dual personalities

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February 20, 2023

Publish glad tidings

by chuckofish

How was your weekend? Mine was pretty quiet, the highlight being when the OM and I wrestled the two carseats into his car and picked up the wee twins to go to church on Sunday. (Lacrosse season starts today so the boy was working at his store all weekend.) It is always a treat to drive with the twins in the backseat and listen to their running commentary. Their total depravity surfaced only a few times during the service–i.e. the bud sang lustily along with “Publish Glad Tidings” but using his own lyrics–perhaps he was speaking in tongues. (I turned to Lottie and whispered, “What is your brother singing?” and she said, “I don’t know!”) When they left for Kids Praise worship, I relaxed and enjoyed a good sermon.

The OM and I also attended the Mission Dinner on Friday night where we learned all about Presbyterians in the Ukraine and in the Yucatan. Presbyterians love their missionaries and their missions around the world, which is a big change from the Episcopal Church where the very idea of missions is embarrassing to them.

Presbyterians are serious about missions. (“And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.”–Mark 16:15) Basically they are serious. I am learning this about them and I appreciate it. I am also learning to curb by innate sense of frivolity. But I am a Calvinist at heart and have always had a strong Puritan streak. It is wonderful to find folks who share this attitude.

Of course, daughter #1 poured me a glass of wine when we got home.

And the Amaryllis just keeps on blooming!

O Zion, haste, thy mission high fulfilling,
To tell to all the world that God is light;
That He who made all nations is not willing
One soul should perish, lost in shades of night.

Publish glad tidings, tidings of peace;
Tidings of Jesus, redemption and release.

–Mary A. Thompson, 1868
5 Comments
February 17, 2023

So long, farewell

by chuckofish

Well, I was sad to hear that Raquel Welsh had died. She was something else. Beautiful, athletic and she could handle a gun. No one was going to exploit her–at least she gave that impression. We will toast her and watch one of her movies–I suggest 100 Rifles (1969) with Jim Brown and Burt Reynolds or Bandolero (1968) with Dean Martin and James Stewart.

I was also sad to see that Tim McCarver, the two-time World Series champion who became a household name as an award-winning broadcaster, had died. He was my hero when he played with the St. Louis Cardinals back in the 1960s.

I had a scrapbook and everything.

But maybe this will cheer you up:

Have a good weekend. Amen, Jesus.

3 Comments
February 16, 2023

The sun breaks through

by chuckofish

I have seen the sun break through
to illuminate a small field
for a while, and gone my way
and forgotten it. But that was the pearl
of great price, the one field that had
the treasure in it. I realize now
that I must give all that I have
to possess it. Life is not hurrying

on to a receding future, nor hankering after
an imagined past. It is the turning
aside like Moses to the miracle
of the lit bush, to a brightness
that seemed as transitory as your youth
once, but is the eternity that awaits you.

“A Bright Field” by R. S. Thomas (1913–2000) 

The painting is by Jacob Van Ruisdael – “View of Haarlem from the North West with the Bleaching Fields in the Foreground” c.1670-1675.

P.S. This is a wonderful response to the Michigan State University shooting by Kevin DeYoung. “As long as there is sin and suffering in the world the gospel will be relevant. Is there more hostility to authentic biblical Christianity than a few decades ago? Probably. But people are still people. They don’t want to be scared, and they don’t want to die. They need forgiveness, they need comfort, they need hope. They need Jesus.”

And Brett McCracken makes a good point here: “In a twist Salvador Dalí and Luis Buñuel likely never saw coming, the avant-garde has, in the 21st century, become middlebrow ennui. Subversion has scaled up like Starbucks, going stale in the process. This means “normal” starts to feel unexpectedly radical…In an age where amoral excess is the bland standard, disciplined restraint is the flavorful exception.”

Have a good day. Read some poetry. Think for yourself.

2 Comments
February 15, 2023

Belated valentines

by chuckofish

I know you all think of me as being such a deeply spiritual and devout person (and I am), but in honor of Valentines Day, here is my Top Ten Most Handsome Actors list. Back in August I listed my Top Five Favorite Actors, so this a variation on that theme, only focussing on male pulchritude.

