Thank God for Healing

Pictures of the Day:
File this under the category of "It's my diary, I'll be gross if I want to." I decided I wanted pictures of my unfortunate head injury, so I persuaded Evelyn to snap a couple. These are "before" and "after" shots. I got the staples out today, so I now can pass through a metal detector without incident! (Looks like four here, but there were five.)

In case you're wondering, it pinched only a little to have 'em removed, and that only for one or two of 'em. 

Two observations: The body's capacity to heal is marvelous. And readily available, competent medical help is a blessing.

Quote of the Day: 
This quote will appear in the editorial I'm writing now for the March issue of Christian Standard. We send it to the printer Wednesday morning.

"Accepting someone as a brother does not endorse everything he says or does. It's time we admit that grace had better cover errors in belief as well as practice, or we are all in trouble."
—Together Again, by Rick Atchley and Bob Russell.

Remembering Italy

Picture of the Day:
Oh my goodness, how can I pick just ONE? John Cornett who joined our summer cruise/tour to Italy, Greece, and Turkey (with his wife Sandra) is a wonderful photographer. And in our Christmas card he sent us a whole disc of pictures from our trip. And some of these are truly phenomenal shots.
I finally wrote him a thank-you last week and made him an offer.
I want to make a Shutterfly book of our trip, and I keep not getting to it. (It takes more sorting, planning, choosing than one might think to put one of those books together.) But I told him this is one time procrastination has paid off, because I certainly want to include some of his pictures in the book.
Then the offer: I told him if he'd send me more pictures of his wife and himself, I'd make a second edition of the book, swapping out some of our pictures of ourselves with pictures of the Cornetts.
He readily agreed, and the second disc arrived in the mail yesterday.
Below is just one of his pictures, a panorama view of canals in Venice.

Oh, heck, I'll post one more, this dramatic shot of the sun peeking over the top of the Colosseum in Rome.

I have my first head cold of the new year--I think it's the first cold of the season. My head is stuffed up. My face is flushed. My eyes hurt. My throat is dry. I decided it was a good evening to put my feet up beside the fire and start sorting these pictures in preparation for making the book. 

With these wonderful pictures, the biggest challenge will be what NOT to include!

From Writers for Writers

Quotes of the Day:

With a shout-out to some friends who have formed a new writers group at Christ's Church at Mason, I offer these quotes from the "Sunbeams" page in the latest issue (February 2014) of The Sun.
"Sunbeams" is a regular feature in this independent journal, and this month, all the quotes relate to writing.

(Dale Reeves formed our writers group to write/edit/compile projects for the church as well as to share and expolore our own writing. The first meeting was last night. I enjoyed it!)

I lived in the midst of an affectionate, charming family, and I am sure that there is no greater obstacle to a person who is just beginning to write.
—Katharine Butler Hathaway

The good thing about writing fiction is that you can get back at people. I've gotten back at lawyers, prosecutors, judges, law professors, and politicians. I just line 'em up and shoot 'em.
—John Grisham

He asked, "What makes a man a writer?"
"Well, I said, it's simple. You either get it down on paper, or jump off a bridge."
—Charles Bukowski

Writing allows even a stupid person to seem halfway intelligent, if only that person will write the same thought over and over again, improving it just a little bit each time. It is a lot like inflating a blimp with a bicycle pump. Anybody can do it. All it takes is time."
—Kurt Vonnegut

I am dissatisfied with everything I have ever written and regard it all only as a preparation for that one work which probably I don't have it in me to write but which I hope I can go on trying for.
—Ruth Prawer Jhabvala

He who has made a thousand things and he who has made none, both feel the same desire: to make something.
—Antonio Porchia

This is Our Story

Picture of the Day:
Our church is joining the large number of congregations across the country that have used Zondervan's The Story as the basis for worship and Bible study for a 32-week period. Today was the introductory sermon, and today I received my copy of the book, plus material to help me lead sessions for the men's "tribe" I meet with on Thursday mornings.
I'm looking forward to it. It will be good for me personally, providing a doable plan to add structure to my desire to connect with God. It will be good for our group, because it will lend insight into his Word and his will for all of us. It will be good for our church, just as it evidently has been good for so many others.
I'm eager to get started.

Quote of the Day:
"There are some things about Jesus that can't be negotiated. If you don't believe he rose again, your religion is not Christianity. . . . This is our story. God looked forward and he saw Abraham; Abraham looked forward and he saw Jesus; Jesus looked forward and he saw us!"
—Trevor DeVage in this morning's sermon, the first in this series.

