Short Intermission

Hello everyone!

I am going to be taking a short break from my daily postings.

I am feeling under the weather and taking care of the fam., so I will be back next week and fill in on the days I missed.

Hope all is well with you!

Project 5782 | Day 22

Not as it Seems

Scripture Portion

Psalm 82

¹ God has taken his place in the divine council;
   in the midst of the gods he holds judgment:
² “How long will you judge unjustly
   and show partiality to the wicked? Selah
³ Give justice to the weak and the fatherless;
   maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute.
⁴ Rescue the weak and the needy;
   deliver them from the hand of the wicked.”
⁵ They have neither knowledge nor understanding,
   they walk about in darkness;
   all the foundations of the earth are shaken.
⁶ I said, “You are gods,
   sons of the Most High, all of you;
⁷ nevertheless, like men you shall die,
   and fall like any prince.”
⁸ Arise, O God, judge the earth;
   for you shall inherit all the nations!

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®) Copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. All rights reserved.

Quote from Reading

“On the issue of slavery, it was essentially Western civilization against the world. At the time, Western civilization had the power to prevail against all other civilizations. That is how and why slavery was destroyed as an institution in almost the whole world. But it did not happen all at once or even within a few decades. When the British finally stamped out slavery in Tanganyika in 1922 it was more than half a century after the Emancipation Proclamation in the United States, and vestiges of slavery still survived in parts of Africa into the twenty-first century.
“The unique position of the Western world in the history – and especially the destruction – of slavery need not imply that there was unanimity within the West on this institution. In addition to whites who defended the enslavement of Africans on racial grounds, or who opposed general emancipation on social grounds, there were many whites – and even blacks – who defended slavery as a matter of self-interest as slaveowners. Although most black owners of slaves in the United States were only nominal owners of members of their own families, there were thousands of other blacks in the antebellum South who were commercial slaveowners, just like their white counterparts. An estimated one-third of the ‘free persons of color’ in New Orleans were slaveowners and thousands of these slaveowners volunteered to fight for the Confederacy during the Civil War. Black slaveowners were even more common in the Caribbean. In short, there were many defenders of slavery in the West, even in the nineteenth century – and, outside the West, slavery was too widely accepted to require defense.”

Sowell, Thomas, Black Rednecks and White Liberals, Encounter Books: New York, 2005, pg. 126-127

Provocative Language

from “Alone”

Have you ever
Sat in a room
Full of people
Yet never felt
So alone…

…

No acknowledgement
No conversation
No nothing.
My company,
My phone.

Bhathal, Ritu, Poetic RITUals, 2016, pg.

Project 5782 | Day 21

Stand in Truth

Scripture Portion

Galatians 1.6-10

⁶ I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— ⁷ not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. ⁸ But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. ⁹ As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed. ¹⁰ For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®) Copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. All rights reserved.

Quote from Reading

“The antiracist movement has many of the hallmarks of a cult, including staying close enough to the Bible to avoid immediate detection and hiding the fact that it has a new theology and a new glossary of terms that diverse ever-so-slightly from Christian orthodoxy. At least at first. In classic cult fashion, they borrow from the familiar and accepted, then infuse it with new meaning. This allows the cult to appeal to the faithful within the dominant, orthodox religions from which it draws its converts.

“This new cult has created a new lexicon that has served as scaffolding to support what has become an entire body of divinity. In the same manner, this new body of divinity comes complete with its own cosmology (CT/CRT/I); original sin (racism); law (antiracisim); gospel (racial reconciliation); martyrs (Saints Trayvon, Mike, George, Breonna, etc.); priests (oppressed minorities); means of atonement (reparations); new birth (wokeness); liturgy (lament); canon (CSJ social science); theologians (DiAngelo, Kendi, Brown, Crenshaw, MacIntosh, etc.); and catechism (‘say their names’).”

Baucham, Voddie, Fault Lines: The Social Justice Movement and Evangelicalism’s Looming Catastrophe, Salem Books: Washington D.C., 2021, pg.67

Provocative Language

“For who, in Heaven’s name, would describe as natural or normal the man from whom these failings were wholly absent? ‘Natural,’ if you like, in a quite different sense; archnatural, unfallen. We have seen only one such Man. And He was not at all like the psychologist’s picture of the integrated, balanced, adjusted, happily married, employed, popular citizen. You can’t really be very well ‘adjusted’ to your world if it says you ‘have a devil’ and ends by nailing you up naked to a sake of wood.”

