Never Sure What to Expect

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. 

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):

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 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.

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.

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.

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. 

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. 

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.

I'll leave you with this query: does a will gives the writer authority to say This Will Happen When I Die? That could make dying one of the most important things we do.

On Children and Alligators and Gorillas and Polar Bears

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. 

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.

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. 

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.

Confessional Priorities

I have been thinking about the old discussion about being vs doing, 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.

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: 
Q:  What is the most important thing in life?
A: The most important thing in life is to know God and to glorify Him forever.
I liked the neat and tidy answers to the big questions of life.

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:
Q: What is the chief end of man?
A: Man's chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. (Or, John Piper likes to change the last phrase to "by enjoying Him forever.")

And I still like this answer to the question of what man's purpose is, what we are here for. 

But. On 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 my mind likes the WSC's series of questions and answers, my heart soars with the Heidelberg's. Here is the first from this catechism, which speaks more personally to the heart:
Q: What is thy only comfort in life and death?
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. 

What are the thoughts that help you understand who you are here to be and what you are here to do?

Play

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.

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. 

One of Miss Dog Lover's doctors has introduced us to the idea of flow theory. One researcher gives these conditions for flow, which I think is like play, to exist: 

1. Knowing what to do
2. Knowing how to do it
3. Knowing how well you are doing
4. Knowing where to go (if navigation is involved)
5. High perceived challenges
6. High perceived skills
7. Freedom from distractions

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?

Groanings

The problem with blogs is that sometimes words just don't do it.

We are dealing with some crazy stuff. 'Nuff said.

And I am somewhere between Dreyfus's twitching eyelid:

and Mrs Bennett's (relatively) calm responses.

I don't think words touch either of these.  

I am glad there is One Who intercedes for us. 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. ~ Romans 8:26

Mr. Tom Turkey

Every year I quote a poem written by a college friend, Steve Kopelic, some years back. Steve? You out there? Do you remember this epic? I found out this year that my oldest thought it was an American classic and was surprised that it did not come up on google. I am pretty sure it first appeared in print on the noteboard on my dormroom door, and maybe never since, until now.  :)  Without further ado:

Mr. Tom Turkey, your white meat's a winner.
What say you come to our house for dinner?
There's 'taters, and stuffing, and cranberries too.
But most of all, Turkey, the main course is YOU.

Long Storms

Recently we watched The Shawshank Redemption, a favorite of mine.

The line that really stood out to me this watching was Andy Dufresne: "I was in the path of the tornado... I just didn't expect the storm would last as long as it has." 

Most storms I feel fine, think I can brave them out, even enjoy some of the power and rawness. But sometimes life makes me feel like Piglet, a Very Small Animal on a Blustery Day, and the Blustery Storm just keeps coming and coming and I realize how much I lack Bravery. Then God slowly, quietly teaches my heart to hold hope, which is what both Andy and Red learn in the film.

And I started wondering, what are some things Scripture says about storms coming upon God's people. So...


I know that Christ calmed the storm in Luke 23-24: and as they sailed he fell asleep. And a windstorm came down on the lake, and they were filling with water and were in danger. And they went and woke him, saying, “Master, Master, we are perishing!” And he awoke and rebuked the wind and the raging waves, and they ceased, and there was a calm. He certainly does not always calm the storm, at least when I would like, but I believe He will always give a calm to those who are His. Thinking of the children's song: With Jesus in the boat we can smile through the storm. :)

He sends and controls the storms -- Psalm 107:25 and 29: For he commanded and raised the stormy wind, which lifted up the waves of the sea.  He made the storm be still, and the waves of the sea were hushed. Psalm 148:8:  fire and hail, snow and mist, stormy wind fulfilling his word!

Job 30:22 tells that God sends us to ride the storm: You lift me up on the wind; you make me ride on it, and you toss me about in the roar of the storm. Not sure what it means to ride the storm... makes me think of Muad'Dib

Psalm 57:1 tells He gives us refuge during the storm... note to self, NOT that He always takes the storm away: Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me, for in you my soul takes refuge; in the shadow of your wings I will take refuge, till the storms of destruction pass by.

Isaiah 54:11 tells of God's care for those who are storm-tossed: O afflicted one, storm-tossed and not comforted, behold, I will set your stones in antimony, and lay your foundations with sapphires.

No tidy wrap-up, but some things to think about when the wind howls.