dual personalities

Tag: Weekend

November 3, 2025

Straining toward the goal

by chuckofish

How was your weekend?

My Halloween was pretty quiet, per usual. Mr. Smith came over and kept an eye on things…

…while daughter #1 and I had “dips for dinner”…

Of course, Mr. Smith got dressed up…

(That’s peanut butter around his mouth–bribery to get him into his costume! It took two of us and he went full terrier on us.)

On Saturday I got up early and went to Trader Joe’s to buy flowers and then to church to arrange them for Sunday.

I went to an estate sale and to Hobby Lobby and helped move some stuff into daughter #1’s car. Then I took it easy for the rest of the day. I watched Westward the Women (1951) which is a really fine movie about a wagon train full of women going to California in 1851. It is very well directed by William Wellman and conveys realistically what these female pioneers went through without preaching a modern agenda. I wept through much of it.

On Sunday I went to church and heard a rousing sermon on Philippians 3:12-16. We sang good hymns and heard from missionaries in Portugal. After Sunday School we went to the Sunny Street Cafe for brunch and I heard about the twins’ Halloween in their new neighborhood which looked like super fun.

Later in the day I went to a DAR tea for the State Regent at Mudd’s Grove, the headquarters of the Kirkwood Historical Society. So I got to wear two nametags. (HaHa)

It was a full weekend!

Plus this:

But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

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October 27, 2025

The Spirit and the gifts are ours

by chuckofish

Well, I had an easy trip up and back to outstate-Illinois in my Mini Countryman, which is a speed demon on the windy prairie highway and zooms across the cornfields like the Autobahn. I do love my car.

If I ever want to fly
Mulholland Drive
I am alive

Hollywood is under me
I’m Martin Sheen
I’m Steve McQueen
I’m Jimmy Dean

DN went to his conference and I helped daughter #2, who is in the large basketball phase of her pregnancy, with the prairie girls. We went to Home Depot to buy paint for a bathroom update …

…they were into it. It was a whole scene.

Back home, I got up on Sunday and met the boy and the twins at church. I had missed the week before when I was in Virginia so it seemed like forever (two weeks)–how nice to be back! Our pastor gave a really good sermon on Philippians 3:1-11 (and even made an unusual, but appropriate, reference to Mike Wazowski, which made the bud perk right up.) Where does our confidence come from? The righteousness of God that depends on faith!

As Reformation Day approaches (October 31), we sang “A Mighty Fortress is Our God”, plus a selection of 19th century and 21st century hymns, plus a mighty solo rendition of the Fernando Ortega hymn, “Give Me Jesus”–perfect.

It was a gloomy and rainy Sunday afternoon, so I opted to stay home and not go to the bud’s soccer game(s). As Mamu I am allowed to do that.

Have a good week! Here’s a poem:

And maybe it was a bar tune,
Maybe not, but there we were, hunched
over too-small desks in History 101,
all ninety-five freshmen humming—
by need not desire—every note, every verse
of Luther’s best-loved hymn, Our helper He…
the right man on our side as we scribbled,
hands almost numb, the body they may kill –
his theology of lyrics, our theology –
from age to age the same for the final question
the spirit and the gifts are ours of the final exam,
and we would win the battle, our hearts pumping
with belief, our throats thumping with crescendo:
one little word would never fell us.

–Marjorie Maddox, “A Mighty Fortress”

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October 13, 2025

La-dee-da, la-dee-da

by chuckofish

How was your weekend?

It was a beautiful weekend here in flyover country–a little warm for October, but I’m not complaining. It was perfect for sitting outside at the winery, which daughter #1 and I did after our DAR meeting in the morning. The meeting was pleasant also–I do so love talking SEC football with a Crimson Tide fan, which I did while eating breakfast.

Anyway, we enjoyed the musical entertainment at the winery–a guy singing the 1970s playlist, which must be what boomers who go to wineries want to hear. And I’m okay with that.

At church we heard a good sermon on Philippians 2:12-18:

Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

14 Do all things without grumbling or disputing, 15 that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, 16 holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain. 17 Even if I am to be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all. 18 Likewise you also should be glad and rejoice with me.