Meals of the Day:
Lunch with Dave Lautzenheiser at First Watch. We treated, with a gift certificate Evelyn received for leading a D-group at CCU. Dave was batching it, because Mary went to Tennessee to see the grandson this weekend.
Dinner will be Evelyn's pasta bean soup. It's perfect weather for soup, and this is a wonderful recipe. I know the whole world will be watching the Grammy awards tonight, but we'll be in front of 60 Minutes and Downton Abbey.

Fresh Flowers and Good Friends on a Snowy, Cold Day

Pictures of the Day:
Isn't it nice what $3.99 at Kroger's will get you when you'd like a breath of fresh for your dining room table when you're having friends for supper?
Terry and Shirley Wuske came tonight and helped us eat some of the wonderful treats in the carton of Omaha Steaks goodies Ken and Susan sent us for Christmas (they've been in the freezer since then). (The steaks, I mean. Not Ken and Susan.)

Quote of the Day:
I couldn't stop till I got all the way to the bottom.
—Shirley Wuske, describing her attempt at skiing, with a remark that made us think of so many other situations in life!

People Like to See Suffering

Realization of the Day: People like to see suffering. Or at least vulnerability. Yesterday's blog post about my slip on the ice and trip to the emergency room has been seen so far 294 times. As in, almost THREE HUNDRED times. This is nothing for the celebrity bloggers, but for just me that may be a record. Maybe the way to really get my readership up would be to have a heart attack or amputation or something. But I'm not complaining. I'm just choosing to believe it's a sign of how much so many love me! :-)

Picture of the Day:
Tom Hanks in Captain Phillips. We never got to the theater to see it, but we were able to snag a copy from Redbox tonight. If you haven't seen it, we would highly recommend it. I continue to be amazed by the breadth of Tom Hanks's work.

And I have to admit, part of the reason we liked this movie is, we like to see suffering. :-)

Quote of the Day:
Everything's goin' to be all right.
(I'm sure I'm not the only one to notice the contrast between the two in the movie who said those words.)

5 Staples, No Concussion, and a Laugh in the ER

Pictures of the Day:
Here's the pic I snapped of our Thursday-morning men's group enjoying breakfast at IHOP this morning.

Here's the pic I snapped of my hospital bracelet at Bethesda North emergency room where I went for treatment after slipping on the ice after breakfast and cracking my head on the restaurant parking lot.

Here's the schedule they posted in my office when I returned to work late this morning.

The rest of the story: I don't remember falling. I just remember putting my hand on the back of my head where it hit  and coming away with a bloody palm. "Oh, I have to wash my hand," I think I said. So I went into the restaurant restroom, and a couple of the guys were still there talking.
"Mark, are you alright?" I had folded up some paper towel and was holding it over the cut.
Dave Kruger took my arm and led me back to my car, and Brad Comerford started quizzing me. "I think we should go to the Urgent Care," he said. I followed him in my car. But when we got there, it was closed. (Doesn't open till 10!)
"You know, Brad, I don't really remember what happened,"I said, which wasn't entirely accurate. But, driving to the Urgent Care, I was trying to remember details, like you try to remember details of a dream after you've awakened.
"Let me drive you to the ER," he said. (He told me later I had him really concerned.) So I locked my car and hopped into his. He called his wife who called Evelyn. She met us at the hospital, after I had been admitted. Bless him--his help was really a big help.
They put five staples in the wound at the top of my head and I got an X-ray which confirmed I don't have a concussion.
But I've been headachey all afternoon and evening, and I have a sore rear end (don't know if it hit first or second).
I'm very grateful it wasn't worse . . . and VERY grateful I didn't break a wrist or arm or anything else!

Quotes of the Day:
Conversation overheard from the adjacent examining room in the ER. This was about 8:00 a.m. today. The patient was a big guy, an older guy. He'd come in because he was short of breath and he needed a breathing treatment.

Doctor: Are you still smoking?
Patient: No, I quit.
Doctor: When did you quit?
Patient: Yesterday.
Doctor: When was your last cigarette?
Patient: 10 o'clock last night.

Yeah, and I had quit drinking coffee. My last cup was about 7:00 this morning.

Alive Periodically

Quote of the Day:
"Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and then go do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive."
—Howard Thurman, quoted by Facebook friend Christie Clayton on her status feed today.


Picture of the Day:
I guess it stands to reason that a magazine editor would read magazines. Well, I read lots of them, and before Christmas I succumbed to Christianity Today's offer to begin a yearlong subscription to that magazine and Leadership Journal for $10 each. I've been carrying around my first issues, hoping to find time to read them and wanting to see what lessons I could learn from them to apply to our work with Christian Standard.
Of course, these two standouts, plus Outreach Magazine and World Magazine, outclass Christian Standard on many fronts for many reasons, not the least of which is their staffs and their budgets, much larger than our operation supports.
In addition to these magazines, I regularly see Time, Sun, Better Homes and Gardens, and The Wall Street Journal, plus leafing through Evelyn's Real Simple and a quarterly gardening magazine.
But not everything one reads should be new or a periodical, and there are some books calling my name in 2014.

