I really want to enjoin upon you a glowing description of the squirmy little puppy that is pressing itself into my arm and making it difficult to type, but, having not procured quite the perfect picture of him, nor yet having lived with him for a whole day, I’m going to save him for a whole post later in the week. I will only say that my own dog, Ash, is very annoyed with this ridiculous new addition to our... Read more
I confess to suffering from a hefty measure of discouragement in my prayer life. Seeing, and then using the hashtag #prayforparis and also #prayforlebanon seems like it ought to be a usefully helpful reminder to actually pray. Surely having it appear under my thumb every time I scroll through Twitter and Facebook will cause me, or someone, to lob a couple of vaguely articulate requests towards the heavens, where God is sitting on some throne or other and that’s the... Read more
I had been mulling over a list of favorite books about Africa and mission, in a nod to my autobiographical interlude later this morning. But, well, I think I will save the list for another day soon because of being thrown into sorrow, along with the rest of the world, well, half of the rest of the world, over the attacks on Paris yesterday. Stupidly spent the evening scrolling through Twitter, looking for news, and getting more and more angry.... Read more
One I guess it must be admitted that we’re coming on towards Advent. Feel terribly troubled and shocked that time should be moving this swiftly. Put off thinking about the Christmas Pageant as long as possible because of not wanting to cope. Picked a fight with Matt to relieve my own stress. “I hate Christmas,” I said, hoping for the usual response. He leapt up in anger. “Well I love Christmas” he roared. We do this every year. I say... Read more
I received this little gem of a comment in my combox yesterday: “Wow, the spirit of this blog — this post and most of the others — is dark and grace-free, and seems to be infected with a kind of Matt Walsh snarky negativity. Your analysis of why people are reacting negatively to the Starbucks red cup hater guy is way off, and I suppose flows from an incredibly dismissive view of humanity (or, that portion of humanity that is... Read more
It’s been rainy and gray. Yesterday we sat in the encroaching twilight, still doing school as darkness fell, listening to the rain. The dog refused to be walked because of being a nincompoop about getting his paws wet. Had to force him into the back yard only to have him run back in snuffling and apparently angry about his damp fur. Is that what dogs have? No, it must just be called hair. I worked until nearly 8 o’clock, hunched... Read more
It only takes one person to be offended. If it can be shown that an offense was caused, then we have something we can really work with. I think a lot about the giving and receiving of offense because I’ve got children, and children are perfect at locating offense, whether intended or not, and lovingly appropriating it so that it can sink down deep and grow into the tender tree of bitterness and irritation. For example, I have one child... Read more
Goodness, how late I am this morning. Didn’t wake up until the sun was actually in the sky, which is what time now? Six o’clock? Anyway, needed to sleep in after such a busy weekend. As I have many times opined in these illustrative interwebs, I did not grow up in this country and so missed a vast sea of interesting cultural information that has shaped and formed the American Landscape, or is it Dream… Most of what I missed... Read more
So it went on year by year. As often as she went up to the house of the LORD, she used to provoke her. Therefore Hannah wept and would not eat. – 1 Samuel 1:7 It is always surprising to me that God, when orchestrating the saving of the whole world, is careful about the suffering and the trouble of the individual people in the narrative. It would always be so easy for God to just quickly do whatever it... Read more
Normally all I do is read the internet, but for some perverse reason, I found myself sitting with an actual book in my hand a couple of times this week. So no good interweb links today, but here are some books I’ve enjoyed/been enjoying. Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis. Heh heh heh. So funny. If you like funny books, which, I think, not enough people do, but you also like to be depressed, this is the perfect book. I particularly... Read more
Preventing Grace
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