Somber and Dull

Family and Prayer

2009-12-13T17:49:00.004-05:00

The exhortations made here are not uncommon:

"My friend, if you are not able to leave your children a legacy in the form of money or goods, do not worry about that. And do not wear yourself to death either physically or spiritually in order to accumulate a great deal of property for your children; but see to it, night and day, that you pray for them. Then you will leave them a great legacy of answers to prayer, which will follow them all the days of their life. Then you may calmly and with a good conscience depart from them, even though you may not leave them a great deal of material wealth."

What makes this quote uncommon is the context in which the author sets it, a context I find adds the encouragement to persevere that the mere exhortation lacks:

"Our family has been a believing and praying family for three generations. The elders have prayed faithfully for their descendants. During my whole life I have walked in the prayers of my parents and forbears and in the answers to these prayers. A quiet rain [of answers to prayer] drips steadily down upon me. I reap, in truth, what others have sown."

(quotes taken from O. Hallesby, Prayer.)

Free 'Holiday' Music

2009-12-10T08:00:00.005-05:00

ITunes is giving a way a CD sampler of 20 'holiday' songs absolutely free. I resisted Amazon's offer of 99 tracks for $5, but this one I had to go for. Obviously, when someone else is choosing the tracks, there will be winners and losers. In the latter category I'd put Rascal Flatts singing "God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen". But Sarah Mclachlan's rendition of "Silent Night" is a very beautiful thing and, we might add, worth more than the price of the collection! And Weezer doing "We Wish You a Merry Christmas", well, you have to hear it. There is some good and interesting stuff here. Christmas music stuff.

UPDATE: Okay, so now I've heard the whole thing, there may be no more than two or three you will listen to a second time, but hey, it's free!

ADD and the Pointless Christmas Tree

2009-12-09T01:30:00.002-05:00

I sat across the desk – the monstrous, authoritative, imposing desk – from the doctor who had just run a battery of does-he-have-ADD tests on my then 15 year-old son. "Yes, your son shows classic symptoms of ADD," he said to my wife and I, and then he looked me in the eye, and asked, "Mr. Greenwald, were you ever diagnosed with having ADD?"

The answer is technically 'no'. These days when I do happen to admit to being 'borderline ADD' my wife sweetly can be heard saying, "Borderline?"

I've coped all these years with whatever peculiar ways of processing I possess and so a diagnosis, formal or informal, doesn't really mean much. I've never really felt impelled to delve deeply into how this might effect the way I function.

But then there was the incident of the Christmas tree.

A week or so ago, I walked into a large tent at a local Lowes with the intention of buying a tree to bring home for the family to decorate. I was able to navigate to the stack of trees labeled '7-8 feet' without any problem. But then the problems started.

There were probably fifty trees to choose from. Then there were, it seemed 100. Then 1000. How could I choose the one perfect tree from that pile of 83,000 trees? The prospect of making a choice seemed so daunting and mentally overwhelming that I couldn't handle it. I had to get out of that tent, which I did clutching the first tree I laid eyes on.

I can't say that was ADD. I don't know what it was. All I know is that the prospect of making a distinction among so many subtly different objects overwhelmed my poor little brain.

We ended up with a pointless tree. That is, there was no 'point' at the top on which to mount our tree-topping ornament. This was easily fixed with a piece of gray PVC pipe and a couple zip-strips. You can't tell that our tree, like this post, lacks a point.

So, I'm satisfied. But next year Barb, not I, enters the evil tent.

Inside - Outside "Jokes"

2009-12-08T16:29:00.003-05:00

Three times I have had someone direct my attention to a bumper sticker/T-shirt which has, apparently, become quite the rage among politically conservative Christians. It says "Pray for Obama." So far so good. But this legitimate concern is linked with a bible verse, Psalm 109:8, and thereby subverted and made despicable.

The Christians who have pointed this out to me, thoughtful men both of them, thought it was funny. The verse referenced reads, in part, "may another take his office." It was, to them, a clever way of saying, "I wish we had a different president." It was not a happy thing for me to correct them.

The problem is that they were ignoring the other part of the verse: "May his days be few."

It is this portion of the verse that leaps out and is deeply offensive to others. To their ears, it is a call for Obama's death. And I have to say I think THEY in this case are reading it correctly. Taken as a whole, it is offensive.