Actually, the cover of the latest issue of Christian Standard doesn't stack up too badly against
these Christian "competitors," do you think?

What Else? The Weather!

Pictures of the Day: As I'm posting these pictures, Evelyn is reading me the weather report for Philadelphia (close to where Jennifer and Matt live) and Long Island City, NY (where Geoff and Lisa live). Each has has 11+ inches of snow in the last 24 hours with 2 or 3 more inches predicted overnight. That makes my little snow report seem inconsequential. But, nevertheless, Evelyn and I did wake up to driveway covered with at least 4 inches. We shoveled from 6:30 till 7:15, and by the time we were through, the wind had blown drifts back over a large part of it. Before leaving for work, I brushed snow off the back window of my car that was parked INSIDE the garage, because the blowing snow had blasted a covering over it while we were outside shoveling.
Evelyn awoke to a text saying classes at CCU were delayed till 10:00. Then another text came saying chapel at 10:00 was cancelled. Then another text: Classes delayed till noon. And before I finally left for work before 10:00, CCU had given up for the day: all classes cancelled. This was the first day of the new semester, in which Evelyn is teaching two classes, going in on Tuesday and Thursday.
I decided to go to work late and cleared out old e-mails (left over from my time out of the office) from here.
My trip to work was relatively uneventful; roads weren't clear, but they had been treated, and traffic was light.
Evelyn, bless her, decided to reshovel the driveway late in the afternoon. It had drifted to at least 6 inches in some spots, and the temperatures were in the teens.
The fruit of her work:

We watched the weather on TV just before supper, and Tim Hedrick says we'll have lows in the single digits and highs in the teens for the rest of the week till Saturday and Sunday—and then there's a chance for "significant snow." The high temperatures next week will be back in the teens.

Quote of the Day: From a radio newscaster reporting on the icy punch the northeast is getting tonight: "Well, the good news is we have only two more months of winter."

TWO MORE MONTHS! That's at least 6 weeks too much!
(Actually, I think it's bad form to complain about the weather. But it's my diary, and next year I want to remember this.)

Today's Laugh and Yesterday's Pictures

My best Facebook Update of the Day: 
Flying to CVG fr Orlando with Cinti newscaster Clyde Gray and his family sitting right behind me. And we are NOT flying 1st class. 

My Biggest Dose of Endorphins for the Day: 
Facebook friend Gayle Ertel commented on the above:
Ha, that is so funny because Clyde Gray posted on Facebook about 3 hours ago: Flying to CVG fr Orlando with Cinti publisher Mark Taylor right in front of me. And we are NOT flying first class. 

Pictures from Yesterday:
We went to the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World with Jennifer. In the middle of Martin Luther King Jr. weekend, the place was PACKED. We got FastPasses for three rides, waited in line for FIFTY minutes or more for Jungle Cruise (Really, I don't think it was worth it.) Snagged a place for a front-row seat for the Electrical Light Parade (is that what they call it?). And that gave us a great place to watch a fantastic light show on the face of Cinderella's castle followed by the best choreographed fireworks display I think I've ever seen.
The best thing about the Magic Kingdom, I think, is how beautifully landscaped so much of it is.
The day started chilly, progressed to almost warm, and ended downright cold. We were v-e-r-y tired by the time we got back to our hotel after 11:00 p.m.

Jennifer says Pete the Magic Dragon is her favorite float in the parade.

Visiting Kennedy Space Center and Quoting Peggy Noonan

Pictures of the Day: We're extending our stay in Orlando after finishing the Christian Standard contributing editors retreat yesterday. Today our destination was Kennedy Space Center, and I must say we were impressed. My pictures can't begin to do it justice, but these few will give a little idea of the impressive real rockets and other devices on display (none of these is a reproduction or simulation). They can't convey the excellent way they are presented and the inspiring stories the Center tells about American space exploration (which, by the way, is still continuing today).

Above is the Saturn V rocket, which is taller than two Statues of Liberty.

The Apollo 14 Command Module, the "Kitty Hawk" (above).
The Atlantis space shuttle (below pictures) is perhaps the most awe-inspiring. Evelyn tried to get a picture that would contain the whole thing. That was almost impossible.

Quote of the Day:

Chris Christie's problem isn't that he's a bully, it's that he's selfish. Barack Obama isn't stupid and therefore the maker of mayhem, he's selfish.

