Finished reading: All Things Wise and Wonderful by James Herriot 📚
Lovely, as per the others.
Finished reading: How Ike Led by Susan Eisenhower 📚
Learned a lot about leadership, both successes and failures.
Finished reading: Monsters by Claire Dederer 📚
Learned a lot. Appreciated her candor of her own monstrousness.
Finished reading: The Running Grave by Robert Galbraith 📚
Listened to the audiobook with my wife. Enthralling.
Finished reading: Timothy Keller by Collin Hansen 📚
Finished reading: How Not to Be a Politician by Rory Stewart 📚 Rory is a political hero.
Finished reading: How to Stay Married by Harrison Scott Key 📚 Beautiful
Finished reading: The Hunt for Vulcan by Thomas Levenson 📚
Fun, accessible science narrative for laypeople like me (although I still can’t understand relativity theory).
Finished reading: The Bible vs. Biblical Womanhood by Philip Barton Payne 📚
Finished reading: The Years of Lyndon Johnson: The path to power by Robert A. Caro 📚
Took me forever. Everything said about Robert Caro’s research and writing is true. However, this is the first biography I’ve read on a character who I learned in the reading is–regardless of the merits of his accomplishments–a distinctly unsavory character.
Finished reading: Neither Complementarian nor Egalitarian: A Kingdom Corrective to the Evangelical Gender Debate by Michelle Lee-Barnewall 📚
This was the very best thing I’ve read on the topic. Very refreshing and thought provoking.
Finished reading: Soul Boom by Rainn Wilson 📚
I applaud Rainn’s endeavor and share many of concerns and maybe even some of his solutions. We differ of course on ultimate things.
Currently reading: The Years of Lyndon Johnson: The path to power by Robert A. Caro 📚
Finished reading: The Running Man by Stephen King 📚
Was wondering if there’d be some great escape in the end. There was a kind of justice, but alas.
Finished reading: The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi 📚
He describes it as pop music, by which he means it’s just something easy and fun. And it was certainly fun. Nothing wrong with fun.
Currently reading: The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi 📚
Finished reading: The Spy Who Came In from the Cold by John le Carré 📚
Oh man, the ending.
Currently reading: Essays on Religion, Science, and Society by Herman Bavinck 📚
Finished reading: Depression, Anxiety, and the Christian Life by Richard Baxter 📚
One thing to praise is the updating of the language. A kind of intra-lingual translation.
Finished reading: Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain 📚
Very entertaining and confirming that I will never work in a restaurant.
Up to 45 pushups and 1:30 planking. Finally got in a run, too, after days of Canadian smoke clogging the air.
Currently reading: Depression, Anxiety, and the Christian Life by Richard Baxter 📚
Currently reading: Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain 📚
Finished reading: The Possibility of Prayer by John Starke 📚
Finished reading: Two Hours by Ed Caesar 📚
Another fun running book.
Did a slower run today to start the week but increased pushups to 40 and planks to 1:25.
24:30 - just a few seconds shy of my PR.
24:23 - new personal best!
Up to 35 push ups and 1:20 planks. Did a slower, untamed run because I was on my feet all day yesterday at Six Flags. And now for a Daily Quordle Poem:
The Trekkie
HORDE of stylish teens, then there’s LOSER me in my JC Penny clearance rack getup and a GUSTO for Star Trek trivia, PRONE to wax eloquent on Kirk vs. Picard greatness comparisons.
My first go at a personal best that came up short. 25:02, just 7 seconds shy of my record. Might have pushed too hard in the first half. Or I’m just out of shape.
24:55 run - new time to beat. I know the gains won’t be as consistent or easy before too long.
QUACK ideas about rubbing your SCALP with olive oil and DRIER sheets twice and day ’tis sheer FOLLY: just shave it all and be done with it.
26:02 run today. New time to beat. The cooler weather definitely helped.
Currently reading: Two Hours by Ed Caesar 📚
Currently reading: The Possibility of Prayer by John Starke 📚
HAZEL eyes widen in surprise to REACT to news hard to believe when I SPOKE about taking more time off, to CHART more family trips, less project management.
