The Mad Dash to Revelation...

It's on, folks. The crazed rush at the end of the year to make sure I make it through the whole Bible. It's like this every year. I don't think I've ever had a sane last week in December. Why? Why do I do this to myself? Why can't I just stay up in my Bible reading?

It's frequently a few killer weeks in the summer that tip me over the edge into perpetual behind-ness. Somewhere around Girls' Week and Convention time... It fluctuates year by year, of course. Sometimes I do pretty well there, but have a crunched couple of weeks at school or something. In any case, somewhere in the mad rush of living I drop the ball, only to pick it up again in December.

So why bother? you make ask. One year I did give up, I admit. I just read a little every day instead of trying to cram in a book a day or something. But most years the frenzy is worth it. Gretchen contends that I'm missing the point - the point isn't to read it in a year, it's to read a little EVERY DAY and thereby finish in a year. Hm. An excellent point. But I guess I figure if I'm that close, and if I've put that much work in, I might as well finish it up! I mean, I've already read 50 books, I might as well do 15 more! Besides, it's all about finishing what you set out to do. Who wants to leave a job half-finished?

And of course, there's always that great relief of starting off on January 1 having only 1 reading to read instead of 10. It's probably all worth it just for that!

Okay, enough babbling. I've got a bunch of Bible to read! (I'm always at my holiest Dec 31...)

Happy Birthday to my Favorite Mom!

I love my Mom. And today is her birthday! I love her because of the many ways she is like me. She understands me. I love her because of the (fewer) ways she is unlike me. I can't actually think of any at the moment. Well, that's not true - she doesn't have a lot of my faults! She has allowed God to work in her life in a remarkable way. And she can give amazing counsel along those lines. She is a very wise woman. I love her because she is fun and adventurous (you should have seen her on the moor on the Isle of Skye!) and funny and as kind a person as you will ever meet. I'm so thankful for such an awesome Mom!

Reading About Me in Books

Sometimes I run across things in books I can totally relate to - personality quirks or trains of thought or something. And then there are descriptions that are more obvious - things that really do describe me. Often they are negative things.

For example, I read a book about a girl who was my height and weight. And (now this, of course, is the not true-to-life part) she was described as "a large girl" or something like that. HEY NOW!!! I was not impressed.

Then there was the time a couple of weeks ago when I was reading "The Hiding Place" for school, and read about Corrie realizing (AT AGE 27) that she would never marry. Haha.

I've really enjoyed 27. I think it's a cool age. Established yet full of future possibility. 28 seemed kind of weird - an in-between age. I wasn't so sure.

But a couple of days ago I was reading a great Helen MacInnes and LO! the heroine (whom I really liked) was "only 28." Hurrah! Suddenly 28 was an acceptable age to be:) That was a nice pre-birthday gift.

Then, when I went downstairs this morning to receive the birthday greetings of my parents, Dad (who likes to find significance in these things) announced that 28 is the perfect square of 2 multiplied by 7. Ooooooooo! Auspicious to be sure!

So here I am: 28 years old. And so far it's been great!

(PS. Several of you have already commented on facebook - no need to leave birthday greetings here. I just wanted to write this!)

Merry Christmas!

"In him was life,

and that life was the

light of men.

The light shines in the darkness..."

Christmas: The Time for Traditions...

Back in the days when I was in school, our family was making Christmas traditions left and right. You know, things like a Christmas story Christmas Eve, the girls sleeping under the tree, certain ornaments that had to go up, favorite music, stockings, gift-opening traditions... And then there was one tradition all my own. I used to get sick practically every Christmas. Our theory was that I was pushing, pushing, pushing to get everything accomplished school-wise, and then I would let down for vacation and WHAM! I'd get sick.

This year I decided to take that tradition up again. Yup. My family is downstairs listening to Christmas music and chatting away over dinner, and I'm up here, feeling fever-y. But Mama left the door open so that I can be a part of it all. Much better than isolation, which I've never been a big fan of. I can even make out snatches of conversation. I just heard Kimberly say, "Remember how she always used to get sick on Christmas, though?" Awwww. They're talking about me!

The nice thing is that I got to stay in bed alllll day. Many is the time I've awoken to my alarm and wished that I could get away with this. Of course, I didn't count in the headache and general malaise. But still - I have an excuse to be totally and completely unproductive. So that's jolly.