Work it out.

Rein it in.

Offer it up.

The communion hymn was Yet Not I But Through Christ in Me, which gets me every time. Once again I asked myself, why do I wear mascara to church?

We also sang this classic from 1787, but with the traditional American tune, which I really like:

After church, since there was no adult ed, we went to the Sunny Street Cafe for brunch. The twins are very grown up now and well behaved, although once they have scarfed down their pancakes and/or French toast, they are not ones to linger over a second cup of coffee and more conversation. C’est la vie.

I was sad to hear that Diane Keaton has died. She was a favorite of mine. She had some class–a rare thing in Hollywood. She liked turtlenecks, she eschewed plastic surgery, and like Woody Allen said, “She prefer[ed] to look old.” Apparently no one knew she was ailing. She died privately and with no hoopla. Guess it’s time to dig out Annie Hall (1977). La-dee-da, la-dee-da.

Have a good week! Be faithful and fruitful!

4 Comments
October 6, 2025

My heart is filled with thankfulness

by chuckofish

Yes, that season is upon us–even the boy has a giant skeleton in his front yard. (He inherited it from his in-laws.) Well, to each his own.

Anyway, I had a nice weekend. Pizza night at the boy’s house. A couple of estate sales. A trip to Hobby Lobby. Mr. Smith and daughter #1 came over Saturday night for Chick-fil-a and a movie.

We watched The Man Who Went Up a Hill and Came Down a Mountain (1995)–a favorite of ours from the good ol’ Harvey Weinstein Miramax days. It is a perfect movie–the kind they don’t know how to make anymore.

Highly recommended!

Sunday I went to church as usual and heard a good sermon on Philippians 2:5-11. We had our final Sunday School class on the Power of Story in the Works of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. I wish it were not over! I brought the twins new notebooks from the dollar store for them to draw/take notes/journal in. They were very pleased. After church we went to the bud’s soccer game which was very pleasant, even if it was a little on the warm side. We will be freezing soon enough.

After the game I went home and took it easy.

My heart is filled with thankfulness
To Him who bore my pain;
Who plumbed the depths of my disgrace
And gave me life again.
Who crushed my curse of sinfulness,
And clothed me with His light,
And wrote His law of righteousness
With power upon my heart.

For every day I have on earth
Is given by the King.
So I will give my life, my all,
To love and follow Him.

4 Comments
September 29, 2025

Come, ye weary, heavy laden

by chuckofish

How was your weekend? We had blue skies overhead, but it did get kind of toasty watching the bud play soccer on Sunday afternoon!

On Saturday morning daughter #1 and I ventured to Saint Charles across the Missouri River to a DAR cemetery marker ceremony. The SAR Color Guard was there in full regalia to lend support and authenticity to the event. Much appreciated, guys. (Sometimes I do think we live in Mayberry.)

In case you have forgotten, the Battle of Fort San Carlos, was fought on May 26, 1780, between British-allied Indians and defenders of the Franco-Spanish village of St. Louis (Louisiana Territory) during the American Revolutionary War. The garrison, a motley assortment of regulars and militiamen led by Upper Louisiana’s lieutenant governor, Captain Fernando de Leyba, suffered a small number of casualties. A few of the veterans of that battle were buried in Saint Charles. Their graves were later moved to the Saint Charles Borromeo Cemetery in Saint Charles and that is where the marker was dedicated. Lest we forget.

Afterwards we went to old town St. Charles and walked up and down Main Street visiting some “vintique” stores, and ate lunch on the patio of Llewellyn’s Pub, which was delightful.

Meanwhile, I was glad to see that the twins were practicing their BB gun marksmanship in their backyard.

On Sunday I went to church and heard a good sermon on Philippians 1:27-2:4: “Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel, 28 and not frightened in anything by your opponents.”

We sang “Come Ye Sinners” and I wept from start to finish. The choir was back and in fine fettle and sang “Land of Pure Delight”. Lovely.

And now the inimitable Voddie Baucham has entered into eternity (last Thursday) at the age of 56. It is a lot to process.

