after its invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, and Mr. Obama needs a comparable rendezvous with reality. This will be harder for Mr. Obama, a man of great ideological vanity, but perhaps the prospect of defeat for his party in 2016 will force him to see the world more clearly.”

New Topic…Great couple of highly relevant articles I finally got to read from John Freeman at Ligonier Ministries. First, ‘Christ and Sexual Sin‘, and second, The Gospel Remedy for Homosexuality‘. Very thoughtful articles here that are worth scrolling through.

The Presidential…What Carlos Lozada of the Washington Post learned about Donald Trump after reading all his books. More from the post: Carson’s campaign doesn’t know a lot of geography (I kid, I kid)

I discovered a new blog this week written by a guy named Joel J. Miller. Good, short writing here. Two samples:

1. Islam is a religion of violence: Or, why abstract theology actually matters
2. The existential crisis behind today’s Islamic violence

Over at Desiring God, Jon Bloom says, ‘You are Meant to Move Mountains’, and the heart of the blog is meant to answer this question: “How would you live differently if you really believed that nothing would be impossible for you?” Bloom is probably one of the best existential thinkers in the evangelical world right now. It’s worth reading his stuff just to learn to think more like this.

Some Interesting Stuff….

Big movies coming out this winter – obviously the Star Wars movie is going to be huge – but an interesting article from WSJ made me think more about the effects of blockbuster movies on the supply chain of that industry. 

Time Magazine is moving their offices to a new location in Lower Manhattan. So they’ve been publishing different pieces about their archives. Challies linked to this one called, ‘7 Fascinating Letters from the Time Inc. Archives’

Fascinating: World’s Second-Largest Diamond Discovered in Botswana. 

Lastly, I enjoyed this video/story over at Vox about how the internet is spread around the world…underwater!

That’s it!  Have a wonderful weekend.

PJW

Good morning and welcome to the weekened! Here are the most interesting articles, blogs, videos and more from the past week…

Over the last several hours we learned that over 100 people were killed in a massive terrorist attack in Paris, France. ISIS is taking credit for the attack, claiming that its retaliation for France’s roll in the bombing campaign in Syria. Key clip from ISIS statements, “Paris is the ‘capital of prostitution and obscenity, the carrier of the banner of the Cross in Europe’ while its attackers were ‘a faithful group of the soldiers of the Caliphate.'”

The Christian response to such acts of hatred and rage and pure evil ought to be prayer for the victim’s families, and a gospel-driven love for people whose worldview is shaped by the wrong-headed views disseminated by Islam. Certainly any religion can be twisted or made militaristic, but for those who know Islam well, this is a perfectly natural outgrowth of its teaching. Deep inside I think we know its wrong and a symptom of a fallen world to think that suicide and murder combine toward redemption. Politically, it is a reminder that even the evil of ancient ideas can infiltrate into any ‘civilized’ 21st century city or country. Modernity is not a perfect form of insulation from the tide of terror.

Now back to America, and Presidential campaign’s state of play. Donald Trump took his rhetoric too far this week, comparing Dr. Ben Carson to a child molester.  I personally believe that its only a matter of time before the enthusiasm for Mr. Trump will be transferred to a more worthy candidate.

Some people may or may not know this, but Dr. Carson is a 7th Day Adventist. What exactly does that mean? An articulate and accessible video by a Masters Seminary prof explains.  And since we’re talking Carson, last week he took some hits in the media over his foreign policy, but it seemed to only help his standing in the polls. 

The GOP Debate that took place this past Tuesday was another interesting spectacle. This time the reviews seemed to favor Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, two young conservative Senators from Florida and Texas respectively.

Zooming out a little bit, Peggy Noonan penned a thoughtful column in the Wall Street Journal about the GOP field and state of play in the nominating process. Her main point was that Democrats are united because their single goal is to seek and keep power, whilst the GOP candidates are currently not united because they are having a very healthy debate of the meaning of conservatism, and what that looks like policy-wise in a host of areas. This is both a good thing and a bad thing.

In light of the controversial actions of the University of Missouri football team and some of the student protestors in said school, the Dean of the School of Journalism penned this statement (h/t Tracy L.).

