Bluesman

Eric Clapton & Jimmy Page - Miles road (1965)

2012-02-19T15:49:00.002-05:00

The Byrds - Mr. Tambourine Man (1965)

2012-02-19T15:40:00.003-05:00

The Three Stooges Official Trailer #1 - Farrelly Brothers Movie (2012)

2012-02-19T14:46:00.001-05:00

A New Argument for the Existence of God

2012-02-18T11:40:00.003-05:00

You can read online James N. Anderson and Greg Welty’s paper, “The Lord of Non-Contradiction: An Argument for God from Logic,” Philosophia Christi 13:2 (2011): 321-338.
Here’s a summary:

In this paper we offer a new argument for the existence of God. We contend that the laws of logic are metaphysically dependent on the existence of God, understood as a necessarily existent, personal, spiritual being; thus anyone who grants that there are laws of logic should also accept that there is a God. We argue that if our most natural intuitions about them are correct, and if they’re to play the role in our intellectual activities that we take them to play, then the laws of logic are best construed as necessarily existent thoughts — more specifically, as divine thoughts about divine thoughts. We conclude by highlighting some implications for both theistic arguments and antitheistic arguments.

Next year Crossway will release a book from Vern Poythress that will include a similar line of argument; it’s entitled Logic: A God-Centered Approach to the Foundation of Western Thought.
Justin Taylor

Do Nothing Harry Reid

2012-02-18T11:34:00.001-05:00

Sonny Boy Williamson II - The Sky Is Crying

2012-02-18T11:31:00.002-05:00

Bob Dylan - Cold Irons Bound

2012-02-18T11:20:00.001-05:00

Blame High Gas Prices On The Government

2012-02-17T14:33:00.002-05:00

Hospitality and Generosity in Martin Luther's Home

2012-02-17T09:05:00.001-05:00

When Martin Luther (the 42-year-old former monk) married Katharina von Bora (the 26-year-old former nun), perhaps it was appropriate that they moved into the dilapidated Black Cloister, which had once housed forty monks, including Luther—who had lived there for fourteen years.
On the night of the Luther’s public wedding ceremony and celebration, Andreas Karlstadt—a frequent adversary of Luther’s—showed up at their door. He had fled the Peasants’ War and was seeking shelter. Martin invited him to hide at the Black Cloister—and Karlstadt stayed for eight more weeks!
The house was filled with the sound of children. The Luthers had six children in their first nine years of marriage—three sons, and three three daughters (one of whom died at a few months of age, another at the age of 13). And then a few years into their marriage, the Luthers took into their home the six children of Luther’s sister. They also raised Katherine’s nephew. Martin often told them stories, taught them songs and games, played melodies on his lute, and instructed them in the faith.
University students often ate and boarded there, and Luther’s letters make reference to a steady stream of guests either coming or going.
There was a waiting list for those who wanted to room and board with the Luthers—no doubt because of the stimulating theological education and conversation, but also because for many years the Luther didn’t charge anyone for room and board.
As Martin lectured and wrote and debated and preached and traveled, Katie drove the wagon, took care of the field, bought cattle and put them out to pasture, brewed beer, prepared food for the graduation banquets, rented horses, sold linen, served as Martin’s publishing agent, and often nursed him back to health during his frequent illnesses.
Luther was very generous to the poor, and refused to charge for lecturing or to accept honoraria for his writing. The dynamic soon proved unsustainable, and the Luthers struggled with debt. But God always provided. Luther once wrote:

God put fingers on our hand for the money to slide through them so He can give us more. Whatever a person gives away, God will reimburse.

Another time Luther said:

Riches are among the most trivial things on earth and the smallest gift God gives to a person.

Luther compared their poverty to the riches he had found in marriage:

My Katie is in all things so obliging and pleasing to me that I would not exchange my poverty for the riches of Croesus [sixth century B.C. king famed for his riches].

Once, when Luther thought he was dying, he wrote:

My dear son and my dear Kate. I have nothing [in worldly goods] to bequest to you, but I have a rich God. Him I leave to you. He will nourish you well.

This word proved prophetic. Luther died in 1546 at the age of 62. Katie would live seven more difficult years without many earthly goods, dying in 1552 at the age of 53. But among her final recorded words was that the desire of her heart was to “cling to Christ like a burr to a dress.”
Prosperity and money are not inherently bad, but they must be informed by the gospel. The Luthers could have made different choices, but at the end of their day, their lives are a testimony to the vision Martin so eloquently wrote about:

Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also;
The body they may kill: God’s truth abideth still,
His kingdom is forever.

Justin Taylor

Bob Dylan - Shelter from the Storm

2012-02-17T00:57:00.002-05:00

It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry (Taj Mahal) Dylan Cover

2012-02-17T00:53:00.000-05:00

Everything Is Broken (R. L. Burnside) Dylan Cover

2012-02-17T00:50:00.001-05:00

Aaron Neville--Don't Let The Devil Ride

2012-02-17T00:43:00.001-05:00

Timeless gospel song done in Aaron's unique style. From one of his most heart-felt albums of his career I KNOW I'VE BEEN CHANGED.Living legend Allen Touissaint on piano.

Billy Joe Shaver---If You Don't Love Jesus-Go To Hell

2012-02-17T00:39:00.001-05:00

If You Don't Love Jesus, Go To Hell song.Lively and provocative song by country singer, "poet laureate" Billy Joe SHAVER, he's also known as the heart of texas.. "original honky- tonk hero"Check out Paco Shipps amazing harmonica solo in this song.

50 State Movie Map

2012-02-17T00:17:00.001-05:00

Cream - Born Under A Bad Sign (Royal Albert Hall 2005)

2012-02-16T11:20:00.000-05:00

Jimi Hendrix - Born Under a Bad Sign - Instrumental

2012-02-16T11:12:00.001-05:00

Obama's Fantasy Budget

2012-02-16T09:25:00.002-05:00

Why Jesus Came

2012-02-16T09:22:00.001-05:00

Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners.

It is a very surprising thing, a thing to be marveled at most of all by those who enjoy it. I know that it is to me, even to this day, the greatest wonder that I ever heard of that God should ever justify me. I feel myself to be a lump of unworthiness, a mass of corruption, and a heap of sin apart from his almighty love. I know and am fully assured that I am justified by faith which is in Christ Jesus, and I am treated as if I had been perfectly just. . . .

Who can help being astonished at this? Gratitude for such favor stands dressed in robes of wonder.

