Today, in West Virginia, a former member of the KKK will be honored at our State Capitol, with the first black President there to praise him.
Kind of remarkable. Much like the life of Robert C. Byrd.
I won’t go into the “Things I Disagree With Senator Byrd About List.” It would be a long one, but that’s not at issue today.
The longest serving Senator in U.S. history was from my home county, Raleigh. He apologized again and again for his early involvement with the Klan, and denounced them publicly, repudiating their views.
He was, by all accounts, a faithful and devoted husband to his wife, Erma. Theirs was an unusual, moving, love story. From early courtship in poverty (where a stick of gum constituted an extravagant gift) to him caring for her through Alzheimer’s. Those close to him said that he never got over her death.
He rose from poverty to the heights of public office. His death marks the end of an era in West Virginia politics. He has been in federal office about twice as long as I have been alive.
My prayers are with the Byrd family, and the many they have impacted in life.
The happy truth that God does not need us is a tonic against the fatal illness of self-reliance. It pleases God to work in and through us, but he is not dependent upon us. He is never biting his nails. He is never on the edge of his seat, worrying over outcomes.
If your god is like that, may I suggest you kill him and turn to the Triune God of the Bible. He is the Sovereign King. In actual fact.
It’s a busy season for my man, Andrew Peterson. I call him “my man” because –and this is kind of a technicality– but, I own him. He returns from a series of concerts in Sweden to a clamor of excitement surrounding his art.
1. Andrew won a Christy Award for writing the very best Young Adult novel in what is known as the Christian market for North, Or Be Eaten! Bravo! Well done. It’s an amazing book, as is its predecessor, On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness. His literary career is on the ascent and well-deserved it is. I love his music, but I think he might end up being a better author at the end of the day.
2. Speaking of his music, his new record is available for pre-order now. Go here to see the various ways you can support AP’s work and support your own ears (and heart) by putting your order in today. I just finished watching the video for “Dancing in the Mine-Field.” Another grown-up love song from AP in the tradition of “Don’t Give Up On Me” and others. Having just gone over the ten year mark with my wife, I was moved once again by AP’s gift for song-craft with deep truth. It’s excellent, and only one of the nifty bonus opportunities available when you pre-order. There’s t-shirts, immediate download of the record now, that video, coffee with himself, and I think a lock of his hair. Check it.
“In a very real sense not one of us is qualified, but it seems that God continually chooses the most unqualified to do his work, to bear his glory. If we are qualified, we tend to think that we have done the job ourselves. if we are forced to accept our evident lack of qualification, then there’s no danger that we will confuse God’s work with our own, or God’s glory with our own.
“It is interesting to note how many artists have had physical problems to overcome, deformities, lameness, terrible loneliness. Could Beethoven have written that glorious paean of praise in the Ninth Symphony if he had not to endure the dark closing in of deafness? As I look through his work chronologically, there’s no denying that it deepens and strengthens along with the deafness.
“Could Milton have seen all that he sees in Paradise Lost if he had not been blind? It is chastening to realize that those who have no physical flaw, who move through life in step with their peers, who are bright and beautiful, seldom become artists. The unending paradox is that we do learn through pain.
“My mother’s long life had more than its fair share of pain and tragedy. One time, after something difficult had happened, one of her childhood friends came to give comfort and help. Instead of which, she burst into tears and sobbed out, ‘I envy you! I envy you! You’ve had a terrible life, but you’ve lived!’
“I look back at my mother’s life and I see suffering deepening and strengthening it. In some people I have also seen it destroy. Pain is not always creative; received wrongly, it can lead to alcoholism and madness and suicide. Nevertheless, without it we do not grow.”
Sharing something is special. This is a video of fans in Seattle gathered in the last moments of the must-win-to-stay-alive U.S. soccer match in the World Cup –from The Seattle Times. Note: This goal is what they were viewing.
Check out the dude on the right with the spiked hair. Classic. I felt exactly like that.
OK, here’s another video which shows many different reactions across the nation (and one in my old home province of Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa –Durban).
Tomorrow at 2:30 EST the U.S. takes on Ghana in the knockout portion of the tournament (you lose you go home). But…we’ve already experienced that.
So, what’s your prediction for the game? Final score? Hero? Number of good U.S. goals disallowed?
One of my favorite living authors takes on the job of adapting one of my favorite dead (in a manner of speaking, see book) authors’ works. N.D. Wilson is set to adapt C.S. Lewis’ The Great Divorce for the screen. I am, of course, not sure how it might work, and the Narnia movies (especially the atrocious second film) have been a major disappointment. But if N.D. is on the job, I’m much more interested. His outstanding Notes From the Tilt-a-Whirlis reminiscent in may ways of The Great Divorce. I love that book.
This from Variety (which, as you know, I am constantly quoting)…
“Mpower Pictures (“The Stoning of Soraya M.”) and Beloved Pictures are teaming to co-produce C.S. Lewis’ fantasy novel ‘The Great Divorce.’
Veteran producer and Mpower CEO Steve McEveety will lead the production team. Childrens’ book author N.D. Wilson (‘Leepike Ridge,’ ‘100 Cupboards’) is attached to write.”
Note: CSL’s name for his short book came as a reply to William Blake’s poem, “The Marriage of Heaven and Hell.”
Note the Second: If you buy either of these books here I get a pittance. (Click on the cover image.)
This is dedicated to my brother, Josiah, who was a teenage skating phenom in the Republic of South Africa when we were kids. It was the first of about a million things that he became better than me at.The thing remaining that I am better than him at? Um…um…ping pong!
Well, yesterday was Father’s Day and West Virginia Day. So, guess what? You get this silly video. Bam. I know you are excited and grateful. I can see it in your ears.
I’m going to assume you’ve seen the Charlie Bit Me video. (If not, see here.)
