tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-55445750663205586692024-02-06T22:20:50.293-05:00Carpe BananaLife with my LORD, my family, myself, and a small pink monkey.TobyBohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10059127191235363874noreply@blogger.comBlogger219125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5544575066320558669.post-80054994091496831742021-06-11T12:45:00.000-04:002021-06-12T15:50:23.158-04:00Voila! <p><span style="color: #800180;">Many of my social media friends are updating their profile pictures using cartoon apps such as Voila AI artist. And the pictures are so appealing... flawless complexion, no wrinkles, big eyes... but of course it got me thinking: What if we had an app to see what we will look like in glory?</span></p><p><span style="color: #800180;">In II Corinthians Paul writes that "we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image."</span></p><p><span style="color: #800180;">C. S. Lewis reminds us that believers are "everlasting splendors." </span></p><p><span style="color: #800180;">And in II John 3:2 we read "Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is."</span></p><p><span style="color: #800180;">I can hardly wait to see those profile updates. <3 </span></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>TobyBohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10059127191235363874noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5544575066320558669.post-21950515324195471142021-01-01T13:24:00.000-05:002021-01-01T13:24:16.538-05:002021<p><span style="color: red; font-family: times;">Each December I choose a focus word for the upcoming new year. 2020's word of the year was Hwaet, to remind me to look around and see what God is doing and to listen to His story as He reveals it in my life. It proved to be a good word in several ways... it was different than my norm, which sure suited 2020... and it forced me to keep looking for God's hand in what was going on.</span></p><p><span style="color: red; font-family: times;">As I worked through a few ideas this year, I kept coming back to the idea of quiet and my need for a quiet heart. Isaiah 30:15 and 32:17-18 have long been favorite verses and I feel the need for this kind of quiet in the world: </span></p><p><span style="color: red; font-family: times;">For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, "In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength."</span></p><p><span style="color: red; font-family: times;">and:</span></p><p><span style="color: red; font-family: times;">the effect of righteousness will be peace, and the result of righteousness, quietness and trust forever. My people will abide in a peaceful habitation, in secure dwellings, and in quiet resting places. </span></p><p><span style="color: red;">So, "quiet heart" or "un coeur tranquille" it will be.</span></p><p><span class="text Isa-32-18" style="color: red; font-family: times; font-size: 16px; position: relative;"><br /></span></p>TobyBohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10059127191235363874noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5544575066320558669.post-43991830522801612092020-07-10T12:05:00.001-04:002020-07-10T12:14:47.729-04:00PoisonIvy.v.2020<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="color: #0b8043;">So. Just some 2020 ramblings as I (hopefully) am hitting the end of what has been my worst ever case of Poison Ivy. Yes. It deserves the upper case. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #0b8043;">Our property is highly wooded and even more highly covered with PI, so I bump into it a few times a summer. Which, in the past, has just led to little isolated itchy bumps that fade in a few days like mosquito bites. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b8043;">But not in 2020.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b8043;">This PI started slow. Nothing to write home about. And then it started to spread. And if reporters were writing about it the stories would have been very mixed. Right Hand and Arm: DISASTER! RED ALERT! Left Arm: Not that bad, really, quit your griping. Rest of body: What are you talking about? There is no problem here. Then after a few days of these conflicting reports, the Face weighed in with: AAACK! WHAT IS EVEN GOING ON? And a day or two later the Face shut down one of the Eyes. At which point Brain decided it was time to seek some sort of Expert Advice. Said Expert administered a Sharp Intervention in areas that had not reported any conflict whatsoever. That Sharp Intervention did not seem to have any significant effect for a lagtime of 72 hours. And then suddenly there was a vast improvement on all fronts.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b8043;">We are now a week from that Intervention. And varied reports continue to come in from parts of the body. The Right Hand and Arm have ceased to weep and are now covered with fresh pink flesh. The Left Hand and Arm continue to have limited squalls. The Face and Eye believe everything is back to normal, why are we still talking about this? And the Legs are fighting very limited outbreaks and saying: Is This What All the Fuss Was About? But the Brain is saying: I wish it were completely gone. What if there is a need for another intervention? And what if we touch the Evil Weed again?</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b8043;">It is hard in the midst of 2020 to know what is going on and what to listen to. </span></div>
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TobyBohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10059127191235363874noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5544575066320558669.post-57379753162498716242020-03-23T18:06:00.000-04:002020-03-23T18:06:51.107-04:00Let Us Fall Into the Hand of God<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">So. Right now we are in the midst of a shutdown to try to slow the spread of Coronavirus. Everyone is scared. I was trying to figure out if I am more or less scared than I was at 9/11, and I have settled on: Less scared.</span><br />
<span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I think it is because this disease seems so directly from God's hand rather than the hand of an enemy and so lacks the same feeling of evil directed against us. I was thinking about David after he conducted the census he shouldn't have (II Samuel 24) and was given three options by the prophet:</span><br />
<span class="text 2Sam-24-12" id="en-ESV-8705" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "verdana" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">‘Thus says the <span class="small-caps" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; font-variant-caps: small-caps; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal;">Lord</span>, Three things I offer you. Choose one of them, that I may do it to you.’”</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "verdana" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span class="text 2Sam-24-13" id="en-ESV-8706" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "verdana" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">So Gad came to David and told him, and said to him, “Shall <span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-ESV-8706R" data-link="(<a href="#cen-ESV-8706R" title="See cross-reference R">R</a>)" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 0.625em; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"></span>three years of famine come to you in your land? Or will you flee three months before your foes while they pursue you? Or shall there be three days' pestilence in your land? Now consider, and decide what answer I shall return to him who sent me.”</span><br />
<span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">David answers: </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "verdana" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">“I am in great distress. Let us fall into the hand of the </span><span class="small-caps" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "verdana" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Lord</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "verdana" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">, </span><span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-ESV-8707S" data-link="(<a href="#cen-ESV-8707S" title="See cross-reference S">S</a>)" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "verdana" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 0.625em; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "verdana" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">for his mercy is great; but let me not fall into the hand of man.” </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "verdana" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">and I have to agree. Then you look at the numbers... </span><br />
