Category Archives: Christianity

Bible study, Christianity, critique group, family, Harry Potter, travel

A Mishmash While Away From Home

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Elise, working on her “word” for earning money from Grandpa, while Nitwit surveys the scene from above, watching out for Useless and Nuisance.

We are back in West Texas for a visit with our daughter’s family. I know, we were just here a month ago, but they had need for a babysitter last Friday night, and we said we’d come do it. We drove here last Thursday, and will likely leave for home tomorrow, though possibly not till Wednesday.

It’s been an easy gig. The four kids were reasonably compliant with doing their chores on Saturday. Even little Elijah, 5 years old, was given two chores. He had his sister write out a to-do list for him, as she was doing for herself. Grandparents can usually ride herd on the kids in a way the parents can’t. At least, they seem to do somewhat better with us in some ways, being a little quicker to jump-to-it when we ask them to do something.

Sunday was church. I went early with the three oldest kids, Lynda and Sara and Elijah coming later. Richard, as pastor, was already there. I attended men’s class for Sunday school, then, during church, I found an unused room, connected by Zoom, and taught our class at our home church remotely. The attendance was good, and the class went well. Of course, that mean I didn’t sit through a church service yesterday. Hopefully I can do so today on the replays.

Elijah had fun cleaning his play area in the sunroom, then checking it off as a job done.

It was difficult to work on writing during this time, so I’ve done a lot of reading. As much as possible, to be an example for the grandkids, I’ve been reading in a print book. So far, no real indication that it’s doing much good. Except maybe for Elise, who is reading Harry Potter: The Order of the Phoenix in a print book—but she has been doing that for a while. I was able to review two chapters for critique group, which meets on Thursday. I guess on Friday I managed to spend on hour on the Bible study I’m writing. I don’t feel like I got very far with it.

We brought a surplus bookcase from our house to help organize theirs. Elijah’s other chore was to put books and toys on it, which he did with much help from Elise and guidance from Grandpa.

We have also had to care for Useless, Nitwit, and Nuisance, the three pets. Except, it’s now four pets. One grandchild was unhappy that he didn’t really have a pet, so they arranged for a rescue kitten to come join the menagerie. Except, the rescue kitten was in Oklahoma City. So we stopped there on the way here, met up with the rescue woman, and brought the new kitten here. The grandson named her Sapphire. While she is transitioning into the household with three pets there already (actually, more than that if you include the bearded dragon and the goldfish), she is needing a lot of attention. While I was wondering what nickname I could give the new kitten, Elise said it ought to be a name about a girl who needs a lot of attention. Obviously, I immediately named her Diva. Hopefully, with this pet the zoo is complete.

Diva is isolated from the two older cats, she being a female and them being not-yet-neutered males (kittens who are almost cats). I didn’t spend a lot of time with her—if you don’t count the 6 hours in the car between OKC and here.

My plan is to leave the zoo tomorrow. We’ll take their recyclables and drop them in OKC, then get home by a good time, though too late to join an on-line writing group.

One bit of writing I did accomplish (besides this blog post). While sitting on the front porch yesterday, reading for 30 minutes before the onslaught of 20 people from their small group at church for a Super Bowl party, before reading I set my mind to writing a short poem. Nothing major, just a cinqain (a five-line poem). I don’t know if it’s any good, but it’s sitting there on my phone, waiting for me to decide what to do with it.

So, I will see you all on Friday, back home, probably in The Dungeon, in old routines.

 

C.S. Lewis, Christianity, critique group, miscellaneous

A Restful (?) Weekend

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When last I posted, we were just past a delightful snow day on Friday. The snow was on Wednesday and Thursday. The final total at our house I figure was about 6-7 inches. Others in the area had up to 9 inches. I didn’t do extensive measurements.

Of course, after the snow is snow shoveling—if you want to go anywhere on the weekend. We had sunny days on Friday and Saturday. Enough sun to melt some snow but temperatures too cold to see that much snow disappear. So Saturday just before noon saw me outside, shoveling. There were maybe 5 inches on the drive by this time. I knew if I could just get it down to mostly bare pavement, radiant energy would dry it. Sure enough, that’s what happened. By the time sundown came I had the driveway shoveled, the van up at the top of the drive, and dry pavement—except for the refreezing that would happen to three or four little streams of snow-melt running down my nice, dry drive.

