I am relieved now. My sister is OK, at least for now. Thank you all for all your prayers for her and my family.

Peaches the hamster is proving to be quite anti-social. My mom was babysitting some kids that go to her church today and one of them decided that she really needed to pet her even though Peaches was sound asleep. Hamsters are quite grumpy when they wake up and Peaches is no exception. So when she was awakened from her deep sleep by an unfamiliar person, she just bit her. Hamster bites often look worse than they are, but their teeth are quite capable of slicing through the skin of an unfortunate person. My sister has been bitten before, and I have just been lucky. I don't force her to do anything, and so far, so good. She nibbled on my hand once, but I pulled away before she could bury her teeth into my finger.

The Lutheran blogsphere is erupting in delight because of Mike Horton. I do like Dr. Horton (mainly because most Calvinists claim he's a closet Lutheran). He is probably the best example of how close a Calvinist can get to Lutheranism without actually being Lutheran. He understands law and gospel probably better than most Calvinists, and he gets what the theology of the cross is about. I just wish he would give in on those pesky sacraments and that whole predestination thing and come to the light. Lutheranism could really use a man like him. Calvinism probably needs him more than we do, however.

Speaking of Mike Horton, here's the link to the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals, probably the best example of what ecumenism could be. They agree with what they agree on, and recognize the disagreements they have rather than just sweeping them under the rug and pretending they don't exist (the mode of most ecumenism). There is a lot of good stuff at this site, so don't be afraid to browse.

(Thanks to Josh and John for the inspiration.)

Added Thought: I forgot to post this when I was writing this. My choices of beer (or lack thereof) are more a reflection of what I think about the given synod or denomination, not of the blogs (or links) below.