partsofspeaking

 Fascinating article on the aftereffects of the pandemic (well, the lockdowns) on children's health. Devastating. https://morning.thedispatch.com/p/the-morning-dispatch-the-kids-arent?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email   I am teaching a first year experience course with the theme of the 8 dimensions of wellness. Today I asked, if you would put one in the middle as the one that leads to all the others and they are dependent on, which would it be?  Over half said emotional wellness. I think that says a huge amount about our young people today. I asked why. "When I feel sad, I don't want to do any of those other things," was the answer, more or less.  This breaks my heart, because: They feel sad (why?), it controls them, or they let it, and because they don't understand what emotion is and where it comes from.  They are too focused on their feelings and comfort. How can a society sustain itself this way? I also taught about worldview today for the first time....

  Generally, I prefer to teach the New Testament, about Jesus and the teachings of grace, the riches of Christ. But we don’t get that option, either by the Lifeway guide or by the Lord. The accounts in the Old Testament (Hebrew Bible) are examples.   I Corinthians 10:11-13 (Read)   Meaning.   We have choice. So Let’s start where we left off: *Proverbs 4:23. Guard your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring (flow) the issues of life.   Ultimately, we find out Solomon’s problem was a heart problem. He was to walk with a heart of integrity, I Kings 9:4-9 What is the heart in the Hebrew mind? https://bibleproject.com/explore/video/lev-heart/ What is a heart of integrity? Not just being honest about money. Integrity means wholehearted, complete, consistent through and through. “the state of being whole and undivided.” Engineers talk of bridges having integrity. This is such a revelation, reminder, and restoration for me f...

 In some ways it seems to me that artificial intelligence and the way it is used is the height of laziness. 

 These two articles give a rather horrifying look at how our developing narcissism is eating away at connection.   Estranged parents and adult children, a growing problem .    Toxic people? Get rid of 'em!:     

I Kings 11:1-13 Solomon had reached the pinnacle of power and glory and wealth for a Middle Eastern king at that time. Israel was a military power and economic power. He was given what God promised him after he asked for wisdom instead of anything else.   As a child I read a story about the Queen of Sheba (Ethiopia or similar African country. There are, lots of legends people think are in the Bible but are in other literature really. According to this childhood story, Solomon was so wise that he was given the ability to talk to animals (not in the Bible; his wisdom was for discernment and judgment of the people). A bee stung him and he conversed with it and agreed not to kill it for stinging him. Later the Queen of Sheba came to his court with all kinds of gifts (this is recorded in I Kings 10) and wanted to ask him questions. She put him to the test with two bouquets of flowers, one by an artist and one real, and he was supposed to judge which was real. The bee showed up and...

  I have come to enjoy The Habit Podcast , with host Jonathan Rogers. I really recommend it for writers and would-be writers. He interviews writers in various genres. Today I listened to one with Lore Ferguson Wilbert, who recently published A Curious Faith . The book is about the questions God and we asks.   I am enamored with the statement “Live the Questions.”   Rainer Maria Rilke. The full quotation from his “Letters to a Young Poet.”   “Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books that are now written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer.” First, know what the questions are. Question what the questions are. J ...

Jesus was asked how we should pray: "teach us to pray" His disciples asked after seeing him return from prayer.  It is concise (not short, there's a difference) and pointed. One of them is "deliver us from evil." We do not talk about this one much, I have noticed over my Christian experience. Why? Are we afraid to? Do we not understand it? I have seen it "translated" as "deliver us from the evil one." Evil is not an abstract; it is action and motivation within people. So I would say "deliver us from the evil one(s)" makes sense.  But we then think of it as deliverance from Satan, ignoring al the other truly evil one(s) in the world.  I have been studying the psalms, and one aspect of the psalms we do not like to deal with is the imprecatory psalms.  But there they are. "Judge...destroy....punish....those who war against me." For this reason I pray daily, deliver us from Kim Jong Un, Vladimir Putin, Xi in China, and terrori...

This morning, lying in bed still after 6:00, I tried to figure out what was going on with me. I did not want to get out of bed. I did not want to leave my house. I did not want to drive to Chattanooga and see people at church.  Exhaustion was my primary feeling, deep down below the nodding off sleepy level. This happens sometimes, and I have never wanted to call it depression, because I wasn't sad. Then I realized what word described me.  Depleted.  It's a good word. It means empty, but more than that--"emptied." Drained. I did an inventory of my life over the last month, the last year, the last five and then ten years. That added to my sense of depletion.  Yesterday I did not leave the yard, but I did write 6000 words and do five yards of laundry and survey a dead tree in my yard that needs felling and talked to my recently widowed neighbored and some new ones. I read Trollope. I felt useless and .... depleted.  We are all depleted, whether we sense it or not, ...

  What follows are more tips and observations about traveling in the Netherlands, based on my ten-day trip last month. (I can't believe I was there seven days ago!) Photos of Amsterdam follow.  Edit added 8/10: Holland is geographically the western side of the country, more or less. I was there, so I am safe using "Holland." I know the name of the nation state is The Netherlands, so please do not feel the need to correct e.  Go to the grocery store (Jumbo, Albert Heijn) and buy food rather than eating out every meal. You will save a lot of time and money. Service in restaurants is slow.   As my brother said, somewhere between leisurely and glacial. You don’t have to tip, and you will not want to due to the slow service. The food is pretty good, though. You won’t have one server. You might have five, who do different things. When you are ready to pay, just flag down one of them. A cup of coffee is tiny. You do get a little snack with it (a chocolat...

 The Dutch want your money. They are very good at making money, too.   IT is very international. You will hear lots of languages and see lots of ethnicities.   Study the geography first. I thought it was next to France and South of Belgium. No. It doesn’t even share a border with France. Duh. It is closer to England than France is; its channel on the North Sea is narrower than the English Channel. (so a lot of English are here).   There are more bicycles than you can ever imagine. I am not exaggerating. The bicycles take some getting used to. Think of yourself trying to cross the street during the Tour de France, plus bikes and scooters and even scoot-mobiles, as they are called (scooters for disabled or elderly people).   Then think of this as constant, and you are the one who is in the way. Pedestrians are not privileged. You will not see very many cars in comparison.     In the cities, almost everything is in English. Eve...