pb'sbabbles

Astronomers from Pennsylvania State University (PSU) have scrutinized 100,000 galaxies for signs of life – the most exhaustive such study ever undertaken – and recently published their results in the prestigious Astrophysical Journal. What did they find? Nothing. Nada. Nichts. Score one more failure for those who believe that life generally and human life specifically are nothing miraculous – that given enough time, life inevitably materializes on its own. "These galaxies are billions of years old,” explains Jason Wright, one of the PSU researchers quoted in a recent news article, “which should have been plenty of time for them to have been filled with alien civilizations, if they exist.” Plenty of time, indeed. Other recent and ongoing attempts to find signs of extraterrestrial life have come up empty handed as well. The discovery since 2007 of fast radio bursts (FRB) seemingly from deep space and evincing a certain mathematical pattern created a paroxysm of real excitement. S...

Offering intercessory prayer means nothing other than Christians bringing one another into the presence of God, seeing each other under the cross of Jesus as poor human beings and sinners in need of grace. Then, everything about other people that repels me falls away. Then I see them in all their need, hardship, and distress. Their need and their sin become so heavy and oppressive to me that I feel as if they were my own, and I can do nothing else but bid: Lord, you yourself, you alone, deal with them according to your firmness and your goodness. - Dietrich Bon hoeffer

According to GQ editor Jon Wilde, there's a way for the 70 percent of men suffering from male pattern baldness to reclaim control over their hairline. In a Thursday conversation with HuffPost Live, the journalist revealed that he recently realized he was "fighting a losing battle" against his genetics and thus decided to shave his head. "I got to a point where I was just like 'Listen, this is what's going to look best on me from now on,'" he told host Marc Lamont Hill. "I'm sick of kind of dealing with the way I feel about my hair going away, sick of kinda dealing with trying to fake it. It's not coming back, and I'm going to do the thing I think looks strongest on me." Wilde's hardly been in mourning after shedding the little hair he had, which he did "about a week and a half ago." "I gotta say, I feel 20 times more dignified and confident with my hair this short and kind of steering into the skid that is...

New York Mets infielder Daniel Murphy, an outspoken Christian, was questioned by reporters on the prospect of gay teammates and his team’s decision to welcome Billy Bean, Major League Baseball’s openly gay “ambassador for inclusion,” to spring training. In his response, Murphy offered what he feels is Christianity’s “actual stance” on homosexuality. He also said he is definitely ready to have a gay teammate. “Maybe, as a Christian, that we haven’t been as articulate enough in describing what our actual stance is on homosexuality. We love the people. We disagree the lifestyle. That’s the way I would describe it for me,” Murphy told the Star-Ledger. He continued: “It’s the same way that there are aspects of my life that I’m trying to surrender to Christ in my own life. There’s a great deal of many things, like my pride. I just think that as a believer trying to articulate it in a way that says just because I disagree with the lifestyle doesn’t mean I’m just never going to speak to Bil...

Prayer should not be hindered by work, but neither should work be hindered by prayer. Just as it was God’s will that human beings should work six days and rest and celebrate before the face of God on the seventh, so it is also God’s will that every day should be marked for the Christian both by prayer and work. Prayer also requires its own time. But the longest part of the day belongs to work. The inseparable unity of both will become clear when work and prayer each receives its own undivided due. - Dietrich Bonhoeffer

“I told you when I got up here I wasn’t running for anything, but I will tell you this,”he concluded. “I am running to something. The Lord is a strong tower. The righteous will run to it and be saved.” - Daryl Waltrip at Prayer Breakfast