Welcome, October

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 “The skies they were ashen and sober;        The leaves they were crispéd and sere—        The leaves they were withering and sere;  It was night in the lonesome October        Of my most immemorial year;  It was hard by the dim lake of Auber,        In the misty mid region of Weir—  It was down by the dank tarn of Auber,        In the ghoul-haunted woodland of Weir.” (First stanza of “Ulalume” by Edgar Allen Poe)

Resisting the Intrusion of the Irrelevant

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"When Peter asked our Lord, concerning John, 'Lord, and what shall this man do?' (John 21:21), the reply was, 'If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? Follow thou me' (v. 22). Our Lord was never sidetracked by the secondary. Whether questioned about tribute to Caesar, dividing an inheritance, or why a Jew should ask a drink of water from a Samaritan, He always stuck to the main issue. We must resist the intrusion of the irrelevant. 'What is that to thee? Follow thou me.'"

from Pepper 'n Salt by Vance Havner. Fleming H. Revell Company, 1966

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