day no. 17,054: beggers and choosers

Proverbs 20:4

The sluggard will not plow by reason of the cold; 

Therefore shall he beg in harvest, and have nothing.

Some excuses are more convenient than others, but none of them can cover the bill when it comes due. It may really be cold, but that fact won't warm you when the heating bill is due. If you beg your pardon during planting season you will have to beg from someone who did not. If everyone took advantage of the same excuses, there would be no one left to beg. Some people felt the cold, but plowed ahead in hope.

“Sometimes it might really be cold. Sometimes there are obstacles that the industrious experience as well, but they push through. For them, the glad fruition of harvest is on the other side of not giving up. Confronted with a genuine obstacle, the heart of the sluggard is greatly encouraged because he won’t have to come up with an excuse that was manifestly ridiculous. But as the proverb indicates, the one thing the excuse won’t be able to do is put food on the table when the time of harvest comes.” — Douglas Wilson, The Rubbery Bones of the Lazy

Men do not make excuses, they take responsibility. The sluggard looks for excuses. When they are easy to find, the lazy man rejoices for his work is made all the easier. But when the excuses are hard to come by, the ne'er-do-well works hard to find one. Thus, the lazy man demonstrates that he has the ability to do hard things, but only when they get him out of what he perceives to be harder things. He would rater be up all night working hard on an excuse than up early working hard at his assigned task.

Excuse farmers can squeeze blood from a turnip, but they can't draw responsibility from their bones. They hunt and gather plausible deniability like a skilled hunter and have no meat or clothing to show for all their efforts.

day no. 17,053: alphabetical areas of interest July 2025

"There are no uninteresting things, only uninterested people."

— G.K. Chesterton

Interested people are interesting people.

Be interested... stay interesting.

A/C (fixed the AC in the back on the van with Ben Greer before trip to DSM)

AT&T (switched internet, wondering if 5g is giving us all headaches though?)

Babysitting (Nen started helping out Candace and Mike)

Blansetts (left CCL to attend church closer to home)

Blog (finally to the point where I am not much ahead, writing in real time)

Blizzard (in like a lion, out like a lamb - March 2025)

Christ Church Emporia (accepted invitation to preach down there in August)

Christian Education (preached on this topic at CCL)

Cigars (been enjoying them on Sunday afternoons with boys)

Coffee (stopped drinking coffee during work day to try to be less edgy)

Date Night (been trying to get back into monthly habit of doing these with Paige)

Diet Dr. Thunder (has been drink of choice on hand in the garage fridge)

Doug TenNapel (rereading with kids for Story Club)

Drew Estates (found Dirt Torpedo, but was discontinued, then found Factor Smokes Sweets)

Driving (been letting Atticus drive more)

DSM (first longer trip with twins for Grandpa Jim's memorial went well)

Duck Dynasty (finished TV series on DVD)

Eden (finished these graphic novels with kids again for Story Club)

Ehlers-Danlos (Nen has had a rough stretch lately with this)

Elder (told Session, "not now, not never" in Jan in response to their invitation)

Elder Candidacy (in May revisited offer and accepted now that the twins were 1)

Exhortation (did my first mini-sermon on WLC 138 in CCL)

Eye itches (not as bad, but still get every so often -- especially when precipitation)

Faucet (had been wonky, installed new one... much better)

Fire pit (try to do most Sundays when not too hot or too windy)

Flu (everyone on/off sick from Christmas through January)

Friday (has become Atticus mowing day with 3 lawns on the weekly schedule)

Garbage Disposal (was leaking and got it fixed... I hope)

GKC (listening through some new material I've found on YouTube)

Glasses (got new glasses, but was harder to see with more intense prescription)

Goldie (got it registered after Atticus got it running)

Grandpa Jim (passed away, attended memorial in DSM)

Headaches (had a stretch in Jan of having bad headaches on Mon and Tues each week)

Instagram (crossed 100k followers and was then blocked for a bit from posting reels)

Itchy (been getting intense itches more frequently over the last few years)

James (ready to begin sermon series in James at CCL)

Judges 20 (preached at CCL on March 30th)

Knox (getting stronger and bigger)

Legends (visited with Paige for the first time on a date night)

Mastitis (Paige had for 1st time in February, really sick)

Narnia (going back to Narnia for Story Club with kids)

Not the Bee (been watching weekly news spots with family on Sunday nights)

Ogden (online strife between Moscow and Ogden)

OpSec (prepared men topic of discussion)

Owning Productive Property (20 things list from Crosspolitic got me thinking)

Page One (did my first page one during service at CCL)

Penelope (her Ehlers-Danlos has been rough lately)

Quarts (been getting goat's milk from Amy for twins)

Rain (crazy amounts of down pours this Spring/Summer)

Rocky/Rambo (started following me on IG)

Science Clouds (so many all the time in the skies)

Shelter (been with company for 9 years)

Studio C (online skit comedy show we've been enjoying on YouTube)

Suits (started wearing suit jacket and ties to church per being an officer candidate)

Ten Million (has my first 10 million view reel, followed shortly by a second that hit 10M)

Underwriting (been in this department for 7 years)

Vacation (not sure if we will take a vacation this year since we just had twins)

Vacation Time (still having to use it or lose it with as much as I have accrued 208ish hrs)

Wade Show (not posting as often, but we still watch them when they're available)

Wipe Out Australia (watched through with the kids for the first time)

Winter King (reread for Story Club with kids)

Woodcarving (been watching these videos with kids again)

Xtra (trying to find more bandwith for extra work that comes along with elder candidacy)

Yikes (the BIG kind: elder candidacy gives you new insights)

Zzzz (been sleeping pretty well most nights, usually 12:30a-ish to 7:15a)

day no. 17,052: going somewhere and getting there

“Everyone is growing up into something. No matter what the world says, our life is not static. You are either growing up into Christ, or you are growing up into Gollum—diseased, malicious, and bent. Those are the only options. You can’t just freeze the frame and say, ‘I want to stop right here and be sorry for myself forever.’” — Douglas Wilson, Keep Your Kids

Everything is going somewhere and sooner or later it's gong to get there. Everyone is becoming something and sooner or later they are going to become it.