There isn't a staffer on the Hill who won't tell you that 90% of members are driven by their own needs, wants, and interests, not America's. The former defense secretary, Bob Gates, has written a whole book about it, and the passages in which he speaks most plainly read like a cry from the heart. . . .

Someday history will write of our era, and to history the biggest scandal will be the thing we all accepted in our leaders, chronic and endemic selfishness. History will be hard on us for that.

—Peggy Noonan, The Wall Street Journal, January 18-19, 2014

Great Group, Great Meeting, Great Quotes

Quotes of the Day:

Actually, these are quotes from the last three days. Wednesday afternoon through this morning, I've enjoyed the annual retreat with the Christian Standard contributing editors. This group of 12 Christian leaders from around the country helps Paul Williams and me choose topics, find authors, and set the direction of Christian Standard. But the group has become so close that our time together feels more like a spiritual retreat than a planning meeting. 

Following are quotes from our discussions, gleaned from my notes.

"If you go thru a lifetime easily, all you have to offer people is pablum."  Roy Lawson

"Part of the ugliness of being a pastor is the numbers game." Glen Elliott

"When God is doing a new thing, one of the greatest obstacles to doing his will is my current ministry." Randy Gariss 

"Never has there been a time when how you say what you say is as important as what you say. The end of apologetics is not a neatly worded statement of fact but, does it lead a person to Christ?" Ben Cachiaras

"Can we talk about things with honesty without killing the debate by name calling and judging?" Jim Tune

"You cannot win the culture wars, and I do not believe Christ calls us to win the culture wars.

Our citizenship is not in this world."  Jim Tune

"Poverty: It’s not just about money.

We approach the topic patronizingly." Becky Ahlberg

Picture of the Day:

I persuaded our committee members to line up for a quick snapshot a we began our time together this morning.

Back row: Paul Williams, Doug Priest, Glen Elliott, Arron Chambers, Randy Gariss. Front row: Ben Cachiaras, Jennifer Johnson, Roy Lawson, Matt Proctor, Jeff Faull, Jim Tune. Seated: Phyllis Fox, Becky Ahlberg.

What Should Christian Standard Publish? (and, what should teenagers watch on TV?)

Picture of the Day: I spent much of the day putting together a brief report I'll make at Christian Standard's annual contributing editors retreat later this week. Below is a jpeg of the first slide in the PowerPoint I'm creating.

Every year the contributing editors discuss what Christian Standard ought to be discussing and who ought to be writing for us.
An open invitation to readers of my blog and visitors to my Facebook page: What do you think Christian Standard should include in its content line-up for the next 12 months? Leave your comment here or at my Facebook page. I promise to share it!

Quote of the Day: The biggest take-away from this study is that what teenagers are watching can make a really big difference in what they think, and ultimately how they behave and really important life decisions. 

—Melissa Kearney, an associate professor of economics at the University of Maryland and co-author of a study that attributes part of the decrease in the U.S. teen birthrate to the MTV show 16 and Pregnant—in an interview with NPR today.

Years ago I worked with a group of Christian leaders who visited the big three networks' headquarters in New York to plead with them to lessen the amount of sex and violence on TV. To a person, each network executive insisted there is no relationship between what people watch and how people behave. So I almost wrecked the car when I heard this university professor on the radio sharing the above conclusion as a result of her careful research. Many readers will want to read or listen to the whole interview.

"We are a church made up of imperfect people."

Quote of the Day: "We are a church made up of imperfect people. See Isaiah 64:6: 'All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.'"
—Trevor DeVage, preaching at Christ's Church of Mason today, January 12, 2014

Picture of the Day:
We had a $10 coupon at Maggiano's that's going to expire before another chance to use it, so we had lunch there today. "Lunch" hardly says it. We stuffed ourselves with huge salads, I had enough lasagna for two people, and Evelyn brought half of her ravioli home. We shared an apple crostada for dessert. (We chose the dinner for two option.) And our main dishes came with another main dish to bring home and eat later. It's going to be a pasta week!

Second Quote of the Day: "Her advice: Remain engaged and contribute—and take risks."

—Connie Schultz, in her Parade magazine profile of Jane Pauley, whose book, Your Life Calling: Reimagining the Rest of Your Life, is out this month.