I appreciated Cliff Sims’ take on the Starbucks Cup so-called-controversy. This is just one more area where Donald Trump bloviated, and though this one is a small deal, it ought to inform conservative and Christian opinion about this man’s inch-deep morality and policy convictions.

So much happened this week that caused me to shake my head, but this article about a WWII vet from my Kate’s home town was encouraging. It focuses on the ex-soldier’s bible – a bible which had survived Normandy, and more.

And in case you missed it, the US showed some strength when it flew several B-52 bombers within 12 nautical miles within the man-made Chinese islands in the South China Sea in a show of freedom which sent the following message: the Chinese do not own this Sea!

In tech news, the guys and gals at Apple released what they are calling the iPad Pro. Look pretty interesting…

To more uplifting items…

Tony Reinke wrote a short blog on Desiring God’s site titled ‘What Stops our Fighting?’ that I found to be a good and humbling reminder from James chapter four.

Tim Challies blogged about the phenom devotional ‘Jesus Calling’ and titled the post, ’10 Serious Problems with Jesus Calling’.  I have to say that it is worth looking this over. I know a lot of people who read this devotional, some who are older Christians. Ought we not to have more discernment in who we read?

Challies also penned a less controversial, yet just as insightful, blog called ‘God’s Not Really that Holy, I’m Not Really that Bad.’ You might be encouraged by the reminder of God’s grace.

Speaking of good authors, Ligonier Ministries announced that both Dr. Derek Thomas and Dr. Al Mohler were joining the ministry as Teaching Fellows. That ostensibly means that they will produce content for, and speak at, Ligonier events and other Ligonier programs.

Probably my favorite Christian blog post this week was on 7 Gospel-Centered Principles for Protecting Your Marriage. 

Top two posts I didn’t get to check out but wanted to: A Quiz on the Doctrine of Scripture, by Tim Challies, and ‘Is All Worship Equally Acceptable to God?‘ by Tim Barnett.

And this hasn’t been talked a lot about in my circles yet, but I still found it interesting that a giant merger between two huge beer companies took major steps forward toward finalization this week. 

In case you missed it, thing seem to be continuing down the ‘serious’ path for Hillary Clinton’s email probe…

HOME: Kind of on the odd side, this article caught my eye from Houzz – its all about how to clean your microwave. I mean, who doesn’t see cleaning the microwave as a terrible thing?

MUSIC: Christmas is coming! Which means there will be a lot of good music being released. I have not yet heard the Chris Tomlin album, but I have purchased and am thoroughly enjoying the Sovereign Grace release ‘Prepare Him Room.’

That’s it for now, have a great weekend!

PJW

Good morning, and happy weekend!  Here is the weekend reading – the most interesting articles, movies, songs, and more from the past week.

Well there was an election this past Tuesday, and overall it was very good for Republicans. Kentucky elected a Republican Governor, and in Virginia Republicans kept control of the state senate. In Ohio, destructive issue three (legalizing pot) was soundly rejected by voters.

Speaking of KY, Denny Burk posted this video from Southern Seminary that features Guv-elect Matt Bevin speaking to the chapel about his teen daughter who died in a car accident, but had a real heart for Christian missions. I didn’t know this story, so it was pretty eye-opening.

On a sad note, Fred Thompson passed away this last week. He was a great politician, and probably an even better actor. Here’s a compilation of his best TV moments! (heads up: there’s a decent amount of southern drawl laced profanity)

While we’re on movies, the Japanese version of the latest Star Wars trailer was released this week. I was tempted to have that running side by side with this classic… 

BEST VIDEO OF THE WEEK: The read the scriptures series released their latest video on the book of Job.  These are really neat videos that combine great theology with great artistry.

This coming week there will be another GOP debate, this time with Fox Business Channel. If you missed the last one, you can read the RNC chairman’s summary in his thoughtful letter to NBC……… 

And I stumbled across this article that a friend had sent a few weeks back, and can’t recall ever sharing it. It’s titled, ‘My Journey Away from Contemporary Worship Music’. There’s some interesting points he makes here that are worth sifting through.  (h/t Mary S.)

