I Love The Night

-
Image
  “It was a glorious night. The moon had sunk, and left the quiet earth alone with the stars. It seemed as if, in the silence and the hush, while we her children slept, they were talking with her, their sister — conversing of mighty mysteries in voices too vast and deep for childish human ears to catch the sound. They awe us, these strange stars, so cold, so clear. We are as children whose small feet have strayed into some dim-lit temple of the god they have been taught to worship but know not; and, standing where the echoing dome spans the long vista of the shadowy light, glance up, half hoping, half afraid to see some awful vision hovering there. And yet it seems so full of comfort and of strength, the night. In its great presence, our small sorrows creep away, ashamed. The day has been so full of fret and care, and our hearts have been so full of evil and of bitter thoughts, and the world has seemed so hard and wrong to us. Then Night, like some great loving mother, gently lays ...

Just checking in

-
Wow. It feels like a hundred years since I last made a meaningful post—I am not going to look in the archives to see when I posted anything other than a quote. I’ve actually been very busy this summer, with the University mostly, and besides teaching Sunday School and some evangelism (not as much as I would like), I’ve not really had the time to sit down and write.

School is keeping me busy: June Intensives are over and we are on our way to the Online courses now. In the meantime, we’ve been working hard on accreditation in the background. I am spending my days accumulating documentation and preparing them for the accreditation visit—I actually enjoy the research, the organization and publishing. Certain faculty have declared me “sick.” I like to think of it as “gifted in other areas they are not.” Anyhoo, the work is demanding, but I love it—though it leaves me drained.

For the first time since I can’t remember when, I actually sat down and read an entire book in one weekend. And it wasn’t even on my reading list! Ha! I’ve actually read two-and-a-half books in the last month. First, I read “D.L. Moody: The Greatest Evangelist of the Nineteenth Century,” by Faith Coxe Bailey (Moody Press, 1987) that, truthfully, left me scratching my head. I felt the author did not do her best to portray the man—and D.L. himself deserves a head-scratching all on his own accord. Personally I was surprised Moody Press published such a weak, inconsistent account.

Disgruntled but not distraught, I remembered I had another biography on Moody sitting on my shelf that I am now half-way through (a much better one too), called “Moody without Sankey” by John Pollock (Hodder and Stoughton, 1963). D.L. will always be “crazy Moody” no matter who writes of him, but this is a much better book. I realized that, even after two books, not much is said about his messages or writings specifically (they say more about his style than content), so I got to Googling and found a small wealth of work from Moody’s pen that I’ve been entertaining on the side.

The one book I actually read in one weekend was, “Bruchko” by Bruce Olson (Charisma House, 1995). This was a riveting account of a 19 year-old who heard the call of the cross and left everything for the South American jungles and spent years with the murderous Motilone Indians. Very inspiring and challenging. You can almost feel the bug-bites.

Other than that, we’ve been enjoying getting to know God better through His wonderful and miraculous provisions. Each day He astounds and amazes me just a little more, and I fall just a little deeper in love with Him. We’ve faced some family/health/life challenges, but it is only through His marvelous grace we’ve been able to get through. All I can say is, “wow.”
Keep praying for open doors for evangelism and clear communication of the gospel!

I’m gonna go find another book.

You have a nice day.

Popular posts from this blog

Rock Me, Epictetus!

-
Image
“Keep constant guard over your perceptions, for it is no small thing you are protecting, but your respect, trustworthiness and steadiness, peace of mind, freedom from pain and fear, in a word your freedom. For what would you sell these things?” EPICTETUS, DISCOURSES, 4.3.6 b –8 
Read more

The Smooth-flowing Life

-
Image
Legend has it that the astronomer Ptolemy (1st century A.D.) suggested that falling stars were caused by the gods moving in the heavens, thus knocking stars out of their places. Somehow people reasoned that that if the gods were moving, they must be getting close to earth so they would lift their "prayers" or "wishes" (literally, "desires") whenever they saw the stars falling in hopes the gods would notice and grant a favorable answer. But how does one wish on falling star? Once you see it, it's gone before the wish or prayer can be made! The answer is simple: meteor shower. That's how to get your wish. Mrs. Ann Hodges had a wish fall right into her lap. Sort of. In 1954 Mrs. Hodges was sleeping on the couch when a 8 1/2 pound meteorite fell through her house and into her living room where it bounced off the radio and struck her left hip leaving her with a bruise. Not sure what she was wishing, but that's not how to do it. Epictetus hel...
Read more