"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

RE: World Situation

 “The principle cannot be denied: the fiercer the struggle against the injustice you suffer, the blinder you will be to the injustice you inflict. We tend to translate the presumed wrongness of our enemies into an unfaltering conviction of our own rightness.” 
~ Miroslav Volf  

"To triumph fully evil needs two victories, not one. The first victory happens when an evil deed is perpetrated; the second victory, when evil is returned. After the first victory, evil would die if the second victory did not infuse it with new life.
~ Miroslav Volf, The End of Memory

“The practice of non-violence requires a belief in divine vengeance.” 
~ Miroslav Volf 

“Forgiveness flounders because I exclude the enemy from the community of humans even as I exclude myself from the community of sinners. But no one can be in the presence of the God of the crucified Messiah for long without overcoming this double exclusion — without transposing the enemy from the sphere of the monstrous… into the sphere of shared humanity and herself from the sphere of proud innocence into the sphere of common sinfulness. When one knows [as the cross demonstrates] that the torturer will not eternally triumph over the victim, one is free to rediscover that person’s humanity and imitate God’s love for him. And when one knows [as the cross demonstrates] that God’s love is greater than all sin, one is free to see oneself in the light of God’s justice and so rediscover one’s own sinfulness.” 
~ Miroslav Volf 

​“Whatever the reasons, when forgiveness happens it is always a miracle of grace. The obstacles in its way are immense.”
~ Miroslav Volf

"I know you think you understand what you thought I said . . ."

“ I know you think you understand what you thought I said but I'm not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant”

~ Alan Greenspan

“government regulation cannot substitute for individual integrity.”

~ Alan Greenspan, The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World

“Capitalism is based on self-interest and self-esteem; it holds integrity and trustworthiness as cardinal virtues and makes them pay off in the marketplace, thus demanding that men survive by means of virtue, not vices. It is this superlatively moral system that the welfare statists propose to improve upon by means of preventative law, snooping bureaucrats, and the chronic goad of fear.”

~ Alan Greenspan

https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/1334.Alan_Greenspan - accessed 11/14/2024

"If your Lord calls you to suffering, do not be dismayed . . . "

"If your Lord calls you to suffering, do not be dismayed, for He will provide a deeper portion of Christ in your suffering. The softest pillow will be placed under your head though you must set your bare feet among thorns. Do not be afraid at suffering for Christ, for He has a sweet peace for a sufferer."

~ Samuel Rutherford (1600-1661), Scottish Presbyterian pastor and theologian, one of the original Scottish Covenanters, and had an integral part of the writing of the Westminster Confession of Faith and Westminster Catechism

“Sometimes our ‘stop-doing’ list needs to be bigger than our ‘to-do’ list.”

 “Sometimes our ‘stop-doing’ list needs to be bigger than our ‘to-do’ list.”

​~ Patti Digh

“I just learned to try to just keep shining like the sun and never keeping score.”

Gwyneth Paltrow on being a stepmom to husband Brad Falchuk’s kids:

“I really like to talk about this because it’s one of my biggest learnings as a human being. And my area of growth personally came from the initial difficult relationship I had with my step-kids, and now they’re like my kids.”
She added, “I just learned to try to just keep shining like the sun and never keeping score.”

Marie Claire.com, 3/7/2024
https://www.marieclaire.com/celebrity/gisele-bundchen-on-being-a-stepmother/

“What I’ve learned from Trump world, no one’s ever going to be as vicious as he is"

Haley ran a near perfect race. She just couldn’t figure out Trump.

By Natalie Allison, 03/07/2024, Politico

https://www.politico.com/news/2024/03/07/nikki-haley-2024-campaign-failures-donald-trump-00145535 

"More than anyone else’s, [Nikki] Haley’s candidacy — her traditional campaign approach, the discipline of her advisers, the big money she attracted as she built her coalition — raises the question of whether there was any political solution for defeating Trump." . . .

"'What I’ve learned from Trump world, no one’s ever going to be as vicious as he is, but you better come close if you want to have a shot,' DuHaime said."