So Jesse sent for his youngest son and brought him in. He was ruddy, with beautiful eyes and a handsome appearance. And the LORD said, “Rise and anoint him, for he is the one.”

–1 Samuel 16:12

(In alphabetical order)

Yul Brynner

Errol Flynn

Don Johnson

Jude Law

Gregory Peck

Steve McQueen

Toshiro Mifune

Paul Newman

Channing Tatum

John Wayne

You’re welcome.

If we were doing a Top Twenty list, we would quickly add Rock Hudson:

The OM and I watched Bullitt (1968) last night as is our Valentine tradition. (I love Steve and he loves the car.) What did you watch?

6 Comments
February 14, 2023

Tuesday mish-mosh

by chuckofish

So there is joy in our flyover state because the Kansas City Chiefs won the Super Bowl. But we only watched Chris Stapleton sing the National Anthem because we love him and, I must say, he did a super job.

The only time I have ever cared about the NFL was when Kurt Warner played for the Rams back in the day. ‘The Greatest Show on Turf’ offense was fabulous and I loved those guys: Isaac Bruce, Marshall Falk, Aeneas Williams, and, of course, Kurt Warner. Therefore, instead of the Super Bowl, we watched American Underdog (2021) which tells the story of Kurt and Brenda Warner and his road from stock boy at the Hy-Vee to a two-time NFL MVP, Super Bowl champion, and Hall of Fame quarterback.

It is an inspiring story and this film tells it well. I recommend this movie–I mean, who doesn’t love an inspiring sports story with a (spoiler alert) happy ending?

Fun fact: Considered the NFL’s greatest undrafted player, Warner is the only undrafted player to be named NFL MVP and Super Bowl MVP, as well as the only undrafted quarterback to lead his team to a Super Bowl victory. He is also the first quarterback to win the Super Bowl during his first season as the primary starter. Warner was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2017 and is the only player inducted into both the Pro Football Hall of Fame and the Arena Football Hall of Fame.

In other news, did you see that lightening struck Brazil’s iconic Christ the Redeemer statue over the weekend?

(Photo from The Daily Mail)

Well, it did, and once again I ask, Are these the End Times?

Anne wrote a good one about the flailing (and failing) Church of England. “The most essential thing we should notice about Jesus this morning is how different he is from the Archbishop of Canterbury. Justin Welby doesn’t have the power to heal all your diseases. But he has been given the gift of the Gospel which he could proclaim—it’s literally his main job—if he would trouble himself to discover what it is.”

And I enjoyed this article about the movie Ride the High Country (1962) and the Western genre in general. “The classic Western era was a distinct period in American film, establishing a genre with singular moral and artistic rules. These were stories about honor culture in the wilderness, a limbo space where rule of law was tenuous or nonexistent. Other critics have noted the difference in ethos between the old and new eras of Westerns, but Terry [Teachout] ‘s conservatism, and the erstwhile Christian faith of his childhood, gave him unique insight. The lawless world of Westerns, he noted, seemed to dramatize Dostoyevsky’s warning in The Brothers Karamazov that ‘If there is no God, then anything is permitted, even cannibalism.’”

Have a great Valentines day. “Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law.” (Romans 13:8)

3 Comments
February 13, 2023

Postcards from the weekend

by chuckofish

How was your weekend? We had sunny blue skies but freezing temps. Still, Saturday was a lovely day to buzz over to Jeff City to check on daughter #1’s apartment and water her plants.

We had lunch at the Grand…

…and did a little mid-Mo shopping before heading home to walk the dog. It was a lot of driving, but the scenery of the rolling hills of Missouri never disappoints.

On Sunday morning I set up the dining room for a little after-church Valentine party for the wee twins…

In church we had a baptism and it was the twin’s Sunday School teacher’s baby and the little bud stood up and said “Hi Mr. Patrick!” and waved. When the pastor walked with the baby down the center aisle and we all sang “Jesus Loves Me” I cried and my mascara ran. Par for the course.

Later at home, after bagels and party favors, we played outside with Mr. Smith who is living his best life.