--Charles Spurgeon, All of Grace (rev. ed.; Moody, 2010), 27; italics original
Dane Ortlund

Eric Clapton - I Got The Same Old Blues - Prince's Trust Rock Gala 2010

2012-02-15T18:10:00.001-05:00

Star Wars Travel Poster - Kessel Run Tours

2012-02-15T13:41:00.001-05:00

John Fahey - Requiem For Mississippi John Hurt

2012-02-15T09:48:00.001-05:00

The best John Fahey performance of "Requiem for Mississippi John Hurt", based on an old spiritual, "Jesus is a Dying-Bed Maker" most notable performed by Charley Patton.

Mississippi John Hurt - Blessed Be the Name

2012-02-15T09:43:00.001-05:00

Mitt Can't Get No Love

2012-02-15T09:39:00.002-05:00

Is God the Author of Sin? Jonathan Edwards’ Answer

2012-02-15T09:38:00.001-05:00

Edwards answers, “If by ‘the author of sin,’ be meant the sinner, the agent, or the actor of sin, or the doer of a wicked thing . . . it would be a reproach and blasphemy, to suppose God to be the author of sin. In this sense, I utterly deny God to be the author of sin.”
But, he argues, willing that sin exist in the world is not the same as sinning. God does not commit sin in willing that there be sin. God has established a world in which sin will indeed necessarily come to pass by God’s permission, but not by his “positive agency.”
God is, Edwards says, “the permitter . . . of sin; and at the same time, a disposer of the state of events, in such a manner, for wise, holy and most excellent ends and purposes, that sin, if it be permitted . . . will most certainly and infallibly follow.”
He uses the analogy of the way the sun brings about light and warmth by its essential nature, but brings about dark and cold by dropping below the horizon. “If the sun were the proper cause of cold and darkness,” he says, “it would be the fountain of these things, as it is the fountain of light and heat: and then something might be argued from the nature of cold and darkness, to a likeness of nature in the sun.” In other words, “sin is not the fruit of any positive agency or influence of the most High, but on the contrary, arises from the withholding of his action and energy, and under certain circumstances, necessarily follows on the want of his influence.”
Thus in one sense God wills that what he hates come to pass, as well as what he loves. Edwards says,
God may hate a thing as it is in itself, and considered simply as evil, and yet . . . it may be his will it should come to pass, considering all consequences. . . . God doesn’t will sin as sin or for the sake of anything evil; though it be his pleasure so to order things, that he permitting, sin will come to pass; for the sake of the great good that by his disposal shall be the consequence. His willing to order things so that evil should come to pass, for the sake of the contrary good, is no argument that he doesn’t hate evil, as evil: and if so, then it is no reason why he may not reasonably forbid evil as evil, and punish it as such.
This is a fundamental truth that helps explain some perplexing things in the Bible, namely, that God often expresses his will to be one way, and then acts to bring about another state of affairs.
God opposes hatred toward his people, yet ordained that his people be hated in Egypt (Genesis 12:3; Psalm 105:25—”He turned their hearts to hate his people”).
He hardens Pharaoh’s heart, but commands him to let his people go (Exodus 4:21; 5:1; 8:1).
He makes plain that it is sin for David to take a military census of his people, but he ordains that he do it (2 Samuel 24:1; 24:10).
He opposes adultery, but ordains that Absalom should lie with his father’s wives (Exodus 20:14; 2 Samuel 12:11).
He forbids rebellion and insubordination against the king, but ordained that Jeroboam and the ten tribes should rebel against Rehoboam (Romans 13:1; 1 Samuel 15:23; 1 Kings 12:15-16).
He opposes murder, but ordains the murder of his Son (Exodus 20:13; Acts 4:28).
He desires all men to be saved, but effectually calls only some (1 Timothy 2:4; 1 Corinthians 1:26-30; 2 Timothy 2:26).

What this means is that we must learn that God wills things in two different senses. The Bible demands this by the way it speaks of God’s will in different ways. Edwards uses the terms “will of decree” and “will of command.” Edwards explains:

[God's] will of decree [or sovereign will] is not his will in the same sense as his will of command [or moral will] is. Therefore it is not difficult at all to suppose that the one may be otherwise than the other: his will in both senses is his inclination. But when we say he wills virtue, or loves virtue or the happiness of his creature; thereby is intended that virtue or the creature’s happiness, absolutely and simply considered, is agreeable to the inclination of his nature. His will of decree is his inclination to a thing not as to that thing absolutely and simply, but with reference to the universality of things. So God, though he hates a things as it is simply, may incline to it with reference to the universality of things.

Justin Taylor

Joss Stone & Donna Summer - Try a Little Tenderness Live VH1 2005

2012-02-14T13:20:00.000-05:00

Robert Johnson - I'm A Steady Rollin' Man

2012-02-14T12:29:00.001-05:00

Optical Illusion or a herd of Zebras?

2012-02-14T12:19:00.001-05:00

The Serengeti is awash in zebras

Stevie Ray Vaughan- Ain't Gone 'n' Give Up On Love

2012-02-14T09:15:00.001-05:00

Why Do So Many Great Talents Die Young?

2012-02-14T09:09:00.000-05:00

Here we go again. Another superstar, one graced with undeniable talent, has spiraled out of control and met a tragic end. Whitney Houston has died at the age of 48.
Do you notice a pattern? Whether it’s the bluesy voice of Elvis Presley (dead at 42), silky smooth alto of Karen Carpenter (dead at 32), tortured genius of Kurt Cobain or soulful voice of Amy Winehouse (both dead at 27), the pattern is the same. Amazing talent brings fame and fortune which then swallows up these artists in a whirlpool of sin, addiction, and death.
Just a Cautionary Tale?
Whenever we watch these stories unfold, we are inclined to view them all as cautionary tales. Fame and fortune do not bring happiness. They had the world and lost their souls. Don’t set your heart on money or you could end up the same way.
There is indeed something to be learned from these tragedies and the horrible consequences of sin and idolatry displayed before our eyes. But considering how thousands line up for days to audition for American Idol, it seems clear that American society is not heeding the warnings. Despite the obvious unhappiness of so many celebrities, throngs of aspiring singers still clamor for the world’s accolades and for the chance to be gossiped about in sensationalist magazines.
So yes, the early death of so many talented individuals does expose the emptiness of riches and success. But there is another lesson to be learned here, and it has to do with common grace. You see, the Evil One is not content with keeping people from hearing of God’s saving grace; he also wants to steal from the world those unusual gifts of common grace.
Common Grace
Consider how people talk about Whitney Houston. They speak of her voice as being “a gift.” Her voice was a gift from God (she was born with the talent), and her voice was a gift to the world (she shared it with us).
Notice also how people use terms like “awe” and “wonder” when describing her vocal prowess. “I was in awe of her.” “Her voice was magnificent.” “She was one-of-a-kind.” These are the kinds of descriptions we attach to majestic landscapes we see in creation.
People found a certain level of joy in Houston’s talent, which is why thousands of people who never knew her personally are devastated at her demise. And once you trace back the path of joy, you wind up moving from the gift to the Giver. The language of awe points us back to a God who is truly awesome and majestic.
It’s easy to follow the path from being awed at Houston’s talent to being awed at the God who grants talent in the first place. Whenever we see people in this world whose gifts inspire wonder, we are seeing signposts that point us to the God who loves the world enough to shower us with gifts of common grace, even as His greatest expression of love is demonstrated through the blood-drenched cross of His Son.
Robbing the World of Common Grace
So why do so many of these gifted individuals perish tragically? Certainly the perils of idolatry – money, fame, power – play a role.
But there’s more. The Evil One not only hates it when people find joy in God. He also hates it when people find joy in God’s gifts. So if he can snuff out the brightest lights of common grace, he will try. And that’s one reason we see a pattern of sinful squandering, self-destructive behavior that leads to the silencing of golden voices.
Don’t get me wrong. The superstars are always complicit in their own demise. In fact, in Houston’s case, she confessed that her sinful struggle with drugs was caused by her own heart. In a candid interview in 2002, Diane Sawyer listed a number of drugs and asked Houston which one was “the biggest devil” for her. Houston’s response?