<span class="text 2Sam-24-15" id="en-ESV-8708" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "verdana" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">So the <span class="small-caps" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; font-variant-caps: small-caps; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal;">Lord</span> sent a pestilence on Israel from the morning until the appointed time. And there died of the people from <span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-ESV-8708U" data-link="(<a href="#cen-ESV-8708U" title="See cross-reference U">U</a>)" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 0.625em; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"></span>Dan to Beersheba 70,000 men.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "verdana" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span class="text 2Sam-24-16" id="en-ESV-8709" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "verdana" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><span class="versenum" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;">16 </span>And when <span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-ESV-8709V" data-link="(<a href="#cen-ESV-8709V" title="See cross-reference V">V</a>)" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 0.625em; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"></span>the angel stretched out his hand toward Jerusalem <span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-ESV-8709W" data-link="(<a href="#cen-ESV-8709W" title="See cross-reference W">W</a>)" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 0.625em; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"></span>to destroy it, <span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-ESV-8709X" data-link="(<a href="#cen-ESV-8709X" title="See cross-reference X">X</a>)" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 0.625em; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"></span>the <span class="small-caps" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; font-variant-caps: small-caps; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal;">Lord</span> relented from the calamity and said to the angel <span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-ESV-8709Y" data-link="(<a href="#cen-ESV-8709Y" title="See cross-reference Y">Y</a>)" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 0.625em; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"></span>who was working destruction among the people, “It is enough; now stay your hand.”</span><br />
<span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Wow! 70,000 in three days in a very small area geographically. Praise God for His mercy in staying the hand of destruction, and may He be pleased to do so again very soon. </span><br />
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TobyBohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10059127191235363874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5544575066320558669.post-91481568241250004212018-11-01T11:23:00.000-04:002018-11-01T11:23:32.966-04:00Pocketses<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="color: #b45f06;">I woke from a dream. :) I'm guessing this one was spawned by a discussion I had with Mr Music about carrying his house key at all times. </span><div>
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<span style="color: #b45f06;">I was doing some sort of research -- actually, I think, a doctorate -- into what people carry in their pockets and how it varies across occupations and how it has varied throughout history. And the research was expanded to include things like the cloth pockets women wore in the colonial period, and purses (pocketbags) and even small backpacks. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #b45f06;">The apparent focus of this research was how it seems to have changed in my life. My Dad carried a wallet, some change, his keys, matches, a fountain pen, and always a cloth handkerchief. I remember my Grandads also carrying off-white pipe cleaners that came in packs of about 30 with a paper band around them (Dutch something?) even though I don't have any memory of them smoking pipes. I will have to ask my Mum about that one. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #b45f06;">I don't generally have much in my pockets -- just a fidget toy and a lip balm --but rely on a purse or coat pockets for the rest. And <a href="https://izismile.com/2011/01/11/what_different_people_carry_in_their_pockets_60_pics.html" target="_blank">here's a fun link</a> if you want to see into other people's pockets.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #b45f06;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b45f06;">So I am curious. What do you carry with you wherever you go? </span></div>
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TobyBohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10059127191235363874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5544575066320558669.post-84052060412937903272018-06-11T13:07:00.000-04:002018-06-11T13:07:19.305-04:00Drops<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="color: #38761d;">Yesterday I woke at the end of a drizzle. I looked out my window and saw the pretty raindrops on the rhododendron. And here are the places my head went:</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4X8n4yirdmolnTkjgtXK-IPGNDAQSbwofhk8cS_r1r-oIe_S0CUlBxb5y950sJ6lE8vqAUPcObXgGLjzR9Ydy6lDeGhA50PxShblMmfxOVdv0qc2feHxoE-8IMu9LnWIkJF6UYQZBxzo/s1600/IMG_20180610_092626305.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1380" data-original-width="1600" height="345" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4X8n4yirdmolnTkjgtXK-IPGNDAQSbwofhk8cS_r1r-oIe_S0CUlBxb5y950sJ6lE8vqAUPcObXgGLjzR9Ydy6lDeGhA50PxShblMmfxOVdv0qc2feHxoE-8IMu9LnWIkJF6UYQZBxzo/s400/IMG_20180610_092626305.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #38761d; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">first, my head was quoting a poem from a poster I had in junior high. I have never been able to track it down so maybe it was just poster fodder but it said Dylan:</span><br />
<span style="color: #38761d; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #38761d; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">In the early pearly morning when the sun begins to rise</span><br />
<span style="color: #38761d; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">and the flowers lift their faces</span><br />
<span style="color: #38761d; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">In a world that's less than kind</span><br />
<span style="color: #38761d; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Tell me, tell me, tell me</span><br />
<span style="color: #38761d; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">There are still some quiet places</span><br />
<span style="color: #38761d; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
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<span style="color: #38761d; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">which leads to what is quite possibly my favorite verse:</span><br />
<span style="color: #38761d; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #38761d; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">"in returning and rest you shall be saved;</span><br />
<span style="color: #38761d; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">in quietness and in trust shall be your strength."</span><br />
<span style="color: #38761d; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">But you were unwilling. ~ Isaiah 30:15</span><br />
<span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;"><span style="color: #38761d;">(I quote this to myself and always add, "may I be willing.")</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #38761d;"><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #38761d; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #38761d; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">then come the verses a couple chapters later: </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #38761d;"><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
</span><br />
<span style="color: #38761d; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">And the effect of righteousness will be peace, </span><br />
<span style="color: #38761d; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">and the result of righteousness, quietness and trust forever.</span><br />
<span style="color: #38761d; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">My people will abide in a peaceful habitation</span><br />
<span style="color: #38761d; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">in secure dwellings, and in quiet resting places. ~ Isaiah 32:17-18</span><br />
<span style="color: #38761d; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #38761d; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #38761d; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">and the whole cycle concluded with me reciting a song from camp growing up - I don't remember the tune but just the words - before breakfast: </span><br />
<span style="color: #38761d; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #38761d; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I saw raindrops on my window, Joy is like the rain.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: #38761d;">Laughter runs across my pain, slips away and comes again.
Joy is like the rain. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: #38761d;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: #38761d;">I saw clouds upon a mountain, Joy is like a cloud. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: #38761d;">Sometimes silver, sometimes gray, always sun not far away.
Joy is like a cloud. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: #38761d;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: #38761d;">I saw Christ in wind and thunder, Joy is tried by storm. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: #38761d;">Christ asleep within my boat, whipped by wind, yet still afloat.
Joy is tried by storm. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: #38761d;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: #38761d;">I saw raindrops on the river, Joy is like the rain. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: #38761d;">Bit by bit the river grows, till all at once it overflows.
