Day Twenty-Eight I Kings 3:24-25 And the king said, “Bring me a sword.” So a sword was brought before the king. And the king said, “Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one and half to the other.” You have worked out a wretched existence in sin and depravity. For whatever reason, you are living in exactly the wrong place, with the wrong kind of people, doing the wrong thing. Daily you are taken advantage of,... Read more
I was surprised to find, two weeks ago, upon walking into the kitchen, that it was clean. Elphine has basically been the person who is always assigned that job, though not exclusively, for a couple of years. She started out just unloading the dishwasher onto the table. Then Alouicious unloaded and she put the stuff away. Then she began to load the dishwasher. Then, at the beginning of this year, I would tell her to “clean it” which meant the... Read more
It's been a week so far (in my mind the week should more than be over, and yet the biggest portion is still yet to come) of irrational stress and anxiety; the kind where you have to hide all the Facebook poster and bible verse admonishments to not be anxious about anything and to cast your cares upon The Lord 'because he cares for you' because they just make you more mad and anxious. Or is that just me? Maybe... Read more
My mother, to whom you should all write letters and Facebook messages, imploring her to write a book, or at least blog every day, or at least once a week, wrote about a recent trip to Uganda. Besides it being a really beautiful post, it is essentially affectionate of the past, and hopeful. Which I am striving to be, but which did not emerge at all in this little thing I wrote a few months ago, and didn't post then,... Read more
I had to listen to Jeremiah 4-6 twice this morning because I wasn't really awake the first time. Lest any of you consider me a true Bible Reader, just because I give these little updates about where I am as I carry on, let me just describe what sort of Bible Reader I really am, in contrast to what I Ought To Be. I've gone through the whole thing several times in my life–maybe once in high school, not all... Read more
Matt is sitting here translating First Corinthians from Greek into English, the dog is dreaming about running (in a field of bones? Wouldn't Ezekiel's Vision be so awful for a dog? Why are all these beautiful bones being spoilt by turning back into people?), the children are rotting their brains on Minecraft and Captain Crunch, and I am lying here feeling like an awesome parent. Bad Awesome, as my friend would say, not Good Awesome. Gosh, and now I'm depressed... Read more
One It's the end of June. A great fog is clinging to the hill and the yellow house across the street, wrapping everything in heavy humid mystery and making the landscape just vaguely more interesting. I couldn't be happier. It is so marvelous to feel hot enough, to be able to wander around the garden barefoot, to go outside even in the morning and not have my whole flesh seize up from the chill, to walk up the hill dragging... Read more
I happened to be in the way of driving a bit yesterday and I didn't plan well, so I had nothing to listen to in the car apart from the usual stack of CDs that live in the glove compartment. These include Charpentier's Christmas Mass (my favorite, I love it, but it wasn't long enough), Tacitus' history of Rome (fascinating in a way that sends you into a slow stupor), Robert Earl Keen, and something foul for young children. So,... Read more
Day Twenty-Seven Psalm 3 1 O LORD, how many are my foes! Many are rising against me; 2 many are saying of my soul, there is no salvation for him in God. Selah 3 But you, O LORD, are a shield about me, my glory, and the lifter of my head. David is old and tired. His many sins are gathering themselves together like a storm. He has let the multitude of his children do whatever they want and their... Read more
We gardened our way through the weekend in a frenzied and hysterical way, as we have done all season really. I can only account for it in terms of the horrendously cold winter. Even through June, most all the baseball games have been blanket worthy, sometimes even winter coats. I haven’t bothered to take any of the coats and blankets out of the back of the car because you never know when a sudden wind will descend and spoil your... Read more
Preventing Grace
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