dual personalities

Category: inspiration

February 25, 2019

In the land of Goshen

by chuckofish

The OT lesson in church on Sunday was about Joseph (a hero of mine) revealing himself to his brothers.

Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph. Is my father still alive?” But his brothers could not answer him, so dismayed were they at his presence.

4 Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Come closer to me.” And they came closer. He said, “I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. 5 And now do not be distressed, or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life. 6 For the famine has been in the land these two years; and there are five more years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest. 7 God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. 8 So it was not you who sent me here, but God; he has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt. 9 Hurry and go up to my father and say to him, ‘Thus says your son Joseph, God has made me lord of all Egypt; come down to me, do not delay. 10 You shall settle in the land of Goshen, and you shall be near me, you and your children and your children’s children, as well as your flocks, your herds, and all that you have. 11 I will provide for you there—since there are five more years of famine to come—so that you and your household, and all that you have, will not come to poverty.’  …And he kissed all his brothers and wept upon them; and after that his brothers talked with him. (Genesis 45:3-11, 15)

It is the climax of a wonderful lesson about trusting God when bad things happen. Of course, the rector did not mention it, but preached on the Gospel–which is appropriate, no doubt, but I wish he had at least mentioned it and how great it is. I wish I had been the reader–so much drama!

Speaking of drama, we had a very windy weekend here in flyover country. Saturday night the wind whistled and roared around our house (66 miles an hour!) and even set off the burglar alarm at 1:30 in the morning! The sun came out on Sunday, and although it was still quite windy, it was a beautiful day.

On Saturday, after I struck out at a couple of estate sales, the OM and I ventured down to the Eugene Field House to hear Harry Weber talk about his art and the process of making it.

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It was a fascinating talk by an engaging old fellow, who had many a story to tell about his life sculpting bronze statues of the rich and famous and of the more obscure subjects, including several in Nacogdoches, Texas. Locally, we love the one he sculpted for the Mississippi Riverfront, “The Captains’ Return,” which is submerged by flood waters regularly.

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We went to Steak ‘N Shake afterwards.

In other news, I discovered that one of my Christmas cacti is blooming again in a spare bedroom!

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Also the Christmas amaryllis has really gone to town–5 blooms so far.

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And did you hear that director Stanley Donen died? He directed On the Town and Singin’ in the Rain, with Gene Kelly, plus Royal Wedding, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Funny Face, Pajama Game, Indiscreet, and Charade. He had a light touch that others could never replicate. He never got an Academy Award nomination (typical), but he did get a special Oscar for Lifetime Achievement.

Watch one of his movies! You’ll be glad you did.

And, of course, what would a weekend be without a visit from those wee babes? I found some more old toys in the basement and they were thrilled…

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Life is good.

5 Comments
February 19, 2019

Just a reminder

by chuckofish

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One of the great causes of sadness in human life is the collision between expectation and what actually happens. The New Testament, therefore, for our joy, is relentlessly helping us to lower our expectations for this life and raise our expectations for the next.⠀
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For example, in 1 Peter 4:12, it says, “Don’t be surprised at the fiery ordeal when it comes upon you as though something strange were happening to you.” In other words, get it fixed in your head that it is not strange to have life go bad for you as a Christian. Paul, in Romans 8, said, “Even we who have the Holy Spirit groan inwardly as we wait for our adoption as children, the redemption of our body.” Even those in this life who have the Holy Spirit will experience all the rheumatism and cancer and accidents and horror that the world does. “Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all” (Psalm 34:19).⠀
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The constant lowering of expectations now is accompanied with a raising of expectations later: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance that is undefiled, unfading, imperishable, kept in heaven for you who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice” (1 Peter 1:3–6).⠀
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Now, we know it’s going to be hard. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but oh, how the New Testament raises higher and higher and higher our expectations of the life to come. Live in hope and embrace what God gives you in this life in love.⠀
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–John Piper (Read more at desiringGod.org.)

Yes, God has a plan for you, but that plan is not for you to be happy, fulfilled, rich and famous. His plan is for you to be holy and content. It is easy to lose sight of that.

“Christ never promises peace in the sense of no more struggle and suffering. Instead, he helps us to struggle and suffer as he did, in love, for one another. Christ does not give us security in the sense of something in this world, some cause, some principle, some value, which is forever. Instead, he tells us that there is nothing in this world that is forever, all flesh is grass. He does not promise us unlonely lives. His own life speaks loud of how, in a world where there is little love, love is always lonely. Instead of all these, the answer that he gives, I think, is himself. If we go to him for anything else, he may send us away empty or he may not. But if we go to him for himself, I believe that we go away always with this deepest of all our hungers filled.”
― Frederick Buechner, Listening to Your Life: Daily Meditations with Frederick Buechner 

(The painting is by Van Gogh)

2 Comments
January 24, 2019

Guiding light

by chuckofish

How about a little Mumford & Sons to get you started this morning?

