April 19th

Two hundred and thirty-three years ago today began the conflict that gave rise to one of the greatest nations God has raised up in this world. May we honor the men who have fought and died for her and for the principles for which she stands.


Concord Hymn
By Ralph Waldo Emerson

By the rude bridge that arched the flood,
Their flag to April's breeze unfurled,
Here once the embattled farmers stood,
And fired the shot heard round the world.

The foe long since in silence slept;
Alike the conqueror silent sleeps;
And Time the ruined bridge has swept
Down the dark stream which seaward creeps.

On this green bank, by this soft stream,
We set to-day a votive stone;
That memory may their deed redeem,
When, like our sires, our sons are gone.

Spirit, that made those heroes dare
To die, and leave their children free,
Bid Time and Nature gently spare
The shaft we raise to them and thee.

A few things

I'm going to be nice and post these all as links....

1) I posted a "new" poem on my poetry blog; a walk today brought it back to mind. I'm starting to notice a symbol that I'm using overmuch in my writings (though I do use it in different ways)...

2) I re-filled out the "Mother of All Surveys" (my old copy was lost with my hard drive) which you can read here. Past reviews on it:

"Don't post it! For your own sake! No one will ever visit your blog again!" (That is why I'm posting it now as a link. ;-D)

"This looks alot like it was written by a Literature major with a strong interest in Theology."

"No way am I filling out that whoppin' big thing!"

Fill it out anyway, if you're ever bored beyond all belief. :-)

3) Another discussion from US History, discussing the 1920s. I expound my view of cultural conservatism, which could probably be summed up in this paragraph:

"The problem that I see with innovation without reason is that, fundamentally, it discards traditionalism for individualism. I want to do this, so I jolly well shall, and devil may care. Instead of honoring the wisdom of those who have gone before, or instead of at least giving the benefit of the doubt to our progenitors, it gives the benefit of the doubt to ourselves and our peers. For my own part, it seems inestimably foolish to trust oneself and others no more mature than oneself, in disregard to those who have lived before, have greater experience, and have fought through many of these same questions (cast in different terms, but nonetheless the same questions) for themselves. It shouldn't be necessary for every generation to reinvent the wheel."

4) Last summer, a classmate sent us an alert to the effect that the Senate of his native Hawaii was drafting a resolution encouraging the national government to accept the authority of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. He wanted us to email his senators, so I did, and in so doing gave pretty much a brief exposition of why I believe family education is so important. Further, I am beginning to think that the "free exercise" clause of the 1st Amendment is going to become more and more important to Christian homeschoolers, for the reasons I outlined in the letter. For those who are interested, it is here.

5) I made a few revisions to "The Thread Upon the Loom." I have the full poem here, with the revisions highlighted in orange and red (they're in parts I, IV, and V). I also included my reasoning for the changes and the concerns I had with the new form. If anyone has any suggestions or comments, I'd like to hear them.

6) Christopher Parkening is an amazing guitarist, trained by Maestro Andres Segovia, and a Christian, too.



7) A personal update on some school and military stuff coming soon. :-)

Spring

Ah, spring...at long last the barren waste of a Nebraska winter is coming alive in a verdant rebirth. The birds have returned, and the new grass is slowly overcoming the dead remains of last year's. The hedges and windbreaks are already budding, and soon will burst forth in rapturous welcome of Spring...

Alright, I'll admit that this is just an excuse to post some pictures taken a few days ago from the vantage point of one of our trees.

Though the background is still stubbornly bare, the buds in the foreground, and the streaks of green in the grass are a fair promise of the coming spring.







On Wednesday, it was a sunny 72 degrees, with a strong south wind, and it occurred to me that spring brings summer, and with it heat. Though I prefer the 50s, with clouds and drizzle (as it was on Thursday and today), I'm sure that God's sense of climate control is much better than mine:

"While the earth remains, Seedtime and harvest, And cold and heat, And summer and winter, And day and night, Shall not cease." Genesis 8:22

Psalm 90

I recently re-discovered that my Geneva Bible came with a CD-ROM containing the Geneva Bible in PDF format, along with the Apocrypha, AND the Metrical Psalms. The Metered Psalms were quite well done, and here is Psalm 90 (which happens to be my favorite), for those who are interested.

Domine refugium. Ps.90.I.H.
Moses seeing the people neither admonished by the
brevity of their life, nor by plagues to be thankful,
prayeth God to turn their hearts, and continue his mercy
toward them and their posterity forever.
Sing this as the 78 Psalm.

Thou Lord hast been our sure defense,
our place of ease and rest:
In all times past, yea, so long since,
as cannot be expressed.

2 Ere there was made mountain or hill,
the earth and all abroad:
From age to age, and always still,
forever thou art God.

3 Thou grindest man through grief and pain,
to dust, or clay, and then,
And then thou saist again, return
again, ye sons of men,

4 The lasting of a thousand year
What is it in thy sight?
As yesterday it doth appear
or as a watch by night.

5 So soon as thou dost scatter them,
then is their life and tread,
All as a sleep, and like the grass,
whose beauty soon doth fade.

6 Which in the morning shines full bright,
but fadeth by and by:
And is cut down ere it be night,
all withered, dead and dry.

7 For through thine anger we consume
our might is much decayed:
And of thy servant wrath and fume
we are full sore afraid.

8 The wicked works that we have wrought
thou setst before thine eye:
Our privy faults, yea, eke our thoughts
thy countenance doth spy.

9 For through thy wrath our days do waste,
thereof doth naught remain:
Our years consumes as words or blasts,
and are not called again.

10 Our time is threescore years and ten,
that we do live on mold:
If one see fourscore, surely then
we count him wondrous old.

11 Yet of this time the strength and chief
the which we count upon:
Is nothing else but painful grief,
and we like blasts are gone.

12 Who once doth know what strength is there
what might thine anger hath?
Or in his heart who doth thee fear
according to thy wrath?

13 Instruct us Lord to know and try,
how long our days remain:
That then we may our hearts apply
true wisdom to attain.

14 Return O Lord, how long wilt thou
forth on in wrath proceed?
Show favor to thy servants now,
and help them at their need.

15 Refresh us with thy mercy soon,
and then our joy shall be:
All times so long as life shall last
in heart rejoice shall we.

16 As thou hast plagued us before:
now also make us glad:
And for the years wherein full sore
affliction we have had.

17 O let thy work and power appear,
and on thy servant’s light:
And show unto thy children dear,
the glory and thy might.

18 Lord let thy grace and mercy stand
on us thy servant thus:
Confirm the works we take in hand,
Lord prosper them to us.

Questions

This is something I've debated before, and I have my own opinion on the matter, but I'd be curious to see what my readers think before I present mine. There are actually three closely related questions:

1) Is it permissible for men to wear earrings?

2) Is it permissible for women to wear earrings?

3) If the answer was no to (1) and yes to (2), on what do you base the distinction?

And, no, I'm not remotely considering get my ears pierced. My brothers already know what I'll do to their ear lobes if they ever come home with earrings.

In other news, I've posted again to my Theology/Philosophy blog. As I look at the previous post, I realize that I should have titled it "Presuppositionalism and "Calvinism": the Biblical Answers to the Problem of Epistemology." Not that anyone reads that blog (is it really that boring?), but it is duly fixed anyway. ;-)

And on my way home tonight I caught a portion of Rachmaninov's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini on the radio, so I'm going to listen to Bach's Toccata and Fugue in A minor (the one on my Songspot), and retire in a mood of pure bliss...

Colin