Refractions and Reflections

-1- Since August of 2002, when I moved to Joplin for college, I have lived in Missouri. Since this August or September, I have been considering moving back to Ohio...it just seems that besides jobs, I really have nothing holding me in Missouri anymore, except a handful of friends I never see anyway. I got some employment opportunities in order and decided to move on December 12 - pretty much finish out the school semester subbing, but still have time to get paperwork through for jobs in Ohio to start after the first of the year. But things worked out so I got to move a month early! My bosses were very understanding - I had great jobs in Springfield. -2- My brother Sam came to Missouri to visit, and so I moved back with him. On the way we stopped at Cahokia Mounds, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, near Collinsville, IL. We decided we should do YouTube videos of "tours" of popular tourist sites. For instance, as we approached the north end of the temple mound where I t...

I'm still reading Mission at Nuremberg by Tim Townsend . It follows Army Chaplains Gerecke and O'Connor as they minister to the major Nazi war criminals on trial at Nuremberg after World War II. I'm about 250 pages in, and so far it has described each chaplain's trek to enstationment at Nuremberg, as well as each criminal's activities to warrant his position in a cell on the first floor of the Palace of Justice. The trials have been examined in brief, as well as the criminals' past and present relations to Hitler, the Nazi Party, and their own families. The verdicts and sentences have been given, with major prison stints and 11 orders of "death by hanging" in the midst. And now Townsend talks a little theology, particularly having to do with the Brand of Cain from Genesis 4. Photo: Anonymous. A detail from the "Ghent Altarpiece" by Jan van Eyck, 1432. Following is an excerpt:             “The [writer in Genesis 4] brings m...

I'm reading Mission at Nuremberg by Tim Townsend . In the opening chapter he describes Chaplain Gerecke's moments in prayer with Nazi Keitel in the moments before he was hanged for his war crimes against humanity. Townsend describes Keitel's soldier-like demeanor throughout his trial and emprisonment, but how he broke into uncontrollable sobs while Gerecke prayed with him in his cell. At the hour of his death his mask of pride crumbled. I would assume the illusion fell before the realization that he would imminently face spiritual judgment for his sins.   In the debate over the morality of capital punishment, I know traditionally the Conservatives are for the death penalty, while Liberals are against it. I am unsure where I fall on the spectrum, but I know I am glad I don't have to make the decision for someone to die; that in itself might weigh on my conscience as indirect murder.   But in thinking of this description of Keitel's last moments, and kn...

---1--- Well did you see the live production of The Sound of Music starring Carrie Underwood? What did you think? I loved the opening number by the nuns, and really just thought the whole thing was a very well-performed effort. Carrie Underwood is quite the yodeler!! :D Also I noticed that, except for the part about it being in Austria at the outbreak of World War II and in the midst of nazi infiltration and the characters having to run to another country to save their lives...and except for the part about Maria being a nun and then governess of seven children and falling in love with their millionaire dad...except for all that...the story is completely like my life!! If you're reading this and confused and thinking, "Well, if it's like her life except for all those things...then how, exactly, is it at all like her life?" well, then... pfpfpft... I guess you just don't get it, do you? No, but really. It is. See...Maria starts out as a nun...novitiate? pos...

---1---     I finally watched Lincoln , in the wee hours of this morning. Loved it. I hate politics and how they are corrupt and so often practically useless. I love justice and the effectively administered law that protects it. Abraham Lincoln is one of my heroes. Equal rights to ALL under the law is one of my ideals. Just as there were likely "good" people and "bad" people on both sides of the Civil War, the end result of the conflict rendered freedom for each person to live accorrding to his or her values, so long as in doing so, no one else's right to do the same was violated. I hope to see a day when all people truly share all the same freedoms under the same law that, when functioning as it should, prevents free people from oppressing others. I am not a fan of politics, but I am a fan of just and unbiased law. It is how human civilization works and prospers.   ---2--- One of the things I loved about the movie's portrayal of Mr. Lincoln ...

---1--- My garden is not growing as well as I had hoped. In fact, at least half of it is dead. BUT, my one lonely tomato is hanging in there;  the broccoli and Brussels sprouts plants are still alive, even if they aren't growing (today, Thursday, I replanted one of them in an actual pot to see if that helps); and Sunday morning I discovered a new surprise to add to the success of my tomato: (Hey - I just posted a pic of a pepper...sounds like a bit of poetry-in-the-making to me!) O.o ---2--- While tending my tomato plant today (Thursday) I discovered something interesting. It was indeed mostly dead, but the tomato was continuing to ripen, and even new branches were growing that were not dead.  The vine itself is still vibrant. It reminded me of John 15 when Jesus said, "I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing" (verse 5, NIV). I also took a hint fr...

