Category Archives: Character

Michael Cromartie, R.I.P.

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Michael Cromartie, R.I.P.

I met Mike about twenty years ago.  We were in the beginning stages of launching Two Cities Ministries.  We had a wonderful lunch over Chinese food at a quiet place in Washington, DC.  Mike was one of the most influential Christian leaders you’ve probably never heard of.  He was full of energy, loved people, and was a great raconteur. 

Plutarch said “small” things can reveal a man’s character.  One thing stands out for me.  Though Mike and I hardly knew each other he was always very quick to answer any question I sent him via email. 

Through his creativity and tenacity Mike was able to win the trust of journalists across a wide swath of religious and political perspectives, no small feat!

THE LONELINESS OF DONALD TRUMP

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“We gain awareness of ourselves and others from setbacks and difficulties; we get used to a world that is not always about us; and those who do not have to cope with that are brittle, weak, unable to endure contradiction, convinced of the necessity of always having one’s own way. The rich kids I met in college were flailing as though they wanted to find walls around them, leapt as though they wanted there to be gravity and to hit ground, even bottom, but parents and privilege kept throwing out safety nets and buffers, kept padding the walls and picking up the pieces, so that all their acts were meaningless, literally inconsequential. They floated like astronauts in outer space.”

Rebecca Solnit

The rest is here (HT: My sister Lisa)

Rebecca Solnit: The Loneliness of Donald Trump

I AM A MYSTERY TO MYSELF! HOW ABOUT YOU?

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I resonate with these words:

“Whoever meditates on the mystery of his own life will quickly realize why only God, the searcher of the secrets of the heart, can pass final judgment. We cannot judge what we have no access to. The self is a swirling conflict of fears, impulses, sentiments, interests, allergies, and foibles. It is a metaphysical given for which there is no easy rational explanation. Now if we cannot unveil the mystery of our own motives and affections, how much less can we unveil the mystery in others? That is, as we look into ourselves, we encounter the mystery of our own, the depths of our own selfhood. As we sing things like ‘Just as I am, though tossed about with many a conflict, many a doubt, fightings within and fears without, O Lamb of God, I come.’ And having recognized the mysteries that dwell in the very depths of our own being, how can we treat other people as if they were empty or superficial beings, without the same kind of mystery?”

The rest is here:

https://blogs.thegospelcoalition.org/rayortlund/2017/04/25/edward-john-carnell-1919-1967/