dual personalities

Tag: spirituality

August 19, 2024

Blessed be my rock

by chuckofish

How was your weekend? It was warm and humid here in flyover country, but basically very nice considering it is August. No complaints from the peanut gallery. Saturday morning I got up early and went to Trader Joe’s to buy flowers and then buzzed over to church where I arranged them for Sunday morning.

As with all things, I like to keep it simple.

After that, daughter #1 and I drove out to the western suburbs to pick up a chandelier which daughter #2 had purchased on Facebook Marketplace.

We also went to an estate sale–a good one–in a house people had lived in a long time. I even figured out whose house it was! Daughter #1 found a nice little shelf and some other odds and ends and I got an old book.

The illustrations reminded me of our own wee bud (see below). We went to lunch afterwards. A productive morning, indeed, and the rest of the day I was free to putter around.

On Sunday we headed to church and Sunday School. You could tell that everyone was back from vacation and we had a full house–our singing raised the roof! Delightful! Our young seminarian preached on Psalm 11 (In the Lord I take refuge) and he did a fine job. He will be ordained next Sunday and I am looking forward to attending that special service.

Afterwards we went to daughter #1’s house where we had bagels and fruit salad and sat outside on the deck while Mr. Smith frolicked with the twins. Then we walked up to Jackson Park for some playground time.

Everyone was worn out by the time we went home…

School starts today–the twins are now big second graders!

Have a good week! Stay cool.

5 Comments
August 8, 2024

What are you reading?

by chuckofish

August is trudging along and I am trying to read some real books. I started Everything Sad Is Untrue: (A True Story) by Daniel Nayeri, but it has not grabbed me. I’ll keep going, but I promise nothing. Place In Time by Wendell Berry is really good. I love Wendell Berry. The Marilynne Robinson is also very good and I am reminded that it was my small group reading Genesis thirty-odd years ago that got me started on Bible reading–real Bible reading where you read the whole book, chapter by chapter and verse by verse. Genesis is indeed a great, great book–however you slice it.

I have also been reading the new Van Engen book where he attempts to “show readers how poetry is for everyone–and how it can reinvigorate our Christian faith.” Poetry is for everyone. I am looking forward to hearing him talk on Friday night at church.

I bought Poems for the Children’s Hour at an estate sale a few weeks ago and am enjoying paging through it. Printed in 1927, it is compiled with an eye for “every child’s experiences in family, nature, play, community, patriotic, and spiritual relationships” throughout the year. Do children still know the old clapping game…

If not, they should. I will pass it along to daughter #2 in the hopes that some day her children will get the reference in that old Billy Wilder film with Jack Lemmon and Marilyn Monroe…

I was reminded on Sunday that my women’s Bible Study starts up again in a few weeks and I will be back to the Gospel of Matthew and Thursday mornings with the ladies and serious prayer time. This will be a good thing and I am looking forward to it.

If you have been asking yourself, ‘What’s wrong with the world?’, leave it to Alistair Begg to answer well.

And BYU runner Kenneth Rooks winning silver in the 3000m steeplechase was one of the most thrilling races ever. Rooks was the only American to make the men’s steeplechase final. He started the race in the middle of the pack of 16 runners but faded as far back as last place before coming on strong in the final two laps. By the time the bell was ringing to signify the start of the final lap, Rooks had surged into the lead. Ultimately, Soufiane El Bakkali, who won the gold at the Tokyo Olympics, was able to catch and pass him to claim the gold medal, but oh my goodness, Rooks was awesome. This is what the Olympics is all about.

Well, keep reading! Keep doing what you’re doing and keep the faith.

3 Comments
August 5, 2024

Solid joys and lasting treasures

by chuckofish

How was your weekend? Daughter #1 and Mr. Smith and I had fun zipping up north for a short visit with the prairie girls who are always up for a good time. (We returned their pack-n-play crib which they left at my house and will need when they go on vacation.) We took walks…

and played fetch in the back yard…

Katie was very brave and Mr. Smith was a very good boy and they are edging their way toward being friends. She was thinking a lot about him after we left…

On Sunday the OM and I went to church and Sunday School which was about the use of the word Zion in the OT.

His foundation is in the holy mountains.
2 The Lord loves the gates of Zion
More than all the dwellings of Jacob.
3 Glorious things are spoken of you,
O city of God! Selah

(Psalm 87:1-3)

This week our teacher was a church member who is a professor at St. Louis University and she is very learned. I felt like I was back in college. Our sermon was on Psalm 9. Our pastor always asks a question for “young worshippers” to help them stay focused. I will admit, it helps me too. This week the question was, “When we are in trouble, what is God for us?” Answer: a stronghold!

