Warning***  If you are a member of Child Services please do not read this post.

Last night around 2:00 am I was woke up by glass shattering.  In a sleep-drunk stupor I fumbled my way into Isaiah’s room just to make certain that someone didn’t break out his window to steal him in all of his amazingness.  To my enjoyment he was still sleeping soundly, and no windows broken.  I made a quick look around the house—saw nothing broken—then just went back to sleep.

This morning our son woke up a little earlier than normal.  And it was obvious that he was not going to go back to sleep no matter how much of the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse he watched.  I could tell that my wife was tired, so I offered to watch Isaiah for a little while before I went to work. 

I sat down on the couch to check my e-mail’s and Google Reader, while Isaiah was playing.  It couldn’t have been but a couple of minutes that had passed.  I looked over and Isaiah is gleefully playing with glass shards.  The glass that I heard last night was a drinking glass that my wife had put a flower in; stupid cat (whom we’ll call Battle-axe until my wife notices). 

Now before you put us on the prayer chain (which might be needed for various other things) you should know that Isaiah only cut himself on his thumb just a little.  And I seriously mean a little.  He didn’t even cry or really even notice it.  He was more ticked off about having a band-aid on his thumb than the cut. 

It could have been much much worse.  He was waving a huge chunk of glass in front of his face.  So, I am very thankful for the Lord’s protection even in the midst of my ignorance.  (By the way Isaiah is 16 months old so I’m not quite as bad for letting him play by himself for a few minutes).

Two questions.

1) How does this illustration relate to the gospel?

2) What are some stupid things you have done as a parent to your child’s detriment? 

This from Douglas Wilson:

"Gracious fathers lead their sons through the minefield of sin. Indulgent fathers watch their sons wander off into the minefield. Legal fathers chase them there."

You can read the entire article here.

Perhaps you've noticed the change in title. Instead of doing a "Today in Blogworld" we will now be moving to a "This Week". If something is pressing then I will provide a link throughout the week. As of now, we will be posting all of our links on Friday or Saturday of every week.

Michael Patton charts four views of God's sovereignty? Where are you on the chart? I am in between meticulous sovereignty and providential sovereignty. I'm probably a little to the right of John Piper.

Pulpit Magazine offers us a series on ministry to children. They consider When to Baptize Your Children, Proverbs and Parenting, Evangelizing Your Children Part 1 and 2.

Jared hits the nail on the head with his post on The New Legalism

Erin Sutherland continues the New Attitude series on applying the gospel to every day life. She discusses The Gospel and Relationships (for Girls)

Phil Johnson's final entry on Acts 17: Paul and Charitableness

Many bloggers went to the Together 4 the Gospel Conference (Hence, the small number of links). I was not one of them. I could link to all of their notes, but instead I will only point you to the audio for all the sermons. This should keep you busy.

This is also from T4G:
(HT:Challies)

Timmy Brister has a short and succinct post on how to be a missionary at work.

I am pleased to inform you that the Reformed Mafia is back up and running. Not only that, but they have recruited a new writer: The Highland Host. Check out his first post on Monkeying with the Bible.

Last week Challies encouraged us to be accountable. Today he is encourging against being anonymous.

Phil Johnson continues discussing Acts 17 and contextualization.

John MacArthur lists eight ways that parents can provoke their children.

Carolyn and CJ Mahaney give practical advices to pastor's wives on how to deal with criticism of your husband.

On the heels of Together for the Gospel, Josh Harris, writing for New Attitude, delivers a great article on Unity in the Cross.

I have to get this CD:

(HT: Thinklings)

The Daily Dose has a wonderful article on Personal Testimony vs. Preaching.

Frank Turk has a very interesting article on the Pyromaniacs website. He is adding something to the discussion on Total Depravity. Frank is trying to bring this truth to every day men and women. In doing so he is trying to attempt to answer those that see the "good" work of atheist as a nail in the coffin of Total Depravity. His central thesis is this: any native goodness we demonstrate only highlights how broken our nature really is. It is a wonderful consideration, and you should read it.

Perry Noble asks, Why Are We Afraid of God's Voice. I encourage you to read the article and tell me what you think. I might write an article of response to this post in the future.

Nathan Busenitz asks, "Does the Bible Mandate Home School?"

Great article on the chruch from J.D. Hatfield; Incorporated

Tony Reinke is beginning a series on Engaging Culture and the Supremacy of God. I'm looking forward to this one.

