How are you doing at loving the people you disagree with?

11 Gospel-centered ways to love your city.

“Be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to anger.”

Respect your enemy…… even if he is dead.

Theology matters.

No further than our fathers.

Watch your conjunctions in parenting.

“Fair trade products are too pricey!” – Debunking common objections to shopping ethically.

5 reasons craft beer is the world’s greatest beverage.

I digress; Saint Arnold is named for the patron saint of Belgian beer and had six beers available to try: Amber Ale, Brown Ale, Weedwacker, Fancy Lawnmower, Elissa IPA and Santo. All the beers were available in bottles, with Santo also available on tap. Obviously, the Amber Ale and Brown Ale are just that – amber ale and brown ale. The Amber Ale was similar to Shiner Bock, but with a little more malty sweetness. The Brown Ale was even sweeter, but still light.

Fancy Lawnmower is a German-style Kölsch, which I found to be very light and crisp, almost watery. There was a bit of sweetness from the malt and a bit of citrus from the hops, but not enough to bring any bitterness. If I owned a bar, this is what I would serve to customers looking for something similar to a classic, American, light lager, as those beers are actually based upon this style. This would make a great introduction to craft beer for those who have never ventured beyond Bud Light or Miller Lite.

Weedwacker is supposed to be the same recipe as Fancy Lawnmower, except it uses Bavarian hefeweizen yeast instead of Kölsch yeast. While also very crisp and light, it was much more flavorful than Fancy Lawnmower, with notes of clove and banana. Additionally, it didn’t taste nearly as watered-down as Fancy Lawnmower. While it is brewed year-round, Weedwacker would make a great Summer session beer.

It was about the time I got to Elissa IPA that our Marsala rep pointed something out to me that I had noticed, but hadn’t really thought about: Saint Arnold’s beers, while flavorful and enjoyable, are a bit lighter than traditional beers in the same categories. The Elissa IPA is a perfect example – is it hoppy and bitter? Yes. But is it as hoppy and bitter as most other IPA’s? Not in my opinion. It came across more as a pale ale, than an India Pale Ale.

Last, but not least, is Santo. This was actually the first Saint Arnold beer I tried, and is still my favorite. Santo is brewed using a Kölsch recipe with the addition of Munich and black malts. It has all the flavor of a good porter or stout with the body of a much lighter style, like Kölsch or hefeweizen. One of the few dark session beers I’ve found and enjoyed.

So, after leaving Marsala, on the recommendation of our Marsala rep I headed over to Cotton, located on the corner of the Endom Bridge in Monroe. Talk about bourbon heaven! According to the staff, they have over 70 different bourbons available, in addition to the usual bar staples. I was trying to keep my tab under $100, so I limited myself to Michter’s 10 year old, George T. Stagg and Pappy Van Winkle 20 year old, but there are several more I will be trying in the future. Michter’s is a single barrel, small batch bourbon, and is very flavorful, with notes of toffee, vanilla and caramel, with a bit of spice to balance the flavors. It comes in at 94.4% alcohol, so it is very easy to drink, even for those used to more pedestrian selections. George T. Stagg is an uncut and unfiltered bourbon, coming in between 140-145 proof. You can tell by the photo below that this stuff is strong. The nose is very boozy, but the taste is extremely deceptive. I’ve had 100 proof bourbons that were hotter than this. Flavor-wise, Stagg is all over the place; sweet and spicy, with notes of vanilla, honey, coffee, leather and tobacco. Finally, I tried the Pappy Van Winkle 20 year aged bourbon. This is a bourbon for bourbon lovers. While Cotton does keep the 23 year Pappy in stock, I’ve been hearing for awhile that the 20 year is actually better. At half the price for a dram, I figured I can try the 23 later. The 20 was extremely smooth, no doubt from being a wheated bourbon and spending so much time in a barrel. Vanilla, caramel and toffee were abundant, but didn’t trample over each other or overwhelm the drink itself. While I’ve long said Booker’s True Barrel Bourbon is my favorite, if I’ve got the money to spend, Pappy 20 is my new favorite.

How big is the internet?

Get your beard on.

What is grace?

Proverbs are not promises.

Church plants, airplanes and bulldozers.

Heretics and Helpfulness: Relating to Those Outside of Orthodoxy.

For decades, the prevailing wisdom in education was that high self-esteem would lead to high achievement. The theory led to an avalanche of daily affirmations, awards ceremonies and attendance certificates – but few, if any, academic gains.
HT: Tim Challies

It is difficult to read the Bible and not see that God chooses to use us in spite of our weaknesses.