I meant to mention earlier that Mary Oliver, the poet, died last week. Known for her “secular psalms,” she has been dubbed by some “the unofficial poet laureate” of the Unitarian Universalist denomination. Well, then. I liked her anyway.

Song of the Builders

On a summer morning
I sat down
on a hillside
to think about God –
a worthy pastime.
Near me, I saw
a single cricket;
it was moving the grains of the hillside
this way and that way.
How great was its energy,
how humble its effort.
Let us hope
it will always be like this,
each of us going on
in our inexplicable ways
building the universe.

You can read about her here and here.

I will also note that on this day in 1848 James W. Marshall found gold at Sutter’s Mill near Sacramento. Our great-great-great grandfather, Silas Hough, went west the following year to seek his fortune, but died of cholera just east of the Rocky Mountains.

Screen Shot 2019-01-23 at 12.27.49 PM.pngHis 16-year old son, our great-great grandfather John Simpson Hough who had accompanied him, went home to Philadelphia. He didn’t stay long though. He had seen the Rocky Mountains and there was no holding him back.

And, hey, this was an interesting interview. (I had never heard of this book. I may have to read it.)

When people talk about poverty, there are different kinds. There is a poverty of status in our country where you have all the food and water you need but you think other people are doing better all around you. You can also have a poverty of control. You feel you can’t choose how you spend your day, when to get up. We don’t talk about those kinds of poverty a lot.

Food for thought.

(The painting is Sunrise on the Mountains at the Head of Moraine Park, Near Estes Park, about 1920, by Charles Partridge Adams, CU Art Museum, University of Colorado Boulder

4 Comments
January 23, 2019

Small world department

by chuckofish

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This made me laugh.

The boy and daughter #1 are training to run in a half marathon in April. I salute them. I would be happy to be able to walk a half marathon, but it ain’t gonna happen. (My achilles tendons have not recovered as it is from my trip to Israel.) Well, I ride my stationery bike every morning for half an hour–the best I can do–while listening to my favorite Calvinists discuss scripture on Youtube. The half hour flies by!

One result of this foray into the evangelical world is that I discovered what became of a girl who was in the class above me at school growing up. I happened to be reading about Wheaton College in Illinois one day when I found out that one of its Presidents had the same last name as this girl.  I recalled that she (and her older sister) went to Wheaton. (Wheaton was not a college many people from my school went to, so I remembered.) They were a very religious family and their lovely daughters were always impeccably groomed and conservatively dressed. (Remember: this was the 1970s!) They were not concerned with being cool like the rest of us, but went about their business in a focused and serious way. Hmmm, I thought, I wonder if her grandfather had been the President? As it turned out, he was. (The libraries at both Wheaton College and Covenant Theological Seminary bear his name.)

This girl went on with her education and received a PhD in English literature from Vanderbilt. She is now an author and speaker who has taught literature, directed women’s Bible studies, and “loves working with women in studying the Scriptures.” She directed The Gospel Coalition’s women’s initiatives from 2010 to 2017. She is not just riding her stationery bike and listening to panels with the likes of R.C. Sproul and John Piper. She is on the panel with them!

It is a small world, n’est-ce pas? You can read one of her articles here.

Have a good day!

4 Comments
January 22, 2019

On a wing and a prayer

by chuckofish

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Recently I received the Williams College alumni  magazine, the one that just has all the class notes. I admit, I look at the obits first. I like to read about the old guys, class of 1939 and on…the WWII vets.

This one caught my eye:

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Imagine being a decorated dive bomber pilot in the war, coming home and settling in to a career in advertising! Talk about switching gears. Plus, I remember Wrestling at the Chase! We thought it was hilarious. Well, it sounds like he had a good long life, 100 years wittily re-writing song lyrics and all.

So did this guy, class of 1948:

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How great is it that he became a volunteer deputy sheriff in NC after retiring?. Also, he was from Worcester. I wonder if my mother knew him?

I love these WWII veterans–truly we will not see their like again. They worked hard, they supported their church and civic groups and charities…They had lived through the war–as dive bomber pilots–and had learned something. They had lost friends and knew they were lucky to be alive.

Maybe they knew what life is really all about: “He enjoyed a good burger, a good book, a glass of wine and a fire in the fireplace.” (A member of the class of 1950 recalled about a classmate.)

Let’s all take a moment.

Into paradise may the angels lead thee and at thy coming may the martyrs receive thee, and bring thee into the holy city Jerusalem. (BCP, Burial of the Dead, Rite I)

3 Comments
January 16, 2019

Just saying

by chuckofish

Screen Shot 2019-01-15 at 7.45.02 AM.png(Instragam @vegaslady42 who reposted it from somewhere else)

Unknown.jpegMeanwhile the amaryllis, given to us by my brother and his wife before Christmas, continues to grow. Hopefully it will bloom sometime in mid-February, just when we need it the most! The wee laddie was quite fascinated with it the other night and thus we have it staked now…as usual, he heeded his mother’s pleas for a “gentle touch!” only after some damage was already done. The Christmas cactus is also a favorite place for the wee babes to deposit their Playskool chicken and rooster…

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…which is quite brilliant if you ask me. Birds in the foliage, right? It is great to see them recognize things and make connections.