Saturday and Sunday were productive. Yes, even Sunday. It’s supposed to be a day of rest, right? And it was, sort of. On Saturday I made a list of things I thought I needed to do. Some were normal Saturday activities, such as my stock trading accounting, updating the checkbook and family budget. I didn’t mess with filing, but will have to do that shortly. Kitchen cleaning was one thing. Filling bird feeders was another. Slowly, the tasks got done, mostly on Saturday.

Sunday was typical. Lynda was well enough to go to church with me. We had missionaries in the service. I taught Life Group. We got Arby’s takeout for lunch. Hope and eat, then for me it was to the sunroom with my half-way read volume of Dylan Thomas’s Collected Letters. I’m trying to read ten pages a day, and doing fairly well with it. I tried to nap out there, but didn’t get much sleep time.

So I went to The Dungeon, where I worked on critiquing works for my critique group, the Scribblers & Scribes of Bella Vista. I did five pages in one and ten in another (neither of which was the complete submitted item) and shot them back by e-mail. It was good to get them out. I also sent out the next chapter in There’s No Such Thing As Time Travel.

My other main task was to complete the edits to the church Centennial book. I had a long Zoom conference with the two proofreaders, whose comments were almost entirely edits. They only found six or eight typos, and half of those I had caught in my own proofread. I thought that was pretty good. But they had lots of suggested changes. We went through them, and I’m afraid I wasn’t real accepting of a lot of the changes this late in the game. I needed edits in October.

However, I decided to go through them all, slowly, on Saturday and Sunday, considering each suggestion, and making some more changes. Last night, around 8 p.m. or so, I finished. All suggested edits considered and dealt with, all changes made to my master document, and the master document e-mailed to the two proofreaders. I have one more photo to put in, and I will do that today. No, maybe two photos.

To end the day yesterday, I read about 20 pages aloud to the wife in the book we’re reading, about a Christian convert from Timor. Then I had an hour or so of reading in Dylan Thomas and C.S. Lewis, both in their collected letters. Now, time to see what goes on today’s to-do list—after this blog post, of course.

Christianity, creativity, miscellaneous, Writing

Snow Day

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Looking north, not on our street but the one our circle ties in to. Plowed, but having had almost no traffic on it. The road veers to the left in the distance while our road goes right, both steeply downhill.

Yesterday was a snow day. This large winter storm, called “Landon” by the Weather Channel, was strung-out across more than half the USA. The forecasters missed the start of the storm, but otherwise got it mostly right.  They even predicted that we would get a last band of snow last night, and it happened. It looks like another inch or two on top of the 6 we already had.

So, when you are retired and have hit your 70th birthday, what do you do on a snow day? For me, I can’t resist going out in it. Never mind that the temperature was 18 and a north wind was blowing the fine snow at a 45-degree angle. I bundled up and hiked up the road. Not far, just up to the stop sign and back.

As I left the house, I measured 5″ in two places on our property, and a 13″ drift near the garage. Our street wasn’t plowed. Tire tracks came to our mailbox and stopped. The mailman had obviously driven that far and, not having any mail down the road (one of two houses there is current vacant), just backed up the hill. He/she did a good job of staying within the downhill tracks as they backed uphill.

At the house up the road, my neighbor was out. Having just shoveled his driveway, he was standing there, in just a light jacket. We talked for a while, me at the top of the driveway and him just inside the open garage door. Then I continued my walk. I was surprised to find the next road plowed. It isn’t a main road, though it does connect to main roads at both ends. About an inch of snow had fallen since it was plowed, and only one set of tire tracks showed on the freshly fallen.

At the next road, it was the same. Plowed, more snow falling, and only a few tire tracks. No one was out, either on foot or in vehicles. My walk had been pleasant thus far. But when I turned to head home, the wind was in my face, driving the fine snow. It was biting, not all that pleasant. But, I had only gone .17 miles, so it was a short walk past five houses and lot and lots of woods on both sides. I reached home having not fallen and invigorated.

I then returned to my work for the day, a fresh mug of coffee in hand. I think that was my fourth. My work was reviewing edits to the church Centennial book suggested by the two proofreaders and uploaded to the document in Google Drive. They did more than just proofread it, however. They had a lot of suggestions for changes. We have a Zoom conference scheduled for this afternoon to discuss it, and I figured I should go through the comments before hand. So, in The Dungeon, Google Drive on one screen and the Word doc on the other, I went to work. By the time 3 p.m. came around, my brain was fried, despite having taken those breaks for the walk and for lunch.

