dual personalities

Tag: reading

April 24, 2024

And like Goliath they’ll be conquered

by chuckofish

In my daily Bible reading I have been working through 1 and 2 Samuel and the story of David who I don’t have to tell you is pretty great. Everyone knows the story of David, the shepherd boy who fought the giant Philistine, Goliath, who had been ridiculing the Israelites for forty days, daring one of them to fight him. Everyone thinks David is crazy when he says he’ll fight Goliath. But do you remember what David said to Saul?

But David said to Saul, “Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, 35 I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. 36 Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. 37 The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.”

–I Samuel 17: 34-37

This is David’s attitude throughout his life and it is a good attitude. Later in II Samuel 22 he spoke to the Lord the words of a song he wrote when the Lord delivered him from the hand of his enemies. He also wrote a Psalm about it: Psalm 18.

The Lord lives, and blessed be my rock, and exalted be my God, the rock of my salvation. (II Samuel 22:47)

I’m not sure where I was going with this except to say that daily Bible reading is quite an encouragement to me and I highly recommend it.

Along these same lines, this is a good article about Jesus as our shepherd and why he carries a rod. “Numbered by Jesus, we’re led by Jesus; led by Jesus, we’re protected by Jesus; and protected by Jesus, we’re comforted by Jesus.”

And God love him, here’s Bob:

And they’ll raise their hands
Sayin’, “We’ll meet all your demands”
But we’ll shout from the bow, “Your days are numbered”
And like Pharoah’s tribe
They’ll be drowned in the tide
And like Goliath, they’ll be conquered

P.S. I always liked the Bernini David best (see above).

2 Comments
April 23, 2024

Meditate on these things

by chuckofish

I received some good books for my birthday–I mean does my family know me or what?

I got some other nice things as well, including archival boxes to aid me in my quest to be organized. However, the twins quickly became bored with my presents as I opened my pile of goodies and returned to playing with Mr. Smith. But I will have no excuse for being bored for some time.

Just a reminder that yesterday was the 62nd Anniversary of the release of The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962). ​​​​​​​​​

In its review, The New York Times heralded Duke as a paragon of the Western genre, writing, “Mr. Wayne again proves, if it is necessary at this late date, that he can sit a horse well, shoot from the hip and throw a haymaker with the best of them.” Well, he could do a lot more than that and he did in this great film, which is a lot more than your everyday, run-of-the-mill western. But you know that. Anyway, if you are looking for something good to watch, I suggest Liberty Valance.

Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.

–Philippians 4:8-9

4 Comments
March 26, 2024

An omniscience of godwits*

by chuckofish

It has been a very windy winter and now it is a very windy spring. And by that, I mean very windy. I am tired of the wind rattling around the corners of my house. And there is not enough hairspray in the world to handle some very bad hair days. I so relate to Peppermint Patty:

Heavy sigh.

Currently I am reading several books.

A few weeks ago when I posted about the movie Our Town (1944), I ordered a used copy of the biography of Thornton Wilder by Penelope Niven published in 2012. She wrote it over a ten-year period and used thousands of his papers housed at Yale which had previously been unavailable. It is, as the New York Times’ review wrote, “deeply researched and fluidly written”. But that seems mild praise for a really good biography. The author understands context and does not judge Wilder from a 21st century elitist viewpoint. She is not on a mission to prove either his gayness or his cisgender identity or to bash him for being a white male. I am enjoying it a lot.

Ask Pastor John, which I mentioned a few weeks ago, summarizes and organizes ten years of the most insightful episodes of John Piper’s popular podcasts. It includes 750 Bible Answers to life’s big questions–seriously, if you have a question, Pastor John attempts to answer it.

Get honest with your motives and plead for help. Determining why we choose what we do is ‘a huge burden.’ Our culture’s media warp us, our sinful hearts shroud our true motives, and we are ‘prone to come up with a theology and an ethical framework that justifies our desires.’