Psalm 135:15-18

The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the work of human hands.

They have mouths, but do not speak; they have eyes, but do not see;

they have ears, but do not hear, nor is there any breath in their mouths.

Those who make them become like them, so do all who trust in them.

If you go after idols, you become idle.

2 Kings 17:15

They went after false idols and became false.

If you trust in false gods, you will bear false witness against the one, true God.

2 Corinthians 3:18

But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.

If you go hard after the one, true God, you will become one with Him.

“If you dip into any college, or school, or parish, or family – anything you like – at a given point in its history, you always find that there was a time before that point when there was more elbow room and contrasts weren’t quite so sharp; and that there’s going to be a time after that point when there is even less room for indecision and choices are even more momentous. Good is always getting better and bad is always getting worse: the possibilities of even apparent neutrality are always diminishing. The whole thing is sorting itself out all the time, coming to a point, getting sharper and harder.” ― C.S. Lewis, That Hideous Strength

The principle holds true: you become what you behold; you will be what you worship.

"We become what we worship." ― G.K. Beale

History has only two roads. There is the narrow path that leads to light and life in Christ and the wide way that leads to waste and the outer darkness.

day no. 17,051: the reverend rabbitheart

“A number of you have been languishing out there for a while, listening to sermons from a man who, if he had been a character in The Pilgrim’s Progress, would have been the Rev. Rabbitheart.” — Douglas Wilson, Mere Christendom

If the shepherd has fled, how much hope is there for the sheep to stand firm?

If the shepherd flinches, how can the sheep expect to hold their ground?

Matthew 26:31

Then saith Jesus unto them, "All ye shall be offended because of me this night: for it is written, 'I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad.'"

As goes the shepherd, so go the sheep. If a smacked shepherd causes the sheep the flee, how much more so a shepherd who is afraid of having smack talked about him? If the shepherd cowers before even the tiniest hint of hate, how much hope do the sheep have of enduring a bold blast of backchat?

John 10:27-28

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.

The grass withers and the flowers fade and the grass fed flock falls away. Sheep need the sure Word of God not the grass of men. Sheep need a Shepherd who sticks to the Word and chases away the weeds and the wolves.

Cocksure shepherds create chicken-hearted cowards.

Humble heralds create lion-hearted heroes of the faith.

day no. 17,050: character and personality

“Character wants to deliver a product; personality wants to get a sale.” — Douglas Wilson, Keep Your Kids

Character wants to make things,

caricature wants to make an impression.

Responsibility wants to love its neighbor,

personality wants its neighbor to love it.

Good works multiply the pie,

good advertising divides attention.

Do not sell yourself short, 

give yourself to longsuffering.

Character is the mark responsibility leaves on a man,

personality is the mark a boy wants to leave on others.

day no. 17,049: something out of nothing and something out of anything

“God is that which can make something out of nothing. Man (it may truly be said) is that which can make something out of anything. “ — G.K. Chesterton, What’s Wrong With the World

Because man is not a god, he cannot make something out of nothing, but because he is a man, he can make something out of anything. 

A creature cannot create anything ex nihilo, even a speck of dust, but a sub-creator in submission to his Creator can subdue the entire earth.

day no. 17,048: Callista is EIGHT!

Happy Birthday, Callista!!!

You are EIGHT years old today.!!!! You are GREIGHT years old. You are, after all, a GREAT daughter. And you are eight. You get the idea.

I love being your dad.

You are so smart. You ask good questions and you think about the answers you get. You ask because you want to know and you stick around to hear the answers. You think things through. You ask questions when things don't fit together. You pay attention and you spend time thinking things over. These are great qualities and will only grow and mature with the rest of you.

You are the leader of the little girl gang that lives in your room. You like taking care of Oey and showing her the ropes and you like having Juni to play with. You are all little, so there are lots of little bumps that go along with that, but for the most part you like and love each other most of the time.

You like going on walks around the neighborhood at night and you are trying to learn how to roller skate. You love going fast on your bike, but you don't like wearing shoes or a helmet in order to do it. So, you don't ride bike that much anymore. I guess you'd rather walk as fast as you can than ride slowly.

You do a great job at church and pack things for Oey and take care of her during service. You go with her to the restroom when she needs it and you get her snack to keep her occupied. You do a great job. You like opening your Cantus to the right song and trying to follow along. You draw pictures of the sermons as you listen. You love seeing your friends after service and have grown close to several girls at our church. You eat lunch with them and play with them after service most weeks and are sad when one of them is sick and unable to make it.

You are a good friend. You think about people and what they like. You worry about them when they aren't feeling well and you cheer for them when things go well for them.

You like to draw and make the cutest little versions of members of our family. You are crafty. You like making things and you're good at it. You like to bake with your sisters and you like to eat with anyone who is eating. You like snack and often eat your weight in whatever is set before you. Second to Atticus, you probably eat the most of any of the other kids.

You like school and are learning a lot. You are smart, just like your mom and sisters. And you're only getting smarter as the years go by.

You are a good girl, Callista and I like being your dad. I can't wait to see what eight has in store for you. Here's the your birthday, and many more to come!

Love,

Dad