Today’s run: 26:55. That’s the first benchmark for time to beat.
Ran the same run as yesterday (with some variation) with my brother-in-law Taylor. Ended with a jump in the pool. The company and the water were both very welcome.
QUELL my doubts that come in the GUISE of faint praise or UNDUE criticism, a PALER reflection of real justification.
Chadwick Boseman memorial
BRICK fire pit becomes grill, TIGHT with cuts I’ve never heard of before, SHOWY display of gluttonous indulgence. ARDOR of meat and conversation lovers sets the scene.
Reading Murakami on running inspired me to start running again more seriously rather than sporadically. On a whim I went for a run in the neighborhood where we’re vacationing. Very hot, some hills. 2.38 miles in total, and man, I am out of shape. But glad I did it.
Finished reading: Haruki Murakami Collection 3 Books Set (Men Without Women, What I Talk About When I Talk About Running, Norwegian Wood) by Haruki Murakami 📚
Read this one over two days. Made me want to get back into running.
Finished reading: Set in Darkness by Ian Rankin 📚
Enjoyed this one a lot.
Finished reading: The Life We’re Looking For: Reclaiming Relationship in a Technological World by Andy Crouch 📚
I always learn from and enjoy Andy Crouch.
Reedy River Falls in Greenville
Fun times at Split Creek Farm
Hartwell Damn in South Carolina
Currently reading: The Life We’re Looking For: Reclaiming Relationship in a Technological World by Andy Crouch 📚
Finished reading: Reformed Ethics : Volume 1: Created, Fallen, and Converted Humanity by Herman Bavinck 📚
Kudos to the editors for turning lecture notes and partial manuscripts into book form.
Currently reading: Set in Darkness by Ian Rankin 📚
Finished reading: All Things Bright and Beautiful by James Herriot 📚
These stories are as charming as everyone says. The ending with James going off to war as Helen looks out in tears was quite moving.
Finished reading: People My Teachers by John Stott 📚
A meandering, charming collection of spiritual biographies, with Stott’s “ornitheology” thrown in the mix of course.
Finished reading: Faithfulness and Holiness by J. I. Packer 📚
Lots of gold here.
Currently reading: People My Teachers by John Stott 📚
Currently reading: All Things Bright and Beautiful by James Herriot 📚
Finished reading: Walkable City by Jeff Speck 📚
I’m sold.
Finished reading: Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel 📚
Beautiful, as everyone says. But also long! Took me a while.
Finished reading: Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson 📚
Super fun listen.
Chicago, looking (south)west, part 2
Chicago, looking west
Currently reading: Faithfulness and Holiness by J. I. Packer 📚
Currently reading: Faithfulness and Holiness by J. I. Packer 📚
I think this would be called Mid Century, but I don’t know any details. On the northwest side of Chicago, where there’s a lot of this style. Yellow/orange/light brown brick, stones in rectangular or square arrangement, very opaque grid patterned windows (e.g. above the statue).
Finished reading: Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger 📚
A lovely book
Chicago River
Rooftop Starbucks
Liturgical Folk in concert. I met Ryan in Oxford, and it was a happy time to reconnect.
Currently reading: Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger 📚
The commute
Daily Quordle Poem 3/10/23 dailyquordlepoem.com/2023/03/1…
MOLAR more painful than yesterday? Maybe.
MARRY thoughts of dental torture with playing hooky,
OPTICs that no one will see through as my
DROLL dentist makes jokes about drilling into nerve endings.
Daily Quordle 3/8/23 dailyquordlepoem.com/2023/03/0…
ATOLL absolutely ballin’ spot for thermonuclear explosion.
SAUCE it up with mushroom cloud and radioactive contamination,
BROOK no rivals for Cold War R&D as meanwhile kids
CRAWL under desks to practice surviving the end of the world.
