No more sunburn--Chinese style

Check out this article on the latest in sun-blocking at the beach in Qingdao, China.  Better than sunscreen--at least at blocking the sun!

Sabbath on the Ranch

One of my abiding longings is to learn to properly take a Sabbath on Sundays (we call it the Lord's Day, following the apostle John, Rev. 1:10).  Sure, in the morning I work--but my work is also worship, and so it is, still, for me, the Lord's Day.
Here is an article I found on a blog that is a good reflection on Sabbath and rest, by a rancher in Wyoming.  Perhaps you will find it helpful.

Syria from another perspective

We live in a fallen world... we know that, at least in theory.  How that plays out is varied, and sometimes frightening.  Take Syria for instance.  From our news sources we know that the Assad regime in Syria is cruel and totalitarian, as the regime has, over the last year, squashed demonstrators, who then turned into a guerilla force, and now an opposition army.  American sympathies are mostly with those opposed to the regime.  But here is a bit of news from Syria that shows the situation is more complex.  (This blurb comes from the web site powerofchristatwork.net.)  Keep this in mind as you hear the news, and pray for Syria and her Christians:

Update on Syria

Syrian Christians are heartened by the outpouring of prayer for their protection. They are threatened by Islamists opposing the government. The worst incidents have been in Hama and Homs. 

A predominately Christian neighborhood of west Hama named Mahrada, was overrun by Islamist armed men.  They forced families to flee and occupied homes.  Three men were shot dead before their families. 

In Homs the same occurred on a larger scale in the predominately Christian neighborhood called Hamidiyah.  There tens of men were killed and 23 women were kidnapped and repeatedly raped before being freed when the Syrian army regained control.  Christians are gradually returning to their looted homes. 

Pray for peace and stability as well as repentance, healing and forgiveness.

Law and Grace

As I'm working through Romans 8 right now, it is a good time to (indeed, Romans forces us to) consider the relationship between law and gospel, or law and grace.  Some truths from Romans that need to be kept together:
1. The law--God's law--is good (7:12).  It is Spiritual (with a capital S, i.e. it is of the Spirit of God, 7:14).
2. By works of the law no one will be justified (declared righteous) in God's sight (3:20).
3. Justification is a gift of God's grace, through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ (3:24); and it is based on the righteousness of Christ received by faith (3:22), not on the law.
4. God's purpose is for the requirement of the law to be fulfilled in us, his people (8:4).
5. The law is weakened by the flesh (i.e. our sinful disposition, 8:3), so that we cannot by nature keep it (see 2.).
6. But when we are made alive by the Spirit, we can submit to God's law (implication of 8:7) and thereby please God (implication of 8:8), both of which are very good things.
Here is a quote from John Murray: "We must guard grace from the adulteration of legalism and we must guard law from the depredations of antinomianism." (Principles of Conduct, p. 182; "antinomianism" is the belief that the law is no longer to guide Christians).

Blog Worth Following

Recently I got onto Tim Challies' blog.  After a few weeks, I will recommend it to you (the few of you who read this, but then, perhaps you have people you can pass it on to :)).  You can find it at challies.com.  Challies is the guy who wrote the book The Next Story, about technology; I posted about that book in May of last year.
The last few days Challies has had an interview with R.C. Sproul.  Nothing earth-shattering there, but some good thoughts by a thoughtful man.  Well worth a read.

We're Back!

Well, we're back from the "large country in east Asia."  There are many things to say about that; if you are in Reading, we are going to do at least two presentations at Covenant Church during the month of August.
In the meantime, I want to encourage you to read a book that came out not long ago: Escape from Camp 14.  It is the account of a young man who was born (!) in a North Korean prison camp; and as far as anyone knows, he is the only one born in a prison camp ever to escape.  It is at times a brutal read.  But especially, if you ever feel like you are not getting a fair shake out of life, read this book.
While in said "large country in East Asia" I encountered one man who said he was from N. Korea. He was asking for food and money (we gave him food and about $1.60).
We were about 100 miles as the crow flies, give or take, from North Korea's "Camp 22," a prison camp the size of Los Angeles.  N. Korea is very committed to its prison camps.  If you don't know much about it, Escape from Camp 14 is a good, very readable, and not too long place to start.  By the way, my copy is from the library; it is available in the Berks County Library system.

"Knowing God" free audio download

Yes, that's right--you can download J.I. Packer's classic Knowing God in audio format (mp3, etc.) for free, during the month of January.  Find out about it here.
You will be asked to register, and you will receive monthly emails from christianaudio.com.  But I have been signed up for these for many months, and have not been upset by further emails or spam from them.  I highly recommend this, especially if you have any kind of commute.  Present your mind to truth like this (Rom. 6:12).

Christopher Hitchens, R.I.P (or not?)

Noted atheist Christopher Hitchens died yesterday. Maybe you have heard about him. He was a strong proponent of what many people are too timid to say publicly: that Christianity (and all other religions--but especially Christianity) is bad for the world. Well, a few years ago he did a series of debates with Doug Wilson, who like Hitchens is a contrarian--though Wilson's contrariness goes in a better direction than Hitchens. Wilson has written a fine obituary of Hitchens on the Christianity Today web site--it is well worth a read. You can find it here.