RaMbLeS
Welcome to RaMbLeS, a collection of weekly musings on life and Scripture. It all began in 2005 on Google’s blogspot as the aBeLOG (a name now recycled), a semi-autobiographical devotional that attempted to keep well-wishers abreast of my activities as I relocated to Scotland for a few years. Since my return, I’ve continued my RaMbLeS, and here’s its most recent incarnation on Homiletix, as random reflections usually based on current news articles and travel experiences and whatever else takes my fancy!
Home!
He’s 90! My father became a nonagenarian last week, beating the biblical average.
As for the days of our life, they contain seventy years, Or if due to strength, eighty years,
Yet their pride is but labor and sorrow; For soon it is gone and we fly away.
Psalm 90:10
Indeed.
In fact, hardly a day goes by without Dad saying wistfully …
I don’t know why the Lord’s keeping me here and not calling me Home.”
I tell him it so that we, his family, may be prayed for.
Gone?
Talking of phobias ….
Here’s a new one: taphophobia = “fear of graves” (from the Greek: taphos = grave and phobos = fear).
Before the days of modern medicine, taphophobia was not entirely irrational. People did get buried by accident. William Tebb (1830–1917), a British social reformer, collected stories of these premature burials, documenting 219 cases of near-live burial, 149 of actual live burial, and—get this!—10 cases of dissections of bodies that were
Phobia?
Triskaidekaphobia, it is called, the fear of number 13 (from the Greek: “tris” = 3; “kai” = and; “deka” = 10; and “phobos” = fear). And paraskevidekatriaphobia (from the Greek, “paraskevi” = Friday) or friggatriskaidekaphobia (from “Frigg” = the Norse goddess after whom we get “Friday” in English).
Irrational? Maybe. But the British Medical Journal once concluded in “Is Friday the 13th Bad For Your Health?” that:
Friday 13th is unlucky for
Teddy!
Apparently National Teddy Bear was on September 9.
So the popular custom Teddy Bear outlet, Build-A-Bear Workshop, commissioned a survey by a third party, Atomik Research Group. 2,004 adults were queried. And 40% of them confessed to having their favorite stuffed animal by them as they go to bed.
Four in ten Americans.
And many of those furry buddies leftovers from their childhood days. More than half acknowledged possession of a keepsake stuffed animal for more than 20 years.
Outhouse!
Last week some Bostonians made an interesting find: Paul Revere’s outhouse. That revered gentleman (1734–1818), I’m sure you knew, was one of the patriots of the American revolution and famous for his late night ride in April 1775 to warn the colonial forces that the British were coming.
Listen, my children, and you shall hear
Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere,
Generosity!
The recent natural disasters brought out a lot of generosity in ordinary folks. A human chain that saved an older gentleman. The “Cajun Navy” of Louisiana denizens who drove hours from Baton Rouge, boats and all, to rescue those in distress. Lincoln, Nebraska, that sent 80 of its finest (from police and fire departments) to Texas to be there even before the storm hit. “Mattress Mack” (Jim McIngvale) of Gallery Furniture that opened his store to house refugees.
Deception!
Well, everybody deceives. Students taking an exam: a few years ago, about half those in a government class at Harvard were charged with cheating, and about seventy expelled. Runners in a race, breaking rules to enter into the 2015 Boston marathon. Having an affair: the hacking of the website of Ashley Madison revealed 37 million users subscribing to the “Life is short. Have an affair” mantra. Software piracy costs $63 billion each year. Nearly 75% of employees have
Abe Kuruvilla is the Carl E. Bates Professor of Christian Preaching at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (Louisville, KY), and a dermatologist in private practice. His passion is to explore, explain, and exemplify preaching.