Monthly Archives: October 2018

LOSING SIGHT OF THE BIG PICTURE

 

Gen. Stanley McChrystal’s Military Rules for Leading Your Business

In his book, he relates an entertaining anecdote from the airline industry. A baggage handler broke a musician’s $3,000 guitar, and the musician spent nine months working through the airline’s labyrinthine phone system to no avail. Finally he wrote a song about it, put it on YouTube and got more than 1 million views. The airline’s stock price fell 10 percent, costing shareholders more than $180 million, roughly 60,000 times the value of the original guitar.

C.S. LEWIS WRITING IN BOOKS!

A handwritten annotation in one of C.S. Lewis's books (a Latin one) from his personal library, now owner by Walter Hooper.

When I spoke at Wheaton College I paid a visit to the Wade collection.  It houses collections from the libraries of C.S. Lewis and many others.  I asked to see a few of the books that were in the library of C.S. Lewis.  The curator made the decision, but to my delight she brought up a copy of one of my favorites: Paradise Lost by Milton.  I could not believe how many notes Lewis made in the margins, all in his meticulous penmanship.  Unfortunately, I was not allowed to take a picture.

The picture you see is a Latin text where you can see the written notes of Lewis at the bottom in both Latin and Greek.

Lesson learned: If a scholar like Lewis finds it helpful to write in books, what does that mean for the rest of us?!

Picture: HT Timothy Willard’s Instagram account

 

BIBLICAL AND HISTORICAL IGNORANCE

Alan Jacobs And Marilynne Robinson’s Faith

My own reflection on this important piece by Alan Jacobs:

For many years, I’ve tried to address the problem through teaching the Bible and theology. I still do so, but I am now convinced that though biblical/theological illiteracy is still a big problem with so-called evangelicals, historical ignorance is equally eating our lunch.

SECULAR, STOIC, OR SCRIPTURE ON DEATH?

I read things on a regular basis that trumpet the glories of the Stoic way of life.  It got me thinking about three options when it comes to death:

SECULAR folks think death is something we should not think of.  We need to get distracted with lesser things.  Ernest Becker talked about these things in his Pulitzer winning book, The Denial of Death.

STOICS say we ought to face death bravely as it is so “natural.”  Everyone has to experience it.  Hunker down and face the music.  Stop complaining you weak-willed soul!

SCRIPTURE tells us that death is our final enemy (I Cor. 15:26).  Satan uses death to terrorize us (Heb. 2:14,15).  Christ says he has abolished death (II Tim. 1:10).  We long for eternity (Ecc. 3:11).  Death is not the way it was suppose to be.  We can face it (contra the SECULARIST), but we don’t face it in our own strength (contra the STOIC).