Okay, this is just funny. Tim Challies has been putting together these ‘quizes’ for a few years now, but normally they’re titled something like ‘quiz on Biblical theology’ or ‘quiz on the Old Testament’ and stuff like that. But this one is hilarious…I scored really bad!

Okay, I’m just going to sum up some of the bad news from the week in one boring paragraph: TSA still really really sucks, the debt limit was lifted and in one day the debt jumped almost 400 BILLION DOLLARS…that’s a lot a cheddar.  You may have noticed that oil prices keep falling, but that doesn’t seem to match up in any coherent way with the price at the pump, this story tells you why. And there was a long form article in the Wall Street Journal about common core – mostly about how its implementation is very costly – and I thought it was a pretty fair, and informative piece.

You know, if you’re like me, you want to memorize more Scripture but its hard. I really struggle to remember all the right words and get everything in the right order. This guy Chris blogs about how he goes about it. His slogan might as well be ‘repetition, repetition, repetition.’ Still, I thought some of his ideas were worth thinking about implementing.

I spent most of my week in Montana (beautiful country!) and spent some time with a guy named Greg Gianforte, who is exploring a bid for Guv of that state. He has an amazing story you might want to check out. Here’s his latest book, here’s his Ted talk.

Finally, a chuckle, a new study finds ‘Controlled Washington, D.C. Wildfires Crucial For Restoring Healthy Political Environment’. 

Welcome to a Halloween edition of the Weekend Reading. Here are the best stories, videos, and more from the week – at least what I enjoyed most! I’m going to zoom through this a bit this AM since I’m watching the kids and the puppy without the help of Kate (which means I’m up to my ears in legos, match box cars, and poop!).

Let’s start with Ligonier’s cool deal: They are offering any edition of their Reformation Study Bible for 45% off until tonight if you use the CHALLIES code. The idea is to celebrate Reformation Day. Read more about the deal here. I really enjoy this study Bible, and think most folks of a more conservative persuasion would as well.

Were you like me and skipped watching the Dem Presidential Debate? Never fear!  Bad lip reading is here! (“she makes dynamite pinto beans”….you will laugh)

Speaking of debates, there was much public outcry over the lackluster CNBC moderators during the GOP debate this week.  Here’s a montage of moderator John Harwood’s most ill-behaved moments. And if you need a recap of the best parts, Politico has a list of the 15 most explosive moments. Lastly, here’s Roll Call’s winners/losers list. 

This week someone pointed out to me that Donald Trump handles the press like Heinz Kissvelvet (h/t you know who you are) and I’m not sure they’re too far off!

HISTORY TIME! National Journal compiled the 10 Worst Moments in Presidential Debate History. 

WaPo posted a hilarious Gif bingo of Donald Trump expressions pre-debate. Scroll down to see the game – complete with the ability to “shuffle” and “clear” the board to start over. So. Funny!

NOTE to my friends in Dublin: don’t forget to vote this Tuesday. I’m going to be supporting my friend Chris Groomes for city council. I really like what she’s been saying about “smart development” – she’s sharp!

It’s looking like over 85 percent of likely voters say the US is in bad shape (shameless promotion of my own firm’s poll)

Roundup: Trump says $1m isn’t much money, John Kasich get’s Dick Army’s endorsement, but then gets in a tussle with the Sixers and responds with a video showing off his skilz. WaPo asked if Bernie Sanders will be our first Agnostic President. And the NY Times had an interesting profile piece on Carly Fiorina’s term as CEO of HP.

In Canada this week the country elected a majority of the left leaning party up there, and it seemed discouraging to see a country slide back to the stone age with “progressive” ideas. I say stone age, because it was ancient cultures who (like the new Prime Minister up north) thought nothing of exposing their infants, and committed acts of gross immorality to please the gods (and their own licentious appetites). But reflecting on all of this, Tim Challies wrote with some great perspective. Best quote:

The temptation is not only to put my hope in politicians but to put my despair in them as well. I will be tempted not only to find too much joy in the election of the person I voted for, but also to sink too far into despair in the election of the person I did not.

