day no. 15,597: dead in the water

Hebrews 2:1
We must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it.

Anyone can get caught up into what's current. It takes effort to be interested in history. The currents move under their own energy and if you aren't swimming, you're being swept along with them. The current never revisits the same place twice. It has no memory. It is always running wherever it is and it never doubles back. But Chesterton reminds us that progressing in that fashion is a feat just as easily accomplished by being dead in the water.

"A dead thing can go with the stream, but only a living thing can go against it." 

 — G.K. Chesterton

Only a living thing can swim upstream. The current carries along with it anything that doesn't resist it. It is easy to believe whatever is currently being believed. It is much more difficult to believe what's back upstream, to take stock in what's already been ran over. No exertion is required to end up downstream, but effort is mandatory if anyone is inclined to investigate upstream.

It takes no mental dexterity to be trendy. Just go where the currents carry you. It requires a great deal of intellectual athleticism, however, to go against a trend. 

"Right is Right even if nobody does it. Wrong is wrong even if everybody is wrong about it.” 

 — G.K. Chesterton

"Fallacies do not cease to be fallacies because they become fashions.”

 — G.K. Chesterton

day no. 15,596: who is owed what by whom?

Justice is a matter of asking and answering, "WHO is owed WHAT by WHOM?"

The WHOs and WHATs are usually clearly defined whereas the by WHOMs are usually less specific.

Fore example, John is owed affordable healthcare.

By WHOM? The hospital? It's employees? The government? Should the hospital charge less for the services? Should the employees perform the task for less per hour? Should the hospital continue to charge the same amount, but charge it to someone else's account? Should the employees continue to make the same amount, but have their salaries subsidized by someone else?

WHO is responsible to make sure healthcare is affordable? And should they have the authority to do it whatever it takes or are there limits to how affordability can be achieved? If so, WHO is in charge of monitoring if those limits have been exceeded?

If someone is owed something, someone else is obligated to provide it. This assumes they have it or have access to it. If everyone is owed a glass of chocolate milk, this means that cocoa and milk producers are now under an obligation to provide certain quantities of their respective products in defined proportions. But what if there isn't enough cocoa to meet the obligation? What if there isn't enough milk in existence to grant every human being an 8 oz glass per day? Are the cocoa and milk farmers required to find ways to produce more in order to meet their obligations? If they can't, are they guilty of a crime? Is their failure to produce their products in these capacities amount to immorality? Are they allowed to quit? Can they walk away from the cocoa producing game? Or would that be a crime? Are the producers required to sell their products for an amount each person could afford? Or only for how much a particular person can afford? And who monitors this and makes sure it's the right price? 

When contemplating justice, don't forget that every ought requires someone else to do or provide something. If someone is owed something, someone else is obligated to supply it.

day no. 15,595: invest your best

"Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without."

You can either make the most of something or make nothing of it. Those are both logical conclusions. What doesn't make sense is to make so little of something. Either invest your best in what you deem worth seeking or invest none of yourself into it. Let your Yes by Yes and your No be No. Either get after it or go without it. Either make the most of something or make nothing of it. Half-hearted application makes little of everything and gets nothing out of it for all its efforts. There is more to be gained from a whole-hearted No than can be gained from a half-hearted Yes.

Ecclesiastes 9:10
Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might

day no. 15,594: teaspoons and rivers

"A boy will dabble in a thousand pursuits and then drop them when he gets bored or they become too difficult. A man will always finish what he starts."  -- Brett McKay, The Art of Manliness: Classic Skills and Manners for the Modern Man

And I might add, he always finishes what he begins because he doesn't begin anything he doesn't believe worth finishing.

A man who has his priorities in order and is living with assiduity knows why he is enduring the difficulties he is experiencing, so he sees them through because he has already seen them as valuable. They don't lose his interest in the midst of adversity; in fact, they likely gain attention and perhaps even affection.

If your interests evaporate once heat is applied to them, your resolve is measured in teaspoons when it should be measured in rivers.

