News Bites

As is my custom, I spent a fair amount of time today scouring the internet for something worthy to write about. Too many reports of murder, war, political strife, celebrity misbehavior, hurricanes, suicide bombings, economic distress, etc. (The closest that I came to "interesting" was a CNN story about the history of shaving. Did you know that the first "razors" used were shark teeth? In the 4th century BC, Alexander the Great encouraged his men to shave so enemies couldn't grab their beards during hand-to-hand fighting. HA.)

Anyway, I digress. All these negative news reports reminded me of a J. Gresham Machen quote passed along to me a few days ago by a good friend. This excerpt is a very fitting commentary on the state of our world and points us to a response that is better than despair:

"Is there no refuge from strife? Is there no place of refreshing where a man can prepare for the battle of life? Is there no place where two or three can gather in Jesus' name, to forget for the moment all those things that divide nation from nation and race from race, to forget human pride, to forget the passions of war, to forget the puzzling problems of industrial strife, and to unite in overflowing gratitude at the foot of the Cross? If there be such a place, then that is the house of God and that the gate of heaven. And from under the threshold of that house will go forth a river that will revive the weary world."

Now that's good news!