Kipling on Character

This is one of the most famous of Kipling's works -- and one of my most favorite poems. It explains what character looks like in daily life.

In the concrete, he describes such character traits as humility, cool-headedness, trustworthiness, perseverance, courage and risk, resignation and fortitude.

Poetry Foundation link

If—

    

If you can keep your head when all about you

    Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,   

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, 

    But make allowance for their doubting too;   

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, 

    Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies, 

Or being hated, don’t give way to hating, 

    And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise: 

If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;   

    If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;   

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster 

    And treat those two impostors just the same;   

If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken 

    Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools, 

Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken, 

    And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools: 

If you can make one heap of all your winnings 

    And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss, 

And lose, and start again at your beginnings 

    And never breathe a word about your loss; 

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew 

    To serve your turn long after they are gone,   

And so hold on when there is nothing in you 

    Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’ 

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,   

    Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch, 

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you, 

    If all men count with you, but none too much; 

If you can fill the unforgiving minute 

    With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,   

Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,   

    And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!

Christianity and Foreign Policy

Dad from Shangri-La, Vice Admiral J.S. Redd, Ret., signs a statement about Christianity and US foreign policy:

"A Christian Declaration on American Foreign Policy" Providence Journal 

Women in Direct Ground Combat

Brother from Shangri-La, Scott Redd, and Friend of Shangri-La, Jennifer Marshall, write about pragmatic and biblical concerns with intentionally putting women in direct ground combat roles.

"Deploying Women to Direct Ground Combat" from Providence Journal of Christianity and American Foreign Policy

In Christian theology, responding to God’s call to that cultural task is imperative for human beings seeking to honor God. Incorporating Bavinck’s observation above, honoring God means honoring him as his image. From this perspective, if sexual difference is part of humanity’s imaging of God, then recognizing and respecting sexual differences is essential to honor God. This conclusion has implications both for individuals inhabiting sexually differentiated bodies, and for males and females relating in community.

To strive for [gender] interchangeability fails to reflect the fullness of the image of God. Similarly, to set up typically male achievements as markers of female success risks denigrating aspects of God’s image that he has revealed in the nature of females.

Lights in Darkness

“If this is a sign of how religious liberty claims will be treated in the years ahead, those who value religious freedom have cause for great concern,” Alito said Tuesday in a critical dissent.

Article: Justice Alito on legal developments this week

Full dissent

And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. -John 3:19

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. -John 1:5

O Captain! My Captain!

This poem was written by Walt Whitman for Abraham Lincoln at his death. I read it at the funeral of my grandfather, a retired Navy Captain and pilot in WWII and the Korean War.

I found this poem a fitting tribute for my grandfather -- a Harvard-educated renaissance man, lover of poetry, graceful ballroom dancer, a veteran -- dashing and courageous. He introduced me to the poems of Robert W. Service and the stories of Bret Harte.

My father is a veteran, also, and my uncle flew combat air missions in VietNam. David's grandfather and at least one of his great uncles were veterans, as well. The USS Loeser (pronounced LOH-zer) was named after David's "Uncle Art," who was killed in WWII.

On Memorial Day we remember those who died in war. And by extension, it seems right to remember those who are and were willing to die in war.

Soldiers and farmers are frequently given as examples for believers in Scripture. I am blessed to have both in my family.

(This copy from Poetry Foundation website):

O Captain! My Captain!

Related Poem Content Details

BY WALT WHITMAN

O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done, 

The ship has weather’d every rack, the prize we sought is won, 

The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting, 

While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring; 

                         But O heart! heart! heart! 

                            O the bleeding drops of red, 

                               Where on the deck my Captain lies, 

                                  Fallen cold and dead. 

O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells; 

Rise up—for you the flag is flung—for you the bugle trills, 

For you bouquets and ribbon’d wreaths—for you the shores a-crowding, 

For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning; 

                         Here Captain! dear father! 

                            This arm beneath your head! 

                               It is some dream that on the deck, 

                                 You’ve fallen cold and dead. 

My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still, 

My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will, 

The ship is anchor’d safe and sound, its voyage closed and done, 

From fearful trip the victor ship comes in with object won; 

                         Exult O shores, and ring O bells! 