Ecclesiastes 7:8
Better is the end of a thing than its beginning,
and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit

day no. 15,593: in other words

2 Corinthians 5:13
For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you.

What Paul is saying is essentially, "When I think about God, I get carried away. In the privacy of my thought and prayer, I do not hold back even a little bit. I go overboard. I push the accelerator down all the way. I don't apply any brakes. I am all in and head over heels excited about the things of God. If I'm out of my mind, it's when I'm most interested in God in my mind. I am over the moon engaged in all things concerning Him... But I realize that this would be a bit much for many others. I get that everyone is not as into this as I am. So if I seem toned down, know that it is for your sake. I am holding back in order to hold your attention. I could go further and faster, but I want you to be able to keep up. I want you to pick up as much as I'm throwing down as possible."

day no. 15,592: alphabetical areas of interest July 2021

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

- G.K. Chesterton

Interested people are interesting people.

Be interested... stay interesting.

Animal Farm (maybe too soon for Story Club? read again soon)

Anthem Church (changing w/ Stan gone and Brandon as new elder)

Apple and Arrow (reading for 1st time w/ kids at Story Club)

Aria Aleksander (kids, especially girls like watching her ballet videos)

Ascensional (handed off to Paige for editorial help)

Audit (will we discover that Trump actually won? and if so, what then?)

Babies (trying to remember what it's like having a little one)

Backyard (praying dirt and seed take)

Battle Ground, WA (never knew this city existed before FLF Rally)

Beaver (watching through show during family time)

Beowulf (just finished with kids at Story Club again)

Books (on pace to read 300 again this year)

Brick Dictator (fun stop motion Lego reenactments of historical battles)

Bulk Store (been enjoying grabbing spicy nuts at Amish for snacks)

Car Crash Time (Atticus loves this YouTube channel of dashcam crashes)

Cardboard (first TenNapel comic recently read)

Chesterton (reading Everlasting Man for first time... gold as expected)

Chocolate Knox (been enjoying his IG posts)

Church (feeling more and more out of place as convictions change/develop)

Congregational Singing (enjoying the "new to me" discovery of this form of worship)

Couchechism (still working on working this out, developing cadence/routines)

Crash Boom Punk (video game car crashes kids always ask for)

C.R. Wiley (loved his spot on the Waterbreak for Crosspolitic)

Crosspolitic (began listening to daily news brief)

Culture (still working hard to create and cultivate Van Voorst family culture)

December (wonder how close to Christmas new baby will be born)

Doug TenNapel (having fun reading his graphic novels with kids)

Eight (the number of children I now have)

Ex-eldering (no longer an elder at Anthem as of May 2)

Failure (feeling the weight lately of falling short in so many ways so often)

Fight Laugh Feast Club (joined to get discount for Rally)

Fight Laugh Feast Conference (looking fwd to next in Sep)

Fight Laugh Feast Magazine (great read, fun getting introduced to new friends)

Fight Laugh Feast Rally (had a great time at our 1st of this kind)

Flula (introduced kids to his videos recently)

George Grant (fun getting to know him through FLF Network)

Ghostopolis (second TenNapel comic reading with kids)

Grace Agenda (can't wait for 1st one this August)

Gregory Wilbur (appreciate his album of psalms/hymns)

History (exploring Catholic/Protestant divide)

How Should We Then Live? (just read for the 1st time w/ Josh Miller)

Idaho (looking fwd to seeing it in person)

Intermittent Fasting (still at it, 2 1/2 yrs of OMAD, 20/4 sans Sunday)

Julian Smith (have had fun watching with kids)

John Knox (excited to learn more about him, next book with Josh Miller)

June Hymn (by the Decembererists - been listening to it with the kids)

Keep America Great (interested in Maricopa County audit)

Latin (finished Linney and Latina Christiana w/ kids)

Liberty & License (freedom to is different than freedom from)
Manliness (wanting to mature as a man in many areas)

Max Hacks (fun videos Rocco really likes)

Moscow (excited to visit in August)

Move (wondering when and where we may end up or be called to go to)

Mr. Tinkerer (great woodworking channel we've been enjoying)

My Chemical Romance (revisiting, "Welcome to the Black Parade")

Networking (fun to meet so many like-minded families at FLF Rally)
Nicene Creed (began working through/memorizing with kids during couchechism)