Joy is like the rain. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: #38761d;">~ Miriam Therese Winter</span></span></div>
TobyBohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10059127191235363874noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5544575066320558669.post-3057964071795747242018-06-05T17:02:00.000-04:002018-06-06T21:05:15.614-04:00Ramblings about Red<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Color is always interesting to me. And now it is time to think about red.</span></div>
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Back at Christmas time I found gel pens on clearance for a dime and bought them out for stocking stuffers. There was only one red one, and I kept it for myself. I had it stuffed in a back pocket where apparently it clicked open without my knowledge and ALL the ink in it soaked through my pocket and on to the upholstery in our relatively new and here-to-fore unstained car. It was not a fine moment. </span></div>
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">DH did all he could to get it out, but, it was still very much there, so every time I saw it I felt back in the doghouse. </span></div>
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">But now, the sun has faded the red right away... see? Hardly there, just a little pinkish. Maybe by the end of summer no mark of this mishap will remain.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9570IELs_wLV6tieZwj21_zcJBoNgRXiZHI0QQehsE0AAc5taGYZGOBVBi_uVCThutavGE6N8hBTaiUaAd1roAxe6qNka8fMUWJiEknC_UUH-ZJhSjZiY2PWGrTopnJCFP_6dCbz0_MQ/s1600/IMG_20180520_182744152_BURST000_COVER.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9570IELs_wLV6tieZwj21_zcJBoNgRXiZHI0QQehsE0AAc5taGYZGOBVBi_uVCThutavGE6N8hBTaiUaAd1roAxe6qNka8fMUWJiEknC_UUH-ZJhSjZiY2PWGrTopnJCFP_6dCbz0_MQ/s400/IMG_20180520_182744152_BURST000_COVER.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
<span style="color: red; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Now that surprises me. It seems like red is the most stainerific color and there it is, nearly gone. So natch I start thinking about Isaiah:</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="text Isa-1-18" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; position: relative;">though your sins are like scarlet,</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px;" /><span class="indent-1" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px;"><span class="indent-1-breaks" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 0.42em; line-height: 0;"> </span><span class="text Isa-1-18" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; position: relative;">they shall be as <span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-ESV-17673B" data-link="(<a href="#cen-ESV-17673B" title="See cross-reference B">B</a>)" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 0.625em; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"></span>white as snow;</span></span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px;" /><span class="text Isa-1-18" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; position: relative;">though they are red like crimson,</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px;" /><span class="indent-1" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px;"><span class="indent-1-breaks" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 0.42em; line-height: 0;"> </span><span class="text Isa-1-18" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; position: relative;">they shall become like wool.</span></span></span></blockquote>
<span style="color: red;">How can this be? We know it's through the blood... red again. A very staining red. How on earth does covering something with blood lead to it being white? I don't know. Red blood is full of oxygen, giving life. </span><br />
<span style="color: red;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: red;">I also think about the character Red from <i>Shawshank Redemption</i> and the hope he found. There is even greater hope to be found in Christ. Thank God that sin can be atoned for by Jesus's red blood.</span><br />
<span style="color: red;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: red;"><br /></span>
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TobyBohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10059127191235363874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5544575066320558669.post-17395183768662790832018-05-30T16:54:00.002-04:002018-05-30T16:54:52.517-04:00Thoughts on Thanos<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="color: purple; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Something about certain movies gets my mind going in lots of directions at once. Last night we saw <i>Avengers: Infinity War</i>. Not sure what you saw in the film and thought about but here are some of the things that were going through my head as I watched it and have thought about it since. </span><br />
<span style="color: purple; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: purple; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">(spoiler alert, if that matters)</span><br />
<span style="color: purple; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: purple; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">First. If you give a villain a name that obviously means Death (thanks, high school poetry teacher, for having us analyze "Thanatopsis") that gives fair warning to pay attention to what's going on in his view of life. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: purple; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Probably my overriding concern: Thanos's belief that he is acting in mercy by killing half the people for the benefit of the other half. That is not mercy. Mercy is being delivered from some sort of punishment or unpleasant consequence which is due. I keep thinking about the similarities between Thanos's plan for improving life on the planets he rules and our own country's abortion for the sake of convenience. Abortion is all too often viewed as some sort of mercy, too. :( I also keep thinking of Shakespeare's "the quality of mercy is not strained" - well, Thanos was certainly not making what he was calling mercy voluntary. </span><br />
<span style="color: purple; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: purple; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">The way Thanos destroys people - causing them to crumble and turn back to dust and be blown away - is a reversal of man being created from the dust of the earth. I found this a powerful image and like the reminder of death (momento mori). If we saw the dust of aborted children floating around, cars and helicopters crashing <i>because they are not there</i>, would that get us to notice the horror and death? Those scenes remind me of the part in <i>It's a Wonderful Life</i> where George Bailey sees what the world would have been had he never existed. </span><br />
<span style="color: purple; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: purple; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I keep thinking about the characters who were willing to lay down their lives to stop Thanos, especially Vision and Gamora. They saw the need and were willing to do it, but those who loved them stood in their way -- and led to Thanos's apparent triumph. Jesus tells us to come and die with Him,</span><span style="color: purple; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> but how common it is for loved ones try to stop us from laying down our lives for others and for the kingdom. How does this fit in with the film's </span><span style="color: purple; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">talk about not trading one life for others? I think the difference comes in when someone chooses to lay down someone ELSE'S life for others, as Thanos did with Gamora -- and seems to feel he is noble to do with all the life he is extinguishing. </span><br />
<span style="color: purple; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: purple; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">I'm curious, what were you thinking as you watched and reflected on <b>Infinity War</b>?</span><br />
<span style="color: purple; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: purple; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">verses jumbling around in my head:</span><br />
<span style="color: purple; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: purple; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">It was Caiaphas who had advised the Jews </span><span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-ESV-26788D" data-link="(<a href="#cen-ESV-26788D" title="See cross-reference D">D</a>)" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 0.625em; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"></span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">that it would be expedient that one man should die for the people. ~ John 18:13</span></span><br />
