• ‘Random rant Friday’

I had my first bout of vomiting and diarahhea following my last of 42 radiation treatments for prostate cancer. I think I also hurled half my brain, so I’ll rely on others’ rants for today’s posting.
Democrats offer evangelicals a voice at convention
Jim Wallis, of Sojourners, quotes an AP story:Religious leaders and people of faith who’ve [...]

• Waiting

9:00 am EDT
I just had my last radiation treatment for prostate cancer!
Now a month-long wait for a PSA test to see if the 42 radiation treatments actually worked. It’s been almost a year of waiting on numerous PSA results. Then waiting for biopsy reports. Now waiting for another PSA. And then waiting one [...]

• Are you creative?

Fascinating article at PsychologyToday.com: The Creative Personality: Ten paradoxical traits of the creative personality by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi.
I think Dr. C is using “paradoxical” as a euphanism for “schizo,” but regardless, here are the ten traits with some of his commentary:1. Creative people have a great deal of physical energy, but they’re also often quiet [...]

• WWJE?

3 pm
Donald Miller, author of best-selling Christian book Blue Like Jazz, prayed at the Democratic National Convention last night—and it wasn’t some non-sectarian generic god to whom he prayed. It was “in the name of Your son, Jesus”!
Father God,
This week, as the world looks on, help the leaders in this room create a civil [...]

• ‘Virtues gone mad’

For someone who wrote one hundred years ago, G.K. Chesterton continues to be brilliantly current:The modern world is not evil; in some ways the modern world is far too good. It is full of wild and wasted virtues.
The modern world is full of the old Christian virtues gone mad. The virtues have gone mad [...]

• The perfect vacation

Lois and I, along with our daughter and two granddaughters, are on the road today, returning from Wisconsin.
So, it’s a good day to recycle some old columns on vacations, ten clues a man should wear a shirt and, of course, laziness. Enjoy!

Cancer countdown: Just three radiation treatments to go!

• ‘Random Rant Friday’

It’s time again for random rants, reactions and responses:
‘The Kind of Leader America Needs’
The Sunday after Rick Warren hosted a forum for U.S. presidential candidates, the mega-pastor delivered a message entitled, “The Kind of Leader America Needs.” According to Warren, they exhibit integrity, humility and generosity. He noted these were the “first three characteristics,” so [...]

• Sex ed. for three-year olds?

I’ve always believed that sex education needs to begin as soon as you bring that little bundle of joy home from the hospital, but this may be pushing that philosophy a bit far! (Faith snapped three-year-old Hannah as she pulled grandpa’s book from the book shelf.)
Here are some thoughts on sex education—in the context [...]

• Initial success

Yesterday, I noted that G.K. Chesterton is one of my favorite authors. C.S. Lewis and A.W. Tozer are two more. In fact, some of the most successful authors go by initials: T.S. Eliot, J.D. Salinger, J.R.R. Tolkien and W.B. Yeats.
So, maybe I need to put J.N. Watkins on my articles and books.
I’m just [...]

• Impossibility of originality

I’m re-reading one of my favorite authors: G.K. Chesterton. In Orthodoxy, the popular nineteenth-century journalist notes how trying to be original is an impossible pursuit.
I did, like all other solemn little boys, little boys, try to be in advance of the age. Like them I tried to be some ten minutes in advance of [...]