“That would be me. It’s my deciding. It’s my heart. It’s what I want and what I don’t want. Nobody makes me do anything I don’t want to do. It’s my decision. The biggest devil is me.”

It’s an honest confession, and one that reminds us how intertwined are the causes of temptation (Satan and self). Houston’s story also reminds us that – just like in the story of the prodigal son – sin leads to the squandering of the Father’s good gifts. The Evil One is not content merely to hold people in spiritual bondage and lead them to hell. He wants to diminish even the contributions they make to the common grace we benefit from in society.
The Takeaway
So remember, sin always affects more than the individual who commits the offense. And that’s true for you and me too. Whenever we sin, we are consciously or unconsciously affecting those around us.
A pastor who fails morally is stealing more than another man’s wife. He is also robbing those around him of the opportunity to benefit from the particular gifts God has given to him. Satan loves for people – Christian and non-Christian alike – to squander good gifts from above and deprive the world of the joy of common grace.
That’s why the bright lights of common grace go dark before their time. It’s also why Satan wants to render ineffective in the church the gifts of those who have tasted God’s saving grace. Beauty is anathema to the Evil One, because all goodness and beauty finds its source in God.
Hope
The good news, of course, is that for the Christian, “greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world.” There’s no need for any Christian to serve as a cautionary tale. Nor do we need to be an example of Satan’s thievery of the gifts we contribute to Christ’s church. We hope in the One who has conquered sin and death and lavished His grace and gifts upon His children.
Trevin Wax

Lucas did not think about the ramifications..

2012-02-14T00:22:00.001-05:00

A Tribute to Stevie Ray Vaughan (1996) - Eric Clapton - Ain't Gone 'N' Give Up On Love

2012-02-14T00:01:00.001-05:00

Linsanity: Something To Believe In?

2012-02-13T22:34:00.000-05:00

If you’re a sports fan, you’ve likely written off the NBA season because of its late start due to a collective bargaining dispute. Or maybe, like me, you’ve never been that interested in the NBA in the first place. Still, that hasn’t stopped me from hearing about the Knicks’ new point guard, Jeremy Lin. If you’re a fan of The Waterboy (guilty as charged), you’ll like this story. If you’re a fan of Tim Tebow, buckle up.A Harvard grad who received league honors from his sophomore season on, but toiled in relative obscurity in the Ivy League, Lin was initially signed by the Golden State Warriors. As a native of Palo Alto, he received heavy media attention and quickly became a fan favorite before even stepping on the court. Soon though, Lin found himself playing for the Warriors’ D-league (the NBA Developmental League is the equivalent to baseball’s minor leagues) affiliate, the Reno Bighorns. When the NBA lockout began in December, he became a casualty in the fight to free up more money to snag other, more skilled and seasoned, players. Lin seemed to earn a second chance when the Houston Rockets brought him on board, but within two weeks, he found himself team-less once again. Enter New York.The Knicks, who have been a laughing stock of the NBA this millennium, signed Lin on December 27. The Knicks haven’t won an NBA Championship since 1973, and since the departure of my fellow Hoya Patrick Ewing in 2000, have found themselves in a painful decline. Even during this Reader’s Digest version of the NBA season, the Knicks haven’t disappointed their critics: from January 12 to the month’s end, the Knicks’ record was 2-10, despite the recent acquisitions of hyped All-Star players Carmelo Anthony and Amar’e Stoudemire. Having scored zero points on only three shots with the Knicks to that point, in last Saturday’s match-up against the New Jersey Nets, Lin had a break-out performance, scoring 25 points in 36 minutes of play.

In the next game, against the Utah Jazz, Lin put up 28. In Washington, DC, against the Wizards, he added another 23. The term “Linsanity” began making the rounds in the blogosphere, and Knicks were all of a sudden on a “Linning” streak. The Knicks had hope, unemployment was down, all was right in the Lin-iverse. Then came the Lakers. Basketball analysts cautioned that Friday’s game against the Lakers would put Lin and his Knicks to the test. Before the game itself, Kobe Bryant confessed he didn’t know much (or anything) about Lin. En route to the Knicks win, Lin scored a career-high 38 points. This streak amounted to the most points scored in a player’s first four starts since the NBA-ABA merger. More than Jordan. More than LeBron. More than anyone.Considering his journey and our “I-told-you-so” zeitgeist, Lin has every reason to tout his talents, fill Twitter feeds with his questions about which car or home to buy, and succumb to the pressures and temptations of professional sports. Instead, he says, “I am not saying I am better than anybody else, but I am going to try to live the way I have always lived and try not to change just because I am in the NBA.” So, he continues to post Bible verses on his Twitter feed. He sleeps on his brother’s couch. When asked about poor performance early in the game against the Wizards, Lin admitted, “I came out a little slow, came out a little flat…you’re right.” His humility, likely the result of tempering disappointments and quality mentoring, is refreshing. My favorite Lin quote came from an article about him in Christian Post. When asked about being cut from the Warriors, Lin responded, It was really tough for me at the time but I just tried to hold on to a lot of the stuff in the Bible that God gives to trust, have joy in the sufferings, and trust in his perfect plan. That’s what I tried my best to do and I’m thankful the way things turned out.Unsurprisingly, in the last couple of days, the Tebow comparisons have been piling up. According to People.com, Lin aspires to become a pastor or work in the non-profit sector. Like Tebow, Lin experienced significant success as a college athlete but has struggled, until recently, as a professional. In their experiences with failure and doubt, both have developed a vision of the Gospel that submits to a crucified Christ. They know pain. They know defeat. And yet, when they win, little about their vision changes. The miracle of all this is that in victory, pride takes a backseat to humility. We want vengeance, and instead, they give thanks. For them, win or lose, it’s all ad maiorem Dei gloriam.Will the Tebow comparisons continue? Most definitely. Even Lin has admitted that he looks up to Tebow. At this moment, however, it’s Lin’s time and he deserves some time in the Lin-light. My shameless addition? You bet.
Mockingbird

