Why Homeschooling was cutting edge 25 years ago— And still is.

I found this great animated talk that can tell you in about 10 minutes what it would take me a half-hour to say.

Tropical Depression

Tropical Depression Emily. I guess it is official now. There is a satellite picture to prove it. My name is Emily, and I'm tropically depressed.

I was surprised by the accuracy, actually. The 'legendary' colors show a sad blue exterior surrounding a vibrant core. Furthermore, it has bearing and momentum—North at 10 mph, so even if I am not getting anywhere fast, at least I am not headed south, quite the opposite! Look closely and find a thin silver lining!

Only the depression is headed out to sea. The rest of me intends on sailing over the bounding main and making landfall.

Someday I will make landfall. Someday.

Sailing, sailing over the bounding main
Where many a stormy wind shall blow
'Ere Jack comes home again
Sailing, sailing over the bounding main
Where many a stormy wind shall blow
'Ere Jack comes home again

photo from wunderground

Riding the Volcano — from Pad 39-A to the Sea of Tranquillity

Forty-two years ago, a lunar module landed on a barren surface beneath a black sky. It had a plaque affixed to its descent stage which would be Left behind as a monument to its historic trip. it read:
HERE MEN FROM PLANET EARTH
FIRST SET FOOT UPON THE MOON
JULY 1969, A.D.
WE CAME IN PEACE FOR ALL MANKIND

One can hardly miss the parallels and contrasts between this message and that of another space traveler—one who had not only traveled through the universe before, but also happened to have created it. Earthmen had traveled to a barren, colorless world, but His destination was full of color and teeming with life. His message was:
I HAVE COME AS LIGHT TO THE WORLD
SO THAT EVERYONE WHO BELIEVES IN ME
WILL NOT REMAIN IN DARKNESS

You might recognize that as John 12:46. The physical world was bright with sunlight, but the spiritual world had been darkened by sin. The other Space Traveler brought a way to restore what had been lost in the Garden of Eden, and it is the most giant leap that anyone can take. Philosophers call it a leap of faith.


One of the astronauts described the launch from pad 39A as "riding a volcano." The journey began in fire and flames, but the destination was the Sea of Tranquility. In many ways, it was a Pilgrim's Progress for the 20th century. The journey demanded total commitment. Bailing out was not an option. Only mission control had the authority to abort. The astronauts had to follow the directives from mission control; their lives depended on it. The goal was a successful landing in a place of peace. The reward was glory.

Mankind is called to make that trip to the Sea of Tranquility where Jesus is our Peace.

Apollo 11 Saturn V Launch (HD) Camera E-8 from Mark Gray on Vimeo.

Sacred and undeniable? Or Self-evident?

The rabbit trail of my life has intersected with a fair number of history buffs. I have never taken the time to analyze if I am attracted to history lovers because they know interesting stuff, or if they are attracted to me because I am willing to listen to them. Either way, there is some sort of affinity there, and as a consequence, every few years someone is sure to inform me that Independence Day is really on July 2nd, and not on the 4th.

On July 2, 1776, Congress adopted Richard Henry Lee's Resolution that “these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states....and that all political connection between them and The State of Great Britain is, and of right ought to be, totally dissolved.”

In the days when social tweeting was limited to our avian friends, no one in England knew about that decision yet. It was Thomas Jefferson's highly edited version of The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America that was approved on July 4th. (Notice that "united" was just an adjective at that time and not part of the name of the new country.) It was on the 4th of July that we gave our well-reasoned account for declaring our independence. I have met several invidious Jezebel-types who have tried to tell me that our country was founded on violence. They are dangerously ignorant and just as bone-headed as King George. Unfortunately, they worked for the government. (And, no, Sheryl, 'King George' does not refer to Washington!)

Back on June 11, 1776, Congress had asked Jefferson to be part of a committee of five men who would draft a list of reasons for separating from England. (Other committee members were John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Robert R. Livingston and Roger Sherman; in perspective, Jefferson wasn't that well known outside his home colony of Virginia yet.) Jefferson was chosen to write the Declaration because (a) he had a splendid vocabulary and had shown a flair for writing, (b) he was still sort of 'grunt' status in Congress, Adams and Franklin being better known and having fuller schedules, (c) it was a providential assignment by God, or (d) all of the former reasons. Personally, I will go with d.

The Archiving Early America website added another reason: they say that Adams wanted a Virginian to write it, and I have no reason to doubt that. In fact, the second paragraph, the remainder of this one, and the paragraph that follows ought to have that website cited as the source, continuing with: "All told, in writing the document, Jefferson — together with his colleagues — made forty-seven alterations in the text, presenting it to Congress 17 days after the Committee had been named."

"Congress also changed Jefferson's original phrase "sacred and undeniable" truths to "self-evident," which appears in the document today. But to its everlasting credit, Congress saw fit to retain what has become “one of the best-known sentences in the human language” and “the most potent and consequential words in American history."

And so, Congress approved this wording: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights...

Which do you like better? Sacred and undeniable? Or Self-evident? Personally I prefer "self-evident." When rights are endowed by our Creator, calling them sacred and undeniable is redundant.

Bonus Round: Link to news article where Obama has misquoted the Declaration

A Midsummer Night

Steep thyself in a bowl of summertime. ~ Virgil, 70 - 19 BC


I love that quote from Virgil. Steep means to extract the essence of by soaking; and anyone who has experienced the liquid humidity of a Georgian summer knows that is right on the mark. Nothing else captures summer quite the way a pool of bright green pond scum does.