Lewis, C.S., The Four Loves: An Exploration of the Nature of Love, Mariner Books: New York, 2012 edition, pg. 54

Project 5782 | Day 20

Teaching Well

Scripture Portion

Deuteronomy 6.4-9

⁴ Hear, Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. ⁵ And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your being and with all your might. ⁶ And these words that I charge you today shall be upon your heart. ⁷ And you shall rehearse them to your sons and speak of them when you sit in your house and when you go on the way and when you lie down and when you rise. ⁸ And you shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as circlets between your eyes. ⁹ And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and in your gates.

Alter, Robert. The Hebrew Bible: A Translation with Commentary. Volume 1: The Five Books of Moses, Torah. N.p.: W. W. Norton & Company: New York, 2019, pgs. 641-642

Quote from Reading

“Our older children (Jasmine and Trey) were eleven and fourteen, respectively. I was right in the midst of the storm. This was a gut check for me. Was I on the path to being a sixty-seven-year-old pastor whose grown children looked on as I resigned from a high-demand ministry position citing my desire to ‘spend more time with my family’? Would my children be filled with resentment and regret as they wondered why I didn’t think about that when it mattered? I certainly hoped not.
“But hoping wasn’t going to make it so. I had to see myself first and foremost as Bridget’s husband, and as her partner in raising, training, and launching arrows into the next generation. And then I had to simply let the rest of the pieces fall into place.”  

Baucham, Voddie, Family Shepherds: Calling and Equipping Men to Lead Their Homes, Crossway: Wheaton, 2011, pg. 94

Provocative Language

“She was living for her family. She always sat up to ‘welcome’ you home if you were out late at night; two or three in the morning, it made no odds; you would always find that frail, pale, weary face awaiting you, like a silent accusation. Which meant of course that you couldn’t with any decency go out very often.”

Lewis, C.S., The Four Loves: An Exploration of the Nature of Love, Mariner Books: New York, 2012 edition, pg. 49

Project 5782 | Day 19

Respond in Faith
~ Sabbath Day ~

Scripture Portion

Job 37.1-13

¹ “At this also my heart trembles
and leaps out of its place.
² Keep listening to the thunder of his voice
and the rumbling that comes from his mouth.
³ Under the whole heaven he lets it go,
and his lightning to the corners of the earth.
⁴ After it his voice roars;
he thunders with his majestic voice,
and he does not restrain the lightnings when his voice is heard.
⁵ God thunders wondrously with his voice;
he does great things that we cannot comprehend.
⁶ For to the snow he says, ‘Fall on the earth,’
likewise to the downpour, his mighty downpour.
⁷ He seals up the hand of every man,
that all men whom he made may know it.
⁸ Then the beasts go into their lairs,
and remain in their dens.
⁹ From its chamber comes the whirlwind,
and cold from the scattering winds.
¹⁰ By the breath of God ice is given,
and the broad waters are frozen fast.
¹¹ He loads the thick cloud with moisture;
the clouds scatter his lightning.
¹² They turn around and around by his guidance,
to accomplish all that he commands them
on the face of the habitable world.
¹³ Whether for correction or for his land
or for love, he causes it to happen.

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®) Copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. All rights reserved.

Hebrews 11.1-3, 39-40

¹ Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. ² For by it the people of old received their commendation. ³ By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.

³⁹ And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised, ⁴⁰ since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect.

ESV

Sacrifice of Our Lips/Praise

Fruit of Our Lips

Liturgical Portion

Note: When reading the Psalm, if you are with another person or a group, the “leader” can read the first part of each verse, then pause at the * mark. The next person or the rest of the group can read the remainder of the verse after the * mark. You can also split the verses by groups, e.g., a traditional split is the men in the group will read one part of the verse and the women read the next part (another traditional split would be one side of the room and then the other side of the room).

Psalm 37

¹ Fret not yourself because of the ungodly, *
neither be envious of those who are evildoers.