And last but not least, you have to check this new style of witnessing we are going to implement here at FBC New London (HT: Thabiti):

Welcome to February. I am beginning to think that many bloggers are snowed in today; we are having quite an active Friday.

Steve Camp has a well put-together post on Discerning whether or not you are in Christ. He provides quotes from Flavel, Whitefield, and the little known Matthew Mead. Really good stuff here. Also you can view his first post in this series on discernment, here.

Alvin Reid, whom we used his book for Intro to Evangelism in college, has a wonderful discussion on The Great Commission in the Home. Recently in my conversation with David Michael (Pastor for Parenting and Family Discipleship at Bethlehem in Minneapolis) he mentioned something similar. For some reason we forget that the home can be a strategic center for missions and obedience to the Great Commission. I look for a resurgence in this in the coming days. Reid offers an interesting challenge to pastors: "Ask your congregation how many grew up in a Christian home? Then ask how many of those who raised their hands can recall their parents leading a discussion ever about reaching your neighbors. Then, ask how many remember the family ever doing anything specifically to get the gospel to their neighbors."

Timmy Brister closes up our discussion on The Bruised Reed. The last post is an open thread (which if you are involved in the challenge be sure to post on to be eligible for the prizes--I'm pulling for #7). Timmy also offers a summary of all the posts on Sibbes. He concludes his discussion by pointing out the mercy exhibited by Sibbes as well as the fact that he was a 17th Century Christian Hedonist.

Scott Lamb posts a transcript of Jimmy Carter's speech(?) at the New Baptist Covenant Celebration.

J.D. Hatfield has a phenomenal post on The Heart of the Matter. It is a very phenomenal articulation of the balance between being a jerk in our proclamation of the truth and neutering the gospel for the sake of being nice. Excellent job, J.D.! (Will: Make sure to read this one!)

I am overjoyed that C.J. Mahaney has joined the blogosphere. He gets it going with a great lists of Cross-Centered books. After reading this I need to update my wishlist with a couple of these books. He also offers a lists of helpful books on the Person and Work of the Holy Spirit.

Scott Lee asks, "Is Church Membership Divisive?"

Thabiti has written a wonderful article on The Gospel and Bitterness, at NA. I absolutely love Thabiti's heart (from what I've seen) and his ministry! Thanks, dear brother!

Last week John Piper responded to "A Common Word". Piper, articulated what many of us believed about the document--it borders on betraying the gospel and is not helpful in evangelism (my words not his). Today, Rick Love, a signer of the document gives his reasons why. He has a few well crafted arguments. However, one that I disagree with concerns the question of whether or not the Muslims worship the same God as Christians. Here is part of his answer:

"Christian and Muslim views of God are similar in that we both worship the one true God, creator of the heavens and the earth. We both believe this God will judge all peoples at the end of history. We both believe this God has sent His prophets into the world to guide His people. Christian and Muslim views of God differ primarily regarding the Fatherhood of God, the Trinity, and especially regarding the life, teaching, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
I believe that Muslims worship the true God. But I also believe that their view of God falls short of His perfections and beauty as described in the Bible. Thus, I try to model my approach to Muslims after the apostle Paul who said to the Athenians: “What you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you" (Acts 17:23)."

My problem with his statement is that it does not match up with what Jesus' said in John 8:19, 42, and 14:6 (among many others). If Jesus is the only way to the Father; if you cannot be said to love the Father unless you love Jesus; if you do not know the Father unless you know Jesus; then how in the world can we say that "Muslims worship the true God". According to Scripture they do not even know the true God because they reject Jesus. How can you worship (and by that I mean truly worship) that which you do not know? Perhaps if he would have said, "I believe that Muslims sincerely believe they worship the true God" then I could agree, but not as it now stands.

Said at Southern has a wonderful discussion going on centered upon the question, "Do You Believe in the SBC?"

Craig Brian Larson has a solid article on Preaching that Promotes Self-Centeredness. (HT: Transforming Sermons) If you are a preacher of the gospel you should read this post. If you listen to preaching you should read this post.

Being a new parent I found this post extremely helpful in knowing how best to care for Isaiah. If you are a parent I would suggest reading this article, very helpful stuff. Actually, anybody should read this post, it is very humorous. (HT: Challies)

Al Mohler has a great commentary on the effects of divorce in older people: Old and Alone?