<span style="color: purple; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: purple; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Greater love has no one than this, </span><span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-ESV-26701B" data-link="(<a href="#cen-ESV-26701B" title="See cross-reference B">B</a>)" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 0.625em; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"></span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">that someone lay down his life for his friends. ~ John 15:13</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="color: purple; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: purple; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span class="text John-10-17" id="en-ESV-26487" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px;"><span class="woj" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box;">For this reason the Father loves me, <span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-ESV-26487Z" data-link="(<a href="#cen-ESV-26487Z" title="See cross-reference Z">Z</a>)" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 0.625em; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"></span>because <span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-ESV-26487AA" data-link="(<a href="#cen-ESV-26487AA" title="See cross-reference AA">AA</a>)" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 0.625em; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"></span>I lay down my life that I may take it up again.</span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span class="text John-10-18" id="en-ESV-26488" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px;"><span class="woj" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box;">No one takes it from me, but <span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-ESV-26488AC" data-link="(<a href="#cen-ESV-26488AC" title="See cross-reference AC">AC</a>)" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 0.625em; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"></span>I lay it down <span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-ESV-26488AD" data-link="(<a href="#cen-ESV-26488AD" title="See cross-reference AD">AD</a>)" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 0.625em; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"></span>of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and <span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-ESV-26488AE" data-link="(<a href="#cen-ESV-26488AE" title="See cross-reference AE">AE</a>)" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 0.625em; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"></span>I have authority to take it up again. ~ John 10:17-18</span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="color: purple; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: purple; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">then the </span><span class="small-caps" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; font-variant-caps: small-caps; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal;">Lord</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> God formed the man of </span><span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-ESV-38F" data-link="(<a href="#cen-ESV-38F" title="See cross-reference F">F</a>)" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 0.625em; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"></span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">dust from the ground ~ Genesis 2:7</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="color: purple; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span style="color: purple; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust... the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place knows it no more ~ Psalm 103:14-16</span></span></div>
TobyBohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10059127191235363874noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5544575066320558669.post-69058079137827876032017-11-27T13:05:00.000-05:002017-11-27T13:05:14.483-05:00Follow Your Dreams. Or Maybe Not.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="color: magenta;">This morning I woke from switching the channel in my brain to catch bits of three different dreams.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: magenta;">In the first one, I was working on recreating a Very Famous work of art for in my home but struggling with the details on where to put it. Apparently one of the most famous sculptures of all time is a 100 foot long strip of white fabric about 2 1/4 inches wide. It has been cut on the bias and starched to crispness with a crease right down the center. Then it is laid on the floor, stretched almost straight out but with only slight graceful curving this way and that, undulations like the wave of the sea, truly a thing of beauty. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: magenta;">As I say, I was making one but only shorter (as nowhere in my home would allow for the full 100 feet). I was none too sure it would be visually effective in its shortness, in fact, it looked more like trash that needed to be picked up and tossed...</span><br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzF4FrWbvug82384z1ICKEjFbfMUiZ5aI-aMdCigHUC_Z3HIRPl0nRJEl09MLOZ4I81HOldyBwoZpfPUCXJQ5GMYAEU6ewg_r7psOMcSiPrqN2H0g0xaTmySYl4MwYLos7CXbxSjEEjpo/s1600/reindeer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="250" data-original-width="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzF4FrWbvug82384z1ICKEjFbfMUiZ5aI-aMdCigHUC_Z3HIRPl0nRJEl09MLOZ4I81HOldyBwoZpfPUCXJQ5GMYAEU6ewg_r7psOMcSiPrqN2H0g0xaTmySYl4MwYLos7CXbxSjEEjpo/s1600/reindeer.jpg" /></a><span style="color: magenta;">so I switched to the next channel. Here I was in a room with a window with six large panes, light streaming in at a the wintertime late afternoon angle, but very bright. Beside me on the floor (the floor again?) was a plastic reindeer, kind of a chunky one, maybe more like a moose, but his antlers were reindeer antlers and richly covered with gold glitter. Anyhow, the light was making a wonderful silhouette of the reindeer and the crossbars of the window pane, which I wanted to photograph. But I could not figure out how to photograph just the silhouetted shadow on the floor and not the admittedly tacky reindeer itself. So again, I switched the channel...</span><span style="color: magenta;"> </span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: magenta;">on this channel I found myself with a pocket full of four or five plastic one inch balls, well, really large beads as they were strung together on elastic cording. They had the swishy stripes around them that are on some eos lip balm balls. I realized it was a "disassembled Chinese pet" and decided it was time to get up and start my real life. </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwLqoLBS-KT8dggoHPLNXwQXP0wB1Mm-UsCeZKMjwuj0sBINlx4sn-lZHZ2cKlA24JAaVXJocUOaNszORTd29vZJZOSRax3D51ZQl3cFdPfTgcOZEndbMJu_rHbu-VFNDNkQCI5W2wB2Q/s1600/eos.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="162" data-original-width="310" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwLqoLBS-KT8dggoHPLNXwQXP0wB1Mm-UsCeZKMjwuj0sBINlx4sn-lZHZ2cKlA24JAaVXJocUOaNszORTd29vZJZOSRax3D51ZQl3cFdPfTgcOZEndbMJu_rHbu-VFNDNkQCI5W2wB2Q/s1600/eos.jpg" /></a></div>
<span style="color: magenta;"> </span></div>
TobyBohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10059127191235363874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5544575066320558669.post-74491492087456253892017-10-03T14:52:00.000-04:002017-10-03T14:52:13.563-04:00Reminders in the Crafts Aisle<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div data-contents="true">
<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="57f0b" data-offset-key="2mfud-0-0">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="2mfud-0-0">
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><span data-offset-key="2mfud-0-0"><span data-text="true">I noticed the Frank Turner song playing at Wal*Mart today. I liked this part of the lyrics: </span></span></span></div>
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="2mfud-0-0">
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><span data-offset-key="2mfud-0-0"><span data-text="true"> </span></span></span></div>
</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="57f0b" data-offset-key="38q5j-0-0">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="38q5j-0-0">
<span style="color: #351c75;"><span data-offset-key="38q5j-0-0"><span data-text="true">then I remember you,</span></span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="57f0b" data-offset-key="9u21s-0-0">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="9u21s-0-0">
<span style="color: #351c75;"><span data-offset-key="9u21s-0-0"><span data-text="true">And the way you<b> shine like truth</b> in all you do.</span></span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="57f0b" data-offset-key="e0n3-0-0">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="e0n3-0-0">
<span style="color: #351c75;"><span data-offset-key="e0n3-0-0"><span data-text="true">And if you remembered me,</span></span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="57f0b" data-offset-key="3kg11-0-0">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="3kg11-0-0">
<span style="color: #351c75;"><span data-offset-key="3kg11-0-0"><span data-text="true">You could save me from the way I tend to be. </span></span></span></div>
</div>
</blockquote>
<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="57f0b" data-offset-key="e9h32-0-0">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="e9h32-0-0">
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><span data-offset-key="e9h32-0-0"><br data-text="true" /></span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="57f0b" data-offset-key="emjq7-0-0">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="emjq7-0-0">
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><span data-offset-key="emjq7-0-0"><span data-text="true">It strikes me that we should be like that to people around us, shining like truth in all we do while we communicate to the world that God remembers us and saves us from what we are. </span></span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="57f0b" data-offset-key="acc1k-0-0">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="acc1k-0-0">
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><span data-offset-key="acc1k-0-0"><br data-text="true" /></span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="57f0b" data-offset-key="5vtkq-0-0">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="5vtkq-0-0">
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><span data-offset-key="5vtkq-0-0"><span data-text="true">and then toward the end came the words:</span></span></span></div>
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="5vtkq-0-0">
<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #351c75;"><span data-offset-key="5vtkq-0-0"><span data-text="true">And then I catch myself</span></span></span><br /><span style="color: #351c75;"><span data-offset-key="5vtkq-0-0"><span data-text="true">
Catching your scent on someone else</span></span></span><br /><span style="color: #351c75;"><span data-offset-key="5vtkq-0-0"><span data-text="true">
In a crowded space</span></span></span><br /><span style="color: #351c75;"><span data-offset-key="5vtkq-0-0"><span data-text="true">
And it takes me somewhere I cannot quite place.</span></span></span></blockquote>
</div>
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="5vtkq-0-0">