Eric Clapton - Mark Knopfler - Same old blues

2012-02-13T22:27:00.001-05:00

Why God Almost Drove Me to Despair

2012-02-13T22:09:00.000-05:00

John Newton:

I asked the Lord that I might grow
In faith, and love, and every grace;
Might more of His salvation know,
And seek, more earnestly, His face.
‘Twas He who taught me thus to pray,
And He, I trust, has answered prayer!
But it has been in such a way,
As almost drove me to despair.
I hoped that in some favored hour,
At once He’d answer my request;
And by His love’s constraining pow’r,
Subdue my sins, and give me rest.
Instead of this, He made me feel
The hidden evils of my heart;
And let the angry pow’rs of hell
Assault my soul in every part.
Yea more, with His own hand He seemed
Intent to aggravate my woe;
Crossed all the fair designs I schemed,
Blasted my gourds, and laid me low.
Lord, why is this, I trembling cried,
Wilt thou pursue thy worm to death?
“‘Tis in this way, the Lord replied,
I answer prayer for grace and faith.
These inward trials I employ,
From self, and pride, to set thee free;
And break thy schemes of earthly joy,
That thou may’st find thy all in Me.

Indelible Grace - I Asked The Lord

This hymn was written as a testament to a difficult time in John Newton's life. He and his friend William Cowper had embarked on a project that was to become the Olney Hymns Collection, but not long into the project, Cowper went insane.Newton wrote that it seemed as though God was going out of his way to make life difficult for him then realized that even through adversity, God continues to work.
Justin Taylor

Sweetheart By the Juliets with Lyrics

2012-02-12T14:17:00.000-05:00

Dave Brubeck - Take The 'A' Train - 1966

2012-02-12T14:14:00.002-05:00

Oscar Peterson- Bach's Blues

2012-02-12T14:11:00.001-05:00

Sweater Vests Aren't Bulletproof

2012-02-12T14:06:00.001-05:00

The Juliets - Hey Stars

2012-02-10T17:27:00.001-05:00

This is my oldest son's band. Jeremy wrote the song and plays piano.

The Only Thing Planned Parenthood Plans

2012-02-10T08:12:00.001-05:00

Eric Clapton - While my guitar gently weeps (HQ)(Concert for George)

2012-02-10T08:02:00.001-05:00

Bon Jovi, Glory, and Playing it Safe

2012-02-10T07:53:00.001-05:00

Bon Jovi:

It's my life
It's now or never
I ain't gonna live forever

The Apostle Paul:

Your life is hidden with Christ in God. (Col 3:3)

If the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. (2 Cor 5:2)

To those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. (Rom 2:7)

Each of us rolled out of bed this morning in pursuit of one of these visions of reality or the other. Either this life is my shot at joy and glory, or the next is. No third option.

But it is easy to contrast Bon Jovi's expression of the world's pursuit of glory with the Bible's without recognizing what is so wonderfully right about it.

Jon Bon Jovi is made in the image of God. There is a quest for glory in him that in his fallenness is diseased and thus self-directed, but the healing of that fallen impulse is not to cut off all pursuit of glory but to redirect it from Self to Christ.

Bon Jovi doesn't want to sludge his way through life. He wants to matter. As he should. Life is frighteningly short and he wants to seize the moment. Even, in his own twisted way, redeem the time. He eschews normalcy.

For you believers who want to play it safe--just make it through life offending as few people as possible, being liked, not stepping on toes, not bothering anyone and not being bothered--you have something to learn from Jon Bon Jovi.

Regeneration is a change from glory-in-self pursuit to glory-in-Christ pursuit, not a change from glory-in-self pursuit to no pursuit of glory at all.
Dane Ortlund

Norah Jones (with Wynton Marsalis) - You Don't Know Me

2012-02-10T01:06:00.002-05:00

Wonderful songFrom the DVD "Willie Nelson & Wynton Marsalis play the music of Ray Charles, with special guest Norah Jones".

Jimmy Smith-Wes Montgomery - Baby it's cold outside

2012-02-10T01:03:00.001-05:00

Jimmy Smith (B-3 organ); Wes Montgomery (guitar): Grady Tate (drums) - The Dynamic Duo (1966)

Do I Look Like An Idiot?

2012-02-10T00:51:00.001-05:00

Jim Elliot Was Killed (1956) and God turned it around for good

2012-02-09T12:02:00.001-05:00

January 8th in 1956, five missionaries to the Auca indians in Ecuador were killed. Their deaths brought a sudden end to the project they called “Operation Auca,” but the tragedy became a defining moment in the history of evangelical missions. Hundreds of young people were inspired to take up missionary work, thousands were moved to deeper commitment to Christ, and millions of dollars in resources were mobilized. And the work with the Aucas went on, too.
In the headline, I name only Jim Elliot, the most famous of the group. While the other four men on the team (Nate Saint, Ed McCully, Peter Fleming, and Roger Youderian) were all important to the work and have all received commemoration and attention (they all have Wikipedia pages, if that’s a good index of status in 2009), Elliot has somehow stood out from the group. Why? It may be that Elliot had that certain something as part of his personality, a charisma or magnetism or star power. But I think there’s another reason: Jim Elliot and his widow Elisabeth were unusually articulate. They had words on the tips of their tongues and were able to give a compelling account of why they were doing what they were doing.
Start with Jim Elliot’s most famous statement, written in his journal in 1949: “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.”
It explained, in advance, how Elliot had thought through the relative value of the most important things in life. The sentence sprang from Bible study (Luke 16:9), was honed by personal meditation, and aimed at obedience. It’s one small example of how Elliot had words ready to explain his actions.
And that one saying is not all; his diaries are filled with passages which would do just as well to sum up his service:

One treasure, a single eye, and a sole master. (1948)
God, I pray Thee, light these idle sticks of my life and may I burn for Thee. Consume my life, my God, for it is Thine. I seek not a long life, but a full one, like you, Lord Jesus. (1948)
Saturate me with the oil of the Spirit that I may be aflame. But flame is often short-lived. Canst thou bear this, my soul? Short life? In me there dwells the spirit of the Great Short-Lived, whose zeal for God’s house consumed Him. ‘Make me Thy fuel, Flame of God.’ (1948)
As your life is in His hands, so are the days of your life. But don’t let the sands of time get into the eye of your vision to reach those who sit in darkness. They simply must hear. (1948)
I must not think it strange if God takes in youth those whom I would have kept on earth till they were older. God is peopling Eternity, and I must not restrict Him to old men and women. (1950)
The will of God is always a bigger thing than we bargain for. (1952)

