Beyond the Quiet Time

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I used my inflight time to finish reading Alister McGrath’s “Beyond the Quiet Time: Practical Evangelical Spirituality.”  I’ll admit I struggled with it: on the one hand, because I feel like I fall short when it comes to spirituality, but on the other, because it is more of a Bible Study/Small Group book and I dislike books that ask me to pause and think about something or imagine something – instructions like “Spend a few moments allowing this sense of despair, hopelessness, and helplessness to sink in.”

(Here again, I see two factors: My imagination muscle isn’t particularly strong, and I feel patronized by these instructions, which I hear as “Since you won’t get it if I just explain it, let me walk you through a painfully detailed scenario so you’ll really get it.”)

But whoever knows Alister McGrath knows he has wise things to say.  Two stuck out to me:

Some people come to faith through some kind of conversion experience; others gradually absorb the faith, and cannot really identify any moment when they ‘became’ Christians.  Yet that does not matter.  It is your present faith, not your past history, that makes you a Christian!

Quoting Sheldon Vanauken:

There is a gap between the probable and the proved.  How was I to cross it?  If I were to stake my whole life on the risen Christ, I wanted proof.  I wanted certainty.  I wanted to see him eat a bit of fish.  I wanted letters of fire across the sky.  I got none of these.  And I continued to hang about on the edge of the gap . . . . It was a question of whether I was to accept him – or reject.  My God!  There was a gap behind me as well!  Perhaps the leap to acceptance was a horrifying gamble – but what of the leap to rejection?  There might be no certainty that Christ was God – but, by God, there was no certainty that he was not.  This was not to be borne.  I could not reject Jesus.  There was only one thing to do once I had seen the gap behind me.  I turned away from it, and flung myself over the gap towards Jesus.

I’ll close with his suggested further reading, so I can come back and see if I want to add to my amazon wish list.

One-volume commentaries:

  • D.A. Carson, R.T. France, J.A. Motyer, and G.J. Wenham (eds), New Bible Commentary (Leicester, UK: IVP, 1994; and Downers Grove, Ill.: IVP, 1994).  This is an excellent and very scholarly guide to the entire Bible, with each book being dealt with by an expert in the field.
  • Alister E. McGrath, NIV Bible Commentary (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1995).  This is based on the NIV text, and directed especially at those who are new to the Christian faith or to serious Bible study.
  • William Neil, One Volume Bible Commentary (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1995).  Originally published in 1962, this commentary is a useful and scholarly guide to its subject.

A Bible reading guide:

  • Gordon D. Fee and Douglas Stuart, How to Read the Bible for all its Worth, 2nd edn (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1993).

Books on spirituality (skipping the scholarly articles and dictionary entries):

  • Peter Adam, Roots of Contemporary Evangelical Spirituality (Nottingham: Grove Books, 1988).
  • Robert M. Banks, All the Business of Life: Bringing Theology Down to Earth (Sutherland, NSW: Albatross, 1987).
  • Joch Cockerton, Essentials of Evangelical Spirituality (Nottingham: Grove Books, 1994).
  • Cheryl Forbes, Imagination: Embracing a Theology of Wonder (Portland: Multnomah Press, 1989).
  • David Gillett, Trust and Obey: Explorations in Evangelical Spirituality (London: DLT, 1993).
  • James M. Houston, The Transforming Friendship: A Guide to Prayer (Batavia, Ill: Lion, 1989).
  • James M, Houston, The Heart’s Desire: A Guide to Personal Fulfilment (Batavia, Ill: Lion, 1992).
  • Gordon James, Evangelical Spirituality (London: SPCK, 1991).
  • Alister E. McGrath, Spirituality in an Age of Change: Rediscovering the Spirit of the Reformers (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1994).
  • James I. Packer, Knowing God (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1978, and Downers Grove, Ill.: IVP, 1978).
  • James I. Packer, A Quest for Godliness: The Puritan Vision of the Christian Life (Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway, 1990).
  • Eugene H. Peterson, A Long Obedience in the Same Direction: Discipleship in an Instant Society (Downers Grove, Ill.: IVP, 1980).
  • Eugene H. Peterson, Reversed Thunder: The Revelation of John and the Praying Imagination (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1988).
  • Donald S. Whitney, Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life (Colorado Springs: NavPress, 1991).

