Something more to talk about!

We have our official logo prepared for the Ragnar Relay! For more information on just what that is, read below:

Something to Talk About

Often times someone just needs something to talk about. As an individual who gets paid to use words on a daily basis--and a lot of them at that--I find that by mid-afternoon I have used up my word allotment for the day. Being an introvert doesn't help. And being a busy introvert doesn't help either.

But every once in a while something will come up that just needs to be talked about. Enter...The Ragnar Relay !


Here's the short of it: Running 200 miles in 24 hours with 11 dear friends to raise money for King's Meadow Study Center's Chalmers Fund. Why do such a crazy thing? Well, for starters because it's going to be a lot of fun, but the main reason I will be both running and volunteering in this incredibly wonderful craziness is because I believe in the purpose. Raising scholarship money for prospective students for both Franklin Classical School and New College Franklin is a worthwhile calling.

I've been in school all my life--first as student, now as teacher. I have been a beneficiary of sacrificial giving from individuals who felt called to give to scholarship funds so I could get through highschool and college. And now it's my turn to both give back and encourage others to do the same.

Now that's something to talk about!

Follow my progress as I join the Sum Ergo Zoom running team on November 5th and 6th, and tell everyone you know to donate by going to my online fundraising site: www.crowdrise.com/amyshore

It really is something to talk about...so TELL EVERYBODY!

Kingdom Context

I love it when you come across a “plaque verse” that you’ve known all your life and rediscover it again for the very first time in its proper place in the context of Scripture. But more than that discovery, I love it when that verse comes to mean so much more because of that context which was previously stripped from its meaning. I love it when you have that realization, that “AhHa” moment when you see that there is more truth, more richness, more depth lent that commonly heard verse because the uncommonly heard verses surrounding.

“Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good!” (Psalm 34:8)

Sometimes when Christian kitch stores want to be able to have one plaque for families to hang in their kitchen they’ll only make a plaque out of the first part of the verse. But when they want to be able to have one plaque for saints going through a rough time in life they’ll add the latter half to the former:

“Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!”

But wait, there are other plaque verses contained within the twenty-two verses of Psalm 34. Do you need a verse for your Scripture memory program that will remind you to keep your mind ever focused on the Lord? Well then try:

“I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth.” (v. 1)

How about a verse that reminds you to praise His name even when you don’t feel like it:

“Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together!” (v. 3)

Or what about a verse that reminds you to not gossip:

“Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit.” (v. 13)

Or what if you are in desperate need of a rescue verse, a reminder that God’s going to make everything better and get you out of this hard time:

“When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles.” (v. 17)

I don’t know about you, but each of those verses, standing alone, only afford me a little comfort, a small reminder, a minor hope. A comfort, remembrance, and hope that is real, to be sure, but one that lacks enough depth to keep me grounded when the hard times come, lacks enough substance to keep me vigilant when my heart runs low on praise. But together, with every verse in its proper place from 1 to 22 this Psalm does more than offer depth and substance.

Samuel 21:10-22:2 affords us an even clearer context for this particular Psalm of David:

“And David rose and fled that day from Saul and went to Achish the king of Gath. And the servants of Achish said to him, “Is not this David the king of the land? Did they not sing to one another of him in dances,

‘Saul has struck down his thousands,
and David his ten thousands’?”

And David took these words to heart and was much afraid of Achish the king of Gath. So he changed his behavior before them and pretended to be insane in their hands and made marks on the doors of the gate and let his spittle run down his beard. Then Achish said to his servants, “Behold, you see the man is mad. Why then have you brought him to me? Do I lack madmen, that you have brought this fellow to behave as a madman in my presence? Shall this fellow come into my house?”

David departed from there and escaped to the cave of Adullam. And when his brothers and all his father's house heard it, they went down there to him. And everyone who was in distress, and everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was bitter in soul, gathered to him. And he became captain over them. And there were with him about four hundred men.”

Wait, after all this David’s first words in Psalm 34 are, “I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth.”?

Wait, this is the context for verse 3 when he says, “Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together!”? With an exclamation point and all?

Ok, so the refuge part I get in verse 8, but he’s really still calling the Lord good?

