God works in the life of an Afghan evacuee

GOD WORKS IN MYSTERIOUS WAYS

I presume the child in this photo is a girl, though there is nothing convincing in the photo to assure me of this. No matter, boy or girl, God knows. This is one of the few fortunate children to escape Afghanistan only days before strict Sharia law is imposed. The child’s future is about to take a “synthetic”change of direction in terms of Hegel’s dialect. She may grow up as a Muslim or not, but she will be able to...

PRAY FOR THE SAFE RETURN OF OUR FORCES FROM KABUL

American forces leave Kabul The early stages of a deployment and the drawing down of forces are always the most dangerous times in a war. Hostile forces try to take advantage of the chaos as IS-K did yesterday. Thousands of Afghan civilian men, women and children with or without require papers mix in with U.S. military and civilians who wait in ninety degree weather while armed Taliban soldiers hover nearby. Meanwhile, the checkpoints at the Hamid Karzai International Airport in...

Augenblicke

The Cambridge Dictionary translates the German word Augenblicke as “moments, seconds, flashes, instants, jiffies, ticks.”  It is also translated as a “glance” or a “blink of the eye,” so it runs the range of being a fraction of a second (an average blink of a human eye lasts 1/10 of a second) to several seconds in the case of a casual glance. But a lot can happen in that time frame. Consider, for example . . . The Big Bang happened in a fraction of an...

All I've done and all I still hope to do.

WELCOME TO WATCH-FIRE

This blog contains reflections on my life: All I’ve done and all I still hope to do. I’ve had two successful careers and I’m working full time in yet a third field. During the past decades, I’ve met many different people from around the world and have enjoyed more than my share of rich and rewarding experiences. Yet, as much as I enjoy reminiscing over the past, I also anticipate better times for myself, my family and the people of...

A love story

A LOVE STORY

Schneewittchen, or Snow White as it is called now, was published in the early nineteenth century by the Brothers Grimm as Tale 53. There are many different iterations of the components in this tale, even within the writings of the Brothers Grimm. In this instance, it is a love story. I’ve taken some liberties to truncate this tale and make some minor changes to the storyline. Quotations come from Grimm’s Household Tales, Volume 1, Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm (Margaret Raine...

Heart of Darkness

HEART OF DARKNESS

Charles Marlow is the protagonist in Conrad’s book, but Marlow might as well be Joseph Conrad, himself, as they both shared similar experiences (including passage on the Congo River.) Marlow is hired to run a rundown sternwheeler of a steamship up and down the river carrying passengers and merchandise, particularly ivory.  The Congo River begins in the highlands of Lake Tanganyika and Lake Mweru and then (at least on the maps) carves an ugly, inverted, half-moon scar before it exits at...

Candle and hourglass indicating all of our yesterdays

ALL OUR YESTERDAYS

Almost everyone is familiar with Shakespeare’s play Macbeth. Macbeth is a driven man who makes mistakes and then commits crimes to cover those mistakes. As the crimes (including murder) multiply, he becomes increasingly troubled, guilt-laden, sleepless, mentally unstable and subject to hallucinations. His wife spurs him on his evil way, as if the forces within him needed any encouragement. And the King reminisces about all our yesterdays. Act V, Scene V of Macbeth contains Macbeth’s famous soliloquy, as follows: To-morrow,...

Don't Wait for Heroes. Spider man

DON’T WAIT FOR HEROES

I remember accompanying some of my grandchildren to a Spiderman movie. There were several hundred youngsters sitting in awe of Spidey.  Waiting for the movie to begin, they chattered excitedly about their favorite episode. Finally, the movie began. They followed every move of their hero with their complete attention, admiration and devotion.  You could look at their faces and tell what was in their hearts:  They wanted to be a superhero too, someday. But they don’t have to wait for heroes to make...

FALSE PROPHETS AMONG US

Much of Scripture is based on supernatural revelation or subjective experiences.  Whether we’re talking about the early books such as Genesis with the creation accounts, the Flood, and the giving of the Law on Mt Sinai, it was God who spoke to Moses.  The voice that Samuel heard as a small child calling to him in the middle of the night (I Samuel 3:9) was the voice of God, and only Samuel heard it. And the voice of a child...

Bible and gun

TAKING THE KINGDOM BY FORCE

[This post comes after The National Terrorism Advisory System recently issued a warning of heigthened domestic teorrist threat levels in the U.S., and subsequent comments today from Homeland Security Intelligence chief John Cohen.]. The subject of this post is taking the kingdom by force. There are verses in the Bible that are difficult to understand. For example, concerning Judas. Did he hang himself (Matthew 27:5) or get disemboweled (Acts 1:18?) Or, take Matthew 11:12. In Matthew 11:12 Jesus says: “From...

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