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What the hand, dare seize the fire?

“WHAT THE HAND DARE SEIZE THE FIRE?”

Prometheus (portrayed in the feature photo) was a titan in Greek mythology. A titan was half mortal, half god. In some Greek legends, he is credited with creating humanity from clay. In all of the legends, he was responsible for giving mankind fire, tricking Zeus in the process, and who cared then what the hand, dare seize the fire? For this reason, Zeus had Prometheus chained to a rock, and a giant robotic eagle, crafted and assembled by Hephaestus, who...

Imaginary friends

IMAGINARY FRIENDS

“Invisible Companions: Encounters with Imaginary Friends, Gods, Ancestors, and Angels” by J. Bradley Wigger (Stanford University Press), 2019. It is not easy writing a book on the imaginary friends of children (or their favorite foods, or popular television programs or hobbies and interests.) Part of the problem is that children who are 2-3 have much different perceptions than children in the 4-5 year old age group, and there are also cultural and national differences. So, I will try to be...

You can only imagine

MORE THINGS IN HEAVEN AND EARTH

“There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, then are dreamt of in your philosophy.” –Hamlet, Act I, Scene V In the quote above, as Hamlet feigns madness, Hamlet informs his friend Horatio that there is more afoot than meets the eye, and that Horatio should not be so quick to judge or come to a hasty conclusion until he has all the facts. Check out the iceberg in the 3D representation to the right. Notice how the smallest...

Teach your children well

TEACH YOUR CHILDREN WELL

My very rural neighborhood lost power early last Thursday morning. So, I offered to drive to town to Dunkin’ and see if I could get some coffee for my wife. Once in town, a truck pulls out abruptly in front of me with a bumper sticker that read “Shut the Hell Up!” The driver wasn’t paying attention. Not sure what he was listening to on his radio, but it probably wasn’t NPR. I thought about that message several times since...

ARE YOU TEMPTING GOD?

Almost everyday now, I read in the news or in a tweet about someone seriously ill with, or who has just died from, COVID. The stories are strikingly similar in many cases: “…man of faith…chose not to get vaccine…sorry now that he did not…moved to a ventillator…wife and children left behind…Please pray…” Some of these unfortunate people were politicians or candidates, others were media personalities, some were pastors or political activists, but most were just ordinary people who in many...

Opportunity knocks but once

机不可失，时不再来

I came across this Chinese idiom today. It reads: “Opportunity knocks but once (机不可失，时不再来.”) I could have sworn I had heard this many, many years ago. I immediately thought of some Bible verses, and because I have an increasing number of Chinese visitors to my blog, I want to go through the verses one-by-one for them and for you. I also want to dedicate this post to the people of China, because I know in my heart that God loves...

Visualizing prayer

VISUALIZING PRAYER

  • September 14, 2021
  • /
  • Faith

Praying can be a real struggle for me sometimes.  I’m hardly eloquent when I pray conversationally, and when I do my morning devotions, I am often likely to drift off to sleep as soon as I get started.  I remember having a daily prayer for more than fifty people a few years ago, and going through it without sounding mechanical was like chopping wood and took a good thirty minutes or so to complete.  I mean it was work! I know that some...

“CHILDREN OF THE SAME FOUL SPIRIT”

You see them on television. They scream at the police, often provoking confrontations with the authorities or contentious onlookers. They spout revolutionary slogans, claim to represent the people, and promise to seize control of the government by any means necessary. They have grievances and want resolution (or revolution) now! These are children of the same foul spirit as other terrorist are. I’m talking about the radical left. They are sometimes dressed in military garb, with bullet-proof vests, and make-shift helmets,...

Harvest time in the country

HARVEST TIME IN THE COUNTRY

Adozen deer pass swiftly and silently through the wood in the waning light. The mercury on the thermometer drops hesitantly as the harvest moon rises over the Blue Mountain. Frogs, Crickets and Cicadas join Katydids in the evening sonata, perhaps for the la fin du concert of the year. Later, the ruffle of feathers in the darkness will herald the arrival of the Horned Owl flying at the speed of night as it pursues its prey. Bears go through our...

Sunshine and Shade: Emily Dickinson

SUNSHINE AND SHADE

I suppose I might have titled this post “Emily Dickinson: America’s Sweetheart” instead of “Sunshine and shade” and it would not be far from the truth. Incidentially, the woman on the feature photo is not Emily, but I wanted someone in period costume to suggest the age in which she lived and died (1830-1886.) The woman in the photo is not actress Cynthia Nixon, but she suffices. Was Emily truly America’s Sweetheart? Perhaps not then, but certainly now. Among the...

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