On a snow day such as this, I would have then gone to the sunroom with my coffee and read and taken a nap. But yesterday, instead, I did that in my reading chair in the living room. I tackled my e-mail inbox, going through e-mails over 10 years old and deciding what to do with them. I made good progress and can see light at the end of that tunnel. Then I’ll get to tackle the sent box. Through the evening I went through another twenty pages of comments in the Centennial book.

Now it’s almost 8:30 a.m. on Friday. The sun is shining through The Dungeon windows. I have ten to fifteen pages of comments to go through. I have other writing to do, then the conference at 1:00 p.m. After that, hopefully, I’ll find myself in the sunroom, alternately reading and napping. It should be a pleasurable after-the-snow day.

Christianity, Church History Novels, goals, The Forest Throne

January Progress, February Goals

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My cover designer, Sophie Braun, made the revised covers for the series. I managed to upload them this month.

I didn’t exactly set January writing goals. On Jan 3, I posted some annual goals, with some mention of schedule, but I didn’t say “In January, I want to accomplish….” So, I have no monthly goals to report on. I think this was due to being uncertain of what I would be able to accomplish. So let me say what I managed to do in January, then set some goals for February.

  • I finished The Forest Throne. I thought this would happen in January. It was in the first ten days that I wrote the scene that connected the book to the actual last scene (which I wrote months ago). It has now been read by three other people besides me, and two beta readers have it. I’ve been in touch with a cover designer and she is working up some options. I have also made the decision to title the series The Forest Throne, and title this first book in the series There’s No Such Thing As Time Travel.
  • I also finished the church Centennial book. I wrote the last words in this in December, and in January I made a complete pass through the book as proofreader/editor. Those edits are typed. The cover designer is onboard and waiting on me to give the final size. Two proofreaders have been going through it in January, and informed me last week they are ready to meet. That is scheduled for Friday.
  • Having two long-term projects come to completion at the same time is unusual. I said in my earlier post that a Bible study would be next. I spent a week looking at where I stood in preparation work on several Bible studies, and made my choice. January 15th or so saw me beginning work on a Bible study on The Last Supper. This is the study I taught during Lent 2021. I have lots of notes on it, some of them typed as if they were going to be a book someday.
  • As you will see from looking back on the blog, I managed to blog twice a week, as per my general goal.
  • Change out the covers on the Church History Novel series with new covers giving the series theme. I received this in early January, and began making the switch outs. As I’m actually writing this a few days before the 31st, it’s possible I will finish this task in the month. If so, I’ll edit this accordingly. Edit: Yes, I managed to get this done on Friday-Saturday. The last of the four was approved by Amazon on Sunday.
It has taken over a year of work to get to this point, but finally we are within a couple of weeks of going to print.

What about for February?

  • Make any edits to the church Centennial book and deliver it to the printer. I guess that means we will have to make a decision on the printer, but that decision is actually almost made. This goal depends a bit on the cover designer, but it’s a fairly simple cover so I don’t see this as a problem.
  • Related to that, though not necessarily writing, finish pulling my research notes together into a format and organization that will make the job of a future researcher easier. I assume someone, in 25 or 50 years, will do something similar to me at a future milestone anniversary. I want to leave my notes in a condition that will facilitate their work. This is likely to take several days or even a week of concentrated work. This task includes writing a short document (short as in 10-15 pages) “Notes for a Future Researcher”. That document, however, is most likely a task for a future month, say March, April, or May.
  • Make any edits necessary to There’s No Such Thing As Time Travel. I want to get a few more chapters through my critique group, and of course I’m waiting on the beta readers and then the cover artist. Assuming that all comes together, I’m looking at publishing either in March or April.
  • Complete significant work on The Last Supper Bible study. I’ve had some trouble coming up with the right format; or rather, I’ve had trouble seeing how the format I came up with a year ago will work. I have to get some words on paper and see how well it comes together. As such, this goal is a bit unfocused. I suppose my real goal is to write enough in February to see if I have the right format, and be able to do more in a future month.
  • As always, attend writing group meetings, both in person and on-line. That will likely be five meetings, three of which will be in person.
  • As always, blog twice a week on Monday and Friday.

That’s where it stands right now. Other things can get in the way, things might take longer than expected—or shorter. But I think this will be a good second month for the year.

Christianity, Christmas

Mild He Lays His Glory By

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So humble the way He came to us, but so precious the path that has led for all of us from that manger.

