Psalm 119d
Ruining promises is simple enough. It's the unbreaking that leads to misery and painstaking time. https://ref.ly/Ps119.25-32;nkjv
Psalm 119c
Blindness is a metaphor wasted on any who have never linked arms with a sightless man and felt him stumble. https://ref.ly/Ps119.17-24
Psalm 119b
I have stood at the coastline of the desert, that death-ocean of aimless repetition. How could you navigate it without a guide? https://bibles.org/eng-NIV/Ps/119/9-16
The Hidden Corners
I climbed Kennesaw Mountain with my family this week. No big deal. It's not very tall. And we drove. We didn't really climb. But it was a difficult outing. Kennesaw Mountain is a Civil War battlefield. It was one of the last defensive positions in the Battle of Atlanta. I know the history. I've seen the reenactments. But I was unprepared for this day. Atop this hill of a mountain I started to explain to my 5-year-old boy where the canons were. I started to explain the troop movements, the exciting stuff. Then I was completely undone by a simple question: "But daddy...who were the bad guys?" I had never thought of how I would respond to this question. What would I tell my little boy? What did I actually…
Psalm 119a
The things I've quit, for petty reasons I'm ashamed to tell, are all forgiven by a quitless God, who still thinks I can. https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ps.119.1-Ps.119.8&version=NIV
Psalm 118
Loving a rejected God is nothing like accepting man-made congratulations. One of those never turns into a huffing, shaking head. https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%20118&version=NIV
Psalm 117
My attempt to love often shows power in manipulation. God's love demonstrates grace, not coercion.
Psalm 116
He stoops to listen when I'm a muttering mess - more than tolerating my frail humanity. I wish I listened as intently to Him or to anyone.
Let’s Associate Ourselves with Causation
So, yesterday I asked for a ceasefire on false dichotomies. Today, I'd like to discourage a myth of responsibility in the upcoming election. Here it goes again: If you don't vote for Candidate-X, you're voting for Candidate-Y. Maybe you didn't fall for the whole false dilemma thing from the last post. That's fine. Let me tell you a story. It was 15 years ago, and I was picking up my notebooks and shoving them into my polyester messenger bag. (I didn't say it was an interesting story.) Class had ended, and all the graduate students were engaged in the liturgy of leaving the classroom. I was wondering about coffee when my Philosophy professor interrupted the exodus. "Don't confuse causation with association!" He offered it as a valediction. Since it was the last…
Please Stop: False Dichotomies
A false dichotomy is a powerful tool, one that our old fiction friend Jack Bauer often used. "You only have two choices here: let me torture him mercilessly or let the world explode..." or something to that effect. There are true dichotomies. If you only have a standard light switch in the room it's either on or off. No cuts, no buts, no coconuts. It's even helpful at times to point it out - especially to children who like to play with light switches: "It's either on or off!" But political decisions (or most complex decisions) are not so clear-cut. For the most part when it comes to politics there are a multitude of options. Don't give into the false dichotomy. The person using this logical ploy is trying to…