MAINTAINING FRIENDSHIPS

From www.daddypundit.blogspot.com:
The key to being a good manager is keeping the people who hate me away from those who are still undecided. Casey Stengel (for young people, he used to be the manager of the New York Mets baseball team)

That, actually, is how I have to manage my friendships. I try to keep those who don't know me too well away from those who do. It makes the friendships last longer.

It reminds me of a conversation I tried to have last week. I was trying to talk to a tall guy (I am not). In mid sentence (mine), he looked over my head to someone else and asked them how their running was going, and they began a conversation about running OVER MY HEAD! Isn't there a manners book for tall people somewhere?

Then, just to pile on. The Little Woman sang with her group, Sound Foundation, Sunday night at church. I came and sat close to the front, by myself. After the concert, I came up to the group to tell them how well they did, and the tenor (never trust a tenor) said "I see you sat with all your friends".

It is a good thing I have high self esteem. Otherwise, I would think all of this indicates some problem on my part.

And I would hate that.

DID THEE FEEL THE EARTH MOVE?

There has been an earthquake in Los Angeles. Contrary to rumors, it was not caused by the Dallas Cowboys coming to town to practice.

Why do I care? I want to experience an earthquake, and I was just there last month. Nothing happened. I have a natural disaster list to experience, my own personal bucket list if you will, but keep missing the earthquake. I have done fire, flood, tornado, and hurricane, but no earthquake or volcano.

(BTW, the title is a literary reference for all you non English majors. It comes from Ernest Hemingway's "For Whom the Bell Tolls." Robert Jordan and Maria are, well you know, and Jordan asked, "Did thee feel the earth move?" And Maria said, "It moved for me." Just so you'll know, you know, next time.)

VOTE MCCAIN, PUT ME ON THE SUPREME COURT

It was nice to see my name at the top of McCain's list of potential nominees for the Supreme Court (really, go look, it says "Larry Thompson" bigger 'n Dallas). So, I was thinking, what if Obama is really not the Antichrist and McCain has a chance to win and, therefore, nominate me for the Supremes. What if I could take my wife so she could kick me under the table while Senator Kennedy asked me questions and I mimicked him in my answers so that my smart mouth did not keep me from getting voted it?

So, here are the best things about me being on the Supreme Court.

1. Having Harvard and Yale graduate law clerks go get me coffee.
2. Calling up congressmen and saying "you know that's never gonna fly over here" when they propose legislation.
3. Knowing you can't be fired no matter how smart your mouth is. I mean, look at Scalia.
4. Having my picture taken with Ruth Ginsberg and a caption on the bottom saying "some of my best friends are Jewish".
5. Getting Clarence Thomas to explain what Natural Law is to me. I thought it was about nudity, but evidently that's not right.
6. Getting a pair of those half glasses that you perch way down on your nose and looking over them at nervous lawyers and saying "do you mean to tell me..."
7. Letting my kids say "my dad's a Supreme Court Justice, what's your dad do?"
8. Wearing a judicial robe on the subway.
9. Having someone tell me what "oyez oyez oyez" means.
10. Going back to law school reunions and saying "nah nah nah nah nah".

CALVIN WAS EVANGELISTIC

“Such is … the import of the term go out; for the prophets under the law had limits assigned to them, but now, the wall of partition having been broken down (Eph. ii. 14) the Lord commands the ministers of the gospel to go to a distance, in order to spread the doctrine of salvation in every part of the world.” (Calvin’s Commentaries, vol. XVII, p.384)

WHOOP

Congratulations to Samantha Kroop, '09, the FIRST EVER, woman drum major of the FIGHTING TEXAS AGGIE BAND.

A father of 3 daughters salutes you.

WHY REPUBLICANS CAN'T GET THE BLACK VOTE

LaShawn Barber nails it.

Christian theology teaches the doctrine of prevenient grace, which briefly stated means this, that before a man can seek God, God must first have sought the man. Before a sinful man can think a right thought of God, there must have been a work of enlightenment done within him; imperfect it may be, but a true work nonetheless, and the secret cause of all desiring and seeking and praying which may follow. A. W. Tozer

IS THE HONEMOON OVER BEFORE THE WEDDING BEGINS?