Jim Elliot knew what he was about, and knew how to explain it. That’s what sets him apart as a martyr: He testified so well. Remember that the greek word martyr originally meant “somebody who testifies.” What caused its meaning to change into “somebody who dies for a cause?” The word took on that new meaning when the early church, under persecution, brought forth a large number of people who were so good at standing for what they believed in that their message became clear to the whole ancient world: they testified themselves to death; they witnessed mortally; they underwent death by testimony, and their testimony was heard.
One last reason for Jim Elliot’s special prominence over the years since his death: Elisabeth Elliot, his widow, had the same gift of communication. In fact, she seems to have had vastly more of it than Jim did. The year of the team’s martyrdom, Elisabeth wrote Through Gates of Splendor, the massively influential account of the mission. It is an impassioned and exceptional book. A book written under such remarkable circumstances, by somebody personally involved in the events, would be worth reading even if it had little literary merit. You could justify it by saying that in the absence of a real author, it is still worth having the story told by somebody who is not quite up to the task. But Through Gates of Splendor is genuinely well written. In it, Elisabeth Elliot succeeds in speaking for the whole mission team and setting before the whole listening world the inner reasons for what they did. And two years later, Elliot brought out Shadow of the Almighty: The Life and Testament of Jim Elliot, which is even better. Note that it covers his life and also his testament: what he did and what he said. In Shadow, Elisabeth quotes directly from Jim’s journals as much as possible, but her own voice is strong and clear throughout it.
In the Epilogue of Shadow of the Almighty, Elisabeth Elliot culls from Jim’s journals some of the quotations I printed above. She notes that after Jim’s death these sentences were all “fraught with new meaning,” and that “to them I can add nothing.” But of course she did add something. She added hundreds of pages that were necessary if the inner meaning of the team’s sacrifice was ever going to be spoken clearly and understood by many.
Scriptoriumdaily

The Beach Boys - California Girls

2012-02-09T11:58:00.001-05:00

American girls charted by the Beach Boys from "I Wish They All Could be California Girls"

2012-02-09T11:50:00.001-05:00

BB King & Eric Clapton - The Thrill Is Gone

2012-02-09T11:42:00.000-05:00

Private Concert at White House. Oct 23th, 1999.

Oscar Peterson - Night Train

2012-02-09T11:32:00.001-05:00

Luther On how we make Christ Good For Nothing

2012-02-08T09:27:00.001-05:00

I’m two weeks into a new sermon series on Galatians that I’ve entitled Free at Last. And I dare say that there is no other commentary on Galatians that is better or more important than Martin Luther’s. Galatians, according to Luther, is the “Magna Carta of Christian Freedom.” It is, he said, “my Katharina von Bora”, referring to his beloved wife. Luther’s commentary is not just a groundbreaking commentary on Galatians, it is one of the most important books ever written on the Gospel.
One of my favorite sections is when he writes on how to answer the Accuser:

Paul does not say that works are objectionable, but to build one’s hopes for righteousness on works is disastrous, for that makes Christ good for nothing. Let us bear this in mind when the devil accuses our conscience. When that dragon accuses us of having done no good at all, say to him, “You trouble me with the remembrance of my past sins; you remind me that I have done no good. But this does not bother me, because if I were to trust in my own good deeds, or despair because I have done no good deeds, Christ would profit me neither way. I am not going to make Him unprofitable to me. This I would do if I should presume to purchase for myself the favor of God by my good deeds or if I should despair of my salvation because of my sins.”

This reminds me of my favorite hymn line:

Well may the accuser roar, of sins that I have done; I know them all and thousands more, Jehovah knoweth none!

Tullian Tchividjian

Booker T & The MG's - Green Onions

2012-02-08T01:37:00.000-05:00

One of the greatest instrumentals of all time.Booker T. & the M.G.'s is an instrumental R&B band that was influential in shaping the sound of southern soul and Memphis soul. Original members of the group were Booker T. Jones (organ, piano), Steve Cropper (guitar), Lewie Steinberg (bass), and Al Jackson, Jr. (drums). In the 1960s, as members of the house band of Stax Records, they played on hundreds of recordings by artists such as Wilson Pickett, Otis Redding, Bill Withers, Sam & Dave, Carla and Rufus Thomas and Johnnie Taylor. They also released instrumental records under their own name, such as the 1962 hit single "Green Onions"

Eddie Floyd - Knock On Wood

2012-02-08T01:32:00.002-05:00

MUSTANG SALLY - WILSON PICKETT.

2012-02-08T01:15:00.001-05:00

If celebrities were ordinary Americans

2012-02-08T01:09:00.001-05:00

The California Raisins - Ain't Too Proud to Beg

2012-02-08T00:55:00.001-05:00

The Homeland Security Snow-Cone Machine - Fighting Terrorism In Michigan

2012-02-07T14:42:00.002-05:00

Every time you think "homeland security" can't get more ridiculous, it gets more ridiculous.
There have been plenty of examples already showing that large amounts of your tax money supposedly earmarked for the "War on Terror" end up getting used for purposes that are, shall we say, less than mission-critical. Back in 2006, we learned that $25 million in homeland-security money had been handed out in just one grant program with no controls at all, which resulted in $77,000 going to local fire departments to fund "puppet and clown shows," and another $22,000 for an "educational robot." An Indiana county got in trouble for using its $300,000 Electronic Emergency Message Boards, intended to notify the public about things like evacuation routes, to advertise the volunteer fire department's charity fish fry. This is just the local stuff, not counting the umpteen billions spent on naked scanners that don't do any good.
Also, the war in Iraq.
Still, it is something special when a homeland-security grant is used to buy a snow-cone machine.

This'll refresh those terrorist bastards.
(Picture: Daily News/Elisabeth Waldon)

Actually, thirteen snow-cone machines, one for every county in Michigan Homeland Security Region 6. Region 6, as you almost certainly don't know, covers 13 counties in western Michigan including Clare, Isabella, Montcalm, Muskegon, Newaygo, and other areas also near the very top of al-Qaeda's hit list. According to the Greenville Daily News, the Board of Commissioners in Montcalm noted that they had been presented with a snow-cone machine, and while they probably appreciated this unexpected gift, they did inquire as to whether the $900 treat-maker was an appropriate use of homeland-security dollars. (Apparently, another county - anonymous for now - requested the machine, and somebody thought that was such a good idea that all 13 counties got one.)
The Daily News was able to confirm that the the snow-cone machines were funded by a grant from the Michigan Homeland Security Program, but nobody seems to have had a good answer for the "appropriate use" question, surprisingly enough. Two ways to go in that situation: (1) admit it was a mistake or a bad decision, and fix it; or (2) insist that yes, there is an entirely valid purpose for incorporating an Arctic Blast Sno-Cone machine into your anti-terrorism plan.