I thought I was done with Christmas posts for this year, but another has come to mind. It’s to do with Christmas songs again, with another favorite of mine. And it ties into our pastor’s sermon yesterday.

The song is “Hark, the Herald Angels Sing”.  It’s not quite my favorite Christmas sone, but it’s close: in the top five if not the top three. We didn’t sing it in any church service this year until yesterday. The words were written by Charles Wesley in 1739. The music is by Felix Mendelssohn. According to Hymnary.org, it has been published in 1,242 hymnals. It’s a great hymn for a brass-dominated orchestra. Thous it also sounds good with a string quartet. It sounds especially good when sung by the Celtic Women.

Toward the end of his sermon, Pastor Mark focused on the third verse.  Whenever the song is sung, you rarely get into it past the second verse. In fact, while I fell in love with the third verse many years ago, I’d long forgotten those wonderful words:

Hail the heaven-born Prince of Peace!
Hail the Sun of Righteousness!
Light and life to all he brings,
risen with healing in his wings.
Mild he lays his glory by,
born that we no more may die,
born to raise us from the earth,
born to give us second birth.

There, in language now considered archaic though still understood, is a wonderful message. Why did Christ come to earth? So that God’s purpose in redemption would be fulfilled. So that sinful mankind could be reconciled to God and put on a right and righteous path in a difficult world. How beautifully this verse says that. “…born that we no more may die, born to raise us from the earth, born to give us second birth.” No preacher has ever said it better than that. No other song has said it in clearer or more melodious language.

Hence, I should really say nothing else. Christmas may have been the day before yesterday, but the Christmas season is still with us. Take a moment to sing “Hark, The Herald Angels Sing”, getting in all three verses (the song actually has more than three), and enjoy the richness of the message.

I’m hardly the first person to write about this. I found a blog post by one Daisy Rosales that was quite well done. It would be well worth your time to pop over there and read it.

Once again, merry Christmas. I continue to say that because we are still in the season. I’m still listening to Christmas carols as I do my work. I hope you do too.

Christianity, miscellaneous

R.I.P. Gary Borchert

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Well done, good and faithful servant. We will miss you, but rejoice at your current status with your heavenly Father.

Death seems to be all around of late. My sister not so long ago. Church friends earlier in the year. Classmates from high school. Something like 80 out of 725 people listed in our senior yearbook are now dead. Just this morning I learned of the death of a former pastor’s daughter, who I was working with as I write a church history. Writing remembrances should be getting easier, but it’s not.

On Dec. 7, our friend from church, Gary Borchert, crossed the river from life to death. Here is his obituary. Only 73 years old, but a life well-spent.

Gary and Sue came into our lives around 1995-96. They visited our church one Sunday. We did not meet them at the service. Lynda and I were at that time part of a ministry that went to the homes of those who visited the church and gave them a small gift, maybe a coffee mug and a jar of jam. We got Gary and Sue. I remember going to their home, then in Rogers, and the time we spent with them. They were very open to our visit and kept us there an hour or so, just talking. They were horse people, having acreage at their house, which back then was at the edge of Rogers. It wouldn’t be long before the city started closing in around them and they did the wise thing of selling their property and moving to a house in Bella Vista.

They became faithful attenders at and members of our church. They formed the nucleus of the “Amen Corner” from a row up front, always worshiping with abandon, not worrying about who was behind them, watching them. At one point the pastor asked them to attend the start of the second worship service (after they had been in the first), for it was a little dead and they were an example to others on how to praise God without concern of what people thought of you. In our adult Sunday school class, he was always ready with a comment or question.

Gary’s life was one of accomplishment. He served his country in the Air Force and was in Vietnam. I remember a Sunday School class I taught around Christmastime one year. Gary and Sue were in it. Dealing with Christmas memories, I asked, “So where were you at Christmas 1969?” (or a year either side of that) Most of us were in high school or younger. Gary answered that with one word: Danang. What a way to spend Christmas.

Gary had a voice for radio, and he worked in that industry for many years. He took part in dramas at church, and, if I remember correctly, narrated from time to time. His most famous role in a church drama was as Dr. No, even shaving his head for the part. Another role he played was being father to his grandson after their daughter’s untimely death. This would prove to be a challenge, one that Gary and Sue met with grace, and, when called for, tough love.

