Trinity Cross

Trinity Cross

Words of Encouragement in Challenging and Fearful Times

Words of Encouragement in Challenging and Fearful Times

Joshua 1:1-9 ^NRSV

After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, the Lord spoke to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ assistant, saying, ²"My servant Moses is dead. Now proceed to cross the Jordan, you and all this people, into the land that I am giving to them, to the Israelites. ³Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given to you, as I promised to Moses. ⁴From the wilderness and the Lebanon as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, to the Great Sea in the west shall be your territory. 

⁵No one shall be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will not fail you or forsake you. ⁶Be strong and courageous; for you shall put this people in possession of the land that I swore to their ancestors to give them. 

⁷Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to act in accordance with all the law that my servant Moses commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, so that you may be successful wherever you go. ⁸This book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth; you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to act in accordance with all that is written in it. For then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall be successful. 

⁹I hereby command you: Be strong and courageous; do not be frightened or dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go."

 

From "Lord of the Rings", inspired by author J.R. Tolkein's experiences facing battles in the British army during World War I:

 J. R. Tolkein

Lord of the Rings, The Two Towers, movie version of Samwise Gamgee's speech

FRODO: I can’t do this, Sam.

SAM: I know. It’s all wrong. By rights we shouldn’t even be here. But we are. 
It’s like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger they were. 
And sometimes you didn’t want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy. How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened. 
But in the end, it’s only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. 
A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. 
Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something. Even if you were too small to understand why. 
But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn’t. Because they were holding on to something.

FRODO: What are we holding on to, Sam?

SAM: That there’s some good in this world, Mr. Frodo. And it’s worth fighting for.

https://thetolkien.forum/wiki/Sams-Speech 

 

Lord of the Rings, The Two Towers film: Aragorn's Speech before the battle defending Helm's Deep

Theoden:  So much death. What can men do against such reckless hate?

Aragorn:  Ride out with me. Ride out and meet them.

Theoden:  For death and glory.

Aragorn:  For Rohan. For your people.

https://www.quotes.net/mquote/56716

 

Lord of the Rings, Return of the King Film: Aragorn's Speech before the battle at the Black Gate

Aragorn: Sons of Gondor! Of Rohan! My brothers. 
I see in your eyes the same fear that would take the heart of me. 
A day may come when the courage of Men fails, when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship, but it is not this day. 
An hour of wolves and shattered shields when the Age of Men comes crashing down, but it is not this day! 
This day we fight!
By all that you hold dear on this good earth, I bid you stand, Men of the West!

https://shalafitnhs.tripod.com/returnoftheking.htm

 

Eleanor Roosevelt

"You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing you think you cannot do."

~ Eleanor Roosevelt

Eleanor Roosevelt (October 11, 1884—November 7, 1962) was an American first lady (1933–45), the wife of Franklin D. Roosevelt, 32nd president of the United States, and a United Nations diplomat and humanitarian. She was, in her time, one of the world’s most widely admired and powerful women.
She lived during World War II.
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Eleanor-Roosevelt

 

Jane Austen

“My courage always rises with every attempt to intimidate me.”
― Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice, Elizabeth Bennet

 

Joseph to his brothers, after they sold him into slavery and then found themselves under his power in Egypt:

Genesis 50:20-21 ^ESV

"As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good,
to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.
So do not fear; I will provide for you and your little ones.” 
Thus he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.

"Put your hope in the Lord, for with the Lord is unfailing love and with him is full redemption."

Put your hope in the Lord, for with the Lord is unfailing love and with him is full redemption. 

~ Psalm 130:7 

from Chuck A. Dec. 7, 2001

"Every woman stayed alone in her house in those days, like a coin in a safe." ~ Annie Dillard

quotes: 

"She also presents a brilliant, almost anthropological, examination of privileged Presbyterian Pittsburgh society. 'Every woman stayed alone in her house in those days, like a coin in a safe,' she writes." 

Annie Dillard's tale of her upper-class youth in Pittsburgh 

By Robert G. Seidenstein, Philadelphia Inquirer Staff Writer, Jan. 9, 1992  (newspaper)

An autobiographical book centering on childhood must meet one of two criteria: It has to be by someone famous and important, such as a president, or it has to be very, very good. . . .

In An American Childhood, Annie Dillard strives to be very, very good. More often than not, she succeeds, although the book does have several stretches of tedium, some of them lengthy. 