² For they shall soon be dried up like the grass, *
and be withered even as the green herb.

³ Put your trust in the Lord, and do good; *
dwell in the land, and surely you shall be fed.

⁴ Delight yourself in the Lord, *
and he shall give you your heart’s desire.

⁵ Commit your way unto the Lord and put your trust in him, *
and he shall bring it to pass.

⁶ He shall make your righteousness as clear as the light *
and your just dealing as the noonday.

⁷ Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; *
do not grieve yourself over the one whose way prospers,
over the one who carries out evil counsels.

⁸ Refrain from wrath, and let go of anger; *
fret not yourself, lest you be moved to do evil.

⁹ For evildoers shall be rooted out, *
but those who wait patiently for the Lord, they shall inherit the land.

¹⁰ Yet a little while, and the ungodly shall be clean gone; *
you shall look for their place, and they shall not be there.

¹¹ But the meek-spirited shall possess the land *
and shall be refreshed with an abundance of peace.

¹² The ungodly plot against the just *
and gnash at them with their teeth.

¹³ The Lord shall laugh at them in scorn, *
for he sees that their day is coming.

¹⁴ The ungodly have drawn out the sword and have bent their bow *
to cast down the poor and needy, and to slay those who walk aright.

¹⁵ Their sword shall go through their own heart, *
and their bow shall be broken.

¹⁶ The little that the righteous has *
is better than great riches of the ungodly.

¹⁷ For the arms of the ungodly shall be broken, *
but the Lord upholds the righteous.

¹⁸ The Lord knows the days of the godly, *
and their inheritance shall endure for ever.

¹⁹ They shall not be confounded in perilous times, *
and in the days of famine they shall have enough.

²⁰ As for the ungodly, they shall perish, and the enemies
of the Lord shall be consumed as in a fiery furnace; *
even as smoke shall they vanish away.

²¹ The ungodly borrow and do not repay, *
but the righteous are merciful and generous.

²² Those who are blessed by God shall possess the land, *
but those who are cursed by him shall be rooted out.

²³ The Lord orders a man’s steps; *
he makes his footsteps sure and preserves him on his path.

²⁴ Though he fall, he shall not be cast down, *
for the Lord upholds him with his hand.

²⁵ I have been young, and now I am old, *
yet I never saw the righteous forsaken, nor his children begging bread.

²⁶ The righteous is ever merciful in lending, *
and his seed shall be blessed.

²⁷ Flee from evil, and do that which is good, *
and dwell in the land for ever.

²⁸ For the Lord loves that which is right; *
he forsakes not those who are godly, and they are preserved for ever.

²⁹ The unrighteous shall be punished; *
as for the seed of the ungodly, it shall be rooted out.

³⁰ The righteous shall inherit the land *
and dwell therein for ever.

³¹ The mouth of the righteous utters wisdom, *
and his tongue talks of judgment.

³² The law of his God is in his heart, *
and his footsteps shall not falter.

³³ The ungodly lie in wait for the righteous *
and seek occasion to slay him.

³⁴ The Lord will not leave him in their hand, *
nor allow him to be condemned when he is judged.

³⁵ Hope in the Lord, and keep his way, and he shall exalt you
so that you shall possess the land; *
when the ungodly perish, you shall see it.

³⁶ I myself have seen the ungodly in great power, *
and flourishing like a tree in full leaf.

³⁷ I went by, and behold, they were gone; *
I sought them, but their place could nowhere be found.

³⁸ Mark the blameless, and take heed of the upright, *
for there is a future for the peaceable.

³⁹ As for the transgressors, they shall perish together, *
and the end of the ungodly is that they shall be rooted out at the last.

⁴⁰ But the salvation of the righteous comes from the Lord, *
who is also their strength in the time of trouble.

⁴¹ And the Lord shall stand by them and save them; *
he shall deliver them from the ungodly and shall save them,
because they put their trust in him.

The Psalter, Book of Common Prayer, Anglican Liturgy Press: Huntington Beach, 2019, pgs. 314-316

Prayer

Prayer of Faith by Lancelot Andrewes (1555-1626)

Coming unto God,
I believe that He is,
and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him:
I know that my Redeemer liveth;
that He is the Christ the Son of the Living God;
that He is indeed the Saviour of the world;
that He came into the world to save sinners,
of whom I am chief.
Through the grace of Jesus Christ
we believe that we shall be saved
even as our fathers withal.
I believe verily to see the goodness of the Lord
in the land of the living.