“It is used to attract people so they can be educated and prepared for homeland security,” [Sandeep] Dey said from his office in Muskegon. “More importantly, they (homeland security officials) felt in a medical emergency the machine was capable of making ice packs which could be used for medical purposes.”

You didn't really think anybody would pick Option One, did you?
Dey is the executive director of the West Michigan Shoreline Regional Development Commission, which oddly is in charge of Homeland Security Region 6. He did not dream up these explanations just now, though, because they are the same ones contained in the state grant program's "Allowable Cost Justification" form that was filed back in May. According to the Daily News, that document (which sadly was not available online) says the machines would be used to "make ice to prevent heat-related illnesses during emergencies, treat injuries and provide snow cones as an outreach at promotional events."
The director did try to do a little damage control, apparently feeling a little heat-related stress himself at that point. "He said the ... request would not have been granted by itself, but was approved because it came with other homeland security equipment." I'm not sure what that means. Maybe with every dozen radiation detectors you buy, they throw in a free snow-cone machine? Dey also contended, evidently, that they are budget-conscious and making the hard choices, saying that "one county requested a popcorn machine, but that request was denied." Because that would just be ridiculous.
"I don't like the term 'snow-cone machine,' because it sounds horrible," said Montcalm County Emergency Services Director David Feldpausch about the term that appears right on the side of the machine. "When you look at it as an ice-shaving machine and its purpose, it makes a little more sense." With Option Two thus in full effect, Feldpausch had one more argument. According to the report, "Feldpausch [also] said the machine could be useful at the scene of a large fire."
To be fair, I don't think he meant to be taken literally there. Obviously you'd have to combine the full power of all 13 Arctic Blast Ice-Shaving Anti-Terror Machines to deal with a really large fire. The good news is that Region 6 is now equipped to handle that. And terrorism.
loweringthebar.net

King Eider - Simply Beautiful - Yeah I Don't Think That Happened By Random Chance

2012-02-07T14:30:00.000-05:00

The male King Eider (Somateria spectabilis) is a large and gorgeous seaduck from the Arctic coasts of northeast Europe, North America and Asia.

The Super Bowl halftime show reveals our inconsistent standards of decency

2012-02-07T14:24:00.001-05:00

22 words

Time To laugh - What About Bob Clips

2012-02-07T14:19:00.000-05:00

Al Green - Lets Stay Together

2012-02-07T14:17:00.001-05:00

I never get tired of Al Green

Ferris Bueller commercial and the original — A scene-by-scene comparison

2012-02-06T13:45:00.001-05:00

One of AkooTV's very talented (and sleep-deprived) editors had some fun with the new Ferris Bueller Honda ad playing during the Super Bowl. His reward? A day off of course.

While We Were Still Sinners

2012-02-06T13:39:00.001-05:00

Edwards, preaching on Romans 5:8 to the Stockbridge Indians in February 1752, 260 years ago this month:

Christ loved us when there was no loveliness to draw his love. There was nothing attractive in us. All was repulsive. We had nothing amiable or any way desirable in us. All was abominable to his pure eyes.

But Christ has infinite loveliness to win and draw our love. He is the brightness of God's glory. He is the bright and morning star in the spiritual firmament.

He is more excellent than the angels of heaven. He is among them for amiable and divine beauty, as the sun is among the stars. In beholding his beauty, the angels do day and night entertain and feast their souls and in celebrating of it do they continually employ their praises. Nor yet have the songs of angels ever declared all the excellency of Jesus Christ, for it is beyond their songs and beyond the thoughts of those bright intelligencies to reach it. That blessed society above has been continually employed in this work of meditating on and describing the beauty and amiableness of the Son of God, but they have never yet nor ever will comprehend it fully or declare it.

--Jonathan Edwards, 'The Dying Love of Christ,' in The Blessing of God: Previously Unpublished Sermons of Jonathan Edwards (ed. M. McMullen; B&H, 2003), 292
Dane Ortlund

The Band - "The Weight" on The Late Show 1-3-95

2012-02-06T13:35:00.000-05:00

The Black Crowes - Feelin' Alright Live @ The Pageant (Joe Cocker Cover)

2012-02-06T13:26:00.002-05:00

Eric Metaxas at the National Prayer Breakfast

2012-02-06T12:16:00.001-05:00

Eric Metaxas, author of a biography of Wilberfoce and the #1 NYT bestseller, Bonhoeffer, recently addressed the National Prayer Breakfast, with his trademark humor sharing his testimony and lessons learned from Bonhoeffer.As Denny Burk notes, “He had some serious and prophetic words about the humanity of the unborn. He even spoke about having a biblical view of sexuality. All of this with the President sitting just a few feet away. This was a courageous talk delivered with winsomeness and joy.”

Eric Clapton - Rollin and Tumblin - Unplugged

2012-02-05T17:11:00.002-05:00

Eric Clapton - Walkin Blues - Unplugged

2012-02-05T17:09:00.000-05:00

Eric Clapton MTV Unplugged 1992

Al Green-How Can You Mend A Broken Heart.wmv

2012-02-05T17:03:00.001-05:00

How I Arrived At My Super Bowl Pick

2012-02-04T17:18:00.001-05:00

Being a Lions fan has meant having other teams to root for when it comes playoff time. The Lions made the playoffs but were out in the first round. So who to pick for the Super bowl? Let me share a little of my logic for picking other teams. As a general rule I hate all Boston teams. Celtics, Bruins, Red Sox and Patriots. I do like Tom Brady because he played for Michigan. As a general rule I hate all New York teams, Yankees, Rangers, Knicks (although I once rooted for them when they had Willis Reed to win the title) and the Giants. So even though I hate both teams other factors have to apply. I don't like coach Belichick, but coach Coughlin is OK. I could go on but you get the idea. For this game it has come down to a simple truth, NFC over AFC. The Lions are a NFC team so my loyalty for this game rests with the NFC Giants. My pick is Giants 27 Pats 24. Thank God its not the 49's VS Ravens. That would take a much longer explanation.

Clarence Gatemouth Brown, Chris Thomas King - When You Got A Good Friend (2001)

2012-02-04T12:15:00.002-05:00

Levon Helm - "Blues So Bad"

2012-02-04T12:09:00.001-05:00

Trumped!

2012-02-04T11:16:00.001-05:00

Christ is Grace

2012-02-04T11:01:00.001-05:00

Bryan Chapell, commenting on the phrase 'the grace of God has appeared' in Titus 2:11:

Grace is not some abstract doctrine or theological construct. Grace comes as Christ does. Grace is as personal as he is. In fact, Christ is grace. The unmerited favor of God is what Jesus is about, but it is also who he is. We should thus see grace as a personal action by a personal God who saved us from our helpless condition out of pure love.