The book has recently been released unabridged by Recorded Books (9½ hours, $49.95 purchase, $16.50 rental). The reader is Alexandra O'Karma. 

Dillard, born in 1945, writes about her upper-class youth in Pittsburgh in the 1950s. . . .

Although she includes wonderful stories about her parents and grandparents, she concentrates on her own intellectual development. . . .

Her discussions of her love of playing baseball and her discovery of boys are real gems. 

She also presents a brilliant, almost anthropological, examination of privileged Presbyterian Pittsburgh society. "Every woman stayed alone in her house in those days, like a coin in a safe," she writes. 

“Thinking small is a self-fulfilling prophecy.” Jeff Bezos

“Thinking small is a self-fulfilling prophecy.” 

~ Jeff Bezos

"Why Jeff Bezos Likes ‘Messy’ Meetings"
By Andrew Ross, New York Times, Dec. 7, 2024
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/07/business/dealbook/jeff-bezos-amazon-meetings.html

"It seems the apostle Paul traveled about 15,500 miles in his ministry, and around 8,700 of those miles were on foot!"

quote from "Interview with John Piper"

"Do Paul’s Missions Leave Us with a Geographic Pattern to Follow?"

"It seems the apostle Paul traveled about 15,500 miles in his ministry, and around 8,700 of those miles were on foot! These are the calculations of New Testament scholar Eckhard Schnabel."

John Piper, Founder & Teacher, Desiring God
https://www.desiringgod.org/interviews/do-pauls-missions-leave-us-with-a-geographic-pattern-to-follow - accessed 11/14/2024

Paul's Travels: Walking for the Lord

Dr Alex Tang

https://www.kairos2.com/paul_travell.htm - accessed 11/14/2024

Travel in New Testament times was not easy. Though the Romans had built their roads which link major cities and towns, these roads were paved with stones and not comfortable to travel on. The carts drawn by mules did not have spring suspension and were bumpy. Most people, except for the rich and nobles, walked. Travelers were exposed to the weather and at risk from bandits or pirates. They were also at the mercy of unscrupulous innkeepers and their dirty unhygienic inns. One could imagine that the people would not want to travel far unless they had no choice. . . .

Paul was God's chosen instrument to spread the gospel to both the Jews and the Gentiles. While the majority of Jews were in Judea and Samaria, the Gentiles were not but spread out all over the Roman empire. These meant that Paul has to travel far to reach the Gentiles. However Paul did not wander around aimlessly. There seem to be a strategy in Paul's traveling. What then was this strategy?

Firstly, Paul identified and focused on provinces in Asia Minor. Both Luke and Paul referred consistently to provinces rather than cities. Thus Paul was forbidden to preach the word in Asia (Acts 16:6), he was called from Troas not to Philippi or to Thessalonica but to Macedonia. In Paul’s view, the unit was the province rather than the city. Then within these province, Paul identified cities to which he would preach. Paul did not plan to preach in every city in a province but key cities only. He would first preach to the local Jews in the synagogue and if his message was rejected, to the Gentiles outside the synagogues. He planned to establish missional churches in these cities which will spread the gospel into the province itself.

Secondly, Paul usually start with the Jewish communities in the selected cities. Under the Roman government, the Jews enjoyed many privileges. Their religion was recognised. They had liberty to administer their own laws. They were not obligated to share in the worship of the Emperor and they were exempt from military service. Thus Paul entered these centres as member of a powerful and highly privileged group. He could enter and preach in any synagogue.

Thirdly, Paul chose cities which were centres of Greek civilisation. Even in Lystra, half the inscriptions, which have been discovered, are Greek while the other half are Latin. Everywhere Roman government went hand in hand with Greek education. The education provided Paul with his medium of communication. There is no evidence that Paul translated the Scriptures into the local dialects of Asia Minor. The influence of Greek civilisation was an influence, which tended to the spread of education, and Christianity from the first was a religion of education. The disciples were learners. Paul preached in Greek, wrote in Greek and expected his converts to read the Scriptures in Greek. For Paul, one common language was as important as one government under Pax Romana.

