“In the world it is called Tolerance, but in hell it is called Despair, the sin that believes in nothing, cares for nothing, seeks to know nothing, interferes with nothing, enjoys nothing, hates nothing, finds purpose in nothing, lives for nothing, and remains alive because there is nothing for which it will die.”
- Dorothy Sayers


This quote kinda perplexes me. My first reaction was that I loved it; but now I'm not so sure...don't we all believe something, care for something, seek knowledge of something, find purpose in something...even the lost souls out there who still live under the tyranny of their own unbelief and suppression of the Truth?

Funny, I seem to remember Chunk being a little chunkier....or have the wizkids over in Hollywood 'digitally remastered' his gut?

"Impress the young convert from the very beginning with the conviction that God has called him into His kingdom to struggle with the corruptions of his heart." - William Sprague

"Faith, without trouble or fighting, is a suspicious faith; for true faith is a fighting, wrestling faith." - Ralph Erskine


Hope everyone's doing well...I take my dreaded Comprehensive Exam 10 hours from now ;) I shouldn't be blogging...but the same blasted procrastination that got me into this bind plagues me still...hark! What gives?

I had to power up my laptop to post this...Unbelievable! I'm on vacation in New Smyrna Beach, FL...sitting outside a coffee shop next to these creepy old guys (really crude type...watch all the young girls go by and make perverted comments). Anyway, a midget walked by...and one of the guys says, between cigarette puffs:

"they should put that guy on MTV...Midgets are real hot right now."

Wow.

http://www.churchsigngenerator.com/

Check this out, you can make your own church marque signs!

From Charles Haddon Spurgeon, as quoted in Pink's "The Attributes of God" on page 32.

"There is nothing for which the children [of God] ought more earnestly to contend than the doctrine of their Master over all creation--the Kingship of God over all the works of His own hands--the Throne of God and His right to sit upon that Throne. On the other hand, there is no doctrine more hated by worldlings, no truth which they have made such a football, as the great, stupendous, but yet most certain doctrine of the Sovereignty of the infinite Jehovah. Men will allow God to be everywhere but on His throne. They will allow Him to be in His workshop to fashion worlds and make stars. They will allow Him to be in His almonry to dispense His alms and bestow His bounties. They will allow Him to sustain the earth and bear up the pillars thereof, or light the lamps of heaven, or rule the waves of the ever-moving ocean; but when God ascends His throne, His creatures then gnash their teeth. And we [God's redeemed children] proclaim an enthroned God, and His right to do as He wills with His own, to dispose of His creatures as He thinks well, without consulting them in the matter; then it is that we are hissed and execrated, and then it is that men turn a deaf ear to us, for God on His throne is not the God they love But it is God upon the throne that we love to preach. It is God upon His throne whom we trust."

"Grace is not an abstract concept for us to analyze. It is not a lofty idea for us to ponder. Grace is a Person. Grace is Jesus Christ. Where Jesus is, grace is. Where grace is, Jesus is." -- The Reverend Dr. Andrew Purven (Montreat, NC)

In repsonse to overwhelming requests...I have produced a "Week's Best and Worst" list to pacify the clamoring masses and give the people what they want. Okay...so there weren't any "requests"...not even a curious, "how was your weekend Ben". But regardless, I thought I'd pass this inane info along at least so the really bored people at work who read the internet instead of doing their work can be entertained.

-*-*-*BEST*-*-*-
1) Getting back up to Montreat with the family, or more importantly...getting AWAY from Athens and Marietta.
2) Finding YUENGLING BEER at the BiLo in Black Mountain...haven't EVER seen this before in a store down south till now.
3) Having to wear a jacket at night, put on extra covers in the middle of the night...and waking up to that sweet-floral smell that every molecule of North Carolina air is saturated with [oops...I ended that sentence with a preposition...please forgive me, Jason and Anna].
4) Actually having time to relax, read, and THINK about this coming fall and the LORD's GOODNESS in preparing me for it
5) Experiencing one of the most profoundly CHRIST-CENTERED and edifying worship services I can remember attending. It was at the Montreat Assembly Hall on Sunday and the sermon was on justification...notes will be posted shortly. More and more, I think the Church Universal (at least the Church still here on earth) would be much better off if she heard more sermons on the supremely beautiful and marvelous doctrine of Justification.

-*-*-* WORST*-*-*-
1) Trying to climb a [shamefully small] mountain with my Dad and sister, only to get winded within the first 4 minutes and wake up the next morning with a bum knee and stiff back. After this and other recent bodily fiascos, I'm convinced the human body goes on "standby mode" after the 25th year...only crucial body parts/processes continue to function without intense stiffness, malfunction, and/or pain.
2) Getting back into cell service and hearing that dreaded beep that tells you of hoards of people are anxiously waiting for you to call them back (okay...I had 1 message...but still...I wasn't too thrilled to have to listen to it at the time)
3) Driving over the Sugarloaf Parkway hill on I-85 only to see miles and miles of brown, opaque smog enveloping the angry Yankee enclave people call "Atlanta".
4) Remembering that I have 74,348 pages of reading left to do before my second stint of RUF training that begins in two weeks :)
5) Having to listen to this awful GOTH music here in the coffee shop (Hot Corner, for you townies who care) while I finish this blog...I'm pretty certain I could train a spider monkey how to produce better "music" than these wailing weirdos.