Let me assume the best, that these were produced as a joke (like 'baseball' being mentioned in Genesis 1, "In the big inning...").

The problem is that that which may be funny when told inside a closed culture may not appear as funny when broadcast outside that culture. To take the inside jokes outside without considering how insensitive they will sound to those not on the inside is very, very careless. It is not loving to those we are called to serve, and it is damaging, further damaging, to the very testimony of love and grace that we believe is integral to the Christian message.

We need to learn to hear with 'alien ears' and therefore speak with more gracious lips. And that requires constant repentance and repeated draughts from the fountain of God's grace.

In the meantime, ditch the bumper stickers and burn the t-shirts. Please.

The Blind Side

2009-12-08T05:00:00.002-05:00

A couple of Christmases ago, HPC associate pastor Geoff Henderson gave me Michael Lewis' book The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game which I read with interest, knowing nothing of the book's human subject, Michael Oher, and nothing about its technical subject, the importance of an offensive left tackle to a right handed quarterback. I watch both with greater interest now.

But I never imagined the book would be turned into a movie, much less a movie starring Sandra Bullock, and even less of a movie starring Sandra Bullock in which she is receiving kudos for her acting. (Trailer here.)

I've not yet seen the movie, but I will.

Here is the fascinating thing for me. Ordinarily, a movie is released to much fanfare and to blockbuster receipts, and then plummets to more average takes. Occasionally, a movie opens to average receipts and then increases its take in subsequent weeks.

New Moon, for example, dropped 70% in the second week, and an additional 63% in the third. In contrast a movie like The Sixth Sense opened strong, and then for three weeks decreased only minimally, and then began to increase its take.

What explains the difference is word of mouth. A movie which generates the kind of 'you have to go see this movie' kind of conversation will begin to attract new people weeks after its initial release. And that is the kind of film that I think must be worth seeing. A couple of other movies which followed this pattern that come to mind are O Brother, Where Art Thou? and Little Miss Sunshine.

Add to that list The Blind Side. Released the same weekend as New Moon, it increased its second week take by 18%, and though it fell by 49% the third week, a traditionally poor week for movies, it still maintained enough oomph to surpass other movies for the top spot in the weekend draw.

All that to say that people are talking and saying that this is not only one good story, but a well done movie as well. I'm not expecting it to be in the category of great, but it sounds like one to see.

[Stats are from Box Office Mojo.]

On The Road Again

2009-12-07T06:22:00.004-05:00

For fans of Cormac McCarthy's book The Road, recently made into a film, this interview for the Wall Street Journal will be of interest.

Some extracts here:
I have a great sympathy for the spiritual view of life, and I think that it's meaningful. But am I a spiritual person? I would like to be.

I have the same letter from about six different people. One from Australia, one from Germany, one from England, but they all said the same thing. They said, "I started reading your book after dinner and I finished it 3:45 the next morning, and I got up and went upstairs and I got my kids up and I just sat there in the bed and held them."

There's not much you can do to try to make a child into something that he's not. But whatever he is, you can sure destroy it.

[Link courtesy of Bruce Kirby.}

PC Culture

2009-12-05T16:47:00.001-05:00

In our house, we have two computers running Mac OSX 10.6, one running XP Professional, and two running XP Home. I win the job of being network administrator.

So, today, I was working on updating my daughters XP computer. The antivirus software updated without a hitch. (I was reminded, of course, that I do not need such on my Macs.) Then, Java wanted to update itself. I concurred, and it began to load in the background.

Before long there was a requester which, if I had not clicked the proper boxes, would have loaded the Yahoo! Toolbar as well as Java. I did not want the Yahoo! Toolbar.

After that, I downloaded Ad-Aware so that I could check her computer for all those nasty things that seem go be attracted to PCs. In the process, again, I had to click carefully, or the download would have installed in addition to what I asked for also Google Chrome web browser. I might have wanted Chrome, but when I want it, I'd like to go get it, thank you.

I have to conclude that this is simply one of those things which distinguishes Mac culture from PC culture. In nearly four years of using a Mac, and downloading and trying tons of shareware and freeware, I have not once run into a situation where a program tries to install something I did not ask for.

That is one of the reasons I use a Mac and have no desire to head back to PC-ville regardless of arguments about price or the slickness of Windows 7. Mac-ville is a much more pleasant - and courteous - place to live. No one tries to slip into your house uninvited.

