“There is hardship in everything except eating pancakes.” (Charles H. Spurgeon)
I read this article about Welsh male voice choirs still singing and my heart was glad. I hope they can keep that Welsh torch lit for music. We have a lot of men in our PCA congregation and, praise Jesus, they all sing out throughout the service. It is indeed wonderful. (And such a change from the Episcopal churches I have belonged to.)
And Kevin DeYoung explains the fight of faith in this sad world.
Meanwhile the Christmas cactus is blooming again!
The big questions in life are not “Who am I?” The big question in life is “Whose am I?” You have got to answer that question. Whose are you? Whose are you? That’s the issue. In the twentieth century, we get all bent out of shape about self-identity and stuff. Who am I, and my worth, and my esteem, and my value, and all that — man. When you read the Bible, the huge issue is right relationship with God and to whom you belong, whose you are.
“Spiritual pride tends to speak of other persons’ sins with bitterness or with laughter and levity and an air of contempt. But pure Christian humility rather tends either to be silent about these problems or to speak of them with grief and pity. Spiritual pride is very apt to suspect others, but a humble Christian is most guarded about himself. He is as suspicious of nothing in the world as he is of his own heart. The proud person is apt to find fault with other believers, that they are low in grace, and to be much in observing how cold and dead they are and to be quick to note their deficiencies. But the humble Christian has so much to do at home and sees so much evil in his own heart and is so concerned about it that he is not apt to be very busy with other hearts. He is apt to esteem others better than himself.”
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)
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.”
Christ is my saviour. He is my life. He is everything to me in heaven and earth. Once while traveling in a sandy region I was tired and thirsty. Standing on the top of a mound I looked for water. The sight of a lake at a distance brought joy to me, for now I hoped to quench my thirst. I walked toward it for a long time, but I could never reach it. Afterwards I found out it was a mirage, only a mere appearance of water caused by the refracted rays of the sun. In reality there was none. In a like manner I was moving about the world in search of the water of life. The things of this world – wealth, position, honour and luxury – looked like a lake by drinking of whose waters I hoped to quench my spiritual thirst. But I could never find a drop of water to quench the thirst of my heart. I was dying of thirst. When my spiritual eyes were opened I saw the rivers of living water flowing from his pierced side. I drank of it and was satisfied. Thirst was no more. Ever since I have always drunk of that water of life, and have never been athirst in the sandy desert of this world. My heart is full of praise.
–Sadhu Sundar Singh
Oh-o-oh, sinner,
When you’re mingling with the crowd in Babylon—
Drinking the wine of Babylon—
Running with the women of Babylon—
You forget about God, and you laugh at Death.
Today you’ve got the strength of a bull in your neck
And the strength of a bear in your arms,
But some o’these days, some o’ these days,
You’ll have a hand-to-hand struggle with bony Death,
And Death is bound to win.
Young man, come away from Babylon,
That hell-border city of Babylon,
Leave the dancing and gambling of Babylon,
The wine and whiskey of Babylon,
The hot-mouthed women of Babylon;
Fall down on your knees,
And say in your heart:
“I will arise and go to my Father.”
–James Weldon Johnson, from “Prodigal Son”
Have a good weekend!
(The painting is “The Prodigal Son” by N.C. Wyeth)
Have you entered the storehouses…which I reserve for times of trouble? (Job 38:22-23)
“Our trials are great opportunities, but all too often we simply see them as large obstacles. If only we would recognize every difficult situation as something God has chosen to prove His love for us, each obstacle would then become a place of shelter and rest, and a demonstration to others of His inexpressible power. If we could look for the signs of His glorious handiwork, then every cloud would indeed become a rainbow, and every difficult mountain path would be one of ascension, transformation, and glorification.
“If we would look at our past, most of us would realize that the times we endured the greatest stress and felt that every path was blocked were the very times our heavenly Father chose to do the kindest things for us and bestow His richest blessings.
“God’s most beautiful jewels are often delivered in rough packages by very difficult people, but within the package we will find the very treasures of the King’s palace and the Bridegroom’s love.”
–A. B. Simpson (1844-1919) quoted in Streams in the Desert by L.B. Cowman
“Trust God’s Word and His power more than you trust your own feelings and experiences. Remember, your Rock is Christ, and it is the sea that ebbs and flows with the tides, not Him.”
–Samuel Rutherford (1600-61)
We hunger to be known and understood. We hunger to be loved. We hunger to be at peace inside our own skins. We hunger not just to be fed these things but, often without realizing it, we hunger to feed others these things because they too are starving for them. We hunger not just to be loved but to love, not just to be forgiven but to forgive, not just to be known and understood for all the good times and bad times that for better or worse have made us who we are, but to know and understand each other to the point of seeing that, in the last analysis, we all have the same good times and the same bad times, and that for that very reason there is no such thing in all the world as anyone who is really a stranger.