 

More videos

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It’s been a busy weekend with the homeschooling association’s annual general meeting and Janet’s presentation there, so without any further ado, here come the videos:

Daniel sucks on the kazoo (he had been “playing” it), Daniel cries and plays the kazoo, Joseph counts in Mandinka, and Joseph plays TimezAttack.

We have two more from neighboring construction sites: The Swiss National Bird Unfolding Its Wings, and two construction workers high in the sky.

Yes, that’s a relative penury of videos.  We had over twice as many, but they were all of the “they were doing something terribly cute / impressive until the camera showed up.”  You’ll just have to come visit yourself to see the real thing.

More photos

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I have slightly fewer photos this time, likely because we had sunny weather and spent more time outside.  If today’s weather stays around, the next two weeks will offer more…

The photos are in the usual place, with the usual credentials.  If you’ve forgotten them, just ask.

How Content Is Your State

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Here come poll results poured into a simple graphic representation, but you can read all kinds of conclusions into it, such as “States with more electoral votes per capita are happier,” or “Upstream is better than downstream.”  The original report is by Gallup and Healthways and contains all the data, but I thought the colors could be happier.

2013 US Well-Being

Little Free Libraries

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The SCBWI bulletin this month mentioned this project, and I thought it was worth sharing and remembering.  It’s deceptively simple: put up a weather-resistant box, fill it with books, and label it “FREE BOOKS.”  People find you on the online map, and come to take or swap books from your mini-library with a mini-overhead and no membership cards.

I know that kindles are mitigating the problem of having more books than shelf space, but it still strikes me as a neat way to combine decluttering with extra shelf space and new books.  Beyond that, a Little Free Library could be something for Grandpa’s yard – it might get him some visitors in a mood for conversation.  Or if you feel like donating one to an area that could use freely and easily available books, that’s an option, too.  Here’s where you can get started!

If you do set one up, please let me know!

More videos

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One day I’ll curse titling all the posts “more videos,” but since they have a time stamp, I think it won’t be too much of a problem.  Here they are:

Bricklaying at the construction site, Vivienne pushing Joseph on the dowel swing, Daniel’s early morning exercises, Joseph awakens and joins Daniel, Vivienne follows suit, Daniel plays with the Mozart cube, Joseph and Vivienne brushing teeth, Five minutes of Daniel moving about, Joseph plays xtraMath, Daniel crawling, creeping, and laughing, Vivienne twists the dowel swing, Joseph reads Father Bear Comes Home, Daniel creeping, Joseph and Vivienne paint watercolors.

More videos

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Joseph and Vivienne’s slide, Daniel and the music box, Vivienne and Joseph fold laundry, Daniel plays with a balloon, Vivienne’s first birthday cake, Vivienne’s birthday presents, Joseph reads Owl at Home, Joseph sings in Swiss German, Dowel set up, First action on the dowel swing, Vivienne swings, Joseph’s exercises, Joseph improvises verses in Swiss German, Mobile Daniel, Joseph reads from the Bible, Joseph talks to Grandma, Vivienne’s second birthday cake, Vivienne’s mechanical top, Vivienne tries to spin the top, Birthday bubbles, Vivienne’s smartphone music, Vivienne blows out her candles, Vivienne sings the ABC song, Vivienne improves on her ABC song.

For context, you may want to read up about what was going on on Janet’s blog.

I am also adding the toy xylophone Vivienne received as a gift.  It looks great – it’s wooden, colorful, has integrated mallet rests – everything about its Italian design says “great xylophone for kids.”  (Okay, an instrumentalist may suspect that a toy xylophone won’t sound 100% right.)  At any rate, I know I would have bought it.  Unfortunately, this thoughtful gift, which the kids loved, has been returned to its box to safeguard the parents’ sanity.  This is what our Chicco wood xylophone sounds like.  To my utter disbelief, customer support at Chicco thought it sounded normal.  Woodworking for Mere Mortals shows that (a) I could make one that sounds better and (b) I have neither the tools nor the time.  We haven’t quite decided what to do with it…

An introduction to metallography

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Folks generally don’t know what metallography is (an art form? a record collection? a synonym for molybdomancy), and even when I try to explain (in those cases where they care to know or feel etiquette demands they enquire), it’s often hard to imagine visually what I’m talking about.  Leica Microsystems has published a fine introductory article to metallography with pretty pictures that should help y’all visualize a bit better what I do for a living.

On a side note, I met the author of the article when I worked for Nanosurf and he distributed our microscopes.  When I left, he expressed some envy that I was moving into metallography, a field he loved.  It’s great to see him back with passion!