Midsummer actually falls on the solstice. The "mid-" part comes from old calendar systems where summer begins with May Day. Although astronomically, we are just beginning summer at solstice, it is the mid-point of the maximum daylight, so it all works.

For much of the English-speaking world, due in large part to Playwright Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream, the faeries of Celtic mythology are still remembered and associated with this festival day. To create a setting for his comedy, Shakespeare drew upon the ancient belief that summer solstice created a "thin place" in the cosmos where one could travel between the mystical and the physical realms.

When the first Christian missionaries visited the Celts, they found a people who believed that the divine pervaded each facet of life—that the spiritual and physical coexisted. It was a culture that fit the descriptions in Acts where scripture says that God did not leave Himself without witness, in that He did good and gave you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness. and that the divine Creator of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands. Despite some dissension between factions and conflict with the papal hierarchy, the more effective early missionaries did not fuss over changing the culture and converting the Celts into "good Roman Catholics." What came of it was a style of Christianity that emphasized the handiwork of the Creator more than the approach that came out of Rome.

Virgil, Shakespeare, or whomever, whether or not you celebrate Midsummer's Eve with faerie dances and bonfires, it is a good time or year to remember your Creator and thank Him for a universe that runs with such precision that we have a summer solstice to celebrate.

Scripture from Acts 14:17 and 17: 14

Fathers' Day at the Geezer Service

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Protestant churches have caught on to what the Catholics were pioneering when I was a kid—the hootenanny mass. They wanted to make God more attractive to the youth. ( pause for reflection...   It would behoove us to realize they ended up with the Flying Nun.) So we have two services. Same sermon, different flavor.

If there was ever a concept that mixes cluelessness with an equal amount of absurdity, it would be that of mankind attempting to make God attractive.

Anyway, I'm not sure what goes on at the youth service, but the geezer who led the prayer this morning used a phrase worth repeating: entrusted with manhood.

That is a provocative (in an intriguing sort of way) take on fatherhood.

It resonates with a segment of 1 Thessalonians 2:4 — we have been approved by God to be entrusted
(The King James uses "allowed" rather than "approved," but all four literal translations I checked used "approved" and another lexicon used "deemed fit.")

This is probably one of the most under-preached secrets to fatherhood and parenting in general: being able to trust the trustworthy. Raising a child to be trustworthy is only a portion of the job. The child then has to be entrusted. That is how a father-God develops a son's self esteem, no, make that his value. God the Father entrusted his Son with Saving the World!

But, on a smaller scale, it is fundamental to raising (not razing) really good kids.

"Entrusted" is a concept that is lacking in the secular-psychology paradigm for creating self-esteem. Parents are told that they need to "affirm their child's value." But that misses the mark, and it is not how God treats His kids, at least, not the primary way.

God did not say, "Abram, I'm choosing you because you have value!" Rather, He said, "I'm choosing you because you can be entrusted to teach your children to keep the way of the LORD." (loosely paraphrasing Ge 18:19) In other words, he was chosen because of his values. The choosing of David and Daniel and most of the prophets follows a similar course. God did not affirm the individual's value. He affirmed the values the individual held.

It is just one little 's' that makes a world of difference. Compare:

Affirm a child's value. vs. Affirm a child's values.

It is the noble values of a child's heart that ought to be affirmed and established.

The 50th Day

In one of the ironies of life, the fairly fundamental and liturgical church where I grew up always celebrated Pentecost Sunday. The altar cloths were changed to a fiery red and the organ played hymns heard only once a year from the special Pentecost section of the hymnal. It was our one dalliance into anything remotely mystical. The early verses of Acts Two were, of course, explained away as a one-time event.

¹ While the Day of Pentecost was running its course they were all together in one place, ² when suddenly there came from the sky a noise like that of a strong driving wind, which filled the whole house where they were sitting. ³ And there appeared to them tongues like flames of fire, dispersed among them and resting on each one. ⁴ And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to talk in other tongues, as the Spirit gave them power of utterance.

But verses 16 -18 made the minister a little nervous.

¹⁶ But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel:
¹⁷ "'And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
and your young men shall see visions,
and your old men shall dream dreams;
¹⁸even on my male servants and female servants
in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy.

For one day out of the year, it was permissible to contemplate portents in the sky above and signs on the earth below: blood, and fire, and vapors of smoke. The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before that great and terrible Day of the Lord.


As I began to say, in one of the ironies of my life, the miracles-died-out-with-the-apostles church where I grew up always celebrated Pentecost Sunday. But throughout my adult life, spent mainly in churches with an end-times outlook and Pentecostal flavor, very seldom has Pentecost been mentioned as a festal day. Today's geezer service, to the pastor's credit, did sport a hymn about the Holy Spirit, a very singable melody in ¾ time. I am not sure what happened in the contemporary service, but seeing as how waltz music is hard to clap to, no doubt they opted for something else.


Now I am going to have to point out my point because I am pretty sure I have not made it yet. My point is, one has to be responsible for his or her own spiritual life because every church is going to leave stuff out. There is a Day of the Lord coming, and whether you find it 'great and terrible' or 'great and resplendent' depends upon how you plan for it. Don't trust your church to have it covered.