Every nation, people, or culture has a story. It seems to me that in every one of those cultures there is a place of honor reserved for those whose work it is or has been to protect all the others. Such is certainly the case in the American story. From the founding our principal heroes have been warriors. This seems to be the case for most cultures which endure at all (for obvious reasons).

In a world where sin is a universal plague, it is for now necessary to have governments who serve their people by bearing the sword. These abstract considerations find form in so many men and women who serve in the military.

It’s an easy thing to forget that the liberty we enjoy is not produced in a vacuum. It was got the way it is usually got –by men with guns. These men have frequently been people of the highest moral character, willingly sacrificing themselves for the love they have for those they would protect. Many have died.

I think it’s a peculiar and grievous kind of selfish delusion to deny gratitude to these servants.

I pray for peace with our enemies. I understand that our enemies are in need of the Gospel just like we are. I understand that as Christians we are called to have an attitude of forgiveness and love. But the world is what it is and has been since the fall –a place where many powerful men want to dominate others for evil.

I thank God for soldiers who stand guard at the gates, who work to allow me to live in peace and safety in my home. I don’t want to assign divinity to these servants, provoke or participate in idolatry to the nation they serve, but I want to thank them for being an instrument by which we receive so much kindness in our lives.

So thank you. To everyone who signs a paper that says you are willing to go anywhere and fight anyone so I can be with my family and be a lot less fearful than most people in history have been and most people in the world are.

We honor the memory of the fallen, and say that we won’t forget you. Saying “thank you” doesn’t feel adequate. But may we with our lives be a kind of tribute to the cause you laid down your lives for. I’ll hug my kids a little tighter, seek joy and deep meaning in the life I have. And remember the part you played in securing those joys, with thanks.

“I am trying to recover a respect for the life of the Spirit that is revealed in Jesus and the Scriptures in contrast to a life that is defined by consumption and achievement, competition and psychological profiling. I am trying to develop an imagination that is immersed in the operations of the Trinity so that I will not be constantly seduced into thinking that spirituality is a way of managing my own life and the lives of others, my life with me in charge with an occasional assist from the Spirit. I am trying to practice a way of language that is personal, particular, relational, a language of poetry and parable and metaphor, a language that welcomes mystery and counters the bullying, propagandizing, sloganeering, cliched and abstracted use of language that dominates our schools, our workplaces, our media, and, sadly, our churches.”

Eugene Peterson

My friend Ken sent this to me. It reflects a lot of our recent conversations and the aspirations that keep coming up in them. I feel far from this, but my heart yearns for it. This might sum up what I pray God is doing in me, my family, my church, and my community right now better than anything else I’m aware of. It feels like it will require a miracle, that I’m up against the Red Sea and helpless. It feels like only God can do this thing in my heart. –Sam

Weird, right?

My last post (Friday) asked the question, Who Is C.S. Lewis In Your Life? This referred to how J.R.R. Tolkien viewed the encouragement he received from Lewis as absolutely essential, and I was asking who played that role in your life.

Many people fill that roll in my life, but my Mom is unique in many ways. She always has an encouraging word, always is quick with praise and remains confident that I will succeed in the work of writing.

She also helps me by proofreading, editing, and giving input on story, plot, and content which is extremely valuable and reliable.

I’m thankful for my mother in many, many ways. But this is one way which I’m especially thankful for now. It’s one way Mom continues to have an impact on my life long after I’ve left the ole’ nest.

Also, speaking of C.S. Lewis, my mother introduced me to this giant by reading the Narnia books to us when I was just a wee lad. That started something in me that hasn’t stopped. Further up and further in!

So thank you, Mom. You’re great. Bless you.

Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms.

May 13 to be exact. Get excited, people. Plan your life around the event that will showcase the amazing vocal and songwriting talents of one Eric Peters.

He’s good. He’s top notch. He’s the berries.

He’s Eric Peters.

Details here. More later (and more on the exciting location to follow as well).

For now, I shall entice you with one song and one song only from EP. Don’t forget you can get Free EP songs for FREE right here.

Does he seem scary?

“You exercise authority as God’s agent. You may not direct your children for you own agenda or convenience. You must direct your children on God’s behalf for their good.”

Tedd Trip, from Shepherding A Child’s Heart

Regarding the quotation below, Zach Nielsen says, “Tozer was great, but don’t be like him in this way.” I srongly agree. Many Christian men (esp. leaders) are busy with many things and are easily tempted towards a lifestyle of neglecting our families and leaving to our wives great piles of lonely, largely-thankless work. Men, this should not be. This is the first province of our stewardship. We all fail in many ways, but failing here is like standing on the porch of our burning home aiming a water hose everywhere else.

“With a burning desire to learn and a keen sense of educational inadequacy, Tozer began to devote long hours to reading. He not only read a lot, his mind was preoccupied when he was home, as he continually sorted out ideas and wrote articles in his mind when he could not be alone to put them on paper.

“By early 1928 the Tozers had a routine. Aiden [Tozer] found his fulfillment in reading, preparing sermons, preaching, and weaving travel into his demanding and exciting schedule, while Ada learned to cope. She dutifully washed, ironed, cooked, and cared for the little ones, and developed the art of shoving her pain deep down inside. Most of the time she pretended there was no hurt, but when it erupted, she usually blamed herself for not being godly enough to conquer her longing for intimacy from an emotionally aloof husband.”

Lyle Dorsett, A Passion for God: The Spiritual Journey of A. W. Tozer, p. 81

Kids love whatever we love and share with them.

Profound, right?