--R. Kent Hughes and Bryan Chapell, 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus: Guard the Good Deposit (Crossway 2000), 339

Larry McCray - Miss You - Songs of Eric Clapton - This Ain't No Tribute

2012-02-03T17:22:00.000-05:00

Dion - Tank Full Of Blues

2012-02-03T11:27:00.001-05:00

From Dion's new CD - Tank Full Of Blues

Bob Margolin, Pinetop Pekins - Kind Hearted Woman Blues (2001)

2012-02-03T01:20:00.001-05:00

Calvin and Hobbes - Is There A God?

2012-02-03T01:15:00.000-05:00

Nick Saban and the Doctrine of Imputation

2012-02-03T01:10:00.000-05:00

At a wedding shower for my wife and me, the hosts played a game where they asked us both the same questions about one another to test how well we knew each other going into marriage. With my wife out of the room, they asked me who my favorite superhero was. I quickly responded, “Nick Saban.” As the game went, my wife was brought into the room and asked the same questions about me. When asked who she thought my favorite superhero was, she immediately replied, “That’s easy. Nick Saban.”

It’s true: I’m pretty much obsessed with Nick Saban. On January 3, 2007, lying prostrate before the television, I came to tears when ESPN announced that Saban would accept the position as head coach of my beloved Alabama Crimson Tide. Thirty-three wins, two SEC West Titles, one SEC Title, and a BCS National Title later, my epic man-crush has done nothing but grow. I beam when I hear the man’s name.

Anyone with an objective, discerning mind reasonably may ask why I, a youth minister, adore a man that CNN rated the ninth most hated man in sports in 2009. Let’s be honest, outside of his success in football, Nick Saban is best known for his tendencies to humiliate journalists, never smile, and berate players and officials. Many people- especially journalists- would describe Saban as a jerk.

With that being said, I literally would beam with joy if Coach Saban called me tomorrow to come to his house to shovel dog mess and scrub his bathrooms with a toothbrush. My obsession knows no end.

The easy explanation to why I adore Nick Saban is the Christian doctrine of imputation. Really? Let me explain. On a recent trip to Texas, I had a swagger in my step that certainly would not have existed in the dismal Shula era, pre-Saban. Each day, I wore the most flagrantly obnoxious Alabama gear I could find. I was in the territory of our latest victim, the Texas Longhorns, whom Alabama toppled to secure their most recent national title. And when people in Texas asked where we were from, I couldn’t help myself, I had to say, “Alabama, home of the national champions.”

Even though, I am a slow, middle-class, unathletic, weak, average youth minister, I am a freakin’ national champion in my warped reality, when I don my worn, mesh Alabama hat. I have contributed absolutely nothing to attain this status. Nick Saban, his staff, and some unbelievably athletic and committed young men worked endless hours and performed in an exceptional manner to win fourteen straight games, including the BCS National Championship Game in Pasadena. Through the efforts of these men, I have been given the status as national champion (in my mind), in spite of the fact that I added nothing to their cause.

This, my friends, is the nature of the doctrine of imputation, one of the most critical concepts in Christianity: the accomplishment of one person is credited to another. Christ lived a perfect life and died on the cross, not just to forgive our sins, but to give us new identities. In spite of the fact that we make no contribution whatsoever.

I have one more month to enjoy my inherited status as the national champion until college football kicks off in early September. Thanks be to God, my status as a son of God will last through the Fall and into eternity.

Mockingbird

Only God remained, and to God they turned

2012-02-02T15:08:00.001-05:00

“In Kiev, where I found myself on a Sunday morning, on an impulse I turned into a church where a service was in progress. It was packed tight, but I managed to squeeze myself against a pillar whence I could survey the congregation and look up at the altar. Young and old, peasants and townsmen, parents and children, even a few in uniform – it was a variegated assembly. . . . Never before or since have I participated in such worship; the sense conveyed of turning to God in great affliction was overpowering. Though I could not, of course, follow the service, I knew from Klavdia Lvovna little bits of it; for instance, where the congregation say there is no help for them save from God. What intense feeling they put into these words! In their minds, I knew, as in mine, was a picture of those desolate abandoned villages, the hunger and the hopelessness, the cattle trucks being loaded with humans in the dawn light. Where were they to turn for help? Not to the Kremlin . . ., nor to the forces of progress and democracy in the West. . . . Every possible human agency found wanting. So, only God remained, and to God they turned with a passion, a dedication, a humility, impossible to convey. They took me with them; I felt closer to God then than I ever had before, or am likely to again.”
Malcolm Muggeridge, Chronicles of Wasted Time: The Green Stick (New York, 1982), pages 258-259.
Ray Ortlund

Robert Lockwood Jr. and Carey Bell - I m A Steady Rollin Man (2001)

2012-02-02T14:36:00.001-05:00

The Difference Between Washington and Holder

2012-02-02T14:33:00.001-05:00

Taj Mahal - Cross road blues (2001) Songs Of Robert Johnson

2012-02-01T14:51:00.001-05:00

HELLHOUND ON MY TRAIL was nominated for the 2002 Grammy Award for Best Traditional Blues Album.

Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown - Ventilator Blues (Rolling Stones) Cover

2012-02-01T14:47:00.003-05:00

Blues musician Clarence "Gatemouth Brown" covers the Jagger/Richards song from Exile on Main Street. This also features New Orleans slide guitarist Sonny Landreth.

Larry Carlton and Robben Ford together jamming!!

2012-02-01T10:02:00.001-05:00

Global Warming True Believers

2012-02-01T09:29:00.000-05:00

Are You A Smuggler?

2012-02-01T09:25:00.001-05:00

Answer: Yes, you are a smuggler.
…..
Psalm 62:2 says, “He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be greatly shaken.”
…..
He only…
If you are anything like me, and you are (because you are human), you do not fully believe that He only is your rock and salvation. We all smuggle something else into the equation. For example, I may say that He only is my rock and salvation, but really it’s He + me being a good dad. Or, it could be He + being able to pay my bills (+ knowing the future… + having a husband/wife… + having your dream job, etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc). We are master smugglers. We smuggle in anything and everything into the He only equation, and thereby rob ourselves of experiencing the only great treasure – God Himself. So, if you recognize you are a smuggler, pray like David did in Ps. 61:2, “Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.” Repent of your additions and ask God to give you a heart that treasures Christ alone.
Its a Beautiful Gospel

Luther Allison - You Can't Always Get What You Want

2012-01-31T15:21:00.001-05:00

Super Bowl Question - Wheres Peyton?