Wait, wait, wait, wait, verses 13 and 14…he’s not really talking to himself, is he:

"Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit. Turn away from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it."

How could anyone, especially David, slip up and say or do something they shouldn’t have when they’re the one getting pursued by kings, running for their lives, having to act like a loony case out of fear, and being exiled to a dark damp cave? Surely David’s not, I don’t know, calling his own heart, through the gracious leading of the Spirit, to repentance in the midst of all this craziness, is he? Why would he do that?

“When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles.” (v. 17)

But surely David’s not expecting God to take him out of this hard spot instantly, right?

“The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.” (v. 18)

If the Lord is near, if He cares enough about crushed spirits then no matter how many afflictions over how long a period of time, there is more than just rescue, right?

“The LORD redeems the life of his servants; none of those who take refuge in him will be condemned.” (v. 22)

“And everyone who was in distress, and everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was bitter in soul, gathered to him. And he became captain over them. And there were with him about four hundred men.” (Samuel 22:2)

Kingdom context: Herein is comfort. Herein is remembrance. Herein is hope.

Psalm 34

Of David, when he changed his behavior before Abimelech,
so that he drove him out, and he went away.

1 I will bless the LORD at all times;
his praise shall continually be in my mouth.
2 My soul makes its boast in the LORD;
let the humble hear and be glad.
3 Oh, magnify the LORD with me,
and let us exalt his name together!
4 I sought the LORD, and he answered me
and delivered me from all my fears.
5 Those who look to him are radiant,
and their faces shall never be ashamed.
6 This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him
and saved him out of all his troubles.
7 The angel of the LORD encamps
around those who fear him, and delivers them.
8 Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good!
Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!
9 Oh, fear the LORD, you his saints,
for those who fear him have no lack!
10 The young lions suffer want and hunger;
but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing.
11 Come, O children, listen to me;
I will teach you the fear of the LORD.
12 What man is there who desires life
and loves many days, that he may see good?
13 Keep your tongue from evil
and your lips from speaking deceit.
14 Turn away from evil and do good;
seek peace and pursue it.
15 The eyes of the LORD are toward the righteous
and his ears toward their cry.
16 The face of the LORD is against those who do evil,
to cut off the memory of them from the earth.
17 When the righteous cry for help, the LORD hears
and delivers them out of all their troubles.
18 The LORD is near to the brokenhearted
and saves the crushed in spirit.
19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous,
but the LORD delivers him out of them all.
20 He keeps all his bones;
not one of them is broken.
21 Affliction will slay the wicked,
and those who hate the righteous will be condemned.
22 The LORD redeems the life of his servants;
none of those who take refuge in him will be condemned.

Stanley Kubrick on Society and Man

"I think that when Rousseau transferred the concept of original sin from man to society, he was responsible for a lot of misguided social thinking which followed. I don't think that man is what he is because of an imperfectly structured society, but rather that society is imperfectly structured because of the nature of man. No philosophy based on an incorrect view of the nature of man is likely to produce social good." —Stanley Kubrick in an interview with Michel Ciment

Stanley Kubrick on Film Music

"Unless you want a pop score, I don't see any reason not to avail yourself of the great orchestral music of the past and present. This music may be used in its correct form or synthesized, as was done with the Beethoven for some scenes in A Clockwork Orange. But there doesn't seem to be much point in hiring a composer who, however good he may be, is not a Mozart or a Beethoven, when you have such a vast choice of existing orchestral music which includes contemporary and avant-garde work. Doing it this way gives you the opportunity to experiment with the music early in the editing phase, and in some instances to cut the scene to the music. This is not something you can easily do in the normal sequence of events."
—Stanley Kubrick in an interview with Michel Ciment

Stanley Kubrick on Modern Art & Movies

"I think modern art's almost total pre-occupation with subjectivism has led to anarchy and sterility in the arts. The notion that reality exists only in the artist's mind, and that the thing which simpler souls had for so long believed to be reality is only an illusion, was initially an invigorating force, but it eventually led to a lot of highly original, very personal and extremely uninteresting work. In Cocteau's film Orpheé, the poet asks what he should do. 'Astonish me,' he is told. Very little of modern art does that—certainly not in the sense that a great work of art can make you wonder how its creation was accomplished by a mere mortal. Be that as it may, films, unfortunately, don't have this problem at all. From the start, they have played it as safe as possible, and no one can blame the generally dull state of the movies on too much originality and subjectivism." —Stanley Kubrick in an interview with Michel Ciment

Some More Playing with Poetry

Living Among the Dead (take two)

Long the lines like veins entwining
Splay across the leafs of time.
Some enlivening, some refining
Long since past their scripted prime.