Looking Back

Quote of the Day: Knowing we must make the best of every day, because we do not know when it will be our last, makes us all realize how valuable family and friends are!
—Jeremy Fine, in the Christmas 2013 edition of The Fine Times

Every year Eddie and Billye Joyce Fine put out a two-sided, two page Christmas letter, The Fine Times, with contributions from Eddie, Billye Joyce, and their son, Jeremy.  It was one of several I read today, with time after the Christmas rush to savor this season's Christmas letters.
I always have been the nostalgic type, a tendency that's only increasing as I get older. And I took a turn in that direction as I thought about the long-time friendships with wonderful people who sent us letters this year.
I became friends with Eddie and Billye Joyce many years ago when they were leading Teacher Leader Conferences for Standard Publishing and I had the privilege to travel with them for the seminars. Their commitment and hard work were an inspiration to me, and I reflected on their lifetime of service as I read the news about their 50th wedding anniversary celebration this year.
Glenn and Carolyn Kirby always send us a newsy letter; this year's included the fact that Glenn turned 65 this year. How is that possible? It seems like just a few years ago that he was youth minister at First Christian Church in Longmont, Colorado, while I served there as education minister. (Actually that was  1974-76, coming up on 40 years ago!)
Bob and Sue Willson and their kids were among our pals when we came to Mason Church of Christ and I served there for more than four years as part-time education minister. We joined the church the year Jennifer was in in first grade, 1983 if I'm counting right--30 years ago! Of course, we've been at the church ever since then, and the Willsons have been our friends, even after they moved to North Carolina several years ago. Their Christmas letter reported that they've moved into a continuing care retirement community. "Our goal was to prevent our children from a similar experience with us in the future," they wrote, alluding to the difficult transitions they had experienced with both of their mothers a few years ago. Not long after their move, Sue had a stroke, from which she's recovering nicely. How is it that our peers, just a few years older than us, are experiencing such things?
Other letters reported births (our daughter-in-law's sister, Shannon, and her husband have a beautiful new baby boy this year) and illnesses (a friend and mentor, Eleanor Daniel, has suffered major illnesses, including a series of problems that almost killed her while she was serving in India earlier this year) and weddings and accomplishments in building the church and serving the Lord.
The letters are an encouragement to me to keep on keeping on. There's great value in perseverance; some things don't change—the Lord's grace, the world's need, the pleasures and challenges of serving—even though our bodies and our health and our circumstances inevitably will. Yep, Jeremy, "we must make the most of every day."

Pictures of the Day: These pictures weren't taken by me, but by a new friend, John Cornett, who accompanied us with his wife on our "Paul's Fourth Missionary Journey" cruise this summer with Marshall and Judy Hayden. His Christmas card included a CD chock full of the masterful photographs he took on the trip, and I didn't take time to look at them till this afternoon. What a treasure! What a gift! I've been intending to make a Shutterfly book with pictures of our experience. I'm so glad I've put it off, because very few of my pictures are as beautiful and crisp as his.  It's going to be a much more impressive keepsake because of his generosity.

This is Wendy Wagoner and Roy Lawson atop Mars Hill in Athens

John caught Evelyn and Wendy and me in a pose in Malta.

And this sweeping panorama is looking down from an elevation on the Greek island of Santorini.

Wonderful Meal, Fine Fellowship

Picture of the Day: Evelyn and I posed with Jon and Kathy Underwood after the teacher appreciation banquet at Forest Dale Church of Christ tonight. Jon had asked me to speak at it. It's been awhile since I've spoken at a teacher appreciation banquet; I used to do a lot of those! It was a blessing to spend some time with Jon and Kathy. We've known them both for more than three decades. Kathy was a student at Cincinnati Christian University when we were serving with her dad and mom in Longmont, Colorado, 1974-1976. And Jon has worked at Standard 32 years, almost as long as I have!
Kathy fixed all the food for this evening—a huge task: ham, green beans, corn, cheesy potatoes, homemade rolls, and three kinds of pie! She sent an extra tray of rolls home with us. Oh, how wonderful!

Quote of the Day: This winter, the American Medical Association classified obesity as a disabiliy. We need to make up our minds. We cannot logically on the one hand widen a definition of disability to include an unlimited number of conditions in order to legislate protection, and then on the other hand claim that it is morally permissible to prevent those with a disability from being born or to assist in killing them once they are here.

—Joni Eareckson Tada, "The Disability Double Standard" in the Wall Street Journal, today, January 10.

Consumerism, Snow, and Marriage

Highlight of the Day: Interviewing Ryan Connor, Jay Link, and Janet McMahon for this month's Beyond the Standard program. The title of the program centered around consumerism, the subject of the February Christian Standard, in which each of these three wrote. But we quickly moved to something beyond and before overspending and over acquiring to the basic issue of why we live and how we glorify God with all of life—including all our possessions and our money but certainly not stopping there.
I want to listen to the whole program again (you can hear it too, here)—I'm thinking there's probably at least one editorial in their comments, and besides that, I need to consider again all the challenges and perspectives of these three fine people.