Meanwhile baby Idabelle continues to thrive…

…and Katie continues to be the best big sister, reading to her constantly…

“A bunny, that’s right a bunny!”

…and replacing her binky immediately when it falls out of baby’s mouth.

So onward to Monday! God is in control.

Be thou my battle shield, sword for my fight;

Be thou my dignity, thou my delight,

Thou my soul’s shelter, thou my high tower:

raise thou me heav’nward, O Pow’r of my pow’r.

–Hymn #642, verse 3

(My latest floral arrangement for church on Sunday–not bad, right?)

4 Comments
February 10, 2023

Friday movie pick

by chuckofish

Last night we watched The King and I (1956) because it was on TCM. Although I have seen it many times, it did not disappoint!

It is on my Top Ten Best Movie Musical List–indeed, probably my Top Five. Yul Brynner is stupendous and Deborah Kerr holds up her end admirably. The Siamese rendition of Uncle Tom’s Cabin–“The Small House of Uncle Thomas” ballet sequence–is wonderful. The sets, the costumes–wow. It won Oscars for Bests Actor, Best Art Direction, Best Costumes, Best Sound, and Best Music, Scoring of a Musical.

It is a movie that has it all. And by that I mean, mostly Yul Brynner.

If you are in need of a little escape from the madness, watch The King and I (1956). You’ll be glad you did.

Have a good weekend!

3 Comments
February 9, 2023

Deep thoughts for Thursday

by chuckofish

We live in the valley of Elah, and daily, Goliath stomps into our terrified lives, shouting, “I defy you!” (1 Sam. 17:10) In God’s powerful name we must come to take our stand. Like David, we must say, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied” (v. 45 NIV). If we tremble in the face of Satan, it is never because Satan has grown large, but because our God has grown small.

–Calvin Miller, The Unchained Soul

This is a thoughtful piece about how people need a spiritual life and church. “As we continue to confront the despair pervading our society, we must seek to be the means of God’s grace toward those struggling with the threat of death. And as churches foremost—but also as political communities and society as a whole—we must help people find spiritual life.”

3 Comments
February 8, 2023

Like the new moon thy life appears

by chuckofish

–Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

The painting is by Jessie Wilcox Smith.

BTW, an adumbration is an “imperfect representation; something that suggests by resemblance, or shadows forth; a foreshadowing.” I looked it up.

Many are the plans in the mind of a man,
    but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.

–Proverbs 19:21
2 Comments
February 7, 2023

“We’re about John Wayne, Johnny Cash and John Deere.”

by chuckofish

Today we celebrate the birthday of John Deere (1804-1886), American blacksmith, inventor and manufacturer, who founded Deere and Company. Deere hailed from Vermont and attended Middlebury College. He moved to Illinois and invented the first commercially successful steel plow in 1837 by fashioning a Scottish steel saw blade into a plow.

(Early John Deere plow, circa 1845, made in Grand Detour, Illinois, displayed at the Henry Ford Museum)

Prior to Deere’s steel plow, most farmers used iron or wooden plows to which the rich Midwestern soil stuck, so they had to be cleaned frequently. The smooth-sided steel plow solved this problem and greatly aided migration into the American Great Plains in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

By 1855, Deere’s factory had sold more than 10,000 such plows. It became known as “The Plow that Broke the Plains” and is commemorated in a historic place marker in Middlebury, Vermont.

Deere & Company ranked No. 84 in the 2022 Fortune 500 list of the largest United States corporations.

The John Deere tractor has, of course, become an icon of a certain way of life and has been glorified in many great country songs by the likes of Kenny Chesney, Vince Gill, Brad Paisley, Keith Urban, and Joe Diffie. But I like this one by Josh Thompson–“Way Out Here”:

(Thompson co-wrote the song with David Lee Murphy and Casey Beathard.)

We won't take a dime if we ain't earned it
When it comes to weight, brother we pull our own
If it's our backwoods way of living you're concerned with
Well you can leave us alone
Cause we're about John Wayne, Johnny Cash and John Deere
Way out here

So let’s toast John Deere tonight and my people Way Out Here.

5 Comments