How to read the Bible the wrong way.

A Gospel-Shaped Pro-Life Passion.

Moving pro-life legislation forward: the need for prudence and civility.

Global warming according to NASA.
HT: Kurt Willems

• Mikkeller Black Hole – Bourbon Barrel-Aged: this is a stout brewed with coffee, honey and vanilla, and then aged in bourbon barrels. Black Hole is resembles an imperial stout in appearance, being jet black and extremely viscous. There is a lot of bourbon in the nose, but not so much the taste. Tastewise, this is a typical (albeit, high octane) coffee stout. A lot of coffee and roasted malt, and not very boozy considering it is 13.1% ABV. Definitely worth trying, but at it’s price point it won’t be a regular buy for me.
• Hel & Verdoemenis, by De Molen: this is a Belgian-style Imperial Stout. Black and oily, with a lot of roasted malt in the taste, and a hint of hops (unusual for a stout). Not as sweet as De Molen’s Heaven & Hell, which is an American-style Imperial Stout, but I like sweet, so I prefer Heaven & Hell.
• Southern Star Bombshell Blonde: this is an American Blonde Ale, and a good one at that. I’ve noticed that blonde ales can be hit or miss, as they’re pretty easy to screw up. Southern Star has a great recipe here – not too sweet, not too bitter, just the right balance to create a smooth, easy-drinking beer that packs a lot of flavor. Very bready, with hints of banana and brown sugar.
• Yeastie Boys Digital IPA: this is an IPA from New Zealand. Very hop-forward, but once you get past the initial taste, this is a well-balanced beer. Not my favorite IPA, but it’s price point makes it more accessible than Mikkeller’s Green Gold (which is currently my favorite IPA).

Considering the amount of feedback (both positive and negative) Jeff Bethke has received on his poem, this post is a great follow-up – Bearing with One Another: On the Giving and Receiving of Criticism.

What is good news for the poor?

From HIV to Hai.

I know who I’m not.

Sexual history isn’t everything.

How can you forgive a killer?

U.S. Veterans Show Solidarity With Iraqi Restaurant – I absolutely hate prejudice – whether it’s racial, social, ethnic, sexual, etc. There is simply no excuse for hating someone simply because they’re different, so when I see headlines like the previous one, it brightens my day. Soldiers, who fought in Iraq, taking up the cause of Iraqis living in America. I love it!

Faith and reason can, and do get along.

You are not Jesus.

Visit most Christian bookstores, or the Christian section of a secular bookstore, and you will see an array of books claiming to have a prophetic message or a handle on explaining prophecy. Yet, few of those books resemble the prophets of old. So, what exactly do we mean by “prophetic”?

Mark & Grace Driscoll’s new book, Real Marriage, shows that confession is still most dangerous in the one place it should be safest: the church.

“God cannot be more infinite, loving or holy tomorrow than he already is today.“

Issues churches face in the next decade.

Do you struggle with forgiveness?

How many conditions do you put on unconditional love?

Top 10 Reasons I’m a Christian. This isn’t my personal list, but I really resonate with number one.

A parable about the church.

Art, conscience and theological McCarthyism.

Stealing Christmas.

We three kings of Orient AREN’T.

Lose the incarnation, lose it all.

I like when other bloggers repost their top posts at the end of the year, because, inevitably, I’ve missed a few along the way. This post from Tony Morgan on how the “culture of honor” is hurting churches is a perfect example.

MillerCoors isn’t stopping with Leinenkugel’s and Blue Moon – they are actively buying their way into the world of craft beer. Is this a good thing?

The idea that God, if there is a force of Logic and Love in the universe, that it would seek to explain itself is amazing enough. That it would seek to explain itself and describe itself by becoming a child born in straw poverty, in shit and straw… a child… I just thought, “Wow!” Just the poetry… Unknowable love, unknowable power, describes itself as the most vulnerable. There it was. I was sitting there, and it’s not that it hadn’t struck me before, but tears came streaming down my face, and I saw the genius of this, utter genius of picking a particular point in time and deciding to turn on this.

This weekend will be busy for many, between family and friends, parties and presents. Make sure to take some time to remember the real reason for our celebration. The day and season aren’t important – God incarnate, living a substitutionary life and dying a substitutionary death – that’s what is really important, and should be celebrated daily, not just once a year.