Where Have All the Robins Gone?

2009-12-03T11:25:00.001-05:00

For all our friends up north who are worried about your robins and whether they made their flight successfully, I can assure you that they have arrived and appear to be in good condition.

At present, they are using the retention pond behind our house to take their post-migration baths.

They'll work on sending postcards later.

The Buzz

2009-12-02T21:35:00.003-05:00

How does a business (or a church, for that matter) generate 'buzz', that positive reverberating acknowledgment of its existence in a community? Can't say that I know. But for the past couple of weeks from sources I cannot now all recall I've heard tell of a new coffee shop in town, and I've been told that it was top notch.

I was there today. Nearly all day. The advance billing was not out of line.

Over the past five years I've watched all but a couple independent coffee shops in Bradenton bow to economic pressure and go out of business. Those who have survived have done so by radically abandoning in some way their commitment to being a coffee shop. I'm not a Starbucks hater. I like Starbucks. But I'm also a huge fan of the distinctive character of independent shops. I'm sad to see them come and go.

A while back I watched as a 'Barnies' coffee shop opened, existed for a few months, and then shut down. It never looked appealing, I was never drawn in, and by the time I finally determined to visit, it was out of business.

Out of the ashes, in the same location, has arisen 'Lov A Da Coffee'. I don't know if it will last, but everything about this place indicates the owners have done things with the intention of making it work.

I was at Lov A Da working (I work a lot in coffee shops) between an early morning hospital visit and a noon lunch nearby. In between I needed to take my car to a mechanic which was also in the area. After my lunch appointment, the car was not done, so I moved a 4:00 o'clock appointment to Lov A Da and simply spent the rest of the day there, consuming in the process three cups of coffee, one caramel cappuccino, and one Café Americana (I think that is what it was called). I had plenty of time to evaluate the place.

What can I say? The only fault to me is the odd and difficult-to-say name.

The space is large, divided into two rooms. One room has a traditional coffee shop feel, lots of tables, a service counter, and sounds of grinding beans and steaming milk. The other has the feel of a large family room, carpeted, with a dozen or more stuffed chairs and coffee tables. It has as well a well appointed stage for live music. This room is already filling a niche for a comfortable meeting space. I sat there with my 4:00 o'clock appointment, and with nearly 20 others in small groups doing the same, he and I spoke as comfortably as if we were alone. It was wonderful.

As one who lives on his laptop, the first thing I do when entering a new place is scout out the outlets for my power adaptor. This place is loaded with outlets, most discreetly hidden on the bottom sides of the tables, a clever, handy, and aesthetically pleasing solution. For those without laptops, there are a selection of computers scattered around the space, both PC and Mac. (I'm told that the owner is a Mac guy. Of course he is.)

The background music was alternative rock when I first got there, but it soon changed to real (not 'smooth'!) jazz. It fit.

Every cup of coffee is freshly ground and brewed to order. My cups were excellent as was the service. After my first cup, I asked the barista, "Are refills free?" Very pleasantly he replied, "This one can be."

I understand that a coffee shop, where a guy may sit for four hours or more, can't have a free refill policy. I'm okay with that. So, I insisted on paying for my second cup. Later, he brought me a third cup, free. A cheap way to buy a customer's favor!

The business here was brisk. Very brisk for a store that has only been open for six weeks and has yet to have a sign installed at the road.

Someone there told me that this coffee shop used to exist as 'Java Moon' further down the road. The contrast between what that was and what this is could not be more striking. I tried to visit that shop a couple of times, but felt like a CEO in a tattoo shop. It just wasn't comfortable. Whatever muse led the owner to relocate and redesign, it was a good one.

This, then, is the secret of 'buzz': replant, relocate, rename, remake yourself, and do it with a deep commitment to quality. Of course, what is 'buzz' other than friends inviting friends. That drives coffee shops as well as churches.

* * * * *

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Up, Reprise

2009-12-02T04:54:00.001-05:00

I've already weighed in on Pixar's Up. That I am a fan is no secret.

It has been wisely pointed out that a book is not fully enjoyed until it is read by friends and discussed. The same must be said about movies. I suppose it is true with any art. Though it can be experienced individually, it is meant to be experienced communally.