Currently reading: Reformed Ethics : Volume 1: Created, Fallen, and Converted Humanity by Herman Bavinck 📚
Finished reading: The Wonderful Works of God by Herman Bavinck 📚
Looking south from Paulina Brown Line stop
Dark Eyed Junco this morning
Currently reading: The Wonderful Works of God by Herman Bavinck 📚
Currently reading: Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel 📚
I got into the Wordle, Quordle, Octordle, etc., games last year. On a whim I took the answers to that day’s Quordle puzzle (https://www.merriam-webster.com/games/quordle/#/) and posted a ridiculously silly poem using those four words as the first words in a four line poem. I posted it on Twitter, and I did it again the next day. My friend David Wright saw it and loved it and joined in.
We made a few sort of formal rules for how to play (and let people break them whenever they wanted, because who cares?). The only truly important rule is to use the previous day’s Quordle words instead of that day’s so that you don’t spoil the puzzle for anyone who wants to play. About a dozen or so people became regular or semi-regular posters on Twitter.
After a few months some people ran out of steam and stopped posting. I was still posting poems from each day’s poems, but sometimes I’d not post one day and catch up the next day with two postings. But I was getting a little tired too. Making myself do it everyday was overly legalistic, and I wasn’t enjoying it as much, so I decided to step back a bit.
About the same time Elon Musk took over Twitter, and a site that already had too much drama got unbearable. I needed a break from the constant outrage. Thankfully, my friend and DQP cobelligerent David developed a dedicated website for posting: dailyquordlepoem.com. It’s a great site, and those of us who were still posting started posting there. Some still cross post to Twitter. I don’t, and it’s great to have one less reason to log on.
Anyway, it’s been great fun. I doubt any of my poems are really all that good, but that’s ok. If it wasn’t for DQP I wouldn’t be writing any poetry at all.
ANNOY me with your influencer vibes, why don’t you?
FLUSH with cash from targeted ads, I see you there sprawling on that
ISLET with the yacht in the background and the champagne in the foreground,
AWAKE with the knowledge that you, truly, are influencing.TM
From this week’s church newsletter:
I’ve been thinking a lot over the past few years about what our mission as a church is. What are we for? Just think about all that we’ve done the past few months: gone on a retreat, delivered Christmas presents to families with an incarcerated father, studied a catechism in Community Groups, hosted a few mental health events, provided legal assistance to people who can’t afford it, sang, prayed, preached, took the Lord’s Supper, and baptized a baby. Add to all that corporate activity everything you do in your own spheres of life and work: all the conversations, all the acts of support, all the vocational duties that did real good for other people. How does it all fit together?
Here’s how I’ve come to put it, which I’ve adapted from Christopher Wright’s book The Mission of God’s People. Our mission is to be the people God has called us to be, to do the work he’s called us to, and to speak the words he’s called us to speak. Get ready, you’ll probably be hearing me say this a lot in the future!
Our mission is to be the people he’s called us to be. We are to be holy, set apart from the world to belong to him. We’re sons and daughters adopted by our Father, and we have a family name to uphold. Our pursuit of personal holiness and the embrace of our adoptive identity, then, are essential to our mission.
Our mission is to do the works he’s called us to do. This includes both our vocational callings as well as our general Christian calling. In our vocations we serve the common good, doing good to our neighbors, through good, honest work as teachers, accountants, coders, what have you. He’s also called us to do justice, love mercy, and to walk humbly with our God (Micah 6:8), and so we do works of justice and tangible acts of love for our neighbors.
Our mission is to speak the words he’s called us to speak. Our God is a speaking God, and so his people are a speaking people. This includes speaking the gospel to unbelievers according to our individual gifting and opportunities. It also includes speaking words of truth in a world of error and words of comfort in a world of pain.
It’s out of his grace that we joyfully fulfill God’s mission. God’s love has been poured out on us through Jesus Christ, and so with gratitude and hope we follow him in being a people, doing work, and speaking words in accordance with his gracious calling.
Going to give micro.blog a try, with a hat tip to Alan Jacobs for making me aware of it. I think I’ll use it for pictures, what I’m reading, Daily Quordle Poems, and whatever else I feel like.