Otto (like this name, but everyone all of a sudden seems to as well)

Papa Don't Pope (Wilson on Catholic/Protestant division)

Pie (new staple of Saturday night)

Pice Cream (a la mode - wordsmithing)

Postmillitant (working through what to do with this account)
Presbyterianism (who knew? enjoying getting acquainted historical/theologically)

Proverb of the Day (began doing during Couchechism)

Psalm Singing (entering a whole new world of worship)
Qanon (nutters gonna nut - the thrill is in the prophecy, not in its fulfillment)
Ransom Trilogy (wrapping up another journey through these)

Ref Toons (having fun reading during couchechism)

Reformed Catholic (excited to read this with Josiah Blansett)

Relient K (enjoying Mmhmm with kids)

Riddles (a Dad Time frequent flyer - Brightside in particular, Penelope's fave)

Rhett Burns (enjoyed his posts in FLF Magazine)

Sabbachism (Sunday Q&As for kiddos)

Sext (added to Sabbath Liturgy - 6th hour of the day)

Slaying Leviathan (just finished reading w/ Josh M.)

Stories are Soul Food (fun new podcast ft. N.D. Wilson)
Story Club (excited by some titles we have on deck)
Table (stripping and sanding for Paige to restain - living room)

Tennessee (excited to visit in September)
Treadmill (30 min/4 nights a week M,T,W, H)

Underwriting Sr. (possible promotion in Sep)

Unvaccinated (spellcheck thinks this is not a word)

Vespers (introducing evening Sabbath liturgy: sing, pie, taste and see)
Vibrams (wore holes through ones I inherited from Josh)
Voddie Baucham (hoping to see and meet him, Deo volente, at FLF in Sep)

Weighted Vest (wearing 20 lbs on morning and afternoon walks)

Wiglaf, son of Weohstan (awesome character in Beowulf)

Wingfeather Saga (getting set to begin our first trip through these for Story Club)
Xtra cash (interested to see how this monthly stipend of Joe Dough works out)

"Yes" (need to revisit commitment to saying, "Yes" as much as permissible)
Zzz's (have not been sleeping well lately, often waking up at 3:30a)

day no. 15,592 continued... the especiallies

"But the fact remains that the services are not alike, that no wit of man can make them alike, and that the retention by each of its separate character, customs and confidence is essential to the conserving of our national military power. Unification has not altered this basic proposition. The first requirement of a unified establishment is moral soundness in each of the integral parts, without which there can be no soundness at all. And on the question of fundamental loyalty, the officer who loves every other service just as much as his own will have just as much active virtue as the man who loves other women as much as his own wife." -- The Armed Forces Officer, U.S. Department of Defense (1950)

Christians should love their local church more than other churches. They should be members of their church as a matter of priority. They have an obligation to serve and minister to those who are enrolled as members in their local gatherings before they serve and minister to those Christians of other congregations.

Christians have obligations to love particular neighbors in a particular order of priority. Christians must honor covenants before anything else. This means a Christian is obligated first and foremost to God with whom they have made a covenant of worship. They then must love their spouse, if married, above all other earthly people as they made a covenant of marriage with them. Next, the children produced by the union of that covenant of marriage must be prioritized. One's own children take precedent over other people's children. Next would be a Christian's parents. One must honor thy father and mother and the covenant home into which one was born and lived under until establishing their own home through the covenant of marriage. Any siblings produced as a result of that covenant come next as the closest extended family from a previous covenantal arrangement. These blood-relatives whom God has made them family by His choosing of time, place and boundary a la Acts 17:26. Then the Christian must love the members of their local congregation of which they have a voluntary covenant of membership. Since this covenant can be transferred upon permissible geographical circumstances, it comes after the permanent nature of the marriage covenant under which you were born and the current one under which you have formed a new family. Next, the Christian must love their geographical neighbors beginning on their block and moving outwardly by association to neighborhood, city, county, state, nation, etc... Christian obligation is a matter of monitoring the especiallies and applying them with particular attention.

1 Timothy 5:8
But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

Galatians 6:10
So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.