Month: September 2017

Justice

Protesting the Protests of the Protest

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protest (prō-test), n., an organized public demonstration expressing strong objection to a policy or course of action adopted by those in authority.

I was going to stay out of this; there are way too many talking heads out here already. But then I read yesterday morning that the pastor of FBC Dallas felt the need to weigh in.

These players ought to be thanking God that they live in a country where they’re not only free to earn millions of dollars every year, but they’re also free from the worry of being shot in the head for taking the knee like they would be in North Korea.

Blog

Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

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Since I had some time on my hands, I’ve made a few changes to the site. The biggest you (hopefully) won’t notice; I converted the WordPress theme to a child theme to make it easier to update. I also made a couple of cosmetic changes that only the most a-r of you will notice, which means if you call them out you will be so labeled.

Lastly, I added a plugin that lets you hover over “footnotes” to see the text, instead of having to click on them and go to the bottom. It makes for an easier reading experience, IMO.

Spiritual Journey

It’s Still the Hardest Word

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A teacher we know regaled us recently with the story of one of her elementary students telling stories. It seems that she saw said student looking onto a fellow student’s test and then copying the answers. The teacher called her to her desk; she was going to just give the student a quick “Don’t do that again” and send her on her way.

Why were you looking onto your neighbor’s paper? Oh, I wasn’t doing that. Really, how did you get these answers on your paper without showing any of the work? My cousin showed me how to do that.

Music / Spiritual Journey

Rich As Best As I Remember Him

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And the moon is a sliver of silver
Like a shaving that fell on the floor of a Carpenter’s shop

 

People say “Why do you write music?” and I always say “Well, how many of Wesley’s sermons do you know?” And I’ve talked to a lot of good Methodists and they don’t know any of them. Then I say, “Well, how many of Wesley’s hymns do you know?” and most church goers know at least a good solid dozen hymns that Wesley wrote. Most pagans know at least a couple. And I kind of go, that is why I write music and not sermons.

Books

Lessons from Dune

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I got caught at lunch without the Churchill biography I’m currently reading, so I had to find something on my iPad to read. I happened to have Dune from a Kindle sale a few months ago, so I thought I’d re-read it again since it’s probably been 10–15 years since I last did so.1

I ran across this in the first few pages:

A world is supported by four things:
the learning of the wise,
the justice of the great,
the prayers of the righteous,
and the valor of the brave.”

That was thought-provoking enough. But then it was closed with this:

But all of these are as nothing without a ruler who knows the art of ruling.