2012-01-31T15:11:00.000-05:00

Demi Moore’s Deepest Fear

2012-01-31T00:38:00.001-05:00

Are you insecure? Hate your body? Fear the sheer unknown-ness of your future? Lay awake wondering if you’ll end up alone? Would it help if your father was a famous race-car driver? And if you’d been married to the bassist for one of the biggest bands of the 1980s and were now married to the guitarist for a big indie rock band? What if you turned a career as an actor into a career as a sought-after photographer? And you had three attractive kids. And you were rich and beautiful?
Not enough? Let’s try another route. What if you were not only rich and beautiful, you had been married to two of the most famous actors in Hollywood? What if you had made millions in movies, at one time being one of the highest paid in your field? What if you had homes in resort areas in Idaho, California, and Maine? And what if you also did all kinds of great charity work for some really worthy causes? Would that help?
Apparently not. Amanda de Cadenet (the first person described above) and Demi Moore (no introduction needed) recently announced plans for a TV interview show called The Conversation, to air this spring on Lifetime. The origin of the show? De Cadenet “looked around and saw women in the media who looked like they were doing it all perfectly, and I thought, ‘Well, I’m not doing it perfectly. Where are the women like me? Why isn’t anyone being honest?’”
To promote the show, Demi and Amanda discussed their lives in this month’s Bazaar. Their candid revelations strike a nerve. Talk about honesty!
Here’s one exchange:

DM: All right, so what scares you?
ADC: Infidelity scares me. It scares me when it happens to my friends; it scares me that it’s going to happen to me. And I’m scared of dishonesty. I just really don’t know what to do when people are dishonest. It is alarming to me.
DM: What does it mean to you?
ADC: It’s like an ultimate fear, you know. Of being rejected, of being betrayed. I guess dishonesty and betrayal. Those are the things I’m afraid I wouldn’t recover from.

And here’s a scorchingly self-revelatory response from Demi:

And I think there is no way to reach your fullest potential if you don’t really find the love of yourself. If I were to answer it just kind of bold-faced, I would say what scares me is that I’m going to ultimately find out at the end of my life that I’m really not lovable, that I’m not worthy of being loved. That there’s something fundamentally wrong with me (emphasis added).

So people that have achieved enormous wealth, fame, and power—the cool kids in the high school cafeteria of life—are terrified that they are unloved.
The sentiment itself—the fear of unworthiness—is not uncommon. We’ve heard things like this before. The surprise is that these feelings are coming from people so successful. They’ve attained all the things we relentlessly chase in order to keep our insecurities away. They’ve got the full array of things one needs to justify oneself, to say “I matter!” But the fear only gets worse. The two women go on about their connection to a vague and undefined Spirituality, and how that takes the edge off. But for the most part, they’re still stuck in their fears.
I, for one, need more than Spirituality. I need the One who while I was dead in my trespasses, made me alive (Ephesians 2:5). I need the One who takes away my unworthiness and grounds me in the Unshakable. I need the Friend of Sinners. What was it that he said? Oh, yes. “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest” (Jesus in Matthew 11:28).
That’s a message that never gets old. And I hope Amanda and Demi get to hear it.
(And in a totally non-ironic way, pray for Ms. Moore, who just checked into rehab.)
Mockingbird

Junior Wells - You Don't Love Me, Baby

2012-01-31T00:17:00.000-05:00

Buddy Guy & Junior Wells - Stormy Monday Blues

2012-01-31T00:12:00.002-05:00

John Mayall - Key to Love - With Eric Clapton

2012-01-31T00:09:00.000-05:00

Eric Clapton - Five Long Years (Live In Hyde Park 1996)

2012-01-30T09:37:00.001-05:00

To The Moon Newt, To The Moon

2012-01-30T09:33:00.000-05:00

Our Fatal Love Affair with the Law

2012-01-30T09:29:00.001-05:00

Grace cannot prevail until law is dead, until moralizing is out of the game . . . until our fatal love affair with the law is over--until, finally and for good, our lifelong certainty that someone is keeping score has run out of steam and collapsed. As long as we leave, in our dramatizations of grace, one single hope of a moral reckoning, one possible recourse to salvation by bookkeeping, our freedom-dreading hearts will clutch it to themselves.

Restore to us, Preacher, the comfort of merit and demerit. Prove for us that there is at least something we can do, that we are still, at whatever dim recess of our nature, the masters of our relationships. Tell us, Prophet, that in spite of all our nights of losing, there will yet be one redeeming card of our very own. . . . But do not preach us grace. It will not do to split the pot evenly at 4 a.m. and break out the Chivas Regal. We insist on being reckoned with. Give us something, anything; but spare us the indignity of this indiscriminate acceptance.

Lord, let your servants depart in the peace of their responsibility. If it is not too much to ask, send us to bed with some few shreds of self-respect to congratulate ourselves upon. But if that is too hard, leave us at least the consolation of our self-loathing. Only do not force us free. What have we ever done but try as best we could? How have we so hurt you, even by failing, that you should now turn on us and say that none of it makes any difference, not even our sacred guilt? We have played this game of yours, and it has cost us.
Where do you get off suggesting a drink at a time like this?

--Robert Farrar Capon, Between Noon and Three: Romance, Law, and the Outrage of Grace (Eerdmans 1997), 7; italics original

Jonathan Winters roasts Johnny Carson as Willis Mumford

2012-01-29T00:09:00.000-05:00

Tedeschi Trucks Band - Bound for Glory

2012-01-29T00:07:00.001-05:00

I love this song. yes I am bound for glory.

Why Grace is Not a License to Sin

2012-01-29T00:05:00.001-05:00

When the old Adam is put to death one is set free forever from bondage to spiritual ambition, legalism, and tyranny. And Luther for one meant this quite literally. One is absolutely free. It is a total state.

'But,' we immediately ask, 'is this not dangerous? Can we really say that man is absolutely free?'

Even to ask the question is to betray the presence of the old Adam in us. It is the fear of moral chaos, the threat to our spiritual pretensions that prompts us to ask. The implied answer, of course, is that we really can't allow that much freedom, and so we retreat--and remain bound.

But the point is not to retreat, but to push on, to allow the old Adam to die and to arise to newness of life. Look at it this way: if the old Adam has been put to death, if what is selfish, fraudulent, and deceitful has perished what is there to fear in freedom? Can a new man possibly do evil? Luther's theology is often criticized for two things: on the one hand for too much bondage--for saying that man's will is absolutely bound--and on the other hand for too much freedom--for saying that the Christian man is absolutely free. The criticism arises, of course, from old Adam theology. Mix together a little bit of bondage and a little bit of freedom and all will be safe and sound.

--Gerhard Forde, Where God Meets Man: Luther's Down-to-Earth Approach to the Gospel (Augsburg 1972), 60

The danger of being safe and sound!