Kevin DeYoung:

Until we are content with being one of the million nameless, faceless church members and not the next globe-trotting rock star, we aren’t ready to be a part of the church. In the grand scheme of things, most of us are going to be more of an Ampliatus (Rom. 16:8) or Phlegon (v. 14) than an apostle Paul. And maybe that’s why so many Christians are getting tired of the church. We haven’t learned how to be part of the crowd. We haven’t learned to be ordinary. Our jobs are often mundane. Our devotional times often seem like a waste. Church services are often forgettable. That’s life. We drive to the same places, go through the same routines

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Christopher Hitchens, noted atheist and writer par excellence, has cancer.

“In whatever kind of a ‘race’ life may be, I have very abruptly become a finalist,” the ever-articulate Hitchens writes in the September issue of Vanity Fair. He concludes:

Against me is the blind, emotionless alien, cheered on by some who have long wished me ill. But on the side of my continued life is a group of brilliant and selfless physicians plus an astonishing number of prayer groups. On both of these I hope to write next time if—as my father invariably said—I am spared.

His essay is a mix of stoicism and dry British wit, but with an understated gravity

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Seth Godin got me thinking about the Gospel with his latest post. Check out Gifts, misunderstood and see if it doesn’t get you thinking, too.

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You may have picked up on the buzz about how Facebook is behaving irresponsibly with your online privacy in ways that are really hard to figure out. I have given some thought to walking away entirely simply on account of the fact that Facebook is showing itself to be untrustworthy.

But for now, I’m still here. It would really be a shame to lose all the good stuff that Facebook has to offer.

It came to my attention that an independent group has created a Facebook privacy scanner that will tell you just how exposed your information is. You can find that here:

http://www.reclaimprivacy.org/facebook

I encourage all of you to follow the instructions there and

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Space is big. You just won’t believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it’s a long way down the road to the drug store, but that’s just peanuts to space.

— Douglas Adams

After yesterday’s Connections class on Psalm 19:1, I got lots of people asking for the link to the web site that let you zoom in and out on the universe… so as promised, here it is:

The Scale of the Universe

Note: when you load the page, it has a “visit our sponsor” advertisement while the animation loads. When it’s done loading, click the “Play” link at the

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Even the demons believe—and shudder!

James 2:19

I just noticed that Antony Flew died.

Professor Antony Flew was one of the most prominent atheist philosophers of the twentieth century. He had little in common with the so-called “New Atheists” like Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, and others; Professor Flew was an intelligent and amiable fellow who simply disagreed with theists on the facts. He even struck up a rich friendship with Dr. Gary Habermas, Distinguished Professor and Chair of the Philosophy and Theology Department of Liberty University.

Then, in 2003, a funny thing happened. Antony Flew, atheist extraordinaire, changed his mind at the age of 80. He decided there is a God after all.

What changed his mind? Two things: first, the idea …

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