A Fun Hodgepodge

Sunday’s Florida Times-Union newspaper ran this notice about our friend Barbara White’s books:

Familiar Voice

For 15 years, award-winning Florida Times-Union religion editor Barbara White, now retired, wrote a weekly T-U column profiling her personal spiritual journey. Thousands of readers followed her accounts drawing inspiration and encouragement from her popular Along The Way column.

Recently, Jacksonville’s Bluefish Books collected the best of these columns for a series of four Along The Way books.

“I write about trying to life the Christian life and failing and trying again,” White said, “God loves us just as we are—and too much to let us stay that way”.

Her first Along The Way book is available at www.bluefishbooks.info .

Ginny and I have known Barbara for about 30 years; all I can say is that she lives what she writes. I wish Barbara’s books circulated more. They carry the potential of becoming spiritual classics.

Monday my friend Wes treated me to breakfast at Dave’s Diner where we discussed the process of formatting the Pentateuch as advanced by proponents of Wellhausen’s documentary hypothesis. Wes denounced the presuppositions and conclusions of these critics, while I applauded their initial observations.

In the midst of this highfalutin theological discussion, we laughed like crazy over the waitress’ Midol joke (which need not be repeated here). The three of us laughed so hard that other customers stared and the cook came out of his kitchen to see what was so funny. That made us laugh harder.

Once Wes and I arrived back at my house and got our pipes stoked with fine tobacco, we talked about unemployment, foreclosures, financial crisis, bankruptcy, Depression, bailouts and taxes.

Then, our conversation turned serious:

Recently a young pastor from out of town called Wes asking advice about dealing with an adolescent in his flock who is tormented by a poltergeist.

The unclean spirit has manifested itself in visions of a black hand, by physical fires, and by throwing heavy objects.

Wes has previous experience confronting demons; I have none.

Wes traveled out of town to consult the pastor. He advised first eliminating natural phenomena, such as emotional, mental or physical illness, attention seeking, or outright fakery, before looking at occult influences.

Wes says we face two equally mistaken attitudes when it comes to unclean spirits: first, we tend to ignore or disbelieve their existence; or secondly, we tend to nurse an unhealthy interest in them. Either attitude is counterproductive to life and godliness.

I’m glad of this reminder. I tend to think I fight a lone battle by myself against circumstances without a spiritual dimension. I forget that St Paul said, “We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places”.

On a happier note:

Wes brought me a typescript diary which a young Jacksonville woman wrote in 1942, the first year of World War II.

After Wes left, I read the whole text in one sitting. Fascinating! Filled with zest and breathless energy, innocence, and curiosity.

What a delight!

She was 17 and a college freshman when she wrote:

“This morning I did the most awful thing that I have ever done—I’m still mortified to death & I still don’t see how I managed to let it happen!

Something happened to my sense of time ‘cause at 10:10 I heard Tish coming up from her 9:00 class & realized that I should have been in English class at 10:00! You should have seen me dash! I got there 15 minutes late… That’s no way to act!”

On July 12, 1942, she describes her first-ever kiss:

“Charlie kissed me tonite for the first time! I mean, on my lips. I got all kinds of tingles all over me & I almost felt like crying! It was awful & wonderful & everything all at the same time. I had really not intended to let him do it ‘til the end of the summer, but I just could not hold out any longer”.

She and Charlie married and lived together for, I believe, over 50 years.

I knew them as an elderly couple; she survived him by a few years before her own death. I wish I’d known them young.

Last night, as Ginny and I were praying after dinner, the telephone right beside us rang. So we put God on hold while I answered the incoming call.

The young lady on the phone said she’d called to let me know that she’d read my March 1^st posting (about the chicken-headed potholders) on her computer at work and started laughing. A coworker came up to read over her shoulder and started laughing too. Soon five ladies clustered around the computer to laugh at me and those potholders.

That news gave me such a lift. So often I feel as though no one reads my stuff and I’m just typing on air. I wonder why I bother writing. It makes me happy to know that there are a few readers out there.

After I hung up the phone, Ginny and I resumed praying—the Lord God was still on the line waiting patiently for us.

He always is.