Surprise of the Day: Snow! Did they say we would have more snow? I don't think so. Evelyn and I grabbed supper at Abuelo's, and when we walked back to the cars (we met there) about 6:30, snow flakes were floating down from the sky like a scene from a Hallmark movie. I stepped outside after 8:30 to find the driveway covered and a pretty sifting of snow on the bushes. It had stopped snowing by then, though; the temperature was above freezing; and I don't think we're going to have any real problems with the white stuff.

Quote of the Day: "With marriage, our generation thinks that we should all be incredibly happy all the time. The moment we are not incredibly happy, something's wrong with the marriage. Well, nothing's wrong with the marriage! You've signed up to live with someone for a half a century, and as long as you still have stuff in common and are still close it's fine. But you see people getting divorced and you think "What do you think is waiting out there?" I kind of like that [the generation that grew up in the interwar period] would have laughed at this idea."

—Julian Fellowes, creator of Downton Abbey, in the Wall Street Journal, January 3, 2014

Strange Noises, Knowing What's Coming, and What We Need in Elders

Concern of the Day (well, at least one of them!): Evelyn heard a loud tumbling sound coming from the roof at about 7:00 this morning. I was in the shower, so I didn't hear it. She thought something had fallen off the roof, or a deer had been on our deck. But neither appear to be true. So did some rafters fall inside either of our attics? The sound happened just once, and we've heard nothing since. (No scurrying, scritching feet, thank goodness—at least not yet!) If we don't hear anything more before then, I'll venture into the attic Saturday when it's light. I don't wanna go up there with a flashlight in the dark.
Updates later.

Quote of the Day:  "People of depth know what is at stake with each new year. They know we are blessed not to know what is coming."
—Paul S. Williams, in his column posted today at christianstandard.com 

 Second Quote of the Day: "Elders are ultimately responsible for the congregation. They must be men of conviction who are willing to make hard decisions and live with them long enough to see if they are working. Only when men of conviction serve as elders will churches be able to make decisions that positively alter the direction of a congregation. Otherwise, the loud voices of the 'we like it this way' or 'that won't work' crowds will dictate the demise of the church.
—Chuck Sackett in an excellent article that will appear in Christian Standard's March "Elders Meeting" column

Picture of the Day: Tomorrow morning (we meet at 6:00 a.m.!) is my men's Bible study's first gathering of the new year, and the last session of the six-part video series, The Christmas Experience, narrated by Kyle Idleman. Our guys have really enjoyed it, and one of them, Brad Comerford, even borrowed the videos to use at home during Christmastime. Thanks to Mike Mack for recommending the series in his column in Christian Standard.

 

Choose Your Critics Wisely

Quote of the Day:
A sure fire way to spiral into darkness is to listen to your critics or to obsess on pleasing people you barely know. Most of us have people in our lives who really know us and love us despite our flaws. Let them have more sway over your emotions than those who don't really know you at all. It really can be a choice. Decide who is worthy of affecting your emotions... and who isn't.
—Joe Boyd, in "7 Ways to Get Happy This Year" at Huffington Post

Laugh of the Day: Thanks to Vicki Cherry for giving me an outloud chuckle via her Facebook post:

 

 Second Quote of the Day:

It's not often that our home thermostat is set 70 degrees higher than the outside temperature! I drove by a Duke Energy building this morning and I swear I heard cash registers dinging inside.

—Chad Showalter, posting on Facebook

Pictures of the Day:

First, a proof of the cover for the March Christian Standard. Our art consultant and design helper, Scott

Ryan, came by today to look over the whole issue one last time before we upload it to the printer tomorrow. The issue should be in the mail next week. Scott created the cover for this issue.

Second, a snapshot of the yummy casserole Evelyn made for supper: scalloped potatoes with ham. I do believe that Christmas ham was worth it just to have the leftovers to make this wonderful dish. And we have enough casserole left to enjoy another time this week!

Yeah, I'm Writing About the Weather

Laugh-Out-Loud Moment of the Day: Son Geoff's Facebook post: "Hey does anyone have any thoughts on the weather?" Because the weather is what EVERYONE is talking about.
As every news report has told us, we (and most of the Midwest) are experiencing the coldest temperatures in two decades, which means even old guys like me have trouble remembering what minus 5 degrees feels like. I'll say this, it's brutal (to use another word repeated on the news reports). Tonight is trash night, and my 3-1/2 minutes carrying two loads down to the curb left me shivering even though I was bundled up like Nanook of the North.