Somewhere along the way, after we met them, Gary became involved in a workplace accident. I don’t remember the particulars, but it injured his back. He struggled with this the rest of his life. The first struggle was with the insurance company, or maybe it was with workers’ compensation. I played an unwitting part in that. While he hobbled on foot as much as he could, Gary was trying to get a motorized cart to help him get around. We had a Sunday school class blog at the time, and after seeing Gary struggle to walk one Sunday, I posted that it was good to see him walking. I meant it as an encouragement to him. The insurance company saw it and said, “Ah ha! He doesn’t need a motorized cart.” They eventually straightened it out and he got the cart, but the bureaucratic struggle added to the physical struggles.

An example of Gary’s willingness to serve, and his desire to be of use even with his limited mobility, was Easter Sunday 2010. We were in the midst of a parking lot renovation. Who does that when Easter Sunday is upon you, right? But that’s the way it happened. I was in charge of getting those improvements done and, knowing the condition it would be in that day, worked with our pastoral staff and the men’s ministry to have at least five parking attendants for each service, helping people to navigate to the parts of the lot that were usable. Gary responded to the request for volunteers and showed up early that day, in his motorized cart, and waved cars to a certain row until it was full. Then he pulled forward and waved them to the next row. He showed us all what Christian service was all about.

A great couple, lovers of Jesus, servants in the church.

Over the years, Gary dealt with health issues and had operations and times in the hospital with severe infections. The pain from his injuries, complications from them, and loss of mobility made life difficult for him. He met the challenges. Though, he wasn’t always the best patient. He would resist going to the hospital when Sue thought he needed to and wanted to be discharged before it was wise. I remember a talk I had with him about that, reminding him that his wife was a registered nurse and had a better understanding of his health than he did. He did much better after that.

On one screen, I have Gary’s picture up. On this screen what I type. Gary, we will miss you. Sue and Kody will miss you. But we rejoice that you are now pain free, infection free, and that your radio voice is competing with the choir of angels as you narrate the stories of God and His Son Jesus. You have now heard the words that the rest of us will someday hear, a day that gets closer for all of us: “Well done, good and faithful servant. Come share in your Master’s happiness.”

Christianity, family

R.I.P. Norma Lilly Todd

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Christmas at the Outlet store in downtown Providence, probably 1953. Edward came along in January 1954.

On Saturday, November 27, 2021, my sister, Norma Lilly Todd, left this world for the next, the heavenly one, after a long, long illness. You may find her obituary here.

She was 16 months older than me, two years ahead of me in school. Born Sept 5, 1950 in Providence, RI, she was a premie by at least a month, maybe more. This would show up years later in her health problems.

Four maternal generations at Norma’s christening, winter of 1950-51

We were raised in Cranston, RI, joined two years after my birth by our brother Edward. Norma, as the oldest, was the one to one supply childhood names for our grandparents, Gar and Grime—names that stuck forever. She established the pattern of the Todd children being scholars (a pattern Edward broke, not because he lacked smarts, but because he had to carve out a different territory for himself).

When Mom died in 1965, Norma was 14, I was 13, and Edward was 11. A lot of the burden of the family duties fell on her. Of course, Mom was so sick leading up to her death that we all were already doing most of the chores a mother would do, including Dad taking on much of the cooking. But Norma probably had a greater burden than Edward and me.

Norma graduated with honors along the way, from Cranston High School East in 1968. She went on to Rhode Island College, graduating in 1972 with a B.S. in Elementary Education.

The family, one Sunday about to embark for church.

She discovered that teaching young children really wasn’t her calling, and instead went into retail, working at a Pier One Imports close to our house. They offered her a management position in Evansville, Indiana. So she became the first of the fledglings to fly the coop in, if I remember correctly, November 1973. I did the same in June 1974, moving to Kansas City.

Daddy’s little girl

Once we moved away from each other, and in the age back when long-distance telephone was still expensive, communications became infrequent and visits even more so. I drove from KC to Evansville to visit her twice before I married, and she flew to KC twice to visit Lynda and me after we married. Since, over the years, we made many trips from KC or Arkansas to Rhode Island, we stopped often in Evansville to see her.

At Mom’s grave, 1965

Norma’s health was never good, and she didn’t have a lot of strength. At some point, maybe around 1990-91, she left her retail management position—which involved her unloading delivery trucks—and went to work as a receptionist at her church, a job she held until her retirement around three or four years ago. Her connection to that is an interesting story, one that I had a part in. When I visited her in October, 1974, I witnessed to her about my conversion experience (from being a nominal, Christian-in-name-only to being born again). After my trip, she wrote me a letter saying thanks but no thanks. It was less than a year later that she sent me a card, saying something on front like, “I meant to call, I meant to write, I meant to visit, but I didn’t so…” and then, inside, “…I’m praying for you.” In that card she wrote about her conversion. Needless to say, I hopped in the car as soon as I could and visited her over the weekend, including Sunday morning service at Bethel Temple.

