Brant asks Is Jesus Enough? as he talks about depression and drug-induced morality. Definite must read.

But I take a little pill, once a day, and wham — I can think about other people. I think I’m okay. I can sit and relax and fall asleep. I can be on the air, do something stupid — and move on. Happens to the best of ‘em, you know? One little pill, and I’m a better person.

And that, friend, is the disturbing thing. As a Christian, I’m uncomfortable with purely mechanistic explanations for our behavior. Friends say, “What’s the struggle? Taking this pill is just like taking Tylenol for an ache.” But no. No, it’s not. I take this pill, and I’m morally better. I’m not kidding.

Rebecca has a poignant post on struggles and pain and how Jesus dealt with those things.

But in the meantime, life is pain. We struggle; we lose. We sorrow, not like those who have no hope, but we still sorrow. And we don’t have to tiptoe around the hole in the world, as if owning up to how wrong things are would be admitting defeat. Jesus, who had the power to defeat death, wept in the face of it. We can’t do better than Jesus.

Brother Maynard reminds us that Advent is a time of waiting.

Only through resisting the celebration until it’s time do we appropriately come through the season of waiting, of anticipating. Only then do we experience the joy of Christmas as the celebration of our hope rather than what it’s become to so many — the end, finally, of a long hard season of hectic preparation for a day they can’t wait to be done with so they can relax.

And for a little humor see Fred the Fundamentalist denounce the evils of yogurt.

See, this is just how subtle Satan is, Jim. You have to be aware of his willie– I mean, his wiles. Think about it. It’s got the same first three letters. Same amount of syllables, and hippie-new-age type people do yoga and eat yogurt - especially that organic crap you’re eating.