So what do we love? What are we passionate about? Our kids are smart. They pick up on what we love and they pick up on it even if we say we love something else. What are we sharing with our kids?

Skiing Monkey PJs.

Note: I don’t mean this as a guilt trip. Really. I mean it as an encouragement to love the good and to share it with our kids. Good things like skiing monkeys.

Gina (my beautiful/amazing wife) took this pic over Advent/Christmas, something we make a big deal out of –because we love it!

UPDATE: Breann wisely points us back to this quotation by D.A. Carson on the subject.

A few days ago I listed my fiction reading from last year (2010) and wrote a short intro that relates to some of this as well.

I’m determined to read a bit more widely this year in non-fiction, but I don’t really have much of a plan. As a reader, I’m kind of like the kid just getting used to playing the sport, learning to love it. (FYI: The sport is reading.) I will need more and more coaching as I go along. I will say that, of all these books, I think Greg’s was the closest to home. But these were all good.

Wrestling With An Angel (Greg Lucas)

Saint Patrick (Jonathan Rogers)

How the Irish Saved Civilization (Thomas Cahill)

Cinderella Man (Jeremy Schaap)

The Lives of The Kings and Queens of England (Antonia Fraser)

Walt Disney: The Triumph Of The American Imagination (Neal Gabler)

A Sweet and Bitter Providence (John Piper)

What is the Gospel? (Greg Gilbert)

The Four: Survey of the Gospels (Peter Leithart)

Ancient Near Eastern Texts Related to the Old Testament (James Pritchard, editor. I did not read the entire thing, but selections)

The Literary Structure Of The Old Testament (David Dorsey)

Bible Reading was mostly in: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Ruth, Judges, Luke, John, Ephesians.

I read a lot of poetry (for me) last year. John Milton, Billy Collins, Wendell Berry, my daughter (the best!) and some others.

I read a lot of e-mails.

Every year I mean to write down the books I read as I read them, but I never remember to. So, below you’ll find a list of what I can remember that I read this past year. So fascinating, I know. Please don’t hyperventilate.

I’d love to bore you with more details, like which books I loved and which not so much, but I won’t. Most were good (Winter’s Tale), some were transporting (Paradise Lost). I’m linking only to books of friends and a few others, because of a long and complicated reason, best summed up by the following: I don’t want to do the rest. You can find ‘em if you want to. I’d be glad to answer individual questions about any in an e-mail, or in person (like age appropriateness, negative depictions of Appalachians, etc.). I’m psyched out of doing a Top 10, or any ranking, so don’t look for that.

I’m a very slow reader, but audiobooks have rescued me. I listen to a lot of them. They do count, by the way. Don’t hate, participate.

I do read a lot of fiction (compared with my non-fiction reading). Part of that is to try to learn the craft of novelizing and improve at what I think is a calling on my life. Another is that I love fiction and think it is very valuable –even to Bible study. Of particular value to Bible study (which I love) is reading old literature from another culture which has been updated or translated. I got a few shots at that by reading Gilgamesh, Beowulf (and their excellent accompanying essays), and Ancient Near-Eastern Texts Related To The Old Testament. These are of great value for understanding how language works, how cultural idioms are related in verse, and how the world that is past is still understandable (to some extent).

Another value that relates specifically to understanding the Bible is the form of genre. It helps to read poetry, history, tales, prayers, etc. The Bible is a collection of a lot of different kinds of writing and it helps to see what those genres are like, to better interpret what is intended. I’d love to write a little more (on the very little I know) about Bible study, but for now I’ll just say this. To me, it seems really important to notice what the author is emphasizing (repetition, location in text, etc.) and to remove as many barriers to interpretation as possible (ignorance of genre, history, language, idioms etc.). More on that later? Or, do yourself a favor and read some one who knows what they are talking about, like David Dorsey in The Literary Structure Of The Old Testament (especially the first few chapters).

This will be the Fiction list, with the Not Fiction edition coming in a couple of days.

Gilgamesh (New English Version by Stephen Mitchell)

Beowulf (Seamus Heaney)

The Children of Hurin (J.R.R. Tolkien)

Farmer Giles of Ham, Smith of Wootten Major (reread, J.R.R. Tolkien)

Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien (reread, ed. Walter Hooper)

Tree and Leaf (J.R.R. Tolkien)

100 Cupboards (N.D. Wilson)

Angela’s Ashes (re-read, by Frank McCourt)

Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell (Suzanna Clark)

Paradise Lost (John Milton)

Fiddler’s Green (A.S. Peterson)

Straight Man (Richard Russo)

The Charlatan’s Boy (Jonathan Rogers)

Hannah Coulter (Wendell Berry)

Merlin’s Blade (Robert Treskillard)

Winter’s Tale (Mark Helprin)

The Martian General’s Daughter (Theodore Judson)

The Book of the Dunn Cow (Walter Wangerin Jr.)

Continued The No.1 Ladies Detective Agency Series (Alexander McCall Smith)

Book 2: Tears of the Giraffe

Book 3: Morality for Beautiful Girls

Book 4: The Khalahari Typing School For Men

The Fortune of War (Patrick O’Brian)

Some More P.G. Wodehouse, including Summer Lightning.

I know there were others, but I can’t remember and the library won’t give me a printout unless I’m from the C.I.A. (true).

This morning I asked my baby boy an important question.

“Who made you, son?”

His response?

“Oh….Muffins!”

Talk about your god being your belly.

Does this mark a passing of the torch in the funny comments division from my oldest son to his little brother? Well, he’s only 19 months old, so I doubt it. But the future of comedy in our offspring is looking good.