<span style="color: #351c75;"><span data-offset-key="5vtkq-0-0"><span data-text="true"> </span></span></span></div>
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="5vtkq-0-0">
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><span class="text 2Cor-2-15" id="en-ESV-28823">"For we are <b>the aroma of Christ</b> to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing,</span> <span class="text 2Cor-2-16" id="en-ESV-28824"><sup class="versenum"> </sup>to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things?</span> <span class="text 2Cor-2-17" id="en-ESV-28825"><sup class="versenum"> </sup>For
we are not, like so many, peddlers of God's word, but as men of
sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in
Christ." II Corinthians 2:15-17</span></span></div>
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="5vtkq-0-0">
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><span class="text 2Cor-2-17" id="en-ESV-28825"> </span></span></div>
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="5vtkq-0-0">
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><span class="text 2Cor-2-17" id="en-ESV-28825"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edo6oo2HEhU" target="_blank">here's the song :) </a> </span></span><span class="text 2Cor-2-17" id="en-ESV-28825"></span><br /><span style="color: #351c75;"><span data-offset-key="5vtkq-0-0"><span data-text="true"></span></span></span></div>
</div>
</div>
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TobyBohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10059127191235363874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5544575066320558669.post-11648670635996575892017-09-19T07:55:00.002-04:002017-09-19T07:56:33.316-04:00End of Summer Musings<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="color: #b45f06;">This morning I picked what I suspect are the last of the blackberries *sigh*. There are only seven and they are not the best looking, but still.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #b45f06;">I also pulled every last thistle I could find. I like pulling weeds at the end of summer. Their roots are barely holding on and the plant is ready to die. I wonder if, at the end of our lives, we are like that with out sin, just barely holding on to it and ready to have it removed from our lives. </span></div>
TobyBohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10059127191235363874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5544575066320558669.post-39014208975075134982017-09-15T11:04:00.000-04:002017-09-15T11:07:20.262-04:00The Battle of the Villa Fiorita<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="color: #38761d;">Well, it's book report time on Rumer Godden's _The Battle of the Villa Fiorita_, which I finished reading last night.</span><br />
<span style="color: #38761d;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #38761d;">This is a fictional work about a woman (Fanny) who had an affair and was divorced by her husband. She went to live with the new man (Rob) in Italy and two of her children showed up to fetch her back where, in their opinion, she belonged.</span><br />
<span style="color: #38761d;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #38761d;">So right from the set up you see that this is a book about sin, and that there is probably not going to be any way to have a happy ending. (No spoilers needed for that!) And, true to life, there wasn't. Everyone involved continued to receive ugly consequences and wounds from the sin that had occurred.</span><br />
<span style="color: #38761d;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #38761d;">Unfortunately the author did not include any significant redemptive value to the story other than showing how the characters, especially the children, grew through their experiences. I found it a story well-told, but not a happy one, and am glad that these characters are not my real life friends, as my heart would hurt for all of them. This is in contrast to the same author's _In This House of Brede_, where I felt glad to know the characters as friends. </span></div>
TobyBohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10059127191235363874noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5544575066320558669.post-82891751940893206092017-05-22T12:45:00.002-04:002017-05-22T13:02:24.834-04:00Glimpses<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Every now and then new things pop up in the most familiar places. Yesterday I met two new things. I'm sure I passed many more but didn't notice them, but here are the two I met:</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">One of my favorite chapters is Isaiah 40. That was one of the readings yesterday and I followed along in my French Bible because I am so familiar with it. Only -- when I got to verse 27 I was in for a big surprise. Up until that point, all the /you/s had been plural, "vous". All of a sudden verse 27 switches to the familiar, singular "tu". I was so surprised I nearly raised my hand to say, "What what? Why? What is going on here?" I'm still puzzling about it. Are there English translations other than King James that preserve singular and plural second person? And what do you think the switch means?</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Then. While my head is still going on those tracks, we hit these verses in Romans 12 ~ </span></span><br />
<span class="text Rom-12-17" id="en-ESV-28247"><sup class="versenum">17 </sup>Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all.</span> <span class="text Rom-12-18" id="en-ESV-28248"><sup class="versenum">18 </sup>If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.</span> <span class="text Rom-12-19" id="en-ESV-28249"><sup class="versenum">19 </sup>Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.”</span> <span class="text Rom-12-20" id="en-ESV-28250"><sup class="versenum">20 </sup>To the contrary, “if
your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to
drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.”</span> <span class="text Rom-12-21" id="en-ESV-28251"><sup class="versenum">21 </sup>Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good."</span><br />
<span class="text Rom-12-21" id="en-ESV-28251"> </span><span class="text Rom-12-21" id="en-ESV-28251"> </span><br />
<span class="text Rom-12-21" id="en-ESV-28251"><span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Well, again, a familiar memory verse chunk for me that I think I *ahem*<i> know all about</i>. When suddenly it (and by "it" I suspect I mean the Holy Spirit) strikes me with the thought that maybe, just maybe, the part in verse 21 is not what I have always thought, a recipe to defeat evil OUT THERE (as in vanquishing a foe) but maybe, just maybe, about overcoming the evil that continues to dwell in me. Well. Duh. Because that really is the evil that I am responsible to work on overcoming, isn't it? </span></span> </span><br />
<br />
<span class="text Rom-12-17" id="en-ESV-28247"><sup class="versenum"></sup></span><span class="text Rom-12-21" id="en-ESV-28251"></span></div>
TobyBohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10059127191235363874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5544575066320558669.post-91222821943130589972017-05-15T13:10:00.000-04:002017-05-15T13:10:40.020-04:00Work X Three<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span class="text 1Thess-1-2"><span style="color: magenta;">One of my memory passages is I Thessalonians 1. Right off the bat in verses 2 and 3, I hope the things Paul has to say of the Thessalonian believers may be true of me as well: </span> </span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span class="text 1Thess-1-2">We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers,</span> <span class="text 1Thess-1-3" id="en-ESV-29547"><sup class="versenum"> </sup>remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.</span></blockquote>
<br />
<span style="color: magenta;">But the part that stands out to me is the repetition of faith, hope, and love from I Corinthians 13 and how Paul puts some meat on them, moving them beyond sappy words on a greeting card and into roll-up-your-sleeves and get to work: </span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: magenta;">the work of faith</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: magenta;">the labor of love</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: magenta;">the steadfastness of hope</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: magenta;">and then, of course, how we do it... in Our Lord Jesus Christ. May I be faithful today. </span><br />
<span style="color: magenta;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: magenta;">bonus... a favorite necklace I bought when I was about 15 and still enjoy wearing. I have always liked fidgeting with it and when I read these verses I pretty much feel the charms. </span><br />
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TobyBohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10059127191235363874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5544575066320558669.post-49433065571016223162017-03-02T12:00:00.001-05:002017-03-02T12:01:58.596-05:00Take. Have. Be.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="color: #38761d;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Last night Miss Dog Lover and I watched the 2015 <i>Cinderella</i>. If you've seen it you probably remember the oft-repeated theme quote: Have courage and be kind. We had a stormy night and the wind rumbled the phrase through my head as I slept or tossed. </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #38761d;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I keep thinking about the words <i>have</i> and <i>be</i>. It is along the lines of: </span></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #38761d;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> “To be is to do”—Socrates.<br />
“To do is to be”—Jean-Paul Sartre.<br />
“Do be do be do”—Frank Sinatra.</span></span></blockquote>