Norma’s high school graduation photo, 1968, Cranston High School East

Norma was a girl scout growing up, active in that throughout her school years. As an adult, her interests outside of work and church included crafts, especially making greeting cards. Each birthday and holiday we received a homemade, personalized card from her.

Norma never married. If she had boyfriends along the way she didn’t tell me about them.

About 10-15 years ago, she called to say she had been diagnosed with uterine cancer. In the course of the examinations, they discovered she had only 40 percent lung capacity, most likely as a result of her premature birth. Due to her general health condition, they would not operate for her cancer. They treated it by radiation, and she was considered a cancer survivor.

A more recent photo, probably from the early 2000s.

But her health deteriorated over the years as her knees wore out and she battled the bulge, like everyone in our family did. She had been confined to a wheelchair, though still living at home. Various friends looked in on her.  It was August this year that she took a turn for the worse, spending the rest of her time in hospitals, rehab, and a nursing home. When we last talked by phone, she requested that we not come out and see her. “We went our separate ways long ago,” she said. We reluctantly honored her wish. She had her after-death arrangements made, which included cremation and no services.

Norma is survived by me, our half-sister Deb Harris, six nephews and nieces, many cousins, and a host of friends, mainly in Evansville. I want to give special recognition to Bob and Ellan, the friends who have given her much help and lots of time over the years, especially lately.

On our last visit, in Evansville in October 2015

A popular response to the death of a loved one is to say they have joined so and so in heaven and is now looking down on us. I’m not sure that’s biblical, though it may be comforting. But I do know that’s where Norma is now, because of her faith in Jesus. She fought the good fight; she finished the race; she kept the faith. She has now heard those words that all who love Jesus want to hear: “Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter now into the joy of the Lord.”

Christianity, Politics, rant

The War on the Individual

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What would you do if you were reading a book and came across this  in it:

bowing at the altar of individualism, including individualist spirituality 

I encountered it in a book I recently read. I won’t say what the book is, nor why I was reading it.

Let’s just say that I’ve run across this concept time and time again recently. Individualism is bad. Rugged individualism is a sin. We need to expunge individualism from society and the church. You can’t do discipleship solo. I don’t understand this concept. But perhaps we need to take a moment and define what individualism is. A modern dictionary definition is:

1. the habit or principle of being independent and self-reliant.

2. a social theory favoring freedom of action for individuals over collective or state control.

Wikipedia has the following “executive summary” for their article on individualism:

Individualism is the moral stance, political philosophy, ideology and social outlook that emphasizes the moral worth of the individual. Individualists promote the exercise of one’s goals and desires and to  value independence and self-reliance and advocate that interests of the individual should achieve precedence over the state or a social group while opposing external interference upon one’s own interests by society or institutions such as the government. Individualism is often defined in contrast to totalitarianism, collectivism and more corporate social forms.

Individualism makes the individual its focus and so starts “with the fundamental premise that the human individual is of primary importance in the struggle for liberation”.  Anarchism, existentialism, liberalism and libertarianism are examples of movements that take the human individual as a central unit of analysis. Individualism involves “the right of the individual to freedom and self-realization”.

Individualism has been used as a term denoting “[t]he quality of being an individual; individuality”, related to possessing “[a]n individual characteristic; a quirk”. Individualism is also associated with artistic and bohemian interests and lifestyles where there is a tendency towards self-creation and experimentation as opposed to tradition or popular mass opinions and behaviors such as with humanist philosophical positions and ethics.

I’m really having trouble finding anything wrong with individualism, based on these definitions. I don’t find the necessity of such extreme manifestations of individualism as anarchism or bohemianism.  For all conditions in society, you will find extreme examples, be that for individualism or the opposite. And, what is the opposite of individualism? Is it collectivism? Is it tribalism? Is it state-ism? Enquiring minds want to know.

The concept of self-reliance seems good to me. Don’t burden family or society any more than you have to. Can someone explain to me what’s wrong with doing for yourself to the greatest extent possible rather than burdening society?

