After a trip to Gold's Gym, Brian, Caleb, Emily and I traveled into Covington to eat a family diner, "Doug's Restaurant." This was my second visit; the first time, I entered it and exclaimed, "So this is Dirty Doug's!" All those on campus referred to the restaurant as Dirty Doug's, and I'm sure you can imagine why. As I am not always the brightest when it comes to these things, I drew several eyes and a shocked gasp from Brian. This visit, however, was different, and I made it very clear to Emily that the restaurant was called Doug's, not Dirty Doug's. It is one of your typical family diners, run-down and smokey and grime everywhere, but the food is simply amazing.

Winter Weekend is this weekend. We have high school kids from all over the place streaming in for worship, speakers, and Bible lessons. Brian brought several kids from his youth group, and two of them--Austin and Billy--are staying in my room. I have spent most of the day, following the trip to Dirty Doug's, researching the letter of Galatians. Galatians 5 has to be one of my favorite passages of scripture in the entire New Testament. I just love how Paul elaborates upon the freedom of Christ, the sinful nature, and the Spirit-nature. I was so inspired that I wrote a small article on Galatians 5; you can read it here. I'd love any questions, comments or concerns.

In my Foundations for Education class, I discovered a haunting piece of scripture that hangs in the back of my mind, perhaps a foreshadow of things to come:

Woe to you who think you live on easy street in Zion, who think Mount Samaria is the good life. You assume you're at the top of the heap, voted the number-one best place to live. Well, wake up and look around. Get off your pedestal. Take a look at Calneh. Go and visit Great Hamath. Look in on Gath of the Philistines. Doesn't that take you off your high horse? Compared to them, you're not much, are you? Woe to you who are rushing headlong to disaster! Catastrophe is just around the corner! Woe to those who live in luxury and expect everyone else to serve them! Woe to thos who live only for today, indifferent to the fate of others! Woe to the playboys, the playgirls, who think life is a party held just for them! Woe to those addicted to feeling good--life without pain! [Woe to] those obsessed with looking good--life without wrinkles! They could not care less about their country going to ruin. But here's what's really coming: a forced march into exile. They'll leave the country whining, a rag-tag bunch of good-for-nothings. GOD, the Master, has sworn, and solemnly stands by his Word. "I hate the arrogance of Jacob. I'm about to hand over the city and everyone in it." - Amos 6:1-8, the Message

If you ask me, America is on the fast-track to a bad place. We're looking more and more like the ancient Roman empire, and where are they today? Where's all their power, all their grandness, all their might, all their glory? It's in ruins. And in the words of wise Solomon, "There is nothing new under the sun... History just repeats itself over and over."