After months of being the golden boy of the main stream media, it seems the luster that surrounded Obama has suffered some tarnish. The latest Newsweek poll shows Obama leading MCain by only 3 percentage points, a dead heat for all practical purposes. Obama leads 44% to 41% only weeks after leading 51% to 36%.

Obama is the victim of the conventional wisdom of the Democratic party, which convinced everyone that continuing the contest between Obama and Clinton all the way to the convention was bad for Obama, for Clinton would criticize him and “beat him up” to the benefit of the Republicans. In other words, if Obama were singing like the Rolling Stones “am I tough enough”, his party answered “no”.

Instead of giving Obama a walk on a red velvet carpet to the convention floor, and presumably to the White House itself, the party’s misguided advice subjected Obama to the intense scrutiny of a candidate in the general election, which he and they claimed he was. He traded the devil he knew for the devil he did not know.

Since then, we have seen him change positions to accommodate criticisms, despite the fact that flip flops killed the chances of his successor, John Kerry. 53% of former Hillary Clinton supporters say he changed positions on key issues for political advantage. Maybe Kerry will loan Obama his flip flops.

Obama, to win, must maintain his support in the far left wing of the Democratic Party, from which he comes, woo Clinton’s more Centrist supporters, convince Independents that he can run the country and maintain his GQ coolness and image as the arbiter of change that appeals to all those people who swoon when he walks into a room.

He has problems in all these areas. First, some Leftists are already complaining that he has moved to the center. This makes it hard for him to court the Clinton crowd without losing his home base. When he is photographed hugging Mrs. Clinton, the Lefties wince and their pocket books pucker. They would rather him pose nude for PETA, or conduct an abortion in a free clinic, or advocate revolution. However, if he does not hug Mrs. Clinton and pay homage to the increasingly narcissistic and demanding Mr. Clinton, the Centrists might start feeling affection for one John McCain, who is camped out over there in Centerville.

Convincing the Independents that he can run the country is also a challenge in the long run and under the more intense scrutiny of the general campaign. The problem is, he has never run anything. He is a First Term Senator, a rookie, an inexperienced neophyte with no national experience, no international experience and no way to get it but trial and error. That is why he is travelling all over, such as to Germany, to give speeches. It gives the allusion of experience and contacts, and Obama is all about allusion.

The allusion that works is that of the cool guy, confident relaxed and the only one who is new and will bring change. No one knows that change will be or what the impact will be, but Americans like change at least until it turns out badly. But, now we see him attending those big fund raising dinners and sucking up to the big money crowd, just like any other politician. There is no change there. The press has now reported that he got a sweet heart mortgage deal. There is no change there. People have always resented politicians getting better deals because of influence.

Maybe Americans want to take the chance that a first term senator can lead the nation without wrecking the economy or suffering attacks from our enemies. If so, they’ll have to believe that Obama can bring change and that the change will be for the better. If his image suffers and he appears to be just another politician, just less experienced, or if the public decides it is too risky to take this leap of faith, then the safe bet is McCain.

If God does not exist and has not made people in his own image, there is no basis for an intrinsic, unique dignity of human life. Francis A. Schaeffer, The Great Evangelical Disaster, 1984.

GREAT WEBSITE

If you like to download and listen to great speakers on MP3s, go to Reforming My Mind, where a brother from Bryan, Texas has collected links to many great MP3s.

"...my obedience is neither the basis for my justification nor the ground of my approach to God as a sinner who has been besmeared by sin, and I flee afresh to the Mediator of the New Covenant. Every exposure of sin in the life of a true believer drives him afresh to his Saviour, and anything that drives him afresh to his Saviour makes his Saviour more precious." From The Practical Implications of Calvinism By Albert N. Martin

HT: Monergism.com

MERE WORDS

Tim Challies writes on the importance of words and the necessity of correct translation to preserve confidence in the Bible. I agree with him.

I'll never forget teaching one Sunday and having a discussion with one of the class members on the meaning of the passage. Someone in the class said "that's just words", as if, somehow, the words were not important. If the words are the words of God, what could be more important?

It makes me think God is singing the old Bee Gees song: It's only words, but words are all I have, to take your heart away. He left us words to testify about himself. We should heed them.

Alan Kurschner says God does not owe you anything.

"It is partly because sin does not provoke our own wrath, that we do not believe that sin provokes the wrath of God." R. W. Dale, "The Atonement" (Congregational Union, 1894), pp. 338-339.