An anecdote.

“The electrical wizard” Charles Steinmetz was an inveterate smoker. Once a notice that forbade smoking was posted in the General Electric plant where he worked. Steinmetz ignored it till an executive asked if he wasn’t aware of the rule. The answer was a cold indifferent stare. Next day Steinmetz didn’t show up, and for two days none heard from him. Important work remained untouched. The company began a serious search. It ended in the lobby of a Buffalo hotel. There he was found sitting at ease in a huge chair, puffing a cigar. When told that the whole company was looking for him, and asked why he had left like that, he calmly said, “I came up here to have a smoke.” After that the smoking rule was never applied to him. 

Peter Leithart offers some great reflections on God and time.

Doug Wilson on wisdom that is alive. An excerpt below, but you really should go read article in full.

“Like termites need wood, so also unbelief needs the structures of faith that a living faith once built. They can’t get at the wood when it is still alive and growing, but once the living truth has gone through the sawmill of accreditation and become a standardized two by four of truth — watch out. A brief review will make the point — just imagine Fuller sitting in on a few classes at Fuller Seminary, Carl Henry dropping in at CT after reading the three most recent issues, or Thomas Cranmer trying to make it through the homily of the most theologically-minded dyke in the diocese….”

And he concludes: “Unbelief drifts. Wisdom walks, and fights as it goes.”

Although I have never been much of a gamer (for either Console or PC), I do have a soft spot in my heart for NES, particularly Super Mario 3. So, naturally, I enjoyed this NES Facts video.

Martin Luther on prayer: “Or we recall Martin Luther saying to his students, ‘I wish I could get you to pray the way my dog goes after meat!'” (quoted by William H. Willimon & Stanley Hauerwas, Lord, Teach Us: The Lord’s Prayer and the Christian Life, 29).

Martin Luther on prayer: “As it is the business of tailors to make clothes and of cobblers to mend shoes, so it is the business of Christians to pray” (quoted by Donald S. Whitney, Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life, 68).

“His decree determines what shall be done…. For there is nothing higher than his will.”

Quotation from William Perkins, The Works of That Famous and Worthy Minister of Christ in the University of Cambridge, Mr. William Perkins (1:723), quoted by Joel R. Beeke & Mark Jones in A Puritan Theology: Doctrine for Life (117).

“It is impossible to understand predestination without realizing that God’s decrees flow from the inner life of the triune God” (Joel R. Beeke & Mark Jones, A Puritan Theology: Doctrine for Life, 120).

“Christ woos and wins His bride in an ever-deepening relationship” (Joel R. Beeke & Mark Jones, A Puritan Theology: Doctrine for Life, 109).

It was a glorious Lord’s Day. This afternoon I finished reading (first edition) Ned B. Stonehouse’s J. Gresham Machen: A Biographical Memoir.