[You can find more prayers by Lancelot Andrewes here.]

Project 5782 | Day 18

Empty; Yet Full

Scripture Portion

2 Corinthians 12.10

¹⁰ For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®) Copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. All rights reserved.

Quote from Reading

“Morning Tea”

Peace, it’s bliss
Sat here, just me.
As I slowly sip
My cup of tea.
Awaiting the mayhem
About to descend.
The quiet will shatter,
My calm will end.

Bhathal, Ritu, Poetic RITUals, 2016, pg. 32

Provocative Language

“À la mode”

…
I can’t explain what I feel I know
I feel so empty and… yet so full

Poet of the Light, “À la mode”, 2021, https://poetofthelight.com/2021/10/03/a-la-mode/

Project 5782 | Day 17

Affection Beautiful

Scripture Portion

Romans 12.9-11

⁹ Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. ¹⁰ Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. ¹¹ Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord.

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®) Copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. All rights reserved.

Quote from Reading

“If you asked any of these insufferable people – they are not all parents of course – why they behaved that way at home, they would reply, ‘Oh, hang it all, one comes home to relax. A chap can’t be always on his best behaviour. Of course we don’t want Company Manners at home. We’re a happy family. We can say anything to one another here. No one minds. We all understand.’
“Once again it is so nearly true yet so fatally wrong. Affection is an affair of old clothes, and ease, of the unguarded moment, of liberties which would be ill-bred if we took them with strangers. But old clothes are one thing; to wear the same shirt till it stank would be another. There are proper clothes for a garden party; but the clothes for home must be proper too, in their own different way. Similarly there is a distinction between public and domestic courtesy. The root principal of both is the same: ‘that no one give any kind of preference to himself.’ But the more public the occasion, the more our obedience to this principal has been ‘taped’ or formalised. There are ‘rules’ of good manners. The more intimate the occasion, the less the formalisation; but not therefore the less need of courtesy. On the contrary, Affection at its best practises a courtesy which is incomparably more subtle, sensitive, and deep than the public kind.”

Lewis, C.S., The Four Loves: An Exploration of the Nature of Love, Mariner Books: New York, 2012 edition, pg. 42-43

Provocative Language

from “Papa”

He was, is, and always will be
My first love
A gift so precious
Sent from above
He helped to make
The person you see
He’s a precious, integral
Part of me…

Bhathal, Ritu, Poetic RITUals, 2016, pg. 24

Thoughts: I hope my children can write this about me one day!

Project 5782 | Day 16

Depravity!

Scripture Portion

Job 34.21-22

²¹ For his eyes are on the ways of a man,
and he sees all his steps.
²² There is no gloom or deep darkness
where evildoers may hide themselves.

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®) Copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. All rights reserved.

Quote from Reading

“Contrary to the ‘myths to live by’ created by Alex Haley and others, Africans were by no means the innocents portrayed in Roots, baffled as to why white men were coming in and taking their people way in chains. On the contrary, the region of West Africa from which Kunte Kinte supposedly came was one of the great slave-trading regions of the continent – before, during, and after the white man arrived. It was the Africans who enslaved their fellow Africans, selling some of these slaves to Europeans or to Arabs and keeping others for themselves. Even at the peak of the Atlantic slave trade, Africans retained more slaves for themselves than they sent to the Western Hemisphere.
“This pattern was not confined to West Africa, from which most slaves were sent to the Western Hemisphere. In East Africa, the Masai were feared slave raiders and other African tribes – either alone or in conjunction with Arabs – enslaved their more vulnerable neighbors. As late as 1891, it was reported that ‘Manyuema slavers had demoralized surrounding tribes, destroying crops, and famine reigned everywhere.’ Even in the early twentieth century, Abyssinians were still raiding other Africans and carrying off slaves. It was 1922 before the British had gained sufficient control in Tanganyika to stamp out slavery there. Arabs were the leading slave raiders in East Africa, ranging over an area larger than all of Europe. The total number of slaves exported from East Africa during the nineteenth century has been estimated to be at least two million.”

