Three Questions

A few days ago, a dear friend of mine shared with me three questions that a mutual friend used to center herself. I was talking to Beth about this, but couldn't remember two of the three questions. I did recall that one dealt with being present. Beth and I formulated three questions of our own that I've been using the last several days. They've been helpful. They are:

• Am I At Peace? Do I trust God with all my worries and with my soul (Matthew 6:25-34, Philippians 4:6-7). Beth shared with me the image of a pebble being dropped into a calm pond. The pond responds perfectly to the pebble - or the boulder - and then returns to its previous calm. When we are at peace with God, our responses to trouble can be measured and appropriate. If we do not have that peace, then we are absorbed with self and our precarious situation. If we do not have that peace, then the best that we can come up with another is either a deceived calm or an act.
  
  
• Am I Present? Having peace from and with God, I am then in a position of strength. With that strength, I can afford to focus wholly on either the person in front of me or on the task that is serving the person who is not present. The vertical must enable the horizontal. The past is gone or is covered by Christ's cross. The future I can trust to God, for I cannot control it now. But I have been given the gift of being able to focus on the right now.
  
  
• Am I Purposed? Since we are both at peace and present for the other or for the task, we can be intentional in the moment. We are able to move most fully out of our love for God and for the other (Matthew 22:37-39). God's love purifies and focuses us.

More Great Sportsmanship

"I never in my life thought I'd hear people cheering for us to hit their kids," recalls Gainesville's QB and middle linebacker, Isaiah. "I wouldn't expect another parent to tell somebody to hit their kids. But they wanted us to!""

- and Stacey Sublett points us to this gem.

a beautiful story of sportsmanship

"He went alone to the free throw line, dribbled the ball a couple of times, and looked at the rim.

His first attempt went about two feet, bouncing a couple of times as it rolled toward the end line. The second barely left his hand."

read the whole story

Todd Hunter...

...has a new website! Check it out.

Our New Dog: Raider Sport Shields

We took a dog break for a couple of years. But with my traveling a lot, Beth and the girls really wanted to get another dog for protection and so we rescued Raider, a boxer (?)/lab (?) mutt who is one of the sweetest dogs we've ever met. She's a puppy but her large paws indicate that she won't stay small.

We lost our last dog because we had to have her put down as she was so vicious. So this time we wanted to be more intentional about raising up our dog and so we hired Tecla Walton with Angel K-9 who has been super helpful. We have learned a lot.

I've posted more pictures of Raider here. We are very much enjoying this magnificent beast!

"U.S. judges admit to jailing children for money"

unbelievable. I'm speechless.

"The Lincoln Canon" by Fred Kaplan

Another indication of the slow excruciating death of the industry I poured twenty years of my life into was the Washington Post's recent announcement that next week will be the last edition of its Book World as a stand alone publication. The Sunday Washington Post is my only newspaper subscription. I try to read it in hard copy every week. Being a bibliophile, I especially enjoy learning about new books from reading Book World.

Now, in truth my first sentence was melodramatic; for both the news industry and Book World will be continuing in digital form. But until digital paper becomes cheap and ubiquitous, our eyes will continue to prefer the written page to the digital. I don't mean that people will have that preference; I mean it literally. Our eyes find it easier to read ink on paper than letters on screens. So while as a blogger of seven years I clearly embrace the digital age, I retain a sentimental attachment to the printed page.

But I digress.

What moved me to eulogize the Post's Book World was, once again, another incident of my learning about great books from the publication. Fred Kaplan offered a great piece highlighting the best books available in the Lincoln biographical corpus. Longtime readers of this blog know that I have an affinity for historical biographies, so I thought they might be interested in this piece.

photograph from wikipedia