Now for something a little more Christmas-y. I loved this year’s Christmas service yesterday – so many lovely and inspiring contributions focusing on the love and the wonder of Christmas. I’m thankful to our great God for His great Love given to us and for us on the first Christmas, and for the difference it has made in every single subsequent day.

Merry Christmas everyone! (And Happy Birthday, Clyde!)

Women's Lib Watch Out!

Okay, here are two things that really bug me.

#1 The bumper sticker that says "Well-behaved women don't make history."

#2 The descriptive term "strong woman" used so often in college about women in books who defy "traditional morality" to do whatever it is that they want (like leave their husband and children because they were stifled, or something).

OY VAY PEOPLE!

When I see the bumper sticker I feel like screaming "What about MARY?!" This being such a Catholic-rich state, that might be more effective here than elsewhere. But of course, the bumper sticker owner would probably claim that as an exception. It's true that the history books are full of many more men than women, but there's nothing wrong with that. Men are supposed to be the movers and shakers! And without well-behaved women, those men couldn't have moved or shaken. It's so much more important to be well-behaved and make a quiet difference with far-reaching consequences than to be in the history books for the kind of thing such bumper-sticker toters would applaud.

And what is up with calling someone "strong" who is immoral and selfish? It takes a lot more strength to die to self and do the right thing than it does to follow your own desires. In class I'm sure they were referring to those women braving social stigmas or some such thing, but there has to be some other term they can use to describe this. You know, something like "so bent on getting their own way, and blind to everything else, that they were willing to be looked down on by the rest of society. Including ourselves." But of course, that takes a little longer to say than "strong woman."

So what is a strong woman then? Self-sacrifice springs to mind, among other things...

I think of my Mother, who, while going through deep grief, gave me an example of justifying God without exception. She wasn't faking. She was living out her faith in front of me. Hers isn't some kind of brute strength, charging through life getting her own way, hers is the beautiful strength of choosing God and His ways again and again, even when it isn't easy.

I think of my friend Karen who went straight from being single to being married with four children, and who works from dawn to dusk to take care of them, barely taking a moment for herself, and still makes time for friendship with me.

I think of friends who are forging their way through life, discovering their paths one step at a time, unsure of what the future holds and yet going straight on.

I think of amazing mothers who have raised (and are raising) difference-making children.

Women who put others before themselves, women who say "yes" to God even when it means death to self, women who show the incredible strength of surrender - these are the strong women.

I'm sure there are many other attributes, and I know there are many other examples. I had ideas of developing this into a full-blown essay. But here is a little surface-scratching at least.

Oh For the Days of Horses and Carriages

Fiascoes galore! That's what my commutes have held recently. Oy vay.

First was the flat tire. On 95. On the way to work. A state trooper called a CVS help van for me, and I only missed morning devotions. Not too shabby!

Then two weeks ago I was on my way to work, this time on 195, when my car started rattling, I looked down, and saw my temperature gauge at the TOP! I'd never seen the like. I careened over to the (fortunately wide) shoulder, and decided the time had come to join AAA (or would you write Triple A?). Join I did, and the tow truck was to come in 45 minutes. In the mean time a CVS help van pulled up, and the kind man let me wait in his van so I wouldn't freeze to death. I love CVS help vans!

The tow truck pulled up and lo! the hydraulics broke! I was so amused, because when I teach irony to my students, that's one of my favorite examples: I break down, and the tow truck pulls up and gets a flat tire or something. What are the odds?! Anyway, the second tow truck was there just a few moments later, I got a tow, rented a car, and only missed first period! Then Uncle Paul bailed me out with a loaner car to use while mine got fixed.

Then came last Thursday. Snow storm. Remember? Well, we got out of school at noon, in order to beat the storm. The snow was already falling thick and fast, and it took me two hours to get to the outskirts of Providence - a trip that usually takes 40 minutes or so. And then, with startling regularity, one after another of the warning lights on the dashboard came on. I put in a call to Uncle Paul, he picked up... and the car died. Right in the slow lane of 195.

How fortuitous that I had just joined AAA/Triple A.