Shocking new pictures from the migration into Europe (mostly Syrian refugees fleeing the tyranny of the Assad regime). Western Europe is in a crisis due to this, but the obvious solution would have been to stand up to Russia, and obliterate Assad before the problem got this far. Decades of European weakness have consequences.  You might be thinking “okay, but that is on the other side of the world, who cares?” Well, imagine a South American dictator gassing their people and terrorizing an entire nation until millions made their way north to the US/Mexico border (if such a thing exists). Imagine your entire neighborhood having to evacuate – you hurriedly pack up your laptop, cell phone, and as much food as you can fit into backpacks. You start down the street your kids once rode bikes on, and realize that there’s no turning back. No cars – you’re walking the whole way – with 2 million of your neighbors. There’s no second option – your President has been releasing gas from airplanes all week, in order to “subdue the populace”.  I can’t imagine this ever happening in America, but it doesn’t stop me from putting myself in these folks’ shoes, and praying for them as they seek out a better life.

The 80’s called and wants their headline back: Afghanistan is now seeking out the help of Russia for military equipment. 

The Wall Street Journal’s Peggy Noonan wrote a biography styled essay called ‘Peggy Noonan’s Education in News Craft‘ which was interesting (h/t Challies)

There’s a big debate about how useful Black Friday shopping really is for retailers. REI has kicked off the conversation due to their announcement that they’ll not be open that day. Instead, they are encouraging people to be out and about in nature (ya, ya…it will be cold…)

And on a funny note, Jonathan Last (a serious writer) wrote that there are 9 Reasons why the Jedi are Actually the Bad Guys in Star Wars. I can’t help but agree with pretty much everything he says here…(h/t Alex W.)

That’s it! Now go and have a wonderful day – and don’t forget to vote on Tuesday!

PJW

 

Good morning!  It’s another beautiful Saturday, and I have just a handful of links to share with you this morning before I get going here for the day.

First, in the Presidential race, all the talk was about how Carson had surged ahead of Trump in a few Iowa polls. This prompted an intern in Trumpland to send a nastygram out re: Carson, which caught the attention of the 24 hour news cycle, when he said Iowans must have “issues int he brain”!  The Trump candidacy is one in which all of the positive things coming from it are a result of the upending of the campaign, and not the campaign itself. It remains to be seen if a credible candidate will be able to challenge his dominance.

On the Democratic side, Joe Biden announced that he wouldn’t run for President. I began to wonder if someone on the web had chronicled all of Biden’s gaffs – and sure enough, Fox News (shocker) has a whole page devoted to it!

Separately, Politico had a story about how Carly F’s support seems to have “collapsed” – reminded me of 2011/12 and how for a few months we heard about the “9, 9, 9 plan”. Not to unfairly compare Cain with Carly, the latter is about 100x more articulate, even though they both came from the business world…that’s probably where the similarities end!

The other political stuff going on all centers on the Speaker’s gavel. Paul Ryan is working up support from a few different quarters for a run at Speaker. The main issue has been that the Freedom Caucus (the most conservative 40 or so members of the House) have certain demands that they want met ideologically, and structurally. One can hardly blame them given the way conservatives have been treated in the recent past. Ryan’s meeting with them went very well – most are in support of his candidacy, so we’ll see what happens from here…

In other more interesting news, this week the new Star Wars trailer was released.

Thanks to my buddy Parris, tickets are secured for the December 18th opening day! And if you’re really a nerd (without job, time constraints, or functioning life outside the expanded universe) you can try sit through all 7 movies in one day...in a row! (h/t Jen K.)

With the rise of Bernie Sanders on the Dem Presidential side of things, there was a really good question put to John Piper this week: how should Christians think about socialism? 

Piper also publicly posted the contents of a letter to an 11 year old boy (changed his name though) who wondered ‘if God promises to meet our needs, then why am I hungry?‘ This was a challenging post to read through.

I know that there are some strange traditions among sports fans, but this seems to cross the line into revolting. haha!

Have a great weekend! I’ll leave you with the best quote of the week, posted by Tim Challies:

The essence of God’s action in wrath is to give people what they choose, in all its implications. —J.I. Packer