Picture of the Day: Yeah, I know, this isn't too creative. But, hey, it's MY diary, and I want to remember this:

Quote of the Day: "It's easy to get caught up in the foibles of a corporate culture and the systems that have been built over time, but they have nothing at all to do with the faith that built the system in the first place."
—Seth Godin, in Tribes

Trevor DeVage, Garrison Keillor, and Man of Steel

Quotes of the Day: "Be careful not to forget the Lord" (Deuteronomy 6:12).
"We all need reminders
of what the Lord has done in our lives."
—Trevor DeVage, Christ's Church at Mason, January 5, 2014.

Another Quote of the Day:

May we not lose our marbles,
and keep up the pace.
May we face getting older
with something like grace.
—Garrison Keillor 

Frustration of the Day: Discovering that almost four hours of work during Christmas vacation created files on a flash drive that today were all polluted and inaccessible. I'll ask IT tomorrow if they can recover the files, but a) my plans to make two or three hours more progress today were thwarted, and b) it's possible I'll be starting from scratch tomorrow.

Accomplishment of the Day: We decided to attend church at 10:30 instead of 9:00, since Evelyn had a lunchtime meeting at church at noon. So we were up early, and I was able to get written a draft of my January 7 column for christianstandard.com before we left for church.

Very Grateful Today: SO-O-O-O glad I brought in the outside Christmas lights on New Year's Day when the sun was bright and the temperature was flirting with 50 degrees. Since then it's been cold and snowy and blustery and ugly. And even yesterday when the temperature topped freezing, all the bushes (those bushes that the lights had been adorning) were covered with snow. And today, on a gray afternoon, the forecast was for rain and then snow again, which leads me to my second measure of gratitude: I'm SO glad I had no plans to sit in the freezing mess at the Bengals game this afternoon.

Disappointing Memory of the Day: Man of Steel, last year's Superman prequel now available on DVD. If you like 143 minutes of computer-generated imagery (I didn't keep count, but I doubt there was any 10-minute stretch in the whole film without it), enough explosions and falling buildings for 40 9/11's, super-hero fistfights (again, tiresomely made possible by CGI and inexplicably finally won by Superman), unaffecting performances by Hollywood stars, and a plot that frankly I found confusing, then do like we did yesterday and pick up the disc at your local Redbox. The best thing about it was I had a promo code and got the experience for free.

Picture of the Day: Sorry, Mr. Kroger, but I doubt we'll have all our Christmas candy eaten in time to buy more for Valentine's Day.

New Year, New Layout, New Approach

Having resurrected this daily-diary blog on January 1, I've decided to take a new approach to it. I had a little time today to explore all the template and layout options available from the good people at blogger.com, and I chose a new look for the blog. That's snow in the background; I'll choose a different background photo with the seasons, or maybe someday I'll upload one of my own.
And I've also decided to try a different way of writing my daily entries. Maybe once in awhile I'll write the extended, several-paragraphs essay or story as I did last year. But most days I'm going to try a format like the one shown below.
The headings will vary with the day, and some days there may be only one! I'm thinking this will be easier to write, easier to read, and maybe more interesting for both me and readers.
We'll see. But I'm energized by trying a new approach.

Encouragement of the day: Talking with our friend Linda Weaver who has been virtually bedfast for several weeks in anticipation of surgery January 15, which will be followed by several weeks of recovery. I called her to see if we could bring her some food this weekend, and her spirit and attitude were a blessing to me. If she has to be shut-in, she's glad it's during our snowy winter instead of in the spring when she wants to be in her flowerbeds. She can lie in bed or stand, and she's been standing to read good books she's gathered. Friends have been kind and thoughtful, and her family is taking care of her—they had a wonderful time together at Christmas. Her daughter, a nurse in Honduras, is coming to stay with her after the surgery. "It's all good," she said. 

Smile of the day: Remembering my efforts last night to discover new ways Evelyn could wear the infinity scarf she got for Christmas. I must say I found some attractive options, as I modeled the scarf in front of the full-length mirror. But, looking at myself, I laughed out loud. "If the doorbell rings, please don't answer it," Evelyn said.

Quote of the day: "One requirement of being a virtuous friend is a proper respect for oneself. Aristotle famously stated that a friend is 'another self.' But in order for someone to love his other self properly—'wish what is good' for someone else—he must first wish what is good for himself. Only then can he love others rightly."

—Micah Mattix, Wall Street Journal, January 4-5, 2014, page C9,

in his review of   Friendship by A.C. Grayling

Accomplishment of the day: Taking our nonworking, discarded printer to the Staples store to recycle (it's been sitting in the basement for months) and getting a cord to connect our computers to the new printer since the  Wi-Fi has stopped working and we haven't been able to print on it. Running to the basement to plug in will be no inconvenience compared to waiting and wondering and growling in frustration because the document that the computer says is printing never prints.