A few years ago I left a bookstore with Erik Larson's The Devil in the White City . An entrancing read, it made me want to read more of his works, and I soon ordered Thunderstruck on paperbackswap.com . I never got around to reading it, though, and so I finally started it yesterday. It segues nicely into the next story post I wanted to write - more from my friend Millie - about work ethic and innovation in entrepreneurship. Larson's habit is to weave two dissimilar lives together in a sort of double biography that no one would ever think to thrust together. For example, in Devil in the White City he tells the story of Daniel H. Burnham, the architect responsible for the phenomenal structures of the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago, as intertwined with the tale of another inhabitant of Chicago at the same time, serial killer H. H. Holmes. Thunderstruck mingles the paths of Guglielmo Marconi, discoverer of wireless telegraphy (the precursor to radio and telephone technology)...

My life hasn't been interesting enough this last week to do a Quick Takes post, so I thought I would go ahead and begin my story posts instead. Since returning from vacation I have spent the majority of my time holed up in my apartment avoiding the outside world. I've done a lot more reading than I have in a long time! First, I read The Pianist by Wladislaw Szpilman , and the other day I started Bess W. Truman by Margaret Truman (I am about a third of the way into it). The first was (as most of you know) a memoir about a Polish Jew's survival in Warsaw during WWII. The second covered a little about WWI, especially as it affected Kansas City, Missouri, and now I am into the portion on the Great Depression. All of these subjects remind me of my friend Millie , another great storyteller in my life whom I forgot to mention in my post on storytelling . I met Millie several years ago in Joplin...I believe she was 93 at the time. She passed away in April 2011 at the age of ...

Note: I have been very busy the last few days, so I am still catching up with comments and blog visiting. Thank you to everyone who has stopped by - I love your comments! Today's writing prompt is to talk about our favorite quote, from a person or book or whatever, and why we love it. I'm not sure I have an overall favorite quote - I like some when I come across them, but not too many stick with me for some reason. I guess I will go with the famous quote from John F. Kennedy's inaugural speech, "Ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country," because I like an idea inherent in it.   Last night I was talking with a friend (female) who shared with me a conversation she had had recently with another friend (male). She told me he was discouraged and pretty down on the world and his optimism for it, and her response to him was, "How can you not see the good in the world? You've told me of several good things you have ...

Many moons ago, while I was a student at Messenger College in Joplin, I bought this book from the college library for less than a buck - it was one of the old titles they were getting rid of as they updated their collection. The copyright date in the front of the book is 1900. And yes, that is scotch tape I employed to hold the binding together :). I thought it looked interesting (the book, not the tape), since it is about DL Moody and by his son. I had heard his name many times but never actually read about him for myself. This antique 590-page book fixed that! Reading this I learned a lot of interesting things. For instance, it was in this book that I first heard about Henry Moorhouse, who preached for Moody once while he was away from his church in Chicago on business. Moorhouse preached seven nights in a row from the same text: John 3:16, using examples from Genesis through Revelation in each sermon, to demonstrate how God loves sinners and wants to save them. Th...

In case some of you don't know, I am and have always been Pentecostal. Pentecostals are the ones that speak in tongues. I believe in speaking in tongues, and in fact do it on occasion. The fancy term for speaking in tongues is glossolalia . It usually refers to speaking in an unknown, or heavenly language through the power of the Holy Spirit. But did you know that is not the only kind of tongue-talking early (and some current) Pentecostals believed in? There is another kind, called xenolalia , which means speaking in an earthly language one has never personally learned. Experiences with xenolalia have not been well documented in an academically reputable way, so that causes some people to doubt it really ever happens/happened. But here is an excerpt from a book by Roberts Liardon called God's Generals that will give you an example of what I am talking about. This story reputedly took place in the Tabernacle of Indianapolis built by Maria Woodworth-Etter in 1918...

After I recently claimed a tendency to be rebellious against others’ expectations of me, but not against God’s, someone I respect told me, “There is a difference between being radical and being rebellious!” The dictionary defines radical as "of or going to the root or origin; fundamental". I imagine radical and eradicate come from the same root. It also means "thoroughgoing or extreme...favoring drastic political, economic, or social reforms." As a noun, a radical is someone "who holds or follows strong convictions...who advocates fundamental political, economic, and social reforms by direct and often uncompromising methods." If we are talking about a radical follower of Jesus, I would translate this definition to indicate someone who holds strong convictions about what forms the heart of Christianity, and therefore works toward establishing that as the primary mission of the Church. And if we are getting right down to the root of Christianity, J...