Savior, since of Zion’s city
I through grace a member am,
let the world deride or pity,
I will glory in Thy name.
Fading is the worldling’s pleasures,
all his boasted pomp and show;
solid joys and lasting treasures
none but Zion’s children know.

–John Newton, 1779

Meanwhile the boy and his family returned from Hilton Head, all fit and tan. They went to the aquarium in Charleston on the way home…

and saw some sights…

Now that they are back and will be starting back to school soon, I am looking forward to getting back on our usual schedule of Sunday dinners etc. But it is hard to believe that the summer will soon be over.

Have a good week!

6 Comments
July 22, 2024

Let us love and sing and wonder

by chuckofish

I have had quite a busy 10 days and this week will be pretty busy too. I am home, but the laundry is piling up and I have a lot of furniture to rearrange following DN loading up a truck with stuff! (We drove back to our flyover city together on Saturday and he rented a truck.)

He did it all himself–a twin bed with mattress, a dresser, a large antique cradle, a wing chair, numerous bins, etc…and a dining room set from Facebook Marketplace, which he had to drive to Eureka to pick up! Then he drove it all back to Mahomet and unloaded it. It’s great to be young and fit. (The boy was in Kansas City so unavailable to help.) All this after spending 2 1/2 hours in the car with his mother-in-law! (We can talk for hours.)

I was pooped after all this, but got up and went to church and Sunday School. We had a guest teacher in Sunday School–Dr. Hans Madueme, professor of theological Studies at Covenant College in Georgia. He is an MD, MDiv and PhD. Quite a guy. It was a great class about science and faith, creation and original sin. We also had a good sermon on Psalm 7:

God is a righteous judge,
    and a God who feels indignation every day.

12 If a man does not repent, God will whet his sword;
    he has bent and readied his bow;
13 he has prepared for him his deadly weapons,
    making his arrows fiery shafts.

(Psalm 7:11-12)

I felt intellectually renewed, stimulated and refreshed!

Well, I sure had fun over the past week with darling daughter #2 and the sweet prairie girls…

…who are learning the art of estate sale-ing (and waiting in line)…

…where the Hibiscus are the size of platters…and the water lilies bloom…

…and Happy Hour popsicles are standard…

But I am glad to be home and back to my old routine.

Our prayers are with the the congregation of the historic First Baptist Dallas which burned down over the weekend. But as their Pastor Robert Jeffress said after fire, “I’m grateful that the church is not bricks or mortar or wood, it’s people. And the people of God will endure. First Baptist Dallas will endure and we thank so many of our friends around the country who are praying for us right now.”

And this was great:

Let us love and sing and wonder,
Let us praise the Savior’s Name!
He has hushed the law’s loud thunder,
He has quenched Mount Sinai’s flame.
He has washed us with His blood,
He has brought us nigh to God.

–John Newton, 1774

3 Comments
July 17, 2024

The trees of the LORD are watered abundantly*

by chuckofish

We had quite the deluge of rain all day yesterday which curtailed our plans again. The twins and their parents came over in the morning, but there was no splash pad play. Sigh. At least it cooled off from Monday’s 97-degree high. We played inside.

We also did some laundry.

It’s all good.

Today we are traveling back to Illinois.

In the meantime, this article looks at a presidential assassination of long ago and asks how one of that era’s foremost theologians interpreted God’s providence in it. Very interesting!

And happy birthday to the OM!

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28)

*Psalm 104:16

2 Comments
July 16, 2024

Grace and peace to you

by chuckofish

We had a pretty quiet Monday, because we had to change our plans when daughter #2 was afraid she had torn her retina. She had to go to my eye doctor (everything is okay) while I stayed home with the prairie girls. We had lunch and played a little and read some books…

…and watched part of Heidi (1937) with Shirley Temple, which was a big hit.

Both girls were riveted. And with good reason!

I am behind in my Bible reading and in general, but this by Carl Trueman is encouraging: “I went to Europe expecting to be somewhat discouraged by what I would see. I returned exhilarated. The LORD is not done with his people yet…”

And I guess Marilynne Robinson has a new book out: Reading Genesis. Like I said, I am behind, but this is good news to me. “In her essays, as she defends the philosophical frameworks that once made religious belief almost universal, she is impatient, even testy, with what she finds reductionistic in most descriptions of the world today. You get a sense that she just wants to write about grace but finds herself needing to argue for the idea that something like grace can even exist. Her defense of the grandeur not only of the world but of each human being, her defense of the testimony of “felt experience,” is everywhere in her essays.” Robinson has engaged with a pantheon of “older theological writers”, especially John Calvin and Jonathan Edwards. Of course she has! Good grief.