Fourthly, Paul’s work was confined within the limits of the Roman administration. In preaching in south Galatia, Paul was preaching in the Roman province next to his native province of Cilicia. Between these two cities lay the territory of Lycaonia Antiochi, and across this territory Paul must have passed when he journeyed from Tarsus to Lystra and Iconium. Yet we were never told that he made any attempt to preach in that area. In areas of Roman administration, Paul knew that he could obtain for himself and his people the security afforded by a strong government. As a Roman citizen, he knew that as a last resort, he could expect and receive protection from his fanatical countrymen. In these Roman provinces, there is religious tolerance, peace and security of travel. In Corinth, Gallio, proconsul of Achaia, was impartial and refuse to hear the case, and in Ephesus the city clerk was reasonable and fair.

Fifthly, the Roman Empire also gave Paul the groundwork for the gospel. The idea of a world-wide empire, the idea of the common citizenship of men of many races in that one empire, the strong authority of one law, the one peace, the breaking down of national exclusiveness, all these things prepared men’s mind to receive Paul’s teaching of the Kingdom of God and of the common citizenship of all Christians in it. Paul used the terms and concepts of his time and 'baptised' it for the purpose of spreading the good news. Caesar Augustus' proclamation of the good news (gospel) that he was the saviour of all humankind through Pax Romana, was subverted by Paul into that the gospel (good news) is Jesus Christ who is the saviour of all humankind and has established the kingdom of heaven.

Sixthly, Paul chose cities which were centres of the world’s commerce. They were cities of importance as leaders of the provinces. These were cosmopolitan cities. In them were many travelers who would carry the gospel back to their own provinces. Their wealth made these cities powerful. They were the trendsetters, foremost in any new fashion or policy. One example was Ephesus which was a major trading port city in the Asia Minor coast. Paul spent a lot of time there. Another example was Corinth, another powerful and wealthy maritime city.

Finally, Paul trained leaders from different provinces. He taught them and brought them along with his travels. This is an effective training model, one which Jesus also used. As the team travelled, Paul would teach the core content of Christian belief (teaching), his trainees would observe his life (modeling), and Paul would get them involved in the ministry (praxis). No less than seven disciples were travelling with Paul on his trip through Macedonia, making it a mobile school (Acts 20:4). Even when Paul was a prisoner in transit to Rome, he was able to have Aristarchus and Luke goes with him (Acts 27:2-8; 28:1, 10-15). At one time, Paul’s entourage consists of nine men from different provinces: Sopater (Berea, Macedonia), Aristarchus and Secundus (Thessalonica), Luke (Philippi), Gaius (Derbe, Galatia), Timothy (Lystra, Galatia), Tychicus and Trophimus (Ephesus, Asia) and Titus (Achaia).

To summarise, Paul's travels were not aimless wanderings but a planned evangelistic outreach. An estimation made by Eckhard J. Schnabel suggested that Paul travelled a distance of 25,000 km (15,500 miles) in 663 days which is a long distance over a long period of time. Roland Allen, Missionary Methods: St. Paul’s or Ours? (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1962, 3) notes, "In little more than 10 years, Paul established the Church in 4 provinces of the Empire, Galatia, Macedonia, Achaia and Asia. Before AD 47 there were no churches in these provinces; in AD 57 Paul could speak as if his work has been done and was planning to go further afield". It appeared that the strategy worked!

Soli Deo Gloria

Destination	By land (25 km/day)	By sea (100 km/day)	Journey total
Arabia	300 km (12 days)		300 km (12 days)
Syria/Cilicia	1,800 km (70 days)		1,800 km (70 days)
Jerusalem (AD 44)	1,080 km (45 days)		1,080 km (45 days)
Galatia	1,440 km (60 days)	980 km (10 days)	2,420 (70 days)
Jerusalem (AD 48)	1,080 km (45 days)		1,080 km (45 days)
Macedonia/ Achaia	3,110 km (125 days)	2,060 km (20 days)	5,170 km (145 days)
Asia	2,900 km (115 days)	3,210 km (35 days)	6,110 km (150 days)
Spain	1,000 km (40 days)	1,800 km (15 days)	2,800 km (55 days)
Crete	120 km (5 days)	1,300 km (14 days)	1,420 km (19 days)
Last journeys	900 km (35 days)	1,700 km (17 days)	2,570 km (52 days)
Totals (approximate)	14,000 km (8,700 miles) by land	11,000 km (6,800 miles) by sea	25,000 km (15,500 miles) in 663 days

Table Source: Adapted from Eckhard J. Schnabel, Paul the Missionary: Realities, Strategies and Methods, (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2008), 122.