Flows the metre of the heartbeat
Pulse the syntax of the sage.
Courageous love and mercy meet
On some inked or printed page.

Quick the rhythm of inward breath
Marks the sound, the sign of life.
Wisdom stands ‘gainst folly’s death
Speaking peace through pain and strife.

So too the poetry of sages lends their substance in our time.
There we reap the depth of ages, coursing through a verse of rhyme.

The Liver Long Day

It has been a very fun, eventful, and prosperous day. From The Liver Life Walk early this morning to dinner just a few minutes ago and every diverse thing in between, I certainly feel both a sense of accomplishment and a pleasant little weariness. Here is my lovely day in pictures:

Dad, Jenny, and I volunteering at the Liver Life Walk

Jenny and I got to walk the 5k at Percy Warner

Afterwards I went to run errands, one of which was picking up gel packs at REI

Then I planted some new additions...

...and replaced all the handles, broken or not, on my dresser...

...and cleaned out the bottom of my closet...

...and started a filing system for myself...

...and washed dishes...

...and cleaned off my table, and made french toast with sausage...

THE END (of a very lovely day!)

Spring Time Planting

There are a few plants I've babied from infancy to toddler-hood and a few I have just picked up at my local plant store. My avocado and oak trees are the ones I've babied. They've been anticipating spring for a while now and have been antsy for a bigger pot to grow up in. The avocado tree was an experiment that Joanna and I tinkered with last spring by simply buying an avocado from Kroger, taking out the seed, helping it sprout, and then planting it. Talk about fascinating! I had no idea it was that simple. Now, if it ever lives to bear fruit that'll be a miracle, but I certainly have enjoyed the process even if it doesn't. The oak tree came from a small newly sprouted acorn in the Wilbur's back yard about two years ago. It was all but dead several months ago yet I couldn't bear to get rid of it. Then one day I looked down to discover the smallest speck of green that was ever visible to the naked eye--not even the beginnings of a leaf mind you, just a speck--and I said, "Ha, I knew you'd make it!" And so it has. Whether or not it will ever grow grand and stately enough to be considered as a candidate to replace an oaken beam in some parish church or school of learning, well, that too would be a miracle, but I certainly have enjoyed the process.

And then there are my new additions, not nurtured by my own hand until this point. I have no idea where they initially came from, but they have come to rest in my keeping. They have provided me with a bit of instant gratification, something I have not earned but nevertheless get to be the beneficiary of. These newcomers--Celosia, Verbena, Bacopa, Petunia, and Dusty Miller--will require just as much attention as those toddler trees that have been with me so long. But isn't that just like spring to be both a continual reminder of the old and yet be a provision of hope with all things new. Who knows what will become of this newness, but I certainly am enjoying the process.

Quotes from The Mind of the Maker

"...if the M.C.C. (Marylebone Cricket Club) were to agree, in a thoughtless moment, that the ball must be hit by the batsman so that it should never come down to earth again, cricket would become an impossibility. A vivid sense of reality usually restrains sports committees from promulgating laws of this kind; other legislators occasionally lack this salutary realism."

" To complain that man measures God by his own experience is a waste of time; man measures everything by his own experience; he has no other yardstick."

"The poet is not obliged, as it were, to destroy the material of Hamlet in order to create a Falstaff, as a carpenter must destroy a tree-form to create a table-form."

"Our minds are not infinite; and as the volume of the world's knowledge increases, we tend more and more to confine ourselves, each to his special sphere of interest and to the specialized metaphor belonging to it. The analytic bias of the last three centuries has immensely encouraged this tendency, and it is now very difficult for the artist to speak the language of the theologian, or the scientist the language of either. But the attempt must be made; and there are signs everywhere that the human mind is once more beginning to move towards a synthesis of experience."

Dorothy Sayers