3.0 (beta)

EDIT: I’m submitting this post as an entry in AdrianWarnock.com’s contest on why people love their local church (The prize is Mark Driscoll’s new book Vintage Church). Warnock is a really exciting voice in Reformed Charismatic circles; he’s always quoting Spurgeon, Lloyd-Jones, and Mahaney. And he’s got a book deal with Crossway!

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Logos can say so much. The right fonts and colors can combine to evoke very specific messages.

For example, although the great church we belong to has only been around for a couple of years, it is full of committed Christians who have faithfully walked with the Lord for decades. Thus, I have concocted a couple of “throwback” designs for Sovereign Grace of Orange County.

The first features the brown-and-mustard combo made famous by the San Diego Padres together with the corporate Swiss Style of the old AT&T globe.

The second combines modern colors with the indispensable Cooper Black. (After all, I am the proud owner of this t-shirt.)

Inauguration day is great in so many ways: the pomp and circumstance, the peaceful transition of power that sets the United States apart from so many other democracies, the massive crowds, the incredible cold, and–my favorite of all–the First Lady’s clothing. (In my ever-so-humble opinion, Michelle Obama’s inauguration garb was dismal. Her evening gown, by contrast, inspires. The ethereal fabric and one-shoulder style speak of sartorial perfection. Plus, the color echos the inaugural ball gowns of the two best-dressed First Ladies of the Twentieth Century, Nancy Reagan and Jacqueline Kennedy.)

By the way, did anyone catch Rick Warren’s prayer? It was markedly Christian and yet appropriate to the civic event.

One sentiment the day did not hold for me was hope. Not because I’m a pessimist or dislike President Obama. But rather because I’m a realist about his policy inclinations. I can’t hope in an administration whose policies doom the country to further social disorder and economic malaise.

President Obama is, after all, a political liberal. He trusts government, not people and private institutions to build our society. His economic positions will increase the size of an inherently inefficient federal government, allow bureaucrats to swallow private enterprise, punish hard-working individuals, offer people fewer choices, and, ultimately, lead to more poverty.

His social policy is similarly leftists. Numerous friends assured me that Candidate Obama would seek to reduce the number of abortions if elected. Yet within days of being sworn in, President Obama authorized federal funding for oversees abortions. I’m grieved, though not shocked. After all, this man also vowed to pass the most pro-abortion legislation ever conceived if elected.

In some ways, “negative expectations” aren’t all bad. They leave me with nothing to do politically at present but pray for President Obama, tune in to Rush Limbaugh, and pray some more. On the prayer front, I’m starting here.

1. Do most toddlers enjoy getting their nails trimmed? E sits very still in my lap and giggles with each clip.

2. Why, after eight months of consistently sleeping through the night, would a one-year-old start waking up screaming in the middle of the night and refuse to stop unless we feed her a bottle and hold her?

3. E stands on her own, lifts her right leg forward, and then falls over. Does that count as a first step? Or does the foot need to come down with the child still upright?