Entries categorized as ‘Uncategorized’
Guest post by Paul Willingham
Last summer while on a pilgrimage to our daughter’s home in the northern suburbs, Bette and I pulled up behind a Prius, Toyota’s hybrid entry in the development and marketing of greener vehicles. (If it was last weekend, it probably would have been parked on the shoulder, now that Toyota’s recall problems are in the news.)
It wasn’t the hybrid that caught our eye, however. It was the vanity plate on the vehicle.
We often get a smile from some of the plates that we spy while others challenge us to try to figure out what the owner is trying to tell the world. I’m convinced that many times, the significance of the abbreviated, obtuse and hidden message is only obvious and important to the owner of the vanity plate. But the plate we saw was very plain and left no doubt as to the message.
It read I TITHE.
We spotted this plate in a heavily traveled, traffic-delaying intersection known locally as the Devil’s Triangle. I don’t believe that there is any spiritual significance in that but you never know (cue the Twilight Zone theme).
:: (more…)
Categories: Posts from My Dad · Uncategorized
Tagged: Guest Posts, Humility, tithing
When God exhaled through the pen of the writer of Judges, just what joint and marrow did He think to divide?
My eyes burn from watching Him brandish the blade with wild flourishes in the final chapters, and I consider that yes, it’s living and active. And of course it’s useful for teaching and training in righteousness.
But really.
Must it have been so grisly?
And to what end?
:: (more…)
Categories: Uncategorized
Tagged: Judges
She waved me into a chair, then dropped into the rocker across from me. Grandma’s Bible landed hard on my lap. The old book was thick and heavy. My little girl legs, not so much.
“Open it right down the middle. You’ll always land in the Psalms,” she said as we sat knee to knee. “Let’s go, Kidlet. Read to me.”
How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked,
Nor stand in the path of sinners,
Nor sit in the seat of scoffers!
But his delight is in the law of the LORD,
And in His law he meditates day and night.
I looked up from the tattered pages. Grandma’s head lolled to the side and she began to snore.
Looks like my work here is done. I closed the Psalms back against Job and watched her from the corner of my eye as I started out of my chair. Sure enough, she snapped her head up and ordered my behind back into the seat.
“Find it again — the first Psalm. And don’t stop reading,” she barked. “I’m awake.” For a split second, the corner of her mouth twitched into a knowing smirk.
And then it was gone.
(more…)
Categories: Uncategorized
Tagged: Grandma, memorial
They mean well.
But gosh. Samson’s parents strike me as about as unzipped as Ferris Bueller’s mom and dad.
Later on they bear an awkard resemblance to Veruca Salt’s father in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. But that’s to tackle another day.
When Samson’s screenplay was scripted, somehow or other his parents slipped into that two-dimensional caricature of parents who are endearing but just a little empty-headed.
Cute but clueless.
But they mean well.
::
(more…)
Categories: Samson · Uncategorized
Tagged: angel, Ferris Bueller, recognizing God, Samson
How long?
How long?
Twenty-one chapters long.
I just looked.
I just flipped to the end of Judges to see how much longer this was going to be. If I’m on chapter 13 now, that leaves eight more. So then what, another four months?
I have a Bible in 90 Days. I started it about a year ago. A 365-day year, not a 90-day year. I gave it up sometime after the first 90 days when I don’t think I was through Genesis yet.
The point was to simply read. Not delve into study or hop off along rabbit trails. The point was to get a cohesive picture of the whole Word.
But I’m not wired that way. I couldn’t do it. Oh, I read alright. But sometimes I have trouble turning the page. And not turning the page often enough makes it impossible to jog along at a twelve-page per day clip. So I went back to my trusty, worn, marked up Thompson Chain.
:: (more…)
Categories: Samson · Uncategorized
Tagged: Delilah, Judges, Samson
Now and then in the course of my work day I enlist the aid of an interpreter. I have a caller on the line who is not a native English speaker, and we need the assistance of an intermediary in order to communicate.
Despite my Spanish fluency, I do call for an interpreter when I’m working with a Spanish speaker and a formal statement is required. It protects me from later concerns that I misunderstood or misspoke due to the language and also protects me from being strangled by an English speaking transcriptionist who cannot understand a word of it.
The process goes like this:
I speak to the client in English.
The interpreter interprets what I said into Spanish.
The client responds in Spanish.
The interpreter interprets what he said into English.
Repeat.
Well, that’s how it’s supposed to work. The process can get a little wild, especially when the Spanish speaker also has some level of English proficiency. It got a little crazy that way yesterday.
:: (more…)
Categories: Prayer · Work
Tagged: Holy Spirit, interpret, language, Prayer, Spanish, Work
These do feel like days for grappling.
For reaching, touching frayed hems. Hands return with threads, but the garment floats free.
I don’t take hold.
How I fight when the Word dances around me. When it taunts, and teases.
It shimmies before me, smirking. My eyes dart, head weaves while I track its frolicking.
My arms flail, and I embrace but air.
I want my hands around it. I want it tight in my fist. Locked down.
And I am learning, reluctantly, that I will not grasp it. I will not hold it.
For if I can contain it, I will smother it. I will press life out of it.
I will form it to me.
Indeed, if I can grasp it, it simply cannot be as great as it is.
:: (more…)
Categories: God's Word · Idolatry · Knowing God · Uncategorized
Tagged: asking God questions, Idolatry, Knowing God
Runner after exhausted runner came around the bend under the railroad bridge and pushed up the hill.
Ears stung in the frigid wind, while sweat felt more like ice water splashed on chapped faces.
Yet they forced feet forward, one at a time, hoping the top of the hill would meet them soon.
I watched.
I listened.
And I took notes.
:: (more…)
Categories: Endurance · Uncategorized
Tagged: cloud of witnesses, Endurance, Hebrews 12, race, run
I’m disappointed.
It’s not like I didn’t see it coming.
I’ve read the accounts before. And I peeked ahead more than once this time around to make sure that as as I was piecing this out unexpected events didn’t blindside me.
But the ending ambushed me anyway.
And now I’m disappointed.
:: (more…)
Categories: Gideon · Idolatry · Uncategorized
Tagged: disappointment, Gideon, good intentions, Idolatry
Crazy week going on.
We’re on night three of four consecutive nights of baseball, which will be followed immediately by three straight days of basketball. Number One son headed off in the middle of it for three days of football camp.
Remind me again why I thought having my kids out of school for the summer was a good thing.
My desk makes me downright claustrophobic as more and more files usurp the open space in bigger and bigger piles.
Remind me again why I thought it was a good idea to take Friday off.
I can’t for the life of me get my head around why, after all he’d seen God do for him and for Israel, Gideon turned out to be such a dork. In one breath he told the people he would not be their ruler — they needed to accept only God’s rule. But then he made like Aaron, collected a bunch of gold and crafted an ephod which became the next best thing in Israel’s little-g god prostitution ring.
Remind me again why I thought I’d be done with Gideon after today.
:: (more…)
Categories: Finding Life · Reminders · Uncategorized
Tagged: calendars, family, Finding Life, Reminders, schedules, Shema