Sometimes I think the war on people wanting to be unique individuals is an extrovert vs. introvert thing. Neither one fully understands the other, but I think extroverts tend to be more aggressive in trying to make the introvert be more extroverted than the other way around. Maybe I’m wrong about that, but as one who leans more to the introverted end of the spectrum, that’s what it seems to me. Sometimes people just want to be left alone, to do for themselves—to be an individual rather than one of the herd.

When I encountered “bowing to the altar of individualism” in that book, a clear case of over-the-top rhetoric in my not so humble opinion, I came close to throwing it in the trash. But I never throw any book in the trash, not even those I disagree strongly with. I have thrown out a couple that were cheaply made and had fallen apart, but not for disagreement.

Complete self-reliance is, or course, impossible unless one can live in a remote cabin somewhere and have the skills necessary to live alone. If someone can do that and maintain their Christian faith, God bless them, let them do that. But the world’s population is too large to allow many people to do that. Mankind has to mix in society nowadays and has had to for a long time. But why not live as self-reliantly as possible? Why not, when encountered with a task that needs to be done, say “How can I accomplish this on my own?” rather than to say “Who can I get to do this with me?” Why burden society if I can do it myself?

I’m no hermit. I’m not fully self-sufficient, nor do I want to be. But I don’t bow at any altar of individualism and I resent that statement. I see the moral worth of the individual. I believe each individual needs to do his best to take care of himself first before seeking help from society. And I don’t see that changing.

One more book like the last one coming being suggested for me and…I won’t be buying any more from it.

Christianity, Engineering, stock market, Writing

Thoughts on Occupations and Leisure

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In my last post, I made some comments on C.S. Lewis’s essay “Christianity and Culture”. I decided to re-read it, finishing it on Saturday. I’m now in the process of reading the train of criticism it provoked and Lewis’s response to the criticism. Last night I went looking for the criticism, and found it on-line. Alas, it was all behind a paywall. In the next few days I may spend a little more time to see if it exists somewhere else on the internet that doesn’t require a financial outlay.

But Lewis got me to thinking, and I journaled about it Saturday night and may journal about it again. Lewis wondered, several years after his conversion, if the cultured, educated life he was living and earning his living from was compatible with Christianity. He said that he had come to the conclusion that the end/goal of the Christian’s life must be to glorify God and see His kingdom increased. Did the cultured life, a.ka. the literary life wherein literature is pursued as an end in itself, contribute to these two aims of the Christian life?

Lewis concluded the cultured life was not incompatible with Christianity. To do so he searched the scriptures, the early Christian writers, and many later Christian writers from Catholic and Protestant sources.

All of which led me to wonder whether my vocation and leisure was compatible with the aims of Christianity. Of course, I left my vocation behind for retirement. For 44 years I spent my time engineering public infrastructure and private developments. I did this in five states and three countries. I earned a good living at it. I think I helped the world, and in some cases changed the world, by practicing that profession. While doing so, I believe I did it as a faithful and devout Christian. When asked to pay a bribe while in Saudi Arabia—a request made by a fellow American expat—I refused. When some Bible extract booklets were shipped to be by mistake, I distributed them in-country, including to a Lebanese Muslim expat.

I could go on blowing my own horn, but that’s not a good thing to do. I only do so to show why I come to the conclusion that the decades I spent in my chosen profession were compatible with Christian discipleship, a conclusion arrived at with considerably less searching than Lewis did.

What about now? I actually have two new professions. One, of course, is writing. My books and stories are a mix of overtly Christian and secular underpinned by a Christian worldview. I don’t have a lot of sales and no notoriety, but it’s difficult to see how that would be incompatible with Christian discipleship.

My other “occupation” in “retirement” is stock trading, or securities trading as defined by the IRS: buying and selling stocks and options for the ake of generating income and building wealth. On the surface that looks a little more iffy. Again, taking a somewhat superficial look at it, securities trading is not inherently evil. It could be looked at the same as buying and selling paintings, or buying and selling baseball cards, hoping to have a gain. With securities, it’s all done in an account, you don’t have an inventory of goods to deal with.

It would seem to be acceptable so long as you do it right. No insider trading (as if I had access to such). No risky speculation. Tithe the gain and give offerings on top of that. Pay taxes on the gain according to the law. It would seem to me that with those stipulations this second retirement vocation is not incompatible to Christian discipleship.

One other thing to consider is if following these retirement occupations is causing me to shirk other responsibilities. My answer to that is no. As I look at the things I do around the house, in the family, in church and community, I think I’m doing okay with what I do.

