Happy Friday,
A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?” He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?” They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”
Mark 4:37-41
Our lives are overly complicated until we learn to rightly order our fears. Raging storms are paper tigers compared to the One who can casually dismiss them. What are you frightened of? (BTW, I wonder what Freud would make of Mark 4. He taught that primitive people created gods to comfort them against a scary world.)
Question of the Week – 1: What do Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin and Eugene Burdick’s and William Lederer’s The Ugly American have in common?
Question of the Week – 2: If you knew you had one day to live, what would you do? Call a friend? Throw a party? Eat junk food? My son passed along a Tweet in which the person rehearsed the fun or frivolous things they would do, before writing, “And then I realized that when Jesus knew that he only had one day left to live, he washed people’s feet.”
Without Comment: 1) Americans spent over $20B on Easter-related items this year, with some of that going towards Easter baskets, which sold for an average of $61.38. (That price is up 22% from 2019.); 2) The longest running prime time TV show in America is The Simpsons, which makes Homer America’s iconic star; 3) At the beginning of the pandemic, 69 percent of Americans trusted the CDC. Today only 44 percent do; 4) About 43 million people in the U.S. have a combined total of $1.6 trillion in federal student loans; 5) Netflix stock dropped 25% after announcing it lost 200,000 subscribers last quarter – its first decline in ten years.
It Snowed Last Week: T.S. Eliot was right. April is the cruelest month. At least it is in Chicago.
This Week’s Inspiring Film Clip: Although I’m not really a Science Fiction and Fantasy fan, I am forever citing Tolkien and Lewis. Here I go again. In this scene from TLOR, Samwise Gamgee models friendship. He picks up Frodo (a Christ-figure who will not ultimately recover from the wounds he receives carrying the ring) and carries him towards his destiny. There is so much here to like.
Evil: Among the things we should be learning from COVID and Ukraine is that evil is real. In this recent WSJ piece – The Devil Resurfaces in Ukraine – Daniel Henninger plays with this idea. His orientation is mostly secular, but it is noteworthy and encouraging. It says something when reality breaks through Postmodernism’s nonsense.
WotW: Honorable mention goes to lizard brain, imbroglio and brilliant bombs. But this week’s winner is adjacent which is suddenly “adjacent” to everything. Michelle Obama is, “the most popular politics-adjacent figure in the country,” Megyn Kelly’s remarks on Halloween costumes were “not quite racist, but racist-adjacent,” and a Missouri publication is advertising “wellness-adjacent” beer. So, adjacent is the WotW. And while I am here, let me note that while this newsletter is not always funny or insightful, I like to think it is “funny and witty-adjacent.”
I Will Pray for You: A quick reminder that one of the easiest ways to: 1) Bless people; 2) Point them to Christ; and 3) Casually advertise your faith, is to promise to pray for them. When you hear someone complain or share a deep concern, simply say, “I am going to be praying for you about that.” A few days later – after you have been praying – you can casually check in. “How is that going?” After they share, ask them to keep you posted. Be assured, your concern has their attention. BTW, don’t be surprised if they reach out to you months later and ask for more prayer.
Question -1: The Answer: So what do Frankenstein, Uncle Tom’s Cabin and The Ugly American have in common? In each case, the common understanding of the book’s protagonist is exactly wrong: In Frankenstein, the “monster” is not the monster, everyone else is; in Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Tom is not a weak sell-out, he is a wise, godly, Christ-figure; and in The Ugly American, the ugly American is not a culturally clueless patriot, he is a savvy but physically unattractive diplomat.
From the Archives: If you’ve not read Corrie Ten Boom’s The Hiding Place, you’re missing out. Here is an excerpt that popped up this weekend. It speaks to the wisdom it casually dispenses.
Closing Prayer: O Lord, let me not henceforth desire health or life, except to spend them for you, with you, and in you. You alone know what is good for me; do, therefore, what seems best to you. Give to me, or take from me; conform my will to yours; and grant that, with humble and perfect submission, and in holy confidence, I may receive the orders of your eternal Providence; and may equally adore all that comes to me from you; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (Blaise Pascal – 1623 – 1662)