Since Uphas now come out on DVD, I've had the pleasure of watching it three more times. The pleasure now comes in watching the movie with others.

We recommended the film to some film lovers the other day, and they were hesitant, saying they were not great fans of animated movies. I was reminded, though, that this is one of those unique movies which SEEMS to be for children, but which has layers that make it worth the attention of the more discerning adult. My daughter-in-law pointed out a theme in the film that I had totally overlooked, which enriched the experience for me.

Art, I repeat, is enhanced when experienced communally.

* * * * *

I commented earlier that I did not think the 3D features of the theatrical release added anything to the movie. Having seen it now on my tiny 27", low definition, analog TV, I find that nothing is lost. The power is not in the 3D effects, but in masterful storytelling.

Out from under the Rock

2009-12-01T21:40:00.001-05:00

Sort of.

When I posted this morning about the Rudolph's pottery sale, I was surprised to find that it had been a week since I had posted anything.

That is the result of several things.

1) I normally write several posts on a Tuesday night trip to Chik-fil-A with my son and grandson. Last week I broke with tradition and took a book. That led to an interesting conversation with another customer, so it was worth it.

2) We were blessed to have the majority of our immediate family gathered for the Thanksgiving holiday. We so enjoyed this that I was loathe to plop the laptop on top of my lap to post anything.

3) For a variety of reasons, my day job has been particularly time consuming recently (and may be for the foreseeable future).

When I emerged from exile a year and a half ago, I aimed at one post per week. I've exceeded that and am compulsive enough to continue to do so. I'm grateful for loyal readers and friends who encourage me in this.

Pottery Sale

2009-12-01T11:09:00.005-05:00

If you are in the Bradenton, which means anywhere in Florida, this weekend, and want to buy some gifts for you or others which will really make them happy, take note of the Rudolph Clay Studio Holiday Pottery Sale.

I have before drawn attention to their work. I greatly encourage you to drop by.

(There is a rumor that Friday night might feature, in addition to the normal line up of art-show-type cheese and cracker type snacks some samplings of cinnamon rolls. That rumor is as of yet unconfirmed, but comes from a reliable source.)

UPDATE: If you can't read the fine print on the postcard, the show is Friday, Dec 4, from 5pm to 9pm, and Saturday, Dec 5, from 10am to 8pm. Even if you don't buy anything, this is worth attending.

UPDATE #2: Further fine print resolution. They are located here:

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The Color of Water

2009-11-24T05:56:00.004-05:00

This past Sunday night, Hope Presbyterian Church, the church I pastor, shared a worship service with our friends at St. Paul Missionary Baptist Church. We will do the same this Thursday, Thanksgiving morning, which is for our two churches, an annual affair. Hope is predominantly white; St. Paul predominantly black.

As much, though, as we enjoy these times of cross cultural fellowship, we all are realistic enough to know that our worlds, black and white, are simply intersecting at these times. We do not live in each other's worlds, and we don't understand each other's worlds.

To cross that bridge to understand would require a type of immersion that few of us will ever experience. To read about one who made that transition cracks a window into that world, ever so slightly, and yet positively so.

A few months ago, in a random conversation with a woman at a Starbucks, a woman, recently retired as a librarian at a local high school, directed me to a book which is apparently often assigned in schools. The book is called The Color of Waterand subtitled "A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother." The subtitle captures what the book is about.

James McBride is a journalist and musician who is one of twelve children born to Ruth McBride Jordan. Ruth was born Rachel Deborah Shilsky. She was raised by her Jewish parents (her father was a rabbi turned shop keeper) in a Virginia town that did not like Jews any more than it liked blacks. Rachel was so traumatized by the experiences of her childhood, not the least of which being her domineering, abusive father, that she would never speak of it, until prodded by her grown son.

When she married a black man, this white Jewish girl was considered dead to her Jewish family. Changing her name to Ruth, to obscure her background, the couple moved to New York and began to raise a family. Her husband died after 16 years of marriage, but not before Ruth came to trust in Jesus, a trust that was real and sustaining for her (and celebrated in the book). In that time the couple jointly founded a church which her husband pastored and, along the way, they became the parents of a brood which would eventually number 12 (some born to Ruth's second husband).