Voddie was an American pastor, author and educator. He served nine years as Dean of Theology from 2015 to 2024 at African Christian University in Zambia. Rest in peace, brother.

Well, we go on. Read some history, pet a nice dog. Come to Jesus.

3 Comments
September 22, 2025

Our hope springs eternal

by chuckofish

How was your weekend? Since daughter #1 was out of town and I had no plans of my own, it was a pretty quiet one for me. There wasn’t even a good estate sale to go to!

I did watch some good movies…

Friday night I watched The Natural (1984) and it was great. Just great. I loved everything about it. Robert Redford was perfect as were all the supporting characters–especially Richard Farnsworth with his sad blue eyes.

The cinematography was exceptional, the music was perfect, the direction A+. The script was unusually restrained and, may I say, profound. I cried at the beginning. I cried at the end.

I also watched Tom Horn (1980) which is Steve McQueen’s penultimate movie and a favorite of mine. It also stars Richard Farnsworth.

Directed by William Wiard and adapted to the screen by Thomas McGuane and Bud Schrake from Horn’s own autobiography, it is a sad, serious movie about changing times.

I highly recommend both movies.

We went to church as usual on Sunday; the twins were great. Lottie took good notes–writing down the words she didn’t know for clarification later: “vindicate ungodly”. I hope her dad obliged!

We had a great sermon on Philippians 1:18-26 and a wonderful adult class on C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien.

After church the boy and the twins and I stopped at the kennel to pick up Mr. Smith. He rode to my house with the boy and behaved himself.

(He was a little bedraggled from having played in his water dish.)

When we got home, the boy helped me move some furniture out to the curb where it will be picked up on Bulky Trash Pick-up day. So grateful for that help!

After they went home, I watched the livestream of the memorial service for Charlie Kirk–100,000+ (original estimates of 100K bumped to up to 300,000) people in a stadium and the President of the U.S. plus most of his cabinet and Elon Musk in attendance. Impressive. You can watch it on Youtube.

Yup.

Daughter #2 arrived back from the prairie and she picked up Mr. Smith and stayed for a glass of wine.

Happy Monday–have a good week!

4 Comments
September 14, 2025

O for a thousand tongues to sing my great Redeemer’s praise

by chuckofish

Well, how was your weekend? I enjoyed some quality time with my therapy dog…

We celebrated daughter #1’s birthday, but it was pretty low-key–burgers ‘n fries at the boy’s house and a French Silk pie…

It was quite hot on Saturday so we bailed on the Greentree Festival in our flyover town. I did, however, go to the bud’s soccer game on Sunday–so hot–96 degrees–but I am a devoted Mamu!

We went after church and Sunday School and a change of clothes at my house. By 1:30 I was wiped out!

Our current sermon series is on Philippians, so Sunday’s verses were very appropriate to what is going on in our country.

I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel, 13 so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ. 14 And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear. (Phil. 1:12-14)

Christ reframes everything, including the way we see our trials. Never forget that God is in control. Our Sunday School class on C.S. Lewis was also excellent and I appreciated that our teacher opened up the last 15 minutes of class to a discussion about Charlie Kirk–something we would never do in church or our sermon.

And this is the transcript of a podcast with Kevin DeYoung which is very helpful about processing violence and grief. “We never want to normalize evil, but we are trying to normalize that God has been with his people and has been with us personally through difficulties, national tragedies, and that same God is going to be with you…They need to know and hear from us a faith that we have, that God has not left the throne, that this did not take him by surprise, and that the end of the story has not yet been written for us, but it has been for God, and it’s ultimately a good story, right?”

Amen.

This is a new Lauren Daigle song (at least to me)–a re-working of the well-known Frances Ridley Havergal (1874) Anglican hymn:

Take my life and let it be
consecrated, Lord, to thee.
Take my moments and my days;
let them flow in endless praise,
let them flow in endless praise.

