Penguin Awareness Day, a little late

How did I miss Penguin Awareness Day? Apparently it was on January 20.

I saw this article and just had to repost…I simply LOVE the video clip at the end. I’ve seen it before — multiple times — but it continues to make me laugh. And laugh again. Only seconds long. Watch it.

Happy belated Penguin Awareness Day!

(So, now you’re aware.)

The downward drift

“One of the most striking evidences of sinful human nature lies in the universal propensity for downward drift. In other words, it takes thought, resolve, energy, and effort to bring about reform. In the grace of God, sometimes human beings display such virtues. But where such virtues are absent, the drift is invariably toward compromise, comfort, indiscipline, sliding disobedience, and decay that advances, sometimes at a crawl and sometimes at a gallop, across generations.

“People do not drift toward holiness. Apart from grace-driven effort, people do not gravitate toward godliness, prayer, obedience to Scripture, faith, and delight in the Lord. We drift toward compromise and call it tolerance; we drift toward disobedience and call it freedom; we drift toward superstition and call it faith. We cherish the indiscipline of lost self-control and call it relaxation; we slouch toward prayerlessness and delude ourselves into thinking we have escaped legalism; we slide toward godlessness and convince ourselves we have been liberated.

“This is the sort of situation Nehemiah faces toward the end of his leadership in Jerusalem.”

These words are from a devotional: For the Love of God by D.A. Carson.

Seems like some things never change. 446 B.C. Human nature remains human nature. But, by His grace, we do not have to continue in the downward drift.

Lord, raise up YOUR leaders. Open our eyes! Reveal to us our own hearts so that we might recognize delusion and compromise and turn from it.

Draw us back to You.

Glorious winter day

We had a glorious walk to church yesterday!

Westminster Shorter Catechism #18

Question 18: Wherein consists the sinfulness of that estate whereinto man fell? Answer: The sinfulness of that estate whereinto man fell, consists in the guilt of Adam’s first sin, the want of original righteousness, and the corruption of his whole nature, which is commonly called Original Sin; together with all actual transgressions which proceed from [...]

More decline in Ukraine’s democracy ratings

May I ask you to seriously pray for Ukraine? Really. According to a recent report, Ukraine suffers the steepest decline in democracy of any major nation in the last two years. This is not good news. To read the full report, click here.

Cousins

GRAMMY ALERT! (Fair warning…) GRAMMY ALERT! Seriously. This warms Grammy’s heart to see her grandsons playing together…also knowing that their Moms are also together! I don’t think you could ever send me too many videos. Thanks, Dasha, for shooting and sending the video. Thanks, Jeanne, for getting Milan over to Lydian’s place!