The family was raised in the neglected projects of NYC, but Ruth was a woman who would not allow that to be the downfall of her children. Taking advantage of every cultural offering one could grab and using every tool available to get her children into the best possible public schools, this woman made it happen. Though she lost direction after the death of her second husband, all of her children not only went to college, but two became doctors and one a PhD professor chemistry, along with the journalist-author, nurses, and other professionals. It's an amazing, though often sad and painful story.

I will never enter that world. I will never be black, or Jewish, or amazingly both at once. I will never know the anguish of living in fear simply because of the color of one's skin or the ethnic heritage one has inherited. I will never know the racial confusion that one raced in this setting is forced to confront.

But this is one of the reason we read books. McBride has cracked the window to allow me to peer into his experience and that of his mother, to glance at their worlds. If this helps me to better understand the worlds of those friends with whom we worship on Thanksgiving and other times, then the read has been worth the time spent.

Practical Theology

2009-11-23T10:19:00.002-05:00

Seminaries run students through a gamut of theoretical studies which touch upon a myriad of seemingly esoteric topics. This can tend to divide the students into two groups – those who desire to be scholars and to spend their lives wrestling with such issues, and those who tire easy of such theory and take up quickly those courses called 'practical', courses addressing preaching and counseling and church administration and the like.

That is really a false divide. Perhaps it was the gift I received from the quality of my seminary training, but as I look back over nearly 25 years of pastoral ministry, I cannot think of ONE 'esoteric' discussion that has not been brought up in some form by real people in a real church looking for real answers.

In seminary, we pondered the question of the 'necessity of the atonement'. Why did Jesus have to die? Was it an arbitrary decision of an arbitrary god? Was it an absolute necessity somehow arising from the character of God himself? Was it an act of ultimate child abuse? Was it a theoretical necessity?

Wading through the possibilities can seem so abstruse for a seminarian trying to get to the end of it and 'get out there'.

Well, as one 'out there', I can report that I'm glad I went through the process.

The other day, a young man came to me, one whose understanding of the gospel is new, his grasp fresh. He wanted to know, "Who decided that Jesus had to die for sins?"

Great question. In fact, it is one I faced before, though framed differently as "Why did Jesus have to die?" I faced it in the clean, clinical, reflective environment of the seminary classroom, but it is the same question, now relevant to a young man trying to put flesh to the gospel he has recently embraced.

Theology well considered and well taught, seemingly theoretical, seemingly irrelevant, can be the most practical tool at our disposal.

Not just for pastors. For all.

A Sucker for Little Square Puns

2009-11-19T16:50:00.001-05:00

When I was in high school, my friend Dave and I wiled away the hours by making puns and putting them in fictitious dictionaries.

Wasted youth, I know.

I'm afraid that in some ways, apples and trees stay pretty close together. My post yesterday about Krystal coming to town spawned this dialog between me (R) and my sons Seth (S) and Matthew (M).

My apologies to all who know them, especially their long-suffering wives. And deepest sympathy to the poor woman who has lived with me for thirty plus years.

S: While the image was loading I wondered why. Then it became Krystal clear.

R: I was pretty steamed that it wasn't a White Castle.

S: You sure are in a pickle, aren't you?

R: Yes... but I've mustard up the resolve to confront the reality.

S: Good thing it was only a tiny little problem.

R: It's all squared away now.

M: Holy cow, you guys have really ground this one to death.

R: So, what's your beef?

M: I'm trying to ketchup with you guys but my brain is already fried. I'm going to have to chew on that for a while.

S: Sounds like we've got a whole bag full of problems!

There are only three people in the world who find any of this funny.

To Get Better

2009-11-19T05:33:00.001-05:00

Here is the article I wrote for the Bradenton Herald Saturday in anticipation of the Steve Brown speaking engagement this Sunday.

If you are in the area, be sure to join us.

A Sucker for Little Square Hamburgers

2009-11-18T19:26:00.001-05:00

Oh, rats. There goes my cholesterol!

Having grown up in Cincinnati, I'm actually a White Castle fan myself. But when in the South, one takes what one can get!

A Most Unusual Book

2009-11-18T05:07:00.005-05:00

On November 4, 2009, a very, very unusual thing occurred in the Greenwald household. I turned off a World Series game in progress, choosing rather to return to a book I had begun a few days earlier. An unusual act for an unusual book.