"the most hope for the most people"

quote from The New York Times "The Morning" email:

Years ago, Ann Douglas, author of “Terrible Honesty: Mongrel Manhattan in the 1920s,” a seminal text on the subject of New York in the 1920s, told The Times:
“I have the unfashionable posture of loving my country. I don’t mean in the sense of the Pledge of Allegiance, but in that I believe America was founded on complex social, religious and political ideas and feelings, and that it is still the most exciting culture, the one where there is the most hope for the most people.”

The New York Times <nytdirect@nytimes.com>
Date: Sun, Nov 10, 2024 at 7:44 AM
Subject: The Morning: Revisiting the Harlem Renaissance
The Morning
November 10, 2024
"An American movement"  [the Harlem Renaissance]
By Veronica Chambers

"I'm Free" - Anne Lindgren Davison's Original Poem

"I’M FREE"
Anne Lindgren Davison

Don’t grieve for me for now I’m free,
I’m following the path God laid for me
I took his hand when I heard him call,
I turned my back and left it all
I could not stay another day,
To laugh, to love, to work or play
Tasks left undone must stay that way,
I’ve found that peace at the close of day
If my parting has left a void,
Then fill it with remembered joy
A friendship shared, a laugh, a kiss,
Ah yes, these things I too will miss
Be not burdened with times of sorrow,
I wish for you the sunshine of tomorrow
My life’s been full, I’ve savored much,
Good friends, good times, my loved one’s touch
If my time seemed all too brief,
Don’t lengthen it now with undue grief
Lift up your heart, rejoice with me,
God wanted me now, He set me free.

© 1974, 2021 Anne Lindgren Davison
All rights reserved.

HISTORY OF "I'M FREE"

I wrote the poem "I'm Free" on June 22, 1974. I still have the original handwritten poem with that date noted on it. I had been to a funeral and consequently, began to think about my own mortality. Being 35 years old at the time -- a wife and a mother -- I did not want anyone to be sad if I died at that age. For me, all the big questions had been answered: "Would I marry?" "Would I have children?"

My mother tried to persuade me to obtain a copyright on "I'm Free," but I could not imagine -- at that time -- of it being of interest to anyone except for mortuaries! I finally applied for and received a copyright dated May 9, 1994 (registration number TX 3-837-377). When the Internet came into our lives, I found my poem listed on so many different sources: just enter the title of the first line in Google, and you will see what I mean! In most cases, my name is not included, attributed to "author unknown," or is listed with the name of someone else. Some persons included it on products and are profiting from it. It even was on a page in the memorial book that my family purchased when my mother passed away in 1995!

Some persons altered it slightly and used it on Web pages for loved ones or even for a champion quarter horse and beloved pets! I found it listed on memorials for Michael Hutchence (a rock star), a 9/11 memorial, Columbine High School, Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes (R & B group TLC), Kenny Irwin (NASCAR driver), Ossie Davis, and Whitney Houston.

I hired intellectual-property attorneys to pursue those who are profiting from my poem (such as Walmart and others). These efforts produced many letters back and forth but that is expensive with little results.

"I'M FREE" - THE POEM

https://imfreepoem.org/ 

"Lord, lead me today to those I need and those that need me."

From an interview by Alanna Nash with Amy Grant, AARP Bulletin, September 2024: 

What's the best way to motivate ourselves? My first mother-in-law taught me a prayer. She said,
"Lord, lead me today to those I need and those that need me." 

I said, "Man, what a way to approach a day:
'Lead me to those I need and those that need me.'" 

~ Amy Grant

“The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don't have any.”

“The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don't have any.”

~ Alice Walker

"I love only that which they defend.”

Faramir:
“War must be, while we defend our lives against a destroyer who would devour all; but I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend.”

J.R.R. Tolkien, The Two Towers, the second of The Lord of the Rings trilogy

Faramir Quotes in The Two Towers

Book 4, Chapter 5

"Not were Minas Tirith falling in ruin and I alone could save her, so, using the weapon of the Dark Lord for her good and my glory. No, I do not wish for such triumphs, Frodo son of Drogo. […]
War must be, while we defend our lives against a destroyer who would devour all; but I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend: the city of the Men of Númenor; and I would have her loved for her memory, her ancientry, her beauty, and her present wisdom."

https://www.litcharts.com/lit/the-two-towers/characters/faramir - accessed 11/14/2024

"If any man thinks ill of you . . ."

"If any man thinks ill of you, do not be angry with him;
for you are worse than he thinks you to be."

~ Charles Spurgeon