The green book is Volume I in the “The R.C. Sproul Signature Classics” collection which The OM gave me for Christmas a few years ago. It includes The Holiness of God and Chosen by God. It is eminently readable.

Well, you know, it is good to have options when you wake up in the middle of the night and the wind is threatening to blow your house down and you cannot fall back to sleep.

Anne has this to say about an encounter in Marshalls with a Satanist. ““Christians,” she explains, “are quite literally… the most hateful people I have ever encountered in my life.” Not to be pedantic, but this can’t be true because she is a Satan-worshiper, and Satan quite literally is the most hateful being ever to exist. You can’t get more hateful than the Devil. But I can understand why she would feel this way. Discovering you are wrong and are committed to the wrong people and ideas is painful. So painful that each of us resist it to the outermost parts of the sea. But even there the Lord can go and snatch a creature out of the clutches of Satan. This is technically the most loving thing that can ever happen to anyone, even though it might be unpleasant in the moment. But how comfortable is it to get your cheeks pierced and your neck tattooed? I feel like having to chat with a Christian in the beauty section of Marshalls wouldn’t even barely compete.”

And I liked this.

*This is a wonderful reflection on the way we name collectives, whether of birds or people. “Or if you’re in a metaphysical mood, what about an omniscience of godwits, a contradiction of sandpipers, or my personal favorite — an invisibleness of ptarmigans? This is the sound of one hand clapping.”

Now go in peace to love and serve the Lord.

3 Comments
February 13, 2024

The earthly tent we live in*

by chuckofish

We are off to another unseasonably warm week and I am not complaining.

I am slowly putting my house back together. I keep finding baby dolls and plastic cups and packages of wet wipes in odd places that remind me of our sweet visitors. Luckily now I do not have to pack up a box of odds and ends to send back to them but can wait until they/we visit again.

Also note: the amaryllis is blooming again. They are truly amazing plants.

I also caught up on my daily Bible reading. I was a tad behind.

Q: How is the word to be read and heard, that it may become effectual to salvation? 

A: That the word may become effectual to salvation, we must attend thereunto with diligence, preparation, and prayer, receive it with faith and love, lay it up in your hearts, and practice it in your lives. 

Q: If the matter we read or hear be good, is not that enough for our salvation? 

A: No, God requires that the word be read and heard in a due manner, and the manner of hearing is of special regard with God; Luke 8:18. Take heed therefore how ye hear. 

–John Flavel (1627-91)

Here are a few good things to read…This is an interesting article about whether we should pray the “vengeance” psalms. The boy and I were just discussing the issue of vengeance and how it is right “to leave room for the wrath of God.” However, I am all for reading those psalms which some find offensive, especially Psalm 58. The Anglicans, no surprise, exiled the imprecatory prayers from the psalter after WWI.

Do you indeed speak righteousness, you silent ones?
Do you judge uprightly, you sons of men?
2 No, in your heart you work wickedness;
You weigh out the violence of your hands in the earth.

3 The wicked are estranged from the womb;
They go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies.
4 Their poison is like the poison of a serpent;
They are like the deaf cobra that stops its ear,
5 Which will not heed the voice of charmers,
Charming ever so skillfully.

6 Break their teeth in their mouth, O God!
Break out the fangs of the young lions, O Lord!
7 Let them flow away as waters which run continually;
When he bends his bow,
Let his arrows be as if cut in pieces.
8 Let them be like a snail which melts away as it goes,
Like a stillborn child of a woman, that they may not see the sun.

9 Before your pots can feel the burning thorns,
He shall take them away as with a whirlwind,
As in His living and burning wrath.
10 The righteous shall rejoice when he sees the vengeance;
He shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked,
11 So that men will say,
“Surely there is a reward for the righteous;
Surely He is God who judges in the earth.”

–Psalm 58

Food for thought. Read the article!

And this is about President Lincoln, the almost-Presbyterian. Very interesting.