For months, a friend had been assuring me that I would absolutely love a book called The Elegance of the Hedgehog. I trust her judgment, but still. "The Elegance of the Hedgehog"? What kind of a book is that?

I'm still not sure I can tell you.

TEotH, as I shall call it, is a book that blends the stories of two disparate characters living in a wealthy Paris condominium. Renée, the concierge (the caretaker) lives in the building, but possesses a social status that falls way below that of the very wealthy residents. She is 54, widowed, stout, and insecure. Paloma is the twelve year-old daughter of one of the wealthy residents, who already knows how she intends to die. What they share in common is an innate intelligence and perception which they hide from everyone else.

The author, Muriel Barbery, tells the story in the first person through the eyes of both characters. We come to know each remarkably well, and the worlds they inhabit. Increasingly, those worlds begin to overlap more and more and in the end, each has a profound impact upon the other, and upon the reader as well.

* * * * *

Years ago when I saw the movie Mr. Holland's Opus I wiped the tears from my eyes knowing that my emotions had been manipulated. I did not care because the movie made me happy. Most of the time when a popular creative work evokes tears, those tears have been manipulated. Sentimental strings have been pulled and the aimed for response predictable. The creator knows that, for example, if he includes a scene of reconciliation between a guy and his dad, tears will flow, because most guys long for that reconciliation. The tears have nothing really to do with the story or the characters in the story, but with the emotional realities of the audience.

I had a deeply emotional response to this book, but it was not manipulated. It was because I had come to KNOW these characters and to care for them. When the book ended, I was parting with people who had become real for me. That is a remarkable accomplishment for a book.

* * * * *

TEotH is part novel, part diary, part social commentary, and part philosophical treatise. As a consequence, it might be slow going at first. Reflections on Karl Marx do not usually draw in quickly those of us used to the immediate hooks of something like a Tom Clancy thriller. Readers who stay with her will be rewarded. Through these seemingly random reflections we come to know a couple of strikingly real and interesting people. And if we listen carefully, we might come to be more perceptive observers of ourselves and our own worlds.

I should add, those of you who are fans of Anna Karenina
will find a home here. Among the many references to that novel, we find that one character has a cat named 'Leo' and another has two, one named 'Kitty' and the other 'Levin'.

* * * * *

Part of what makes this book remarkable is the fact that it is a French novel translated into English. So much of the humor of the book hinges on observations about the use and misuse of grammar and language. A joke is made that turns on a character mistaking 'habeus corpus' with 'baby porpoise'. Another hinges on a misplaced comma. How the translator (Alison Anderson) brings these references from one language to another is part of the wonder of the book.

(Here is the translator's reflections on the book one year after its English publication.)

* * * * *

The popularity of some books result from the author's reputation. The latest Stephen King novel was the number one seller at Amazon.com a week before it was released.

A French novel in English translation by a relatively unknown author with a strange title must owe its popularity to the passion of friends insisting that friends read it. Such passion says as much about the readers as it does the book.

When I last checked, over a year after its publication it was still the 46th best selling item on Amazon.com. It has been 42 weeks on the NY Times best seller list. There is a passion for this book, though I cannot say what it is about our culture that this book has invoked.

All I know is that here I am, telling my friends to read the book. It invoked a passion in me. So, turn off the TV and read.

Honey, Why Is that Man Standing in His Driveway in His Pajamas?

2009-11-16T20:40:00.001-05:00

As our 18 year old daughter was leaving Sunday evening to go watch a movie with friends, she said, "Did you know there is a shower tonight?" Since our middle daughter was at that time attending a baby shower, we were a bit puzzled by what daughter number three was saying, but finally she clarified. She said that after the movie, she and her friends were going to go outside to watch the meteor shower.

That was Sunday evening.

Early Monday morning, about 2:00 AM (November 16) I awoke restlessly and could not go back to sleep. When this happens, I see no sense in staying in bed. I get up and do stuff, and eventually I fall back asleep.

As I lay there, I remembered what my daughter had said about the meteor shower, and so I got up and stumbled out to the driveway and looked skyward. And looked. And looked.

There I was, in my pajamas, looking at a clear, beautiful, starlit night, at 3:00 in the morning.

Nothing. No shooting stars. No falling stars. No movie stars. No nothing.

"That meteor shower was over-hyped," I thought, and I went back inside.

Tonight at dinner, we were talking and my daughter piped up, "Ha! We had the wrong night on the meteor shower! It's not until tonight!"

