Quick update today...

Two new book reviews are up: The Basis of Christian Unity by D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones and Counted Righteous in Christ by John Piper. (You can read the reviews by clicking on the book covers in the reViews column.) Both are pretty short, quick reads, and both do a great job of making their case from a solid examination of Scripture. Lloyd-Jones talks about why Christians literally cannot have unity with other religions, and Piper discusses why we need Christ's righteousness imputed to us in order to be justified. Both are worth your time.

I've also added a photos tab to the navigation bar above. Clicking it will take you to an indexed listing of all photos posted in 2009. There aren't a ton of them (since I basically didn't post anything from March - July) but you can get a sense of what it will be like. You can also find links to previous years' photo archives, but those pages haven't been reformatted yet.

Speaking of links, be sure to check out the links page. There isn't a lot on there now, but maybe you can find a few new ways to waste time as you surf!

Have a great weekend!

PS. After finishing up a series in Ruth last week, I'm preaching from Romans 5:1-2 this Sunday. The title of the message is No Shoes, No Shirt, No Service: Understanding Why Heaven Has a Dress Code. If you're in the area, stop by for the service. Either way, please pray that I will communicate God's truth clearly!

1. If reading really is a rainbow, I'm ready for a leprechaun New reviews are up for four more books. That makes 11 in July so far (don't expect that kind of production every month, folks -- some long van rides to and from Florida helped knock a few of the smaller books out quickly). Of the four most recent, I would definitely recommend Walton's book to anyone who has even a passing interest in the origins/age-of-the-earth debate. You may not agree with all (or any) of what he says, but he makes some compelling statements and backs them up well. I liked it.

2. Lions, Tigers, Bears...actually, we saw none of those Tricia, Ethan, and I went to the Louisville Zoo last Friday because of the unseasonably cool weather. We had a blast, and Tricia even talked me into going into Lorikeet Landing. As you can see from the pictures below, two birds landed on her hand to eat the nectar and a third decided to perch on Ethan's head! To his credit, he did not freak out. Then one landed on my shoulder. To my credit, I did not freak out. (Although I got close when it became apparent that the bird wasn't interested in leaving my shoulder. Eventually another kid screamed and all the birds took flight. Thanks, screaming kid.) Click on each picture below to check out some of the highlights from our zoo trip:

3. Showtime for the Apollo "One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." With those words, Neil Armstrong became the first human being to step foot on the moon. This past Monday was the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. (Unless you think it was done on a sound stage somewhere in Hollywood. Right.) I'm hard-pressed to defend aggressive space exploration in the midst of so much global poverty, famine, and war, but I hope that we don't completely abandon it. Part of that is due to my personal affinity for outer space, but I also admire the ingenuity and drive the space program has historically evoked.

4. Anybody remember where we parked? From a forwarded e-mail that I actually opened: look closely at the picture. See the car? It's not a new invisible prototype, it's an actual car that's painstakingly painted to perfectly match its background from the angle the photograph was taken. The e-mail said it was an art school project. Hope she got an "A".

5. Quotation Station Here's a good quote from Puritan author and Scottish preacher Robert Traill. Traill originally wrote the book Justification Vindicated as a letter to a friend but later decided to publish it in order to address some of his day's attacks on the biblical doctrine of justification by faith in Christ: " The poor wearied sinner can never believe on Jesus Christ till he finds he can do nothing for himself and in his first believing he always applies to Christ for salvation as a man hopeless and helpless in himself.