Thanksgiving

As I mentioned on Saturday, this is Thanksgiving weekend here in Canada. Where our neighbors to the south celebrate Thanksgiving on a Thursday, here we do so on a Monday. So today is an official holiday–all the stores are closed and everyone gets a day off. Even bloggers. Today I’ll leave you with some links I had bookmarked over the weekend, hoping you enjoy them as I did.

How Jerusalem Was Spared. Yesterday Paul preached from Zechariah 9 (click here and look for the sermon “Return of the King” to listen to it) and spoke of Zechariah’s prophecy that Jerusalem would be miraculously spared from the devastation of Alexander the Great when he conquered so much of the known world. He offers the explanation given by Josephus. It is a disputed bit of history but is still very interesting to read. We may not know exactly how God spared Jerusalem, but it is beyond dispute that somehow he did so!

Simply Unprecedented. This weekend President Obama spoke at the annual dinner of the Human Rights Campaign, one of the most ardently pro-homosexual organizations in the U.S.. Amidst all that he said, these words stand out as particularly important: “You will see a time in which we as a nation finally recognize relationships between two men or two women as just as real and admirable as relationships between a man and a woman.” As Dr. Mohler says, “It is virtually impossible to imagine a promise more breathtaking in its revolutionary character than this — to normalize same-sex relationships to the extent that they are recognized as being as admirable as heterosexual marriage.” Denny Burk also comments, saying, “There is nothing moderate about this aspect of the President’s agenda. President Obama is advocating nothing less than a social revolution, one that stands foursquare against a Christian definition of marriage.”

A Wicked and Ignorant Award. Not surprisingly, the media is abuzz with news of President Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize. Some are calling for him to refuse it. Others are rejoicing that he has been deemed worthy. I appreciated Peggy Noonan’s comments (though the first couple of paragraphs are perhaps a bit hard to take). She nails it when she says, “This is an award for not being George W. Bush. This is an award for not making the world nervous. This is an award for sharing the basic political sentiments and assumptions of the members of the committee. It is for what Barack Obama may do, not what he has done. He hasn’t done anything.” And, in speaking of what this does to the award itself, “In one mindless stroke, the committee has rendered the Nobel Peace Prize a laughingstock, perhaps for as long as a generation. And that is an act of true destruction, because it was actually good that the world had a prestigious award for peacemaking.”

And a couple of quick hits. This is a great article from one of my favorite “other” blogs: Why Am I Dressed this Way?. If you like that one, also take a look at Fuel Tanks Filling with Air. I love the way this guy writes and always enjoy his little stories of life on the line. And, completely unrelated, check out Ali’s new post titled Enthralled. It’s another great blog worthy of a bookmark (or an addition to your RSS reader).

And that’s it for me today. My parents are in town for just one more day and I am going to go spend some time with them.