3 Comments
September 8, 2025

“Oh, God. I can’t wait to get into bed and stretch out. You know, there’s a Bob Hope movie on television later.”*

by chuckofish

How was your weekend? Mine was lovely. The weather was perfect. The sky was blue. I enjoyed great conversation, good fellowship at my mini-retreat in a beautiful setting…

I watched a good movie with daughter #1–in fact, my favorite Woody Allen movie (besides Annie Hall)–Manhattan Murder Mystery (1993). There is no bad language, no sex–just middle aged neurotics trying to solve a murder! I love the end where Woody is so relieved to find his wife (Diane Keaton) bound and gagged, but okay–he is so relieved and happy! It is like Cary Grant and Irene Dunne!

And you have to love Diane in a turtleneck, a blouse, a tweed jacket, and a belt!

Meanwhile we are back on our fall schedule of going to the 8:30 a.m. service at church, followed by Sunday School, and then on to a soccer game at 12:15. The boy and I went to the class on “The Power of Story in the Works of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien” taught by our favorite college professor with a ponytail. It was very good. Also, our Associate Pastor is back from sabbatical and he gave a really good sermon on Philippians 1: 1-11.

I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, 4 always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. 6 And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. 7 It is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace,[d] both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. 8 For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus. 9 And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, 10 so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.

And BTW I heartily agree with this article by Albert Mohler Jr.: “I try to be appropriately respectful of all elected officials, but Sen. Kaine uttered one of the most profoundly wrong, dangerous, and downright stupid comments a member of the Senate might articulate.” Who are these ignorant people?

Have a good week! Pray hard.

*Larry Lipton in Manhattan Murder Mystery

3 Comments
September 1, 2025

Postcards from the weekend

by chuckofish

How was your holiday weekend? Mine was delightful. We sat outside and enjoyed the lovely flyover weather and good company.

On Saturday we went to an estate sale where daughter #1 scored a Lane cedar chest for a very reasonable price. Then we went to Meijers in Champaign, which actually blew our minds. So big, so clean. There were even tropical fish.

But then, it doesn’t take much to please us.

We went to church on Sunday at daughter #2’s church in Urbana and heard a good sermon on Genesis 38–God works through what is sinful and shameful to accomplish his glorious redemptive purpose.

And Mr. Smith was a good boy.

I never took a picture of our hosts, but c’est la vie. Mea culpa. Everything was wonderful.

“Lord, help me to glorify Thee; I am poor, help me to trust Thee; I am weak, help me to lean on Thee; I am foolish, help me to learn of Thee.” (Charles Spurgeon – 1834-1892)

3 Comments
August 25, 2025

Deepening personal humility and the amazing bounty of God

by chuckofish

August continues to wind down. I have been thinking more about small joys and I ran across this quote from Pilgrim’s Inn, which I have quoted before:

“…Hilary enjoyed himself, just as he had enjoyed himself drinking the port. Increasingly, as he got older, he enjoyed things. As his personal humility deepened, so did his awareness of the amazing bounty of God…so many things…The mellow warmth of the port, the pleasure of the game, the sight of Lucilla’s lovely old face in the firelight, and David’s fine hands holding the cards, his awareness of Margaret’s endearing simplicity, and the contentment of the two old dogs dozing on the hearth…One by one the small joys fell. Only to Hilary no joy was small; each had its own mystery, aflame with the glory of God.”

I can really relate to this, can’t you? Coffee with a friend, a glass of wine with my daughters and joking about New Jersey “Charbonnay”. The satisfaction of filling in a hole in the driveway with Quik-crete (just add water!) with the boy.

Along those lines, daughter #1 and I went to a good estate sale on Saturday. It was at a big old, well-maintained three-story house in the old neighborhood where I grew up. We got a few books and some pretty blue juice glasses and Lamar gave us our usual discount. We drove by the old manse on Westgate and it was good to see it totally renovated and looking good. Interestingly, it is owned now by a law professor who is also a faculty fellow with the Carver Project. The world is more than we know.

Meanwhile the twins went to the farmers’ market out in their neck of the woods. And the prairie girls got ice cream.

After church on Sunday, daughter #1 and I went to our favorite winery in Hillsboro for the first time this year!

We had a lovely time sitting outside listening to live music on a really lovely day.

So remember, no joy is really small, after all, and all are aflame with God’s glory.

And don’t miss this:

Go Mizzou! What?! (Not a joke.)

4 Comments