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Lottie has been terrific at pointing out horses (“neigh!”) on fabric and in pictures for awhile. The first time she did this, it blew me away. She is one observant child.

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Now she can find elephants everywhere.

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She called the clock a “house” which I thought was brilliant as well.IMG_3831.JPGOur house is like a treasure hunt for them anyway. It is their job to “find” their toys that have been put away and drag them out. Books in particular.

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They also like to move the little chairs around, because, you know, they can.

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I have bought nothing new for them except the shopping cart, which, of course, the wee laddie thinks is a Sherman Tank. What was I thinking?

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Well, nothing is too precious in our house not to be “antiqued” further by the demonstrative hands of our two-year old, twenty-pound twin tornadoes.

The old manse can take it.

By the way, yesterday the wee babes had their final NICU follow-up appointment. According to daughter #3, the doctors were very pleased with how they both are doing. Both are basically caught up developmentally to their same-aged peers…and they told us not to expect this until they were 3! Love and attention go a long, long way.

Thanks be to God.

8 Comments
January 10, 2019

Walking the walk

by chuckofish

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Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. 14 For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few. (Matthew 7:13-14)

It has been a very busy week at work, so I only have a few things to share today:

News from the Duh Department. Science-approved!

She makes a good point.

I was so happy about this–not because Alabama lost, but because Coach Dabo Swinney won. He stood firm when The FFRF demanded that Clemson — a public university — not only require Swinney to “cease” his allegedly unconstitutional religious activities but also that it “train” the coaching staff and “monitor their conduct going forwards.” As it turned out, Clemson backed their coach, and at the end of the College Football Playoff National Championship game he was able to say (as reported to me by the boy), “all the credit, alllll the glory goes to the good Lord number one, and number two to this great group of guys.”

Have a good Thursday. Tomorrow is Friday and then on to the weekend! It is supposed to snow here in flyover country. Do I have enough milk, eggs and bread, peanut butter and guitar strings?

6 Comments
January 3, 2019

All shall be well

by chuckofish

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“For last year’s words belong to last year’s language
And next year’s words await another voice.
And to make an end is to make a beginning.”

― T.S. Eliot, Little Gidding

I do not as a rule make resolutions. However, this year I do resolve to read through the Bible. I am also going to commit to memorizing bible verses. I think this will be good for my flagging memory. My brain needs the exercise.

Remember resolution #28 of Jonathan Edwards’s list of resolutions:

28. Resolved, to study the Scriptures so steadily, constantly and frequently, as that I may find, and plainly perceive myself to grow in the knowledge of the same.

In case you have misplaced your copy of the aforementioned list of resolutions, here it is.

Alain de Botton is correct when he writes, “It is one of the unexpected disasters of the modern age that our new unparalleled access to information has come at the price of our capacity to concentrate on anything much. The deep, immersive thinking which produced many of civilization’s most important achievements has come under unprecedented assault. We are almost never far from a machine that guarantees us a mesmerizing and libidinous escape from reality. The feelings and thoughts which we have omitted to experience while looking at our screens are left to find their revenge in involuntary twitches and our ever-decreasing ability to fall asleep when we should.” (Religion for Atheists: A Non-Believer’s Guide to the Uses of Religion)

I am going to fight that this year. 

The painting is “Looking at the Sea” by Winslow Homer

3 Comments
January 2, 2019

“Don’t kid yourself. These are the good old days.”*

by chuckofish

IMG_3446.jpegWell, after daughter #1 headed back to mid-MO, I set to work putting away Christmas decorations, which is a pretty big job and always kind of sad. However, it was good to say hello to some old friends.

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By mid-afternoon, I had everything mostly under control. I was glad we had taken down the big tree on Sunday!

Today, like a lot of people, I am back at work. It was a very nice break, full of family and fun, but I am ready to start the new  year.

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Instagram @desiringgod

Onward and upward.

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*Nick Charles in The Thin Man (1934)

3 Comments
January 1, 2019

Getting down to work

by chuckofish

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“We are always falling in love or quarreling, looking for jobs or fearing to lose them, getting ill and recovering, following public affairs. If we let ourselves, we shall always be waiting for some distraction or other to end before we can really get down to our work. The only people who achieve much are those who want knowledge so badly that they seek it while the conditions are still unfavorable. Favorable conditions never come.”
― C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory 

Here’s to 2019 and getting down to work!

“All doors are open to the believer. It is the lesson of the Samaritan woman at the well.”
― Patti Smith, M Train 

*The picture is of fabric by Folly Cove Designer Hetty Beatty Whitney: Victory Garden

3 Comments