Help With Hugs

I still haven't taken the time to learn how to embed a youtube video (they never work for me anyway) but here's a link to all the help you'll ever need in learning how to hug like a man.

HT: Kerux

Music Piracy And The Gospel

As I read this story about the Recording Industry Association of America cracking down on illegal downloads by college students, the correlations between the article and the gospel were flowing. Everyone has heard of this happening, but it probably won't affect them.

The students who were interviewed admitted that they knew it was illegal to download and share the music, but rationalization was everywhere:

"Obviously I knew it was illegal, but no one got in trouble for it."

"Johnson compares what he did to people driving 5 miles per hour over the speed limit. 'It's not like I downloaded millions of songs and sold them to people'."

"But the students coughing up the cash question why they're the ones getting in trouble."

Maybe it's because they're guilty, and they're getting what they deserve under the law. (Really, getting off easy by settling out of court, but I'm still working on a scriptural parallel to that.) As I read, the arguments sounded so much like our own reasoning when faced with God's law. "I'm not so bad. Lookit that guy over there! I've only killed one person and he deserved it. But that guy's a serial killer! Besides, everybody's doing it."

Sounds like a lot of law, and that was the point of the article (or at least how I took it.)
The grace came in the form of the girl's parents paying her fine: "Without their help, I don't know what I would have done."

Indeed. Without Jesus to pay our fine, what would any of us do?

Separate But Equal

I'm talking about our son and daughter-in-law, who are pictured in "separate" posts on my blog, but "equal"-ly proud of their new little girl. You wouldn't know it from these pictures, but they're all three happily together.

Worth The Wait

Our little granddaughter showed up today, only five days overdue. But as they say, "Better late than never!"
We somehow managed to not get a photo of the three of them together, but here's proud daddy Josh holding his first kid. At this point her name is "baby girl", but the favorites for the future are Haley and Tori, with the smart money on Haley.
7 lbs, 11 oz. and 20 1/2" long.

I'm Not Waiting On A Lady

A classic tune from the Rolling Stones, that one. But today I find that I am waiting on a lady. A little tiny lady due to make her grand appearance in this world *outside* the womb of our daughter-in-law on May 8th. That will be kid #1 for them and granddaughter #3 for us. And on the opposite end of the scale, my wife found out that her aunt, the last of her dad's siblings, is making her own grand appearance in the presence of God this weekend. Yet another reminder that we're not from around here, just passing through.