Prayer of Protection

Prayer of Protection

Richard Foster begins his time of contemplation with this prayer of protection: 

“By the authority of almighty God,
I surround myself with the light of Christ, 
I cover myself with the blood of Christ,
and I seal myself with the cross of Christ. 

All dark and evil spirits must now leave.
No influence is allowed to come near to me 
but that it is first filtered through the light of Jesus Christ,
in whose name I pray.
Amen.”

Richard Foster. Prayer: Finding the Heart's True Home. San Francisco: Harper Collins, 1992, page 157.

Pray first before doing anything worthwhile.

Pray first before doing anything worthwhile.

"Listen, Child of God, to your teacher’s wisdom. Pay attention to what your heart hears. Make sure you freely accept and live out the loving Father’s directions.

Pray first before doing anything worthwhile. Then persist and never falter in prayer. God loves us as his own children, and forgives us, so we must not grieve him by rejecting that love and doing evil.

We must always make the best use of the good things God gives us."

~ St. Benedict, c. 480-550 AD in Italy, a patron saint of Europe and students

A Student’s Prayer, St. Thomas Aquinas

A Student’s Prayer

Come, Holy Spirit, Divine Creator,
true source of light and fountain of wisdom!
Pour forth your brilliance upon my dense intellect,
dissipate the darkness which covers me, that of sin and of ignorance.

Grant me a penetrating mind to understand,
a retentive memory, method and ease in learning,
the lucidity to comprehend, and abundant grace in expressing myself.
Guide the beginning of my work, direct its progress,
and bring it to successful completion.

This I ask through Jesus Christ,
true God and true man,
living and reigning with You and the Father,
forever and ever.
Amen.

~ St. Thomas Aquinas

“Done is better than perfect.”

“Done is better than perfect.”

~ Silicon Valley maxim

“Anxiety is the residue of perceived or desired control when we have none.“

 “Anxiety is the residue of perceived or desired control when we have none.“

~ Seth Scott

She writes down everything that worries her and her greatest fears, then burns the paper

“Anne Hathaway taught me this thing on the set of 'Ocean’s 8.' 

She takes a piece of paper and writes down everything that worries her and her greatest fears. At the end of it, she burns [the paper]. 

I do it a couple times a year. I go out to my backyard, because I’m not trying to set my house on fire, and I get a candle and burn it.”  

~ Mindy Kaling

https://www.wsj.com/style/mindy-kaling-sex-lives-of-college-girls-oprah-advice-083067bd

“Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.”

 “Do the best you can until you know better.
Then when you know better, do better.”

~ Maya Angelou

"We find a solution together using threats and guilt."

Toula seeks to avoid a family argument with her aunt Voula:

Toula: "Can we please not discuss it?"

Voula: "No. That's not what we do.
We yell and scream.
We find a solution together
using threats and guilt."

from "My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3"
Director: Nia Vardalos
Writer: Nia Vardalos
Stars: Nia Vardalos, John Corbett, Louis Mandylor
Release Date: 2023-09-08

“Your life as a Christian . . . "

“Your life as a Christian should make non-believers question their disbelief in God.”

~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Today is My Birthday, Lord

Today is My Birthday, Lord

Of all the gifts I've received
I hold the gift of Your Love
closest to my heart.

Of all the friends I've known,
I cherish above all Your Friendship.

There have been difficult days on this journey called Life,
even sorrow,
but You have been there for me.

There has been joy and laughter
and I've seen Your presence there.

You breathed life into my soul
and You chose me to live!

I hope You are pleased with me.

I ask that You forgive me when I fail You.

Today is my birthday, Lord,
and I offer this day to You.

I ask only that You walk with me.

Lead me home, O Lord,
where we will celebrate this journey
of friendship and love
in the everlasting life prepared by You.

Thank You for this birthday, Lord!

~ Author Unknown

"Provocation is the best motivator."

"Provocation is the best motivator."

~ Kerwin Fields Rooseveldt

"If you fail to plan, you plan to fail/Strategy sets the scene for the tale"

Taylor Swift, "Mastermind"

"If you fail to plan, you plan to fail/
Strategy sets the scene for the tale"

from her latest album, "Midnights"