                            But I with mournful tread, 

                               Walk the deck my Captain lies, 

                                  Fallen cold and dead.

Source: Leaves of Grass (David McKay, 1891)

So This Happened

I'm often the last to read the thing everyone is buzzing about, but in case you missed it, too:

Confessions of Liberal Intolerance is an article about intolerance of and condescension towards different ideas in academia, written by (progressive) Nicholas Kristof in the New York Times. Interestingly, in the article some black professors describe being discriminated against as Christians and conservatives in academia as being like the prejudice they face outside of it.

Heterodox Academy's line-up of contributors.

Last Day

It's 10:30 pm on a Friday night and I'm about to clap shut my laptop. Today is my last day as a homeschooling mom.

I have taught anywhere from one to three of my kids at home for the past 12 years. (And none of them have ever been in five-day school.) All three are headed to a regular, brick-and-mortar, five-day-a-week school next year for 8th, 9th, and 12th grade. Radical.

Like all big endings, it has been a little anticlimactic: hassling one child to finish one final test, shuffling through files, last minute grading, an impromptu grocery store run, realizing transcripts will be polished up next week rather than today. Not with a bang but a whimper.

But it feels momentous to me.

Thank you, and goodnight, to homeschooling's curious, wild, busy, funny, angsty, peaceful, "lovely, dark, and deep" ride.

Our family has been viewed as kooky and offbeat.

We been viewed as conservative and authoritarian.

We've been viewed as rebels, madmen, and saints.

Of course we are none of these -- or perhaps all of these. Just like any family trying to creatively "do" life in the way that seems to fit with our lifestyle, resources, values, and needs.

I've been a terrible mom, I've been an amazing mom -- sometimes all in the same hour.

My children are quirky in some ways, brilliant in some ways, regular in most ways. Just like yours.

I have a shrewd, natural test-taker, and one who used to bomb standardized tests.

I have kids with different learning styles, different strengths, and different test scores. I have a math avoider and one who "hates" reading. (Though lately this kid has started talking animatedly about his reading.) One has been in learning therapy pretty regularly (and benefited greatly).

I have a philosopher, an engineer, and a pragmatic businesswoman. I have a child who carefully lines up pencils and ruler in the workspace and keeps a detailed calendar; I have one who can't find homework.

I've taught my kids in China and America, on the east coast and in the southwest. In the kitchen, in the bedroom, in the library, in the car.

I've used material from the internet, from neighbors, from friends, from books.

I've personally seen and experienced the kind of resources and co-ops that spring up in freedom-rich cultural and legal environments (Texas!) -- and the dearth of same in educationally narrow-minded and culturally parochial parts of the country.

Some of my best friends are other homeschooling moms. And some of my other best friends are not. I have gained wisdom from both about parenting.

The kids and I have worked so closely together, with all of our flaws and strengths. I have learned some basic things.

It's counter-intuitive, but start work each day with the youngest before you work with the older kids. Make sure everyone reads aloud each day. Let each do math at the time of day when they are mentally fresh. Take a short break every 30 minutes. Pick the curriculum that appeals to you as much as it appeals to them. Encourage each kid to study in his own way (eg, one kid may study by orally telling you all about what is going to be on the test, one kid may study by making flashcards. Both ways are fine and I only figured that out this year). Three words: Saturday morning chores. Have a short family devotion every morning -- ie, reflect on the forest before you head for the trees. Laughter really is the best medicine. Laugh easily, pray hard.

Most of these things I learned the hard way. And so many other things I still have not figured out. Homeschooling did not come naturally to me.

Somehow, the kids are alright. Not amazing. Not terrible. Like yours.

Gooodnight, homeschooling. I'm going to miss you.

And tomorrow I am finally going to catch up with the laundry.

"He is happiest, be he king or peasant, who finds peace at home." Goethe

"For they looked for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is the Lord."

There is nothing at all surprising about the world being drawn to baseness and power.

That is what people are drawn to, in their nature. And people are easily deceived. The sheep look for a shepherd, but often they pick a king -- or a wolf -- instead. We look for Cincinnatus, but we follow a Caesar.

