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This box of classy truffles is one of Gracie and my favorite coffee accompaniments.  Really top notch, I think, for a reasonable price ($10 at Walmart in the specialty candy section).  Worth a try.

How mercy changes things

Gracie and I recently read When Sinners Say 'I Do', which, in case the title is not clear, is about marriage in light of the Gospel.  A helpful read, which added a few pieces to the Gospel-life puzzle for me.  All that I have been reading on the Gospel of Jesus Christ has started to develop a picture of life inside the Kingdom of God, and how people might act there, and more importantly - why.  It is has been a very intriguing vision.

"Mercy doesn't change the need to speak truth.  It transforms our motivation from a desire to win battles to a desire to represent Christ.  It takes me out of the center and puts Christ in the center.  This requires mercy.

Mercy takes people who are capable of open warfare over toothpaste tubes and toilet seats, and enlarges their vision to include a Savior. Mercy confronts a sinner wrapped in self-pity and protected by pride and shows him the way out of the darkness into the light.  Mercy inspires us to move beyond "the power and government of self-love" back to the nobler and benevolent principles of our new nature."

Citation: Harvey, Dave. When Sinners Say 'I Do'. Shepherd Press. Waphallopen, PA. 2007. Pg.  82.

Karl Barth to Dietrich Bonhoeffer on Pipe Smoking

This was written during a catastrophic period in world history, lest we forget that as we work for truth and peace, there are small delights...

The world is in bad shape, but we don't want to let our pipe go out under and circumstances, do we?

Citation: Metaxas, Eric. Bonhoeffer. Thomas Nelson, 2010. Page 120