Picture of the day: Look what $4.00 worth of Kroger roses did to spruce up the Christmas bouquet Ed and Peggy Sweeney sent us for Christmas. We'll enjoy it at least another week!

Seriously Studying a Prophet for the First Time

"So, are you going to be writing an editorial based on Ezekiel?"
Our vice president of product development, Matt Lockhart, was joking with me when I announced I had finished an assignment to complete some extra work for the company.
"No, I'm not anticipating that, but studying Ezekiel really was a blessing. I don't think I've ever studied the whole book of Ezekiel before!"
This spring Standard Publishing will release a teacher's study Bible, filled with commentary that first appeared through the decades in the company's popular and widely used Standard Lesson Commentary. Like so many projects in life--and in publishing--completing the commentary for the Bible has taken more time than planned. Before Christmas the editorial team recruited several employees, former employees, and freelancers each to take a section of the Bible to finish as soon as possible. With something close to an apology, Matt asked me to take on the book of Ezekiel.
I learned a lot, reading the book and reading the Ezekiel commentary that has been published by  Commentary writers through the years. It was something close to a devotional exercise, because periodically through the book, we authors were to insert a section called "What Do You Think?" with discussion questions for the teacher or group leader to use. Seeing the application of Ezekiel's prophecies and visions to the dilemmas and challenges of believers today was a blessing.
As I worked, I thought of the faithful editors who have so carefully prepared the Commentary chapters for decades, and I could see why some preachers buy each new annual edition as a reference for lesson and sermon preparation. My study made me almost--almost--interested in teaching the book of Ezekiel myself.
I'm guessing that might be a hard sell to my Thursday-morning men's group, though.

Snow Business

The story today is the snow. They said 2 to 4 inches, starting at 5 or 7 a.m. By the time I left at 7:15 the yard was covered, and Van Gordon was anything but clear. It was wet and heavy, and the trees were beautiful, more beautiful than my pictures show. The snow continued through the day. Evelyn called me after lunch and said she had measured 5-1/2 inches and it was still snowing. She hired a young man in the neighborhood to plow the driveway and shovel the walks, but by the time I got home, the wind had blown a drift to cover half the driveway. I tried to plow through, but after two attempts, gave up and parked the car sow I could shovel. Evelyn came and helped, and we cleared the driveway in about 5 minutes.
They're predicting temperatures in the single digits overnight, with worries about roads refreezing. Evelyn's assertion that we're moving south when I retire is sounding more sensible.

I snapped this picture and the one below through my car window about 8 a.m.

This was the view from our lunchroom, looking down at the courtyard
 between our building and the one next to us.

Here and below are scenes outside our building at lunchtime. 

It's a New Year

Evelyn spent most of the day de-Christmasing the place after Jen and Matt and the kids left around 10:00 a.m. I paid bills and got the checkbook up-to-date while giving an assist here and there to Evelyn who was rearranging some of the winter-not-Christmas snowmen and other decorations. I made us big salads for lunch, and we walked after 2:00. With a temperature close to 50 degrees outside, I decided it was the perfect afternoon to take down the lights outside. It took me longer than I planned, due largely to an extension cord wrapped and tangled all around itself in the garage. It took me at least 15 minutes, maybe 30, to get it into a manageable coil that would fit on the shelf in the garage.
All the lights and extension cords and portable outlets are put away in the basement. The only thing that remains is the Christmas tree inside, which I'll tackle probably Saturday morning.
They're predicting a couple inches of snow, at least, for the morning and cold temperatures all weekend. So I'm glad I got the outside stuff done today.
It was the second holiday in a week I've spent the whole day without leaving the house. Really, t's a nice way to have a holiday.
For dinner we cooked a couple of steaks from Omaha Steaks the Aulens had sent us for Christmas. They were really good, and there are more in the freezer!

Miles and Nina posed on the streetcar
in the Cincinnati section of Museum Center. 

Today's picture was taken yesterday. We spent the afternoon at the Cincinnati Museum Center after a big pancake and bacon breakfast at home. The museum was open a little later. We left just before 6:00 and then headed to the Chinese buffet on Tylersville Road. The Johnson kids love going to a Chinese restaurant, and this one is pretty good. The place was packed, and we had a good dinner.
Then we headed home to play Apples to Apples before retiring to the family room to watch Argo on DVD (Jen had brought it with them). Evelyn made two huge bowls of popcorn for us to munch while we watched. The kids hadn't seen the movie, and I was glad to see it a 2nd time (the first time was a year ago at the movie theater). Then we tuned into NBC and watched the ball drop and wished each other happy New Year together.