It is wrong to assert that political concerns and exertions are meaningless or worthless for the believer -- political ambivalence smacks of a gnostic approach to loving one's neighbors. As if it isn't my concern if my neighbor lives under the oppressor's thumb or has his day in court. We can lament cultural injustice and decline. We can discuss when began the grounding of "the ship that sailed the moon" (1973?)

"For they looked for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is the Lord."

But as we rightly labor and exert ourselves in this country (our national neighborhood) to love our neighbor by advocating and appealing for truth, protection for the innocent, just laws, and freedom and mercy, which acknowledge the divinely-decreed, deep and intrinsic value of each and every image-bearer -- we do so at rest in our souls, as citizens of the better country.

For no matter what, with respect to our Job Description: Nothing has changed from yesterday to today and nothing will change in November 2016 or November 2020 or November 2200.

Love God.
Love your family ("little platoons").
Love your church.
Love your neighbors.

These are subversive acts.

Do the things God has given your hands to do with vigor and pleasure.

Fill the earth and subdue it with your work, knowing the good work of your hands done by the grace of God will never perish or tarnish and not be lost.

-- Anne

Solid Seminary Training in the 21st Century American City

Reformed Theological Seminary-DC provides reformed seminary training in a center of American urban culture and politics.

Points of distinction

-Faculty involved in academic research but with a history of actual pastoral work -- head, heart, and hands-on experience

-Faculty accessible to student body in side-by-side relationship -- mentoring

-Diverse student body who seek to learn from each other and with each each other -- community



Short RTS Video

The Nuances of Truth-telling

Teetering between Cyncism/Irony and Hyper-Sentimentality....

This author touches on a couple of topics -- some gems here for the social media age:

-- "To live ironically is to hide in public."

-- How we manufacture sentiment and nostalgia.

Both are deceptions.

[Less we react so much against irony that we blather our every heartfelt feeling, dark secret, and deepest motive, let us affirm this is not a call to publicly navel gaze or broadcast every feeling on social media. It is a call to authenticity instead of irony. A call to real-ness over cool-ness.]

How We Instagrammed Away Our Feelings

Flotsam and Jetsam

Huge crack develops in Wyoming visible in earth in week(s) due to water saturation (CBS Denver)

Death of Ken Taylor, brave Canadian diplomat who rescued American's during Iranian hostage crisis (LA Times) (Trust Hollywood to never tamper with a good story -- ahem)

One useful perspective on packing Samaritan's Purse Christmas shoeboxes for kids in other cultures -- from missionary who is there when they are received. (blog)

Two liberal writers every conservative should read (Washington Examiner).
And Galston's article on poverty. The Poverty Cure (WSJ)

Ecumenicism: Accommodation and Orthodoxy

Here in First Things, Dr. Scott Redd shares a charitable and nuanced approach to ecumenicism in light of a letter from Pope Francis to evangelicals. Redd invites believers to have a respectful and truthful dialogue about what both unites and divides Catholics, Protestants, and Orthodox.

Link to First Things article

Here's an outquote that hits at the crux:

In the letter, Francis also cites recent, public instances of Christian persecution around the world and the impact they have had on his understanding of Church unity. “The one that persecutes does not make a mistake, he doesn't ask if they are Catholic, Evangelical, Orthodox. . . . They are Christians, followers of Jesus Christ, and that is enough. This blood challenges us,” he writes. Indeed it does. The global plight of the Christian in the twenty first century ought to unify those who follow Christ and seek to proclaim his gospel in word and deed.

This issue also raises the question of what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ and to share in that, for lack of a better word, communion in which the church is united in his suffering. Not all who share in his suffering, for instance, can share in the same sacramental table, due to different understandings of the meaning of Christ's presence at the table or altar. Similarly, not all of those targeted by ISIS or North Korea agree about the meaning of the church or the content of the gospel we proclaim. All religious persecution is horrific and wrong, but we do not define the community of faith by those whom the persecutor victimizes. How ought we to think about other persecuted groups who hold to a heretical understanding of the incarnation or the deity of Christ? We are united with them in their humanity, but are they Christ's church?

