Daily pages of reflection...for knowledge, understanding, to wisdom
Section of The Last Supper, Leonardo Da Vinci Section of The Last Supper, Leonardo Da Vinci

Independence Day

July 4, 2017
Year 2, Day 185 | No Comments
Section of Christ and the Adulteress, Lucas Cranach the Younger and Workshop, ca. 1545–50

The year, 1976, was the most active of my life in the number of times I was asked to speak publicly, often on some national theme.  There was extended programming throughout the country, and a number of my appointments included national celebration.  On July 4th I was the speaker at the Hume Lake Conference grounds where an overflowing audience gathered in that King’s Canyon location in California for the purpose of Christian conference, vacation and, in 1976, national observance.  It is remembered by me, at this writing, as one of the high points of my professional life.  One could feel the appreciation for life in freedom, for faith in God, and a prevailing sense of values characterizing a massive population. … Read more

Unconditional Perception

July 3, 2017
Year 2, Day 184 | No Comments
Section of Adoration of the Magi, artist unknown

I am a devotee of book reviews.  In our current society we have so many well educated, informed, and thoughtful persons competent to put their research and thought into writing that no one has the time, and few with the fortune, to follow the trail of all the great ideas and movements of importance to mankind.  We can, with some effort, find summaries of the best stuff.  So it was that I found, in my intrepid forays into book reporting, an excerpt from Eric Felten: Loyalty: The Vexing Virtue.  Again, for me, I found the biblical pattern on issues of import for individuals and society (massive congregations of populations). I evaluate life patterns with the reporting and interpretation of Scripture. Felten,… Read more

Praise and Thanksgiving

July 2, 2017
Year 2, Day 183 | No Comments
Section of Adoration of the Magi, artist unknown

Devout Christians are concerned about their relationship with God.  Because so vital a matter seems ephemeral to most persons, we seek careful instruction on how to carry through in thought and deed on cultivating that relationship.  When I committed my life to Christ in 1940, I soon learned of a fellow about four or five years older than I was who devoted his time to hours of prayer each day.  I immediately felt great admiration for him, and talked with him.  Everything I said was registered to him as a matter of prayer.  He was soft-spoken, and seemed other worldly to me.  He was one member of a devout and highly respected family in the church, a family from which… Read more

What’s Fittin’

July 1, 2017
Year 2, Day 182 | No Comments
Section of The Descent from the Cross, Rogier van der Weyden, c. 1435

We touched on fundamentals of order a year ago on this date, and return to order for today.  There is much to be said about order, to be thought through, to find the best in life.  It is admitted that human beings sometimes find order to be boring, perhaps antiseptic, but that is because we are imperfect so find some comfort in disorder that we feel fits us.  Rather than argue the point here, we take order as a matter of biblical affirmation.  There is a God of order, and we should attempt to fit into his orderliness for our lives.  If Scripture injunction does not persuade us, arguments for order are plentifully proved in the nature of things, especially… Read more

Behind The Words

June 30, 2017
Year 2, Day 181 | No Comments
Section of Christ and the Adulteress, Lucas Cranach the Younger and Workshop, ca. 1545–50

We here discuss that anything touching language has something of semantic (variant) meaning to it in society.  A student seeking knowledge and a professor communicating information have much going for them to pass on truth/meaning and finding ways to use it to improve life.  But wait, the student is of another generation with shifts in culture.  The experiences of the student and professor differ so that this is blessed by one factor and another is cursed.  It is likely that some important facts or interpretations the professor expounds are not that to which the student is listening.  The student hears, but may not listen.  The prof speaks, but may not communicate.  It is unlikely that the meaning is interpreted quite… Read more

Commandments

June 29, 2017
Year 2, Day 180 | No Comments
Section of The Infant Jesus and St. John the Baptist, Guido Reni, n.d.

Most Christians, when they think of commandments from God, shift their thoughts to Moses and the Old Testament.  Those commandments had an element of measurement in them.  I could show my love for God by keeping a regimen laid out by Moses for the society, and the individuals in it.  I could love my parents to the level of their satisfaction and God’s showing respect for life.  This line of thought can be stretched out for understanding and direction for the list of laws.  Then Jesus comes along making it clear that he was offering divine context even for natural law in providing heaven’s laws.  One of those laws, growing out of the nature of God, was that his followers… Read more

Self Warfare

June 28, 2017
Year 2, Day 179 | No Comments
Section of Sistine Chapel ceiling, Michaelangelo, 1508-1512

Paul the Apostle wrote the greatest treatise on Christian theology ever written when he, under inspiration, penned the Epistle to the Romans.  The summary outline of the Epistle carries readers through the issues of their searches for spiritual recovery from abject loss to fulfillment in God through Jesus Christ.  No punches are pulled.  No document could put us in so abject position, nor raise us to higher elevations.  The Apostle begins with the problems of sin, and that related to mankind.  We are guided up the steps related to salvation.  From there we are introduced to the experience of sanctification, then justification, then conduct principles in mortal life that, when applied, cause practical and spiritual growth in the person.  Finally,… Read more

Sustainability and Loyalty

June 27, 2017
Year 2, Day 178 | No Comments
Section of The Crucifixion, Pedro Orrente, ca. 1625–30

There is an important factor that belongs to wisdom that ought to be given fair treatment in our life education and self-evaluation.  It is an important factor in maturity, loyalty, and integrity.  We call it sustainability.  It is far more important than we realize in the functioning of individuals, programs, cultures, and families.  One ought to give time and formation to it as a major issue in the good life, and the realities found in an imperfect world.  Failure of sustainability can betray us, in life and faith. During my first graduate years I was asked to pastor a church about five miles from the campus. I accepted, and remember with great appreciation, the experience.  I was thrilled when a friendly… Read more

Go For It

June 26, 2017
Year 2, Day 177 | No Comments
Section of Adoration of the Magi, artist unknown

Turning the completion of my ninetieth year, I examined my spiritual life, as my physician examines my physical body to determine the state of my health.  The Apostle Paul reminds Christians taking communion that this is a time to examine one’s spiritual life, and determine for self, guided by Scripture, if spiritual growth and health are growing maturely.  God makes obvious the true verdict, in that he designed communion for those who, by self-examination, have made the initial spiritual decision leading to future good life and immortality – which is to accept Christ in redemption, and follow up accordingly.  The Apostle meant to make habit the periodic return to meaningful evaluation of one’s spiritual life, and decision for correction of… Read more

Life Orientation and Activity

June 25, 2017
Year 2, Day 176 | No Comments
Section of The Infant Jesus and St. John the Baptist, Guido Reni, n.d.

In his studies of parenting, David Walsh believed that he found the primary features forming the intellectual development of children.  He presented the concepts in his book on Smart Parenting.  He urged activity, focus and socializing.  Having taught students, and having reared children, I respond well to Walsh’s emphases.  The parent does not choose activities.  Children make selections.  They choose.  Focusing attention does not mean the parent chooses the focus, but that there is a focus that may be joined by the parent.  I am convinced that language felicity has much to do with this focus, and may be the focus.  It is likely that the persons with the greatest grasp of language, and learning how to use language well,… Read more

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