And the inimitable Joni Eareckson Tada writes about grumbling.

The Lord be with you and bless you today.

*I Corinthians 5:1

4 Comments
October 17, 2023

Grace abounds even in Babylon

by chuckofish

There is always a lot to do after traveling in regards to catching up on laundry, putting things back where they belong, re-stocking the refrigerator, and generally re-establishing order. I also had a lot of reading to catch up with since I was (intentionally) without a computer for four days. Zut alors!

This is a great rant from Blair Sobel on “fashion”: “However, if you want to see real poor taste schlubbery go to any airport. Remember when it meant something to dress up to go travel? Last week a woman appeared naked from the waist down exposing more than her ass cheeks while waiting in a ticket line at Spirit Airlines in Florida. Is it time to get real Fashion Police in to do some clean up now!?! Forget decorum. Basic decency is at risk here. But this is how far things have sunk in our collective. And it is kinda serious. I refuse to travel because the airport experience alone permanently repulses me — no matter how great the place I plan to go is.” She is not wrong about the airport!

Carl Trueman explains that “There is a lesson here for us all in this current political climate: The enemy of my enemy is not necessarily my friend, and, as soon as I start thinking he is, I might find myself on the way to excusing or even justifying evil.”

As usual, I agree with Anne about Halloween. “What this means is that there are no holidays in America. By the time you get to the special day, you are sick of it and just want it to go away. Through no fault of anyone except Satan, all the actual feasting has been transformed into a strange fast, an always Halloween but never All Saints Day, always Christmas and never Advent—or something like that.”

And I love sermons like this from John Piper:

Not grace to bar what is not bliss,
     Nor flight from all distress, but this:
The grace that orders our trouble and pain,
     And then, in the darkness, is there to sustain.

Also, when I left for Maryland I was in the middle of moving all my houseplants inside from the Florida Room and trying to find them winter homes in the limited confines of my house. Some of my plants have grown so much over the toasty summer!

This is quite a job, but I am making progress.

Enjoy your Tuesday!

5 Comments
September 13, 2023

What are you reading?

by chuckofish

As usual I am reading a lot of different things. I have a new book We Believe, which includes all the reformed creeds, catechisms, and confessions of faith.

Woohoo–it’s all here–even the Thirty-Nine Articles of the Anglican Church which they now view as a quaint, antique document to ignore.

I am also doing the reading for my Bible Study group. The homework takes up a lot of time!

Also, Craig Johnson’s latest Longmire book was released last week, so I have been reading The Longmire Defense. After last year’s not-so-great entry in the Walt Longmire oeuvre, Johnson has thankfully gone back to his tried-and-true formula and this one is a winner (so far anyway).

Now that I have gotten through my deluge of doctor appointments which comes every six months, it’s time to start working on the next edition of the Kirkwood Historical Review.

And did I mention that we’re dog-sittin’ with Mr. Smith while daughter #1 travels for work? Well, yes we are.

Good dog!

2 Comments
September 1, 2023

Ursus update

by chuckofish

DN is re-reading Moby-Dick and, reading this about Ahab in the chapter about dining at the captain’s table, he thought I’d like the reference to bears in Missouri:

“Though nominally included in the census of Christendom, he was still an alien to it. He lived in the world, as the last of the Grisly Bears lived in settled Missouri. And as when Spring and Summer had departed, that wild Logan of the woods, burying himself in the hollow of a tree, lived out the winter there, sucking his own paws; so, in his inclement, howling old age, Ahab’s soul, shut up in the caved trunk of his body, there fed upon the sullen paws of its gloom!”

Of course, I did.

(I also love that phrase, “nominally included in the census of Christendom”.)

Have a good weekend–re-read something good, watch out for bears!

(Photo–St. Louis Public Radio)

3 Comments
August 29, 2023

We do not lose heart

by chuckofish

As previously noted, the summer has flown by and now it is almost September! Good grief, Charlie Brown!