This little bit of thought has taxed my brain. I’ve given all this a cursory, perhaps shallow, analysis and concluded I’m not wrong in my retirement pursuits. I hope I’m right.

C.S. Lewis, Christianity

Christianity and Culture

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‘Twas in this book that I found the essay “Christianity and Culture”. I will need to read it another time or two to fully understand it.

A few posts back I mentioned C.S. Lewis and trying to find the source of a quote attributed to him. I found it in my personal library. That caused me to keep that book in hand and read some in it. ‘Twas not so long ago that I finished a book, had one other one to work on, and wanted a second in my active reading pile. Perfect, I thought. Two thirds of this book is a compilation some of of his essays and lectures. Perfect, I thought. I can read it for a day or two and lay it aside.

The first I read was “The Humanitarian Theory of Punishment”, a Lewis magazine article anthologized in God In The Dock. The second was “Christianity and Culture”, an earlier magazine article anthologized in Christian Reflections. A bookmark showed that I had started reading this back in 2019 and got halfway through it. Perfect, I thought, I’ll finish this essay and go on to the next one.

And finish it I did, reading it slowly and closely, even rereading it, trying to absorb what Lewis was saying. After all, if I am a Christian and want to impact the culture around me, surely Lewis would give me helpful instructions, or at least suggestions and hints.

Alas, that’s not at all what this essay was about. By “culture” Lewis doesn’t mean it in a dictionary sense: “the customs, arts, social institutions, and achievements of a particular nation, people, or other social group”. Nor does he mean it as a verb in a scientific sense: “maintain (tissue cells, bacteria, etc.) in conditions suitable for growth”. No, by “culture” he means what I would call “cultured”: “characterized by refined taste and manners and good education”.

The gist of the essay was whether a cultured person could be a Christian.

First off, I dislike that term, cultured. It implies a type of refinement, a type of “better-than-others” implication. Maybe Lewis didn’t mean it in that way. Maybe it’s just another way to describe a segment of humanity to differentiate them from that part of humanity that has not had the best of education, and whose manners and tastes are not so refined. You know, to differentiate the hot dog eaters from the caviar eaters.

But my question is: Why is this even up for debate? Why take up a whole essay on this, Mr. Lewis? Surely we can find Christians in all walks of life, in all degrees of refinement.

Upon reflection, however, I think Lewis has a valid reason for asking this. Maybe in England there was a greater class distinction between the life of culture and the life of commonness. When Lewis was a schoolboy, all those charged with educating and guiding him saw he had an exceptional intellect. They steered him into the cultured life—a life of education, where he would then teach others. He ought to work with him mind, not his hands. He was a very willing participant in this, as he saw that he wanted to live this kind of life. He lived and breathed learning, hoping to become an Oxford don, and maybe even a professor.

World War 1 caused a delay in the education, but eventually Lewis was exactly where he wanted to be, at Oxford University, tutoring students and lecturing to attentive audiences. While he wasn’t wealthy (a condition usually associated with cultured people), he was living a life of culture, as he called it.

Then came Christianity, as from 1929 to 1931 Lewis moved from his atheism to belief in Jesus as the only begotten Son of God. His outlook changed along with his beliefs. But what didn’t change was his occupation or expectations of life. He was still living as a cultured person, still lecturing, still tutoring, still enjoying happy times with friends at the pub or on holiday walking tours. While his outlook on sin and holiness had changed, not much else had.

Fast forward to the end of the 1930s. Lewis began to wonder if this was right. If he made a radical change in his life by becoming a Christian, shouldn’t everything change? He asked the question: Can I live a life of culture now that I’m a Christian? If not, he would have to give up a lot: his way of making a living and his cherished activities of leisure.

According to Lewis’s article, he went through extensive studies to make a decision about this. He read major Christian writers from the past, the distant and then recent past, and concluded that nothing about being a Christian would require him to change his profession or give up those things he found enjoyment in. He continued to teach, continued to write books and essays and articles and lectures. Along the way, he added defending the Christian faith. And millions of people through the decades are glad that he did.

I think what Lewis went through is worthwhile for everyone to go through when they make a commitment to Jesus. Does my way of life—my work, my recreation, my habits, my friendships—need to change, either marginally or drastically, to live the life God wants me to live? Perhaps I’ll explore this some more in future posts. For now, I think I’ll re-read “Christianity and Culture” again to make sure I fully understand Lewis’s conundrum.