Hey Guys,

Greg, thanks for your kind words about Ebenezer. While Mark has been busy cleaning and visiting, we were busy cranking out another tax credit child.

I've got a million random thoughts for blog posts running through my mind, but I'm a little short on time to compose them properly. So, here are a couple that have stuck in my brain:

-- Greg, good post about loving your enemies. Thanks for taking that on. BTW, if you're looking for a quote for a sermon that sounds good but upon further examination is completely false, Rabbi Boteach is a gold mine.

-- Thabiti, you raise a good question in your post about small groups. I think small groups are fine. I think the bigger question is why we Reformed folks have so many rules. When people in our congregation move away and ask for advice on finding a church, I always tell them "There's a fine line between Reformed and crazy". I fully appreciate the need to think carefully about what Scripture tells us about how to conduct our lives together in churches, that's why I love 9Marks. But the rules tire me out.

-- Did I mention that my wife had a c-section without anaesthesia? Let that sink in for a second. That is so punk rock. (To be clear, they administered the anaesthesia, but it didn't work. And my wife wouldn't let them knock her out.)

-- We were at a mega-church a few Sundays back and I was struck by the fact that my kids will have no idea what a normal church is like. At the beginning of the service, we noticed that no one in the congregation was singing. Literally. My wife and I stopped singing, because it seemed like maybe we shouldn't be (even though the lyrics were on the screen). My 6 year old daughter looked at me in the middle of the service and asked "Why isn't anyone singing?". My four year old looked at me and asked "What is that banging?" "Drums", I replied. "In church?", he asked incredulously.

-- It should be interesting. That same mega-church (in which I grew up) has just hired a pastor who is going to shake things up in a 9 Marks friendly direction (sorry for not unpacking that more, but this is a blog and you know what I mean). He seems like a great guy and he preached a tremendous message on the cross from I Corinthians 2.

-- I love Christmas music. The new Harry Connick, Jr. Christmas album is great. But I enjoy offbeat Christmas music as well. My personal favorites in that category are: White Christmas by Stiff Little Fingers, Christmas Day by Desmond Dekker and the Aces, and Merry Christmas Baby (I Don't Want to Fight Tonight) by the Ramones. [Warning: if you don't think non-Christians should make music, you won't like these songs.]

-- From the payback files... on Sunday, Jonathan Leeman pinch-hit for me and preached a great message from Colossians 2. But he began the sermon by mocking my newborn child's name, which needless to say was in exceedingly poor taste. Seiously, who picks on a two day old child just because he has more hair than you do? Strangely, everyone in the congregation laughed heartily. Maybe they wanted to be polite to the guest preacher. Later, however, I realized that Jonathan's lovely wife is due to give birth on June 20th of this year. Guess who is scheduled to preach on June 21st at Capitol Hill Baptist? That's right, yours truly. Payback.

That's enough for now. I'm heading back to enjoy the family.