Funny.

I'll probably get up tonight, too. I'm on a mission now.

"Perfection": Testament to a Lost Form

2009-11-15T16:44:00.006-05:00

To use "Stephen King" and "short" in the same sentence, when short has reference to a literary work, can seem incongruous. I was enticed by a $9 prepublication offer on Amazon.com to order his recent novel Under the Dome whose 1074 pages showed up on my doorstep on Wednesday (and weighs in at close to four pounds). Short, it isn't.

King, however, is a student of the short story (and a practitioner of the craft), as he revealed in an essay for the NY Times Review of Books published two years ago entitled "What Ails the Short Story". (Residents of Sarasota and Bradenton take note that when he says, "I want to begin by telling you about a typical short-story-hunting expedition at my favorite Sarasota mega-bookstore" King is, as a resident of Casey Key, referring to the Barnes and Noble on S. Tamiami Trail.)

I thought of this essay this afternoon after I finished reading a story and was reminded what a unique art form it is. I do not understand enough to explain how a short story differs from a novel; I am just clear that it does.

The story I read was called "Perfection". It appears in a collection of short stories called The Pacific and Other Stories by Mark Helprin.

This is a story about a young Hasidic Jew who in 1956 determines to bring order and justice to a world in which he had witnessed the death of his parents in a German concentration camp. The way to do this is to join the NY Yankees and with the likes of Yogi Berra and Mickey Mantle looking on drive 2000 balls on 2000 pitches out of Yankee Stadium.

I know. It's crazy. But somehow the story works. The border between reality and fantasy is blurred, and one is drawn into a world where such things are possible. It works like a short story should. It is sparse and compact and full of sentences and words that have to be pondered, much like poetry.

This is perhaps why the form has lost some of its favor. It requires time, reflection, consideration. King refers to the books at the front of the mega-store, including his own, as mostly 'disposable'. The well composed short story cannot be so cast aside. It worms your way into your soul and forces reflection. I, at least, need more of this in my literary diet.

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The picture here is taken from Helprin's web site and is an image of the first draft of one of his stories. Handwritten. So quaint.

Another Life Mystery

2009-11-12T18:35:00.002-05:00

The attached picture is found under the illustration on the outside of a box for a small refrigerator. If you can't read the print, click on the picture and it will enlarge.

I am not going to say that this is senseless. I'm sure that there was a good reason for putting the warning there. But like this previous post, for the life of me I can't figure out what ELSE a picture would be used for besides illustration. Anyone got any theories?

When Lying Is Acceptable

2009-11-09T13:04:00.002-05:00

For the Glory of God

2009-11-09T07:50:00.002-05:00

From O. Hallesby, Prayer:

Do not forget...that prayer is ordained for the purpose of glorifying the name of God. Therefore, whether you pray for big things or for little things, say to God, "If it will not glorify Thy name, then let me remain in my predicament. And give me power to glorify Thy name in the situation in which I find myself."

Some may think that this will weaken the power and the intensity of our prayers. But this is due to a misunderstanding of prayer as a whole. To pray is to let Jesus come in to our need. And only by praying in this way will we succeed in opening our hearts to Jesus. This will give Him the opportunity to exercise His power on our behalf, not only as He wills but also when he wills.

Boldness vs. Accommodation?

2009-11-08T05:37:00.001-05:00

This is a highly relevant reflection from Sean Michael Lucas on the use of words.

It's really about our attitude toward others. Dr. Lucas lifted this from this post by Tim Keller.

Dr. Keller in turn picked it up from an older guy named John Calvin. I am constantly amazed by the relevance of Calvin to contemporary ministry and life. So helpful.

Keller references positively a new bio of Calvin by Bruce Gordon called Calvin. Mine's on order. (I'm captivated by the highly creative title.)

Dr. iPhone

2009-11-07T07:18:00.000-05:00

I don't own an iPhone, and can't see in the budget room for that anytime soon.

However, this discussion of iPhone medical apps is, too me, anyway, fascinating.

Particularly, I had to chuckle at one called 'Period Tracker'.

Being a husband whose wife had a hysterectomy over twenty years ago, my first response to this was, "What is a grammar app doing in this list?" But for guys whose life situation is different than mine, this could save a lot of angst, it seems to me!