A Mighty Fortress

A Common Word

Holiday Pictures

I got 6 days off for Christmas this year. Half of the hospital's residents take Christmas and half take New Year's off. We had a nightmare drive in the dark-and-ice-and-fog from Peoria to Galena. Then we drove from Galena to Rockford on Christmas Day. We came home December 28th. Here's some pics

Happy Birthday, Trey!
Your cake is served...
Yum-yum!

Christmas Morning
Here's Andy in the hat we got him. I was voting for a derby, but I got vetoed.
Andy sets Michael straight about a few things
Out fryin' turkey!
The Ping-pong Tournament Quarterfinals

The Finals
Christmas Skylarking
You've got some purty teeth!
Maggie
Banana-grams!
Reinforcements
Two Sweeties

Wait a minute... It's my Birthday?
AGAIN!?!?
With Great-Grandma Gail while picking up Rinkle
And now a post-holiday bonus:

The Supremacy of Christ in a Postmodern Word

Here's a couple of quotes from David Wells' contribution to The Supremacy of Christ in a Postmodern World. His is the first chapter.

It is no small anomaly that we have arrived at this point. How can we be so knowledgeable about the evil in the world and so innocent about sin in ourselves? Is it not strange that we who see so much tragedy through television, who are so knowledgeable of the darkness in our world, who pride ourselves on being able to stare with clear eyes and no denials at what is messy, untidy, ugly, and painful, are also those who know so little about sin in ourselves?

In this fallen world, and in their fallen lives, those who are alienated from God are a part of this age, which is now passing. It has no future and there are intimations of that in the depths of human consciousness where a tangle of contradictions lie, for we are made for meaning but find only emptiness, made as moral beings but are estranged from what is holy, made to understand but are thwarted in so many of our quests to know. These are the sure signs of a reality out of joint with itself. This is what, in fact, points to something else. these contradictions are unresolved in the absence of that age to come which is rooted in the triune God of whom Scripture speaks. He it is who not only sustains all of life, directing it all to its appointed end, but who also is the measure of what is enduringly true and right, and the fountain of all meaning, purpose, and hope.

I hope the rest of the chapters are as profound.