The call was shortly made, and I was put on high priority since I was actually on the highway, and not the shoulder. Thankfully, the traffic was moving at a deathly slow pace, so I wasn't in any real danger. But I felt awfully forlorn sitting there in a car being steadily covered with snow while cars passed by one after another.

Nearly TWO HOURS later the tow truck arrived. There were so many calls in to our friends of the A variety, that low priority calls were waiting more like 3 or 4 hours. Hurrah for breaking down on the highway!

And yet, the fun was not over... The tow took THREE HOURS. When there isn't heavy traffic, that trip takes about 10 minutes. But this wasn't just heavy traffic, it was unbelievable. We went 3/4 of a mile in about an hour. And then the exit for my apartment was blocked by a semi that couldn't make the hill. Another road was blocked by an accident.

I have never been so relieved to see my apartment! I flipped on the news and discovered that I was far from alone as far as horror stories go... All over Providence people were stuck for hours. Sara, who works 15 minutes from our apartment, took 7 hours to get home! Uncle Paul took 5 hours to get from the shop to my apartment and then home. It was a disaster. Entire roads, areas, highways at a standstill. OY VAY!

Anyway, it all turned out alright in the end. And Uncle Paul got my car fixed for WAY less than it was supposed to take, so now I have my own car back. I was so happy with it that I kissed the steering wheel. We hope the driving fiascoes are at an end now...

There's so much more I could say, but this seems long enough. Amazing how a little time passing makes these things more of a good story than an absolute nightmare. Time heals all wounds, and all that...

From Achilles to Christ

The title of this post is the title of a book I just got for my Classical Literature class. It arrived in the mail last week, and I started reading it Friday while I was overseeing a study hall (a one-person study hall, I might add, so I really have no distractions and it's like a free period!). I LOVE IT! Suddenly I was experiencing the handed-to-me-on-a-silver-platter intellectual stimulation which was such a daily occurence in college, but it so hard to come by these days. I kept interrupting my hard-working student in order to exclaim on the latest! (Poor kid.)

Anyway, the premise of the book is that the ancient pagan cultures, created by God with eternity in their hearts, were seeking after truth and, although they did not have God's special revelation, did have aspects of truth. Therefore, we can read the pagan classics looking for those glimmers of truth. The author even suggests that there are elements in the classics that foreshadow the coming of Christ, just as Abraham and Isaac foreshadowed it. Cool, huh?

I had noticed this repeatedly the first year I taught this class - this foreshadowing thing. The prime example is probably the Centaur (who had commited no wrong) giving up his life so that Prometheus (whom Zeus was punishing) could go free. It's all over the Greeks' writing. And this book finally gives me an understanding of why this is. It's SO COOL! This book is really going to help my teaching.

Oh, and then the author discusses the fact that Jesus and Paul both used the Greeks' own writing to point them to the truth. You know the verse about "except a grain (or corn) of wheat fall to the ground...?" Well, the author hypothesizes (though he says there's no definite proof) that Jesus used those specific words to point out to a Greek audience that was caught up in the Demeter cult (she was the goddess of corn and a vague idea of resurrection) that He was the true fulfillment of what they were seeking. Cool, eh?

Here are a few quotes to give you a better idea of what I'm talking about:

"If it is the living Messiah...that is the source of truth, then it is possible for that truth (albeit in a lesser, fragmented form) to appear throughout the imaginative literature of the ancient pre-Christian world."

"Those timeless works of ancient Greece and Rome that record the musings of humanity's greatest seekers and yearners will contain traces, remnants and intimations of that wisdom which made us."

"The Greco-Roman understanding of virtue was, in its purest form, not antithetical to but prophetic of the biblical Christian virtues of faith, hope and love."

"Were we not all created in God's image, and though we are all fallen from our original state, does not a spark of divine fire remain in each of us?"

AHHHHH! This stuff is SO down my alley:) Hurrah for someone who is smart, and can express it better than I can!

Okay, the coolest news of all in this is that Markos has written another book, and that one is about TENNYSON my all time favorite poet! That one's more expensive, and I'm not teaching it this year so I couldn't really justify spending the money. But it sure is on my Christmas list, boy howdy!

Can you believe that this is part of my job?! What a life...

(Katie - you should definitely read this book...)