<span style="color: #38761d;"> <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">but </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #38761d;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #38761d;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">why do we say<i> have</i> one and <i>be </i>the other? Seems it must be that the <i>be</i>ing flows from what we<i> have</i>. And maybe the <i>have </i>is a matter of reaching up and plucking what we've been given in Christ so that we can live in a manner pleasing to Him. </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #38761d;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #38761d;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I also think of the little word<i> take</i>. One of my favorite books, Tasha Tudor's <u>Take Joy</u>, derives its title from Fra Giovanni's Christmas prayer: </span></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<br />
<span style="color: #38761d;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I salute you! There is nothing I can give you which you have not; but there is much that, while I cannot give, you can take.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #38761d;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">
</span></span><span style="color: #38761d;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">No heaven can come to us unless our hearts find rest in it today. <i>Take Heaven</i>.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #38761d;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">
</span></span><span style="color: #38761d;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">No peace lies in the future which is not hidden in the present moment. <i>Take Peace</i>.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #38761d;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">
</span></span><span style="color: #38761d;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The gloom of the world is but a shadow; behind it, yet within our reach is joy. <i>Take Joy</i>!</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #38761d;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">
</span></span><span style="color: #38761d;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">And so, at this Christmas time, I greet you, with the prayer that for
you, now and forever, the day breaks and the shadows flee away.</span></span></blockquote>
<span style="color: #38761d;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It is the Lord of life Who tells us to take heart: <span class="woj"><sup class="versenum"> </sup>I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But <i>take heart</i>; I have overcome the world. ~ John 16:33. We become more like Him when we take the things that have been given. </span> </span></span></div>
TobyBohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10059127191235363874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5544575066320558669.post-14097878016491830042017-02-18T17:50:00.001-05:002017-02-18T21:44:50.764-05:00No Right-of-Way<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: blue;">Mr Music and I are working through the Driver's Manual. I am not a great driver so this has been a good study for me. One concept has really surprised me with its applicability in many parts of life. </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: blue;">When driving I always hear about who "has the right-of-way" in certain situations. But, there is no such thing, according to the manual, </span></span><br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: blue;">The law does not give anyone the right-of-way at intersections;<i><b> it only says who must yield.</b></i> Even when one driver is legally required to yield right-of-way, if he or she fails to do so, other drivers are still required to stop or yield as necessary to avoid a crash. </span></span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: blue;"><b><br /></b></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: blue;">Might apply in other areas of life, eh? No one has right-of-way. No one. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: blue;"><b><br /></b></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: blue;">Ephesians 5:21 ~ Submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.<b><br /></b></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: blue;"></span></span><br /></div>
TobyBohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10059127191235363874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5544575066320558669.post-47246928276880946972016-12-31T15:59:00.003-05:002016-12-31T16:12:44.671-05:00ShaLOm in 2017<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Well, here it is the end of 2016 and I am posting my (planned... ya never know how that will go, ask Robbie Burns' mousie) one-word focus for 2017.</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">I am going with <b>shalom</b>. I like the way Cornelius Plantinga Jr presents that word in </span></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> <u>Not the Way It's Supposed to Be: A Breviary of Sin</u>. At one point he writes: </span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In the Bible, shalom means universal flourishing,
wholeness, and delight--a rich state of affairs in which natural needs
are satisfied and natural gifts fruitfully employed, a state of affairs
that inspires joyful wonder as its Creator and Savior opens doors and
welcomes the creatures in whom he delights. Shalom, in other words, is
the way things ought to be.</span></span> </blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: purple;">I want to focus on things becoming the way they are supposed to be, with wholeness and healing and all the deliciously dripping sweet fruits of the Spirit. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: purple;">And because I do not ever really get the whole <i>one</i>-word thing, I am mentally writing the word this way: sha<b>LO</b>m. I am using the <b>L</b> to remind me to Listen, a skill where I am very weak, and the <b>O </b>is not really the letter /O/ but a kind of sphere to remind me to Mind My Own Sphere of Dominion (and not everyone else's).</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: purple;">What about you? Have you got a one-word focus for the new year? </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
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TobyBohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10059127191235363874noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5544575066320558669.post-86786590219796316652016-11-15T15:53:00.002-05:002016-11-15T16:04:42.154-05:00To Whom Shall We Go?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="color: #6aa84f;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Last night Devastatingly Handsome took us to see Doctor Strange. It was a film that promised to suit everyone in the family, from those of us who enjoy superheroes to those who are content to see Benedict Cumberbatch. Not saying which category I ma<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">y fall into. :)</span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #6aa84f;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This film has a crazy mix of world religions and mysticism, and there was a lot I wanted to argue with. But I was struck throughout the movie about how much of the script was either so close to Scripture or reminiscent of i<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">t and could have been reworded with direct quotes<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> from memory work<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">:</span></span></span> </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #6aa84f;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #6aa84f;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">* The theme about Strange's arrogance and it not being all about him... we could substitute chunks of Proverbs and get there. </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #6aa84f;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">* Something about his bold, insistent "I've come to bargain" reminds me of our need for a mediator.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #6aa84f;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">* The Ancient One's final talk about death "Death is what gives life meaning. To know your days are numbered and your time is short" sounds straight out of Psalm 90 ~ "So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom."</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #6aa84f;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #6aa84f;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I was struck most strongly by two scenes fairly early in the show, the first, I can't find the exact words but Pangborn warned Strange that there would be a cost and that it was not money. This sounded very like the admonition in Luke 14:28 to consider the cost. Just a few minutes later, when The Ancient One threw Strange out of Kamar-Taj, he sat on the stoop, knocking and begging for entrance. I was thinking of Christ's warnings about being excluded from the kingdom of heaven until Strange begged, "Please don't shut me out! I don't have anywhere else to go.." It sounded to me like he was confessing along with Peter in John 6:68 "Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life."</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #6aa84f;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span></span><span class="p"><br /></span></div>
TobyBohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10059127191235363874noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5544575066320558669.post-70116747457314526132016-11-11T10:31:00.003-05:002016-11-11T10:32:42.466-05:00Troll in a Shoe Store, Sort Of<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Distance never really seems to keep me from catching up with Miss Language</span></span><span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"></span></span><span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> and people she's met. </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This morning I woke from a long talk with a man in his shoe store. (FWIW, the man looked a lot like Donald Trump but I don't think that is really here or there, just speaks to my unconscious mind.) He talked a lot and I don't remember everything he said, but he was quite impressed by Miss Language, who had stopped in to do some shopping. </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It seemed to me to be a fairly normal shoe store but he told me quite definitely that it was 500 yards long which made it 5 square miles and thus very likely the biggest shoe store in the galaxy, probably even bigger than Amazon. I don't know but I did wonder. </span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Anyhow, back to Miss L. As I say, she had impressed him, though I don't remember everything he had to say. He did let me know that she is coming out with three new books (I hadn't heard!): one on linguistics, no surprise there; one on French poetry, more than a bit surprising to me; and one a fiction title, again, not too surprising. Can't wait to read them all! It seems he has already read them and thought they were fantastic. </span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">He also commented on her hair and on some of her admirers among other things. </span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Then I woke up from this pleasant chat about my sweet daughter and found this in my messages, her newest 'do. </span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFv-7CeTlpB22TsPtJJD2d9tklFFZZ4mlMSF4d4nIExvrAg5E6knMrgvwnB2NJevSwV7yBktaL8DPq1kU-gdyarhXSUCAwzaTIL0KYfpIjaxNMnBEqlADq8la4QX-uzulNpN7dM2eqkVQ/s1600/Troll++Nov+16.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFv-7CeTlpB22TsPtJJD2d9tklFFZZ4mlMSF4d4nIExvrAg5E6knMrgvwnB2NJevSwV7yBktaL8DPq1kU-gdyarhXSUCAwzaTIL0KYfpIjaxNMnBEqlADq8la4QX-uzulNpN7dM2eqkVQ/s400/Troll++Nov+16.JPG" width="300" /></a></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">No wonder he was impressed. </span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">~ ~ ~</span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">For I have derived much joy and comfort from your love, my brother, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you. ~ Philemon 1:7 </span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span></span> </span></span></div>
TobyBohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10059127191235363874noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5544575066320558669.post-69294829684138268752016-07-15T15:25:00.001-04:002016-07-15T15:54:16.229-04:00Half Mast<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Last night Miss Language and I were discussing the tragedy in Nice. I said. "I feel like a flag is at half mast in my heart" and she replied, "I feel like the whole world has just been stuck at half mast."</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Yes.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">So this morning I was still thinking about evil and its pain and googled about how "half mast" came to be. It turns out, of course, that there are a number of theories about how it started, but the practice was apparently well-established by the early 1600s. A 1934 book puts forth this explanation: "The half-masting of colors is in reality a survival of the days when a
slovenly appearance (untidy, careless) characterized mourning. Even in the
British Merchant Service today there are recent cases of trailing rope ends,
'slacking off' of rigging, and scandalizing yards as a sign of
mourning." This reminds me of the custom in some Biblical references of tearing clothes and rubbing on ashes to show mourning. The more popular theory is that sailors lowered the flat to "half mast" - <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">not</span> really half but just one flag's width - to allow room for an "invisible flag of death" to fly above it. I li<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">ke this image <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">partly because I love nautical things, but also because I am drawn to momento mori, reminders of death.</span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Even as believers, we DO sail under a "flag of death" until the day Christ makes all things new. However the heavens are far above that invisible flag and belong to the Victor. I want to live my life with eyes fixed on the King's banner, which is above all and shall never be lowere<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">d.</span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(<a href="http://www.tangledlight.com/2016/07/boldly-go.html" target="_blank">Miss Language also continued to think and write about out brief chat.</a><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">) </span> </span> </span></span></div>
TobyBohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10059127191235363874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5544575066320558669.post-42687963900830406062016-06-27T12:02:00.001-04:002016-06-27T12:51:19.145-04:00Never Sure What to Expect<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="color: #a64d79;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Probably this is a normal part of the human experience, but as I only get to experience life with my own peculiar brain, let me lead off saying that living with my brain is a bit like having an unlabelled chemistry set. My brain is constantly mixing together all the stuff that comes its way and I have no idea what to expect the result to be. It generally looks nothing like what went in. </span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijO7A95zsd56LgFSXszIHOvv4RVrXtuiF-rYfBlqkh8i5aWaAeqvC2fYg1UVvgTe_81vS4Gn455LWcvaq-FhEfO8HUcSIF4Is_DaKo9p0meluRgNUfB4sZokspMVX7M646QBwTiC7a-g0/s1600/lab+equipment.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijO7A95zsd56LgFSXszIHOvv4RVrXtuiF-rYfBlqkh8i5aWaAeqvC2fYg1UVvgTe_81vS4Gn455LWcvaq-FhEfO8HUcSIF4Is_DaKo9p0meluRgNUfB4sZokspMVX7M646QBwTiC7a-g0/s400/lab+equipment.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="color: #a64d79;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">So here's what is in the latest reaction. I am working on memorizing my way through Hebrews this summer and was working on chapter 9. For some reason (maybe watching too many BBC Miss Marple episodes with Miss Dog Lover - hmmm, a catalyst?) the part about wills struck me (verses 15-17):</span></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Therefore He is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant. For <b>where a will is involved, the death of the one who made it must be established. For a will takes effect only at death, since it is not in force as long as the one who made it is alive</b>.</span></blockquote>
</blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #a64d79;">I got to pondering what an odd idea it is in law that we should have any say whatsoever what goes on after our own demise, how that might hint of a universal belief in some sort of eternality of life. Anyhow.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #a64d79;">Next reagents: someone used the expression "over my dead body" in my hearing and I started thinking about how that expression relates literally to warfare, how the person in this case is willing to lay down life to prevent a certain outcome. I did a bit of googling and there does not seem to be any definitive word on what the expression came from.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #a64d79;">Then we added in a few milliliters of a discussion in a thread about a recipe (Capitol Rolls in Indiana, PA, for the curious) that had reportedly "gone to the grave" with the baker. </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #a64d79;">And then, what seemed at first to cancel the reaction, I saw a link to a story about a sweet woman whose family wanted to share her generosity after her death and did so by inscribing the recipe for her best-loved cookies on the back of her gravestone so all could enjoy. Only before reading the article I saw the photo and jumped to the conclusion that this woman had spent her life saying she would share the recipe only "over (her) dead body" and that her family had made good on her promise. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #a64d79;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1-UA8bQKjbrlcC1J2pKGbuFWR5QbEAHVj0dSgwpuBEQu8hz4pPhyphenhyphenGLvEoRlswtjiDaF4zDcI_OMXyebtHLNrDbEGa_e0vf3onNWyF2Mc4iFc72y9FpkAHkvXbASFUuiWpM5PyirpYMso/s1600/Christmas+Cookies.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1-UA8bQKjbrlcC1J2pKGbuFWR5QbEAHVj0dSgwpuBEQu8hz4pPhyphenhyphenGLvEoRlswtjiDaF4zDcI_OMXyebtHLNrDbEGa_e0vf3onNWyF2Mc4iFc72y9FpkAHkvXbASFUuiWpM5PyirpYMso/s400/Christmas+Cookies.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div>
<span style="color: #a64d79;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">So there you have a lab report on the materials going into this thought experiment. I am not too sure where it is going to go once the reaction has run its course. But I am very uncertain whether "over my dead body" means something will NEVER happen or will SURELY come to pass.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #a64d79;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I'll leave you wi<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">th this query</span></span></span>: do<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">es<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> a will give<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">s the w<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">riter authority to say<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This Will Happen When I D<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">ie? <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">That could make</span> dying one of the mo<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">st important things we do.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span> </span></span></div>
TobyBohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10059127191235363874noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5544575066320558669.post-78926369907268543942016-06-17T11:50:00.000-04:002016-06-17T11:50:55.683-04:00On Children and Alligators and Gorillas and Polar Bears<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="color: #134f5c;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I spent a restless night tossing and turning, thinking about the little boy killed by the alligator at Disney this week. I think it is exactly the fact that his dad fought with the alligator that gets my attention. </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #134f5c;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I remember some years back when my young son with reactive attachment disorder was in intensive family therapy I read about an Alaskan mom whose child was attacked by a polar bear. She fought it off so savagely it left the child alone. I told my son this story because I felt I would gladly be that mom if it would help him to understand that I loved him. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #134f5c;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">But there has been no real healing in my son's life. And I feel that I have fought that alligator fiercely, and have seen my child deliberately hurl himself into the pit with the gorilla, over and over, his whole life. So I identify with these parents. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #134f5c;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">There are some alligators you cannot stop. There are some children who cannot be stopped from throwing themselves into danger. I am glad to know the One who does rescue from the dragon and bring up from the pit. I pray He will be merciful to these families, to my son, and to other children like him.</span></span></div>
TobyBohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10059127191235363874noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5544575066320558669.post-49672017294993151802016-05-06T09:00:00.000-04:002016-05-06T10:47:58.955-04:00Confessional Priorities<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: #38761d;">I have been thinking about the old discussion about <i>being vs doing</i>, and am starting to see a connection with catechisms I've been taught over the years. I'm grateful for how these lessons have influenced both what I do and who I am. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: #38761d;">First on what seems like the doing end: when I first joined a church at age 12, the United Presbyterian, back in *ahem* the early seventies, we were instructed for a year and memorized a series of questions and answers starting with: </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: #38761d;">Q: What is the most important thing in life?</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: #38761d;">A: The most important thing in life is to know God and to glorify Him forever.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: #38761d;">I liked the neat and tidy answers to the big questions of life. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: #38761d;">A few years later, I was involved as a charter member in starting a PCA congregation, and have since belonged to OPC and now RP. They all use the Westminster Catechisms and as I was being taught this in high school, I could see that what we had learned before was basically a modern version of the same thing, following the same ideas in the same sequence but worded differently. This one starts with:</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: #38761d;">Q: What is the chief end of man?<br />A: Man's chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. (Or, John Piper likes to change the last phrase to <i>"by enjoying </i>Him forever.")</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: #38761d;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: #38761d;">And I still like this answer to the question of what man's purpose is, what we are here for. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: #38761d;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: #38761d;">But. On </span></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: #38761d;">to the being end: we have bumped into the Heidelberg Catechism here and there; when we used to subscribe to the CRC's magazine, in reading books about Dutch art history, sometimes in biographies. And I have to say that where <i>my mind likes</i> the WSC's series of questions and answers,<i> my heart soars </i>with the Heidelberg's. Here is the first from this catechism, which speaks more personally to the heart:</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: #38761d;">Q: What is thy only comfort in life and death?</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: #38761d;">A: That I with body and soul, both in life and death, am not my own, but belong unto my faithful Saviour Jesus Christ; who, with His precious blood, has fully satisfied for all my sins, and delivered me from all the power of the devil; and so preserves me that without the will of my heavenly Father, not a hair can fall from my head; yea, that all things must be subservient to my salvation, and therefore, by His Holy Spirit, He also assures me of eternal life, and makes me sincerely willing and ready, henceforth, to live unto him. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: #38761d;">What are the thoughts that help you understand who you are here to be and what you are here to do?</span></span></div>
TobyBohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10059127191235363874noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5544575066320558669.post-75861433573134403452016-03-30T16:01:00.003-04:002016-04-24T23:16:34.828-04:00Play<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The idea of play is interesting to me. Recently I had a discussion with an acquaintance who is going to be able to work directly with some ancient materials and he said, "I can't wait till I get to play with them" then corrected himself to say, "I mean, work with." But I think what he really did mean was play. I think the best work happens when it is play.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Mr Music give me examples of this in several areas. We were recently in Williamsburg and he got his hands on the harpsichord and was playing it, you can tell it is playing and not any sort of formal making music. Sheer enjoyment and his head is obviously somewhere in the playing. (thanks to Miss Language for the video) He is also the best at his sports when he PLAYS them and as his mom I can tell the difference between him trying to score in whatever game or just playing... and he does so much better when he can get his head in that place of enjoyment. </span></span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span></span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV9NZhmo3LnR_oUp9K3NhtGOSA_-i7sb7diVs7mEkAGf28afjvxU5qePnE3sc1NQ7Y3Sgc-ZcUtgcnZuL-a0XITV-e5x-45AM2lXo3XihyphenhyphenIt2SVPZl347k4okzHMHXWIRevQzdDHYqjJk/s1600/DSC_0806.MOV" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV9NZhmo3LnR_oUp9K3NhtGOSA_-i7sb7diVs7mEkAGf28afjvxU5qePnE3sc1NQ7Y3Sgc-ZcUtgcnZuL-a0XITV-e5x-45AM2lXo3XihyphenhyphenIt2SVPZl347k4okzHMHXWIRevQzdDHYqjJk/s400/DSC_0806.MOV" width="400" /></a></span></span></div>
<span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">One of Miss Dog Lover's doctors has introduced us to the idea of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_%28psychology%29" target="_blank">flow theory</a>. One researcher gives these conditions for flow, which I think is like play, to exist: </span></span><br />
<br />
<ol>
<li><span style="color: blue;">Knowing what to do</span></li>
<span style="color: blue;">
</span>
<li><span style="color: blue;">Knowing how to do it</span></li>
<span style="color: blue;">
</span>
<li><span style="color: blue;">Knowing how well you are doing</span></li>
<span style="color: blue;">
</span>
<li><span style="color: blue;">Knowing where to go (if navigation is involved)</span></li>
<span style="color: blue;">
</span>
<li><span style="color: blue;">High perceived challenges</span></li>
<span style="color: blue;">
</span>
<li><span style="color: blue;">High perceived skills</span></li>
<span style="color: blue;">
</span>
<li><span style="color: blue;">Freedom from distractions</span></li>
</ol>
<span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Think about it these conditions and play the next time you watch sports, or an academic at his labor of love, or a musician, or a toddler doing a shape sorter - or the same toddler once he has mastered the shape sorter and no longer has any interest in it. I am glad God has made us with abilities and interests and the ability to enjoy using our abilities. What are some areas you hit a flow state in? </span></span></div>
TobyBohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10059127191235363874noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5544575066320558669.post-32891043255922365852016-02-24T16:13:00.004-05:002016-02-24T16:23:53.026-05:00Groanings<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="color: purple;">The problem with blogs is that sometimes words just don't do it.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="color: purple;">We are dealing with some crazy stuff. 'Nuff said.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="color: purple;">And I am somewhere between Dreyfus's twitching eyelid:</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="color: purple;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglDkUrL9JWtMhPtMOlqiKCk5RDGpV1ZzvX1qd2CI3S_UkedlYw10yqiWUcqEf0-eaMMXabLQ_XLgXjPXtxk87BKcS46jsSp-J7lJlvb_CItWADJiIhXgx-GJxMGPKZrX-K27B3hpiSsIM/s1600/twitch.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="137" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglDkUrL9JWtMhPtMOlqiKCk5RDGpV1ZzvX1qd2CI3S_UkedlYw10yqiWUcqEf0-eaMMXabLQ_XLgXjPXtxk87BKcS46jsSp-J7lJlvb_CItWADJiIhXgx-GJxMGPKZrX-K27B3hpiSsIM/s320/twitch.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="color: purple;">and Mrs Bennett's (relatively) calm responses.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/LM1ILgNsPsg/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/LM1ILgNsPsg?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="color: purple;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="color: purple;">I don't think words touch either of these. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="color: purple;">I am glad there is One Who intercedes for us.<i> </i></span><span style="color: purple;"><i>Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to
pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with
groanings too deep for words. </i>~ Romans 8:26 </span></span></div>
TobyBohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10059127191235363874noreply@blogger.com1