My weekly Bible Study group has started up again. It is good to be back with these faithful ladies, although the prayer requests at the end of our meeting are a constant reminder of the dark world we live in full of sickness and depravity.

Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory…

(2 Corinthians 4:16-17)

We are reading Even Better Than Eden: Nine ways the Bible’s Story Changes Everything About Your Story by Nancy Guthrie, which takes us from Genesis through Revelation. It’s a departure from our usual format of reading one book of the Bible, but it should be interesting (and a lot of work!) I am also enrolled in Hillsdale College’s free online course, “The Genesis Story: Reading Biblical Narratives.” I am halfway through and so far I am enjoying being “back in the classroom.” There are even quizzes!

This is a good one from Carl Trueman about “the isolated wasteland of modern life” and the opportunities the church has.

And I liked this one from Tim Challies about growing old. “It is in old age that the fruit that began to grow in the younger days finally comes to its ripeness.”

So do not lose heart, keep up with your Bible study and let the breeze mess up your hair!

1 Comment
August 23, 2023

It matters not how straight the gate

by chuckofish

We are in the middle of a flyover heatwave, so there is not much going on! Everyone is keeping cool inside (if they can) and that includes me.

It is good weather for reading poetry–perhaps a poem by William Ernest Henley (1849-1903) whose birthday is today.

You may recall that his famous poem “Invictus” was the favorite of Nelson Mandela who recited it to his fellow prisoners at Robben Prison. Clint Eastwood named his biographical sports movie Invictus (2009) after the poem.

This poem doesn’t really take into consideration God’s providence, but I can see how it resonates with some people. Sadly, I am unable to think of Henley and his most famous poem without remembering Richard Armour’s parody: Out of the night that covers me/ Black as the pit from pole to pole,/ I thank whatever gods may be/ I have not fallen in a hole.

Also, I did not know that the one-legged Henley was the inspiration for the character Long John Silver in Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island. File that fun fact away.

I see hummingbirds in my garden not infrequently. When I catch a glimpse, I always think it is a very large insect and then I realize, no, it’s a hummingbird! They are amazing creatures indeed.

So keep cool, read some poetry, and remember:

The works of the LORD are great, sought out of all them that have pleasure therein. His work is honorable and glorious: and his righteousness endureth for ever.

(Psalm 111:2-3)

3 Comments
August 10, 2023

I know you are but what am I?

by chuckofish

It’s taken me several days to get my house back in order after our little foray into the world last weekend. I did not take my laptop with me, so I was off the internet for about four days except for a few quick Instagram checks on my phone. I have to say it was a nice break. I should take note.

Anyway, I have been catching up on my reading and here are some good links.

I have followed this lady’s blog for several years. She really walks the walk. “Years of higher education cannot compare to the visceral theology of a disability diagnosis. We are forced to tread the Gospel road of humility, where the way is rough, but holy. We learn to guard and guide our child in the beauty of their brokenness, and ours.”

The Desiring God website always provides good daily reading material such as this one and this one. And this video from John Piper’s Instagram is inspiring.

And here’s some expository commentary on one of my favorite Bible verses.

Now don’t be shocked, but I was sorry to hear that Paul Reubens had passed away last week. I know that Carl Trueman says “we live in a childish age, where immaturity is lionized” and I agree with him. But I always thought Pee Wee Herman was amusing–maybe that shows how immature I am–but it’s true. He made me laugh. And I loved all the crazy characters on his kid’s show–Cowboy Curtis (Laurence Fishburne!), Captain Carl (Phil Hartman!) and the rest. The show was like an updated Captain Kangaroo and just as innocent. I also liked Pee Wee’s Big Adventure (1985).

I know that Reubens messed up, but he was resilient. He managed several comebacks–remember Murphy Brown?–and he kept working, mainly because he had a lot of friends.

We leave judgement to the Lord.

3 Comments