Last week was Spring Break for most schools around here, including the college. So, of course, we had planned to sell the house in Connecticut and buy the house in Texas during that week. While younger, less responsible people were out doing more-fun, less-responsible things, we would sit around signing documents we didn't understand.
But you know how it goes sometimes with excellent plans. Turns out we have a "buyer" who, for maybe-good reasons, isn't buying; or at least not yet. So, for the last several days, when I wasnt' talking to attorneys, real estate agents, and mortgage brokers, I've had to spend a lot of my time just meditating on "This too shall pass."
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Classes started again yesterday. So I was introducing Romans (at 9 a.m.) and then Psalms and Proverbs (at 10:30). When we came to the Proverbs, we talked about how the very nature of those little gems just doesn't leave room for the real complexity of life. As a result, two proverbs that are true enough might contradict one another. "Absence makes the heart grow fonder" and "Out of sight, out of mind."
Interestingly enough, the Book of Proverbs seems to announce this caveat implicitly in 26:4-5. . . . "Do not answer a fool according to his folly, or you will be like him yourself" and "Answer a fool according to his folly, or he will be wise in his own eyes."
Got a favorite proverb?
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The Saturday edition of the "Amarillo Globe-News" includes a complete section called "Faith." Last week's issue included a story about a preacher who stages professional wrestling matches between good and evil characters. The piece included a photo of said preacher flying off the ropes ready to land on some poor guy dressed up in a devil costume, horns and all.
I still say the writer's of "The Simpsons" are more like chroniclers. I also say that preachers who want to preach like the great prophets, including the greatest one, will at least occasionally use a prop. I regret that I haven't done more of that myself. When did we decide that even though Jesus used things like coins to get his point across, all we ever needed was words?
Across the page from the wrestling story was an opinion article by an elderly Methodist minister. He was blaming the steep decline of mainline Protestantism on, get this, not enough questioning. His solution centers on reading books by John Shelby Spong, Marcus Borg, and their ilk. (By the way, don't you love the word "ilk"? It sounds so "ilky"). For those who've never read them, Spong, Borg, and company are the people who, in the name of academic integrity and authentic religion, try to undermine most every major truth claim of Christianity.
Hmmm.
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3 comments:
Hope the house deal goes through soon . . . and glad to be reading about your new "life" in Texas.
peace
Favorite Proverb:
26:18-19
Like a madman shooting
firebrands or deadly arrows
is a man who deceives his neighbor
and says, "I was only joking!"
I always bring that one out for April Fools day :)
I appreciate the balance you are bringing to the teaching of Prov. I have seen too many parents beat about the head & neck with "if you train up a child...." and too many kids beat about the rear end with "spare the rod..."
My favorite addendum to your absence proverb is "Absence makes the heart grow fonder of someone else."
For some cultural proverbs, I highly recommend the book "Wooden" by John Wooden and Steve Jamison. The end of the book has his favorite maxims. A quick sample:
"Discipline yourself and others won't need to."
"if you don' t have the time to do it right, when will you find the time to do it over?"
"Consider the rights of others before your feelings and the feelings of others before your rights."
Hope the transactions happen soon. I remember how stressful that was when we moved to Tennessee.
Hey, I was just traveling around the blogosphere and ran across your site. Just thought I would let you know I enjoyed yours! Have a great day!
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