That’s what it’s been so far. Rain, rain, and rain, with a creamy drizzle filling. But the sun has finally come out, the temperature has risen, and it looks like I’ll have no excuse this weekend not to put on all those yard chores I’ve been putting off. Starting with mowing the lawn, which is about knee high and going to seed.

I’ve decided not to go see the new Robin Hood movie in a theater. Michael Medved hated it, and nobody else seems to like it much. Plodding, dull and grim are about the most positive comments I see. But I might have gone to see it, just for the swords, if I hadn’t found out it’s two hours and twenty minutes long.

For St. George’s sake, Hollywood–there’s no excuse for a movie to last two hours, twenty minutes! Length does not substance make. All it means is that you haven’t got the self-control to use the DELETE button on your editing machine.

A couple links. This one from Touchstone’s Mere Comments blog may interest Phil–in Scotland, a Roman Catholic historian has joined with a former newspaper editor to protest the “scandalous” lack of attention to the 450th anniversary of the Scottish Reformation.

In an interview with ENInews, Devine, a professor at Edinburgh University, said, “Two of the greatest legislative events in Scottish history are the Reformation of 1560 and the Act of Union [when the Scottish and English parliaments merged to form the Parliament of Great Britain] in 1707.

“The [300th anniversary of the] latter was almost ignored in Scotland. Now, there appears to be reluctance on the part of both the Scottish government and the Church of Scotland to mark the 450th anniversary of the Reformation, which was an event which changed the face of this country and paved the way for a Scottish enlightenment and a new relationship with England. I think this is scandalous.”

And continuing with the theme of European declension, here’s a piece by the great Mark Steyn for Maclean’s, about the increasing loss of liberty in Great Britain.

You can always rely on me to keep things bright and cheerful.

“Don’t trust or admire a man who’s passionate in his convictions about culture but passive in his convictions about Scripture.” – A Jared Wilson Tweet (via SD Smith)

The English Standard Version of the Holy Bible is now fully online.

Free access to the ESV Online is now available by signing up at www.esvonline.org. Users are able to customize their own interface, highlight and mark verse numbers, add bookmark ribbons, search the ESV text, and manage personal notes. The free version also includes a variety of daily reading plans and devotional calendars.

“If I can’t stand up and show you how the gospel is smashing my idols, you’re never going to believe this stuff is real.” Tullian Tchividjian of Coral Ridge PCA is preaching on Jesus’ sufficiency, claiming the hard truths of the gospel for himself. He says, “I never realize how reliant I had become on human approval and acceptance until it was taken away from me.” This is real Christianity.

Jesus + Nothing = Everything (Part 5) from Coral Ridge on Vimeo.

The new Christianity Today came to the library today, and I had to stop and read the cover story, by Wess Stafford of the Christian charity Compassion International.

Stafford tells a harrowing story of years of abuse in an African boarding school for the children of missionaries (if you’re not aware, the standard practice for most Western missionaries in “the bush” has traditionally been to send the children to boarding schools for months of the year). The people who ran the school, as he remembers them, were people who’d wanted to be “real” missionaries, but didn’t make the grade for one reason or another, and were dumped into the “unimportant” work of loco parentis. Stafford’s analysis was that they were embittered, and took their frustrations out on the kids. Continue reading How monsters are made →

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

I heard part of this quote in the good movie Akeelah and the Bee. Akeelah was told to read it from a framed copy on her spelling coach’s wall. They attributed it to no one, and I see that some people falsely claim it comes from Nelson Mandela. But the quote comes from a motivational speaker named Marianne Williamson in her book A Return to Love. She is extracting an idea she draws from A Course in Miracles, which is New Age self-help material from the 60s.

Having learned that, I guess I’m a little embarrassed the quote resonated with me so much. Continue reading Are We Powerful Beyond Measure? →