These questions are not without significance, touching on the person of Christ and the nature of faith, and the answers will only come from an engaged discussion of the authority of Scripture, the historical witness of the church, and the clarity with which the councils, creeds, and confessions give expression to the teaching of the Bible. These discussions can get into the weeds quickly, to be sure, but they are nevertheless crucial to moving toward meaningful unity. True healing comes once the illness is diagnosed.

Three In June

I posted some time ago about a hard-working, young friend in Hollywood named Allison Mattox working on producing her first film, a short called Three In June.

She's finished it, and it will be screened at the Buffalo Independent Film Festival in October!

Link attached is the film's festival page listing screenings. Hers is described under the "BIFF: SHORTS: Before the Feature" beginning with "In 1960s rural Georgia..."

Congratulations, Allison!

Bill Nye, the Logical-Fallacy Guy?

A short piece on abortion, embryology, and basic logic.

Bill Nye's Unscientific Tirade on Abortion

Eugene Volokh on Kim Davis Legal Situation

Wading through the Kim Davis (KY clerk who won't issue marriage licenses in her name) legal situation, here is Eugene Volokh in the Washington Post:

Kim Davis and the Law

Self Loathing at Evangelical Colleges

Succinct, honest, and thoughtful: from First Things:

Evangelical Colleges and Self Loathing

Check Your White, Female Privilege

In the New York Times, Ross Douthat counters Milbank et al's arguments that the only way for Planned Parenthood to provide family planning services is for them also to provide baby-in-the-womb dismemberment services.

There Is No Pro-Life Case for Planned Parenthood

It's good to point out when the actual narrative conflicts with the establishment narrative. In these videos, the antagonists are women, the victims are predominantly minorities, and the hero is a white male. Time for PP to check its white, female privilege.

"Joyful Exiles, Penitent Strangers"

One for the Church in the West today -- here's a good post dealing with biblical perspective by Scott Redd of sunergoi at The Christward Collective

Joyful Exiles

And here a sermon by Scott Redd which describes

 Walking in the Light in Cultural Darkness

Changing Your Mind about Abortion

Sometimes the bravest thing to do is change your mind.

For those pro-choice women considering changing their minds about abortion in light of the new video documentation, please read the following article, written by a PhD and former pro-abortion advocate.

I Thought Planned Parenthood Supported Family Values

Over our summer road trip the kids and I listened to The Screwtape Letters by Oxford professor C.S. Lewis. I was reminded of that shrewd tempter Screwtape's gleeful reporting that, while in former days men and women would change the course of their lives based on one solid, consistent line of reasoning about an issue....in modern days that kind of noble behavior -- the behavior of following truth even when it means change -- need not concern tempters.

(And if you balk about facing religious people, know that no honest Christian can look down in pride on those who have found they are wrong. All Christians have altered the course of their life based on a change of heart and mind.)

Sometimes a change of mind and heart is an integral part of your own story, your own personal narrative of who you are -- You-Now grows out of You-Then. Sometimes "Then" is "just yesterday" or even "just this morning."

"Just yesterday, I believed...But today I realize..."

Will you change your mind?

“The greatest evil is not now done in those sordid 'dens of crime' that Dickens loved to paint. It is not done even in concentration camps and labour camps. In those we see its final result. But it is conceived and ordered (moved, seconded, carried, and minuted) in clean, carpeted, warmed and well-lighted offices, by quiet men with white collars and cut fingernails and smooth-shaven cheeks who do not need to raise their voices. Hence, naturally enough, my symbol for Hell is something like the bureaucracy of a police state or the office of a thoroughly nasty business concern."

[From the Preface] ― C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters

Conquest's Conquests

Robert Conquest, a man who described misrule in Stalinist Russia when information was scarce, has died.

What an interesting man: historian, advisor to Margaret Thatcher, poet, and writer of prose. I enjoyed reading this obituary:

Seminal Historian of Soviet Misrule 

Stalin's daughter also recently died. She lived in Wisconsin.

About her life in Wisconsin:

Lana about Svetlana

Review of a biography of her (by Rosemary Sullivan)

Stalin's Daughter