Small hand in a large hand Trust and trustworthy Son and a father Journeying together. One will to another Submitting, accepted Union and communion Come Hell or bad weather. Dependency depends On independence forgone Things may soon change Before time, before long. Loving God presupposes Freedom unrehearsed Freely given and received Neither fated nor coerced. Small hand in a large hand Crossing life’s road There is a destination But the goal is not owed. Grace perfects nature Or so we... Read more
It is tricky business to fill in months and years of gaps in a story that is episodic, as the storyline in Acts is. In this episode we are properly introduced to two new characters— James the brother of Jesus, and the more exotic Ethiopian eunuch, coming to the temple for the feast of Yom Kippur, the once a year forgiveness festival. Let me just say that there is not much brilliant about most dramas of this sort, but the... Read more
Thomas Hardy (1840-1928) was a Victorian novelist of note, influenced especially by Dickens and George Eliot (i.e. Mary Ann Evans– see Silas Marner), in terms of his realism in the narrative, and by Wordsworth in terms of his romanticism. Of his famous novels (The Mayor of Casterbridge, Tess of the D’urbervilles, Far from the Madding Crowd, Jude the Obscure) in my book the best and most romantic is indeed Far from the Madding Crowd. Yes, it is a Victorian period... Read more
[Picture Courtesy WinStar Farms] Three years and a bit ago, a small foal was born on Stockplace Farms on the east side of Lexington. There was a contest to name him, and the winner had picked American Pharoah, yes with the wrong spelling. But that was going to be the only slip up when it came to this horse. Bob Baffert is the only trainer in history to have had four cracks at being the trainer of a Triple Crown... Read more
Austin is one funky town. One of their mottos is— ‘Keep Austin Weird’. I’d prefer Austin. Where the Odd get Even. Not odd at all is my old friend Stan Reid above in front of the old timey grocery store. Stan’s the head of Austin Graduate School of Theology. There is a certain bohemian quality to Austin, it wants to be both nouveau and old school all at once. For example, on the one hand it specializes in old fashioned... Read more
I was thirteen years old, and ‘I Get Around'(1964), was definitely going round and round on turntables all over America. The Beach Boys were topping the charts, and the Beatles were moving up quickly in the speed lane. None of us then knew the tragic story of a gentle musical genius named Brian Wilson who had been abused by his abrasive and controlling father, and then fell into the hands of an equally abusive and controlling shrink, which took him... Read more
While the movie Mr. Turner seems to have eluded many movie goers, it did not elude the critics who loved it. It was nominated for four Oscars, and Timothy Spall who plays Turner (who viewers will recognize as playing in the Harry Potter movies) won for Best Oscar at the Cannes Film Festival. It is now available on Blue Ray (and even on You Tube), and is well worth the time to watch, especially if you love art. Indeed, the... Read more
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