Dimly Lit

I (obviously) haven’t been posting much of late. I’ve been out of town quite a bit between work sending me to both coasts within a week of each other and then driving to Charlotte, NC and back I haven’t had time to think; much less write. This is something I hope to rectify fairly soon.

I finally broke down and joined the 21st century by getting DSL at home so I will hopefully be doing a little more writing from the relative comfort of my dining room, as opposed to the cozy confines of my 4X4 cubicle. In fact, I had the best intentions of getting up early this morning and posting before anyone else got up. Unfortunately my 2 year old and my own laziness conspired against me. Ok, it was more my own laziness than my 2 year old, but that’s beside the point.

All that is just to say that I’m back and will be trying to post much more frequently. So until next time…

Very interesting post over at Touchstone’s Mere Comments about modern parents and the tendency toward over-protectiveness in such ways as using a cell phone as umbilical cord. Russell Moore is referrencing an article out of Psychology Today that is commented on in the Spring issue of the Wilson Quarterly.

Good stuff to think about. Are we encouraging and creating a nation of depressed, anxiety-ridden, wimps?

No, this time it’s not Kierkegaard that I’m referring to - it’s my 2.5 year old son. I don’t often post about my family, something I should probably remedy since they are truly what my life revolves around, but this has been an, um, well, an interesting week with young Maxwell. Cranky, wild mood swings, not sleeping as well as he used to, fears cropping up that weren’t there last week and in the midst of all that he can be the most affectionate boy around.

We’ve gone through similar periods before, but now since he’s bigger everything about him seems to be bigger as well. He’s growing, his world is expanding and everytime we hit a spurt like this things get a little wacky for a while. I can only imagine what it must be like to suddenly realize you can say and do and think things that only a few days ago you couldn’t. As he stretches his abilities and then runs into limitations it must be a mix of both great joy and extreme frustration.

In the midst of the latest tantrum it’s hard to remember that he is growing into the boy and man God has created him to be, (and I don’t even bear the brunt of it - my lovely wife has earned many jewels this past week!) but on occasion I am able to step back and get a glimpse of what is happening. And I’m incredibly excited and humbled that we’ve been given the great priviledge to watch, teach, guide, and love this little boy as he grows.

20 Questions to a Better Personality

Now this might be a personality test I could get behind! I’ve always wanted to be an Evil Genious. Although, to be completely honest I think I might have to disagree with the whole “extremely focused and difficult to distract” thing.

Wackiness: 10/100
Rationality: 10/100
Constructiveness: 20/100
Leadership: 10/100

You are a SEDF–Sober Emotional Destructive Follower. This makes you a Evil Genius.

You are extremely focused and difficult to distract from your tasks. With luck, you have learned to channel your energies into improving your intellect, rather than destroying the weak and unsuspecting.

Your friends may find you remote and a hard nut to crack. Few of your peers know you very well–even those you have known a long time–because you have expert control of the face you put forth to the world. You prefer to observe, calculate, discern and decide. Your decisions are final, and your desire to be right is impenetrable.

You are not to be messed with. You may explode.

Well, what do you know… the wonderfully poetic author of Girl Meets God, Lauren Winner, is a blogger.

Quick edit - in case you’re interested, here’s her main page

A heart-rending and wonderful post reminding us of the tragedy in the Sudan and the heroes that go unnoticed by Justin Holcomb over at Common Grounds.

Interesting thoughts on blogging by Jeremy Huggins over at Matthew House Project. Not having read it thoroughly I’ll just say that I think his thoughts on community vs. blogging are pretty much on.

By the way, I don’t think I’ve put up a link for this yet, but the Matthew’s House Project is definitely a site worth checking out. Lot’s of good stuff to peruse when you get a chance.

I know I’ve linked to this site before, but let me point you to it again. It’s a blog featuring Jonathan Edwards, Charles Spurgeon and others worth reading. I often check to see what the quote is at the beginning of the day and I really loved todays quote by Spurgeon, especially this last paragraph:

Let me finish by a picture, which will show you what I mean by whole-heartedness. I have seen boys bathing in a river in the morning. One of them has just dipped his toes in the water, and he cries out, as he shivers, ‘Oh, it’s so cold!’ Another has gone in up to his ankles, and he also declares that it is fearfully chilly. But see! another runs to the bank, and takes a header. He rises all in a glow. All his blood is circulating, and he cries ‘Delicious! What a beautiful morning! I am all in a glow. The water is splendid!’ You Christian people who are paddling about in the shallows of religion, and just dipping your toes into it—you stand shivering in the cold air of the world which you are afraid to leave. Oh, that you would plunge into the river of life! How it would brace you! What tone it would give you! In for it, young man! In for it! Be a Christian, out and out. Serve the Lord with your whole being. Give yourself wholly to him who bought you with his blood. Plunge into the sacred flood by grace, and you will exclaim—
Oh, this is life! Oh, this is joy,
My God, to find thee so!
Thy face to see, thy voice to hear,
And all thy love to know.’
May we thus walk in newness of life! Amen.

This article at Christianity Today caught my eye because it describes, to some degree, someone very close to me. Since she happens to be the only person I know for sure reads this blog - what do you think dear?

There is a pretty amusing compare and contrast piece at The Times Online looking at the Bush administration vs. the French, particularly the new Prime Minister M de Villepin.

Unfortunately, while the writer get points for alliteration, he must not remember that Rimbaud was somewhat of a Rambo figure himself later in life as he died a gun-runner in Africa. While M de Villepin may like Rimbaud’s poetry, one has to wonder if Rimbaud is truly an apt figure for comparison to the current PM?