“Are you not thirsty?” said the Lion. “I’m dying of thirst,” said Jill. “Then drink,” said the Lion. “May I — could I — would you mind going away while I do?” said Jill. The Lion answered this only by a look and a very low growl. …The delicious rippling noise of the stream was driving her nearly frantic. “Will you promise not to – do anything to me, if I do come?” said Jill. “I make no promise,” said the Lion. …“I daren’t come and drink,” said Jill. “Then you will die of thirst,” said the Lion. “Oh dear!” said Jill, coming another step nearer. “I suppose I must go and look for another stream then.” “There is no other stream,” said the Lion.
C.S. Lewis, The Silver Chair
Have a good weekend.
Friday Bonus: Here’s Chico Marx playing the piano in A Night at the Opera (1935) which I watched last night. It ought to put a smile on your face.
Another Saturday night, January 1738-39, I had such a sense, how sweet and blessed a thing it was, to walk in the way of duty, to do that which was right and meet to be done, and agreeable to the holy mind of God; that it caused me to break forth into a kind of loud weeping, which held me some time; so that I was forced to shut myself up, and fasten the doors. I could not but as it were cry out, “How happy are they which do that which is right in the sight of God! They are blessed indeed, they are the happy ones!” I had at the same time, a very affecting sense, how meet and suitable it was that God should govern the world, and order all things according to his own pleasure; and I rejoiced in it, that God reigned, and that his will was done.
Four days til Christmas! I am re-reading Shepherds Abiding by Jan Karon, the Mitford Advent/Christmas book, to help put me in the mood. It’s the one where Father Tim is fixing up the old nativity set. Standard stuff but always comforting.
I also got out some of my mother’s old Christmas books, including Happy Christmas, published in 1968, which includes selections from a wide variety of books.
This one reminds us that nothing changes that much–at least peoples’ view that times are never as good as the good ol’ days…
Anne is right on target as usual. “In the face of all this searching desire on the part of God, you can keep backing up, like Israel always did, hoping he will get bored and hassle someone else. Or you can be like Mary. You can magnify him—that is, praise his holy Name. You can let your soul rejoice in him. You can revel in the contrast between his great mercy and strength, and your own foolish weakness.”
Here is part two of Paul Zahl’s TCM picks for December. I have to say, I really disagree with him about King of Kings (1961) which he still really likes. I loved it as a child (Jeffrey Hunter is dreamy) and the music is great, but it is unbiblical and really pretty bad.
And here’s the Charlie Brown Christmas Medley (with all the parts played by Josh Turner) to put you solidly in the mood for mistletoe and presents for pretty girls…
How was your weekend? Mine turned out to be very busy and with way more socializing than I am used to.
The OM and I spent five hours going to the Newcomer Classes at our new church (on Friday night and Saturday morning). It was time well spent, but it was a lot for my aging brain to take in.
“This is why Paul upholds the teaching of the gospel in such a forceful way … Seeing such an example and such a picture of man’s great weakness and fickleness, Paul states that the truth of the gospel must supersede anything that we may devise … he is showing us that we ought to know the substance of the doctrine which is brought to us in the name of God, so that our faith can be fully grounded upon it. Then we will not be tossed about with every wind, nor will we wander about aimlessly, changing our opinions a hundred times a day; we will persist in this doctrine until the end. This, in brief, is what we must remember.”
–John Calvin, Sermon on Galatians
On Saturday afternoon I brought in all the plants from the Florida Room and attempted to find suitable winter homes for them throughout my house. Exhausting. Then I took a quick nap before going out to celebrate our 41st (!) anniversary with some old friends at a nice restaurant.
Kids, 1980
On Sunday, instead of going to church with the boy and the wee twins as planned, the OM and I drove to Jefferson City where daughter #1 had purchased a Power Wheels Raptor for the twins at Walmart (spoiler alert: combo birthday/Christmas present from all of us)…
…but, curses, had discovered that it would not fit in her Mazda. (There is a lot of backstory here, but I will not go into it. Suffice it to say, we have been looking high and low for the aforementioned truck, so when she found one, she jumped on it.) So we drove to JC, picked her up and hustled over to Walmart where they were holding it. Two nice young men brought it out to the OM’s SUV…
…only to discover that it was too big for his car! Luckily we were in mid-MO where the two young men took it upon themselves to make it fit. They took it out of the box and persuaded it to fit. Bravo.
We thanked them kindly and headed to Steak ‘n Shake for lunch. Then we bid adieu to daughter #1 and drove back to our flyover town and managed to unload the Raptor into the garage, where we will put it back together at some later date.
What a weekend! I must say, it was a beautiful weekend, weather-wise–crisp and cool. I watched Circus World (1964) starring John Wayne, Claudia Cardinale and Rita Hayworth on Sunday night, which rounded out the weekend nicely.