Sowell, Thomas, Black Rednecks and White Liberals, Encounter Books: New York, 2005, pgs. 120-121

Provocative Language

“We all at times feel somewhat painfully our human isolation from the subhuman world – the atrophy of instinct which our intelligence entails, our excessive self-consciousness, the innumerable complexities of our situation, our inability to live in the present. If only we could shuffle it all off! We must not – and incidentally we can’t – become beasts.”

Lewis, C.S., The Four Loves: An Exploration of the Nature of Love, Mariner Books: New York, 2012 edition, pg. 52

Project 5782 | Day 15

Awe-struck Joy!

Scripture Portion

Revelation 21.9-11, 18-21

⁹ Then came one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues and spoke to me, saying, “Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb.” ¹⁰ And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great, high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, ¹¹ having the glory of God, its radiance like a most rare jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal.

¹⁸ The wall was built of jasper, while the city was pure gold, like clear glass. ¹⁹ The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with every kind of jewel. The first was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, ²⁰ the fifth onyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst. ²¹ And the twelve gates were twelve pearls, each of the gates made of a single pearl, and the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass.

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®) Copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. All rights reserved.

Quote from Reading

“Thus, to the fourth question in the Westminster Shorter Catechism, ‘What is God?’ the answer read as follows: ‘God is Spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth.’ This statement the great Charles Hodge described as ‘probably the best definition of God ever penned by man.’”

Packer, J.I., Knowing God: 20^th-Anniversary Edition, InterVarsity Press: Downers Grove, 1973:1993, pg. 21

Provocative Language

from “From Twinkle to Reality”

“Those pain-filled days or hours
To reach the prize you sought
The feeling of satisfaction
That this little bundle brought.
I gaze at you in wonder
Are you really here?
I’m overwhelmed with happiness
And a tiny bit of fear.”

Bhathal, Ritu, Poetic RITUals, 2016, pg. 5

Project 5782 | Day 14

Uncovering the Chill

Scripture Portion

Genesis 9.20-23

²⁰ Noah began to be a man of the soil, and he planted a vineyard. ²¹ He drank of the wine and became drunk and lay uncovered in his tent. ²² And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father and told his two brothers outside. ²³ Then Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it on both their shoulders, and walked backward and covered the nakedness of their father. Their faces were turned backward, and they did not see their father’s nakedness.

Leviticus 18.7-8

⁷ You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father, which is the nakedness of your mother; she is your mother, you shall not uncover her nakedness. ⁸ You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s wife; it is your father’s nakedness.

Leviticus 20.11

¹¹ If a man lies with his father’s wife, he has uncovered his father’s nakedness; both of them shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them.

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®) Copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. All rights reserved.

Quote from Reading

“Symptomatic of this, perhaps, is the odiousness of nearly all those treacly tunes and saccharine poems in which popular art expresses Affection. They are odious because of their falsity. They represent as a ready-made recipe for bliss (and even for goodness) what is in fact only an opportunity. There is no hint that we shall have to do anything: only let Affection pour over us like a warm shower-bath and all, it is implied, will be well.”

Lewis, C.S., The Four Loves: An Exploration of the Nature of Love, Mariner Books: New York, 2012 edition, pg. 39

Provocative Language

“October”

O hushed October morning mild,
Thy leaves have ripened to the fall;
To-morrow’s wind, if it be wild,
Should waste them all.
The crows above the forest call;
To-morrow they may form and go.
O hushed October morning mild,
Begin the hours of this day slow,
Make the day seem to us less brief.
Hearts not averse to being beguiled,
Beguile us in the way you know;
Release one leaf at break of day;
At noon release another leaf;
One from our trees, one far away;
Retard the sun with gentle mist;
Enchant the land with amethyst.
Slow, slow!
For the grapes’ sake, if they were all,
Whose leaves already are burnt with frost,
Whose clustered fruit must else be lost –
For the grapes’ sake along the wall.

Frost, Robert. Poetry Collection: Robert Frost. Ed. Parini, Jay, Illus. Paraskevas, Michael, N.p.: MoonDance Press. Print. pg. 26