Well, may you take the truths you hopefully heard preached from the pulpit of your church on Sunday and may they sustain you through this week. (I wrote this blog post during “quiet time” with Katie while she “pretend-read” this book.)

2 Comments
July 11, 2024

Keep your eyes peeled

by chuckofish

Ah, but friends, it is never too late, right? Right. You must keep learning and it’s okay to change your mind about a lot of things. Some of us are very slow learners after all.

I am starting a new teaching series on the Puritans, To God’s Glory: Lessons on Puritanism.

Because, as you know, I love the Puritans. So far, I am very impressed; the DVD presentations are excellent. And it is a great distraction from the election season hell we find ourselves in. The Puritans knew how to handle trials and they knew we need affliction to humble us and to bring us to God. Many good lessons to be had.

Meanwhile I am looking forward to the added distraction of a visit with…

…and…

…when thy come for a visit tomorrow.

And the rain has left the area, at least for awhile. I am grateful that the flooding (so far) hasn’t been worse.

Time like an ever-rolling stream…the summer is nearly half over! So don’t forget:

“There is treasure buried in the field of every one of our days, even the bleakest or dullest, and it is our business, as we journey, to keep our eyes peeled for it.”

–Frederick Buechner, “The Longing for Home: Reflections on Mid-Life”

3 Comments
July 10, 2024

“Just the echo of a sigh, goodbye.”*

by chuckofish

Last week my Aunt Donna died. She was 91 and the last of her generation in my family; now all three Cameron sisters are gone.

I have written about my lovely aunt before. Everyone loved her–she was the President of her high school senior class and the President of the Student Council at her college–but I’m sure if you had asked her she’d have said she wasn’t popular and she didn’t quite fit in. As I’ve said before, she was like someone in the Bible–Ruth or Priscilla or Mary, who “kept all these things and pondered them in her heart.”

There is a lot more I could say about my Aunt Donna, but I am feeling too sad to do so. I will miss knowing that she is there in New Hampshire, but it is a comfort to think of the three sisters reunited in the presence of their King.

But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

–I Corinthians 15:57-58

*Sir Noel Coward, “I’ll See You Again”

5 Comments
July 9, 2024

“Then the hand of the Lord was on Elijah, and he girded up his loins and outran Ahab to Jezreel.”*

by chuckofish

The Olympics are coming up and I really don’t care anymore since it is just a bunch of pumped up professionals competing.

However, July 11th marks the 100th anniversary of Eric Liddell winning gold in the 400 meter dash during the Paris Olympics. Here is a short interview with Eric’s daughter, Patricia Liddell Russell, and John MacMillan, Chief Executive of the Eric Liddell Community. I guess it’s time to watch Chariots of Fire (1981) again!

I am also re-reading Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand. Louis Zamperini, the subject of the book, ran in the 1936 Olympics on the U.S. track team.

Zamperini is quite an interesting guy and the book is well-worth reading. Angelina Jolie made a pretty good movie about him in 2014, but she left out the “Redemption” part altogether, which is a shame.

Lt. Zamperini was a bombardier on B-24 Liberators in the Pacific. On a search and rescue mission, his plane experienced mechanical difficulties and crashed into the ocean. After drifting at sea on a life raft for 47 days, with two other crew mates, he landed on the then Japanese Marshall Islands and was captured. He was taken to a total of four different POW caps in Japan, where he was tortured and beaten by Japanese military personnel. Following the war, beset with terrible nightmares and afflicted with post-traumatic stress disorder, he struggled with alcoholism. Then he happened to go to a Billy Graham revival and he turned his life over to Jesus. For the rest of his long life he was a devout Presbyterian who worked with youth and as a Christian evangelist. It is quite a story.

So watch an old movie, re-read a good book, run in such a way as you may obtain [the prize].

*I Kings 18:46

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July 8, 2024

Let all who take refuge in you rejoice

by chuckofish

We had a busy four-day weekend with way more socializing than we are used to. It was nice to get to church on Sunday and focus on the steadfast love of the Lord.

Be this, while life is mine,
My song of love divine:
May Jesus Christ be praised!
Sing this eternal song
Through all the ages long:
May Jesus Christ be praised!

    Have a good week! I will be getting my house ready for daughter #2 and her family who are coming for a wee visit on Friday.

    Keep watch, dear Lord, with those who work, or watch, or weep this night, and give your angels charge over those who sleep. Tend the sick, Lord Christ; give rest to the weary, bless the dying, soothe the suffering, pity the afflicted, shield the joyous; and all for your love’s sake. Amen.

    –BCP

    3 Comments