In my weekly Works & Wonders column, I combine a brief devotional with other interesting and uplifting bits and pieces I gleaned throughout the week. I hope you enjoy this week’s collection! It includes:
- Not Something but Someone
- You Can Tell the World
- Fence Digging
- Weird Bird Sounds
- As __ As __
- TypeLit
1.
Not Something but Someone
It is good and necessary to believe that God exists, but it is also insufficient. After all, “Even the demons believe—and shudder” (James 2:19). Satan himself has stood in the presence of God and has not the least shred of doubt about his existence. Yet he continues to lead the rebellion against him and continues to attempt to steal God’s glory for himself. Thus, as we awaken to the existence of God, we must do more than give assent to the fact of it. And that’s because God is not merely something but someone. Peter Williams says this: “The existence of God does not just face us with something to be believed or rejected, but someone to be accepted or rejected.” God is not a fact to be believed or rejected, as we may choose to believe or reject disputed facts of science or history. Rather, God is a being who must be either accepted or rejected, for God is not interested in our assent but our reception. His desire is not merely that we would believe he exists, but that we would put our faith in him and enter into a living, vital, and deeply personal being-to-being relationship where we relate to him as children for whom their father has deep love and deep delight.
2.
You Can Tell the World
I mentioned on Friday that in the past little bit I have enjoyed rediscovering the music of The Seekers, an Australian band that had its heyday in the 60s. Even if the name doesn’t ring a bell, you’ve probably heard “Georgy Girl” at some point. Though they sang the standard 60s-style pop songs, they also sang a lot of traditional gospel songs. Of all of their tracks, I think this rendition of “You Can Tell the World” is my favorite. Did Simon & Garfunkel do it better? No way! Chad Mitchell Trio? It’s closer.
3.
Fence Digging
I love a good poem and wish there were more talented contemporary poets willing to share their work. I enjoyed this new one from Abram Newcomer, who does what poets do—finds something very ordinary and turns it into an opportunity to ponder the big realities of life and death. I’ll give you the first couple of stanzas and encourage you to click through and read the rest.
Fifteen holes for a fence
At ten feet spread for every head.
The ground was stiff and tense,
But we were fresh, and so I said,
“Two days of work, or three, I think,
We’ll end before the moon can wink.”So we began to dig
With digging irons, spades, and lines,
No simple drilling rig,
Just hands to harrow holes and mines,
Finding roots and worms—a bone!—
And other secrets long unknown.…
You can read “Fence Digging” and other original works here.
4.
25 Weirdest Bird Sounds in the US
I thoroughly enjoyed this video roundup of 25 of the weirdest bird sounds you can hear in the U.S., though obviously you’ll need to go to many parts of the U.S. to hear them all. I love how creative the Lord was when he made animals, to not only make them different in form, purpose, and appearance, but to also make them sound so different—and often so strange. If I had to pick a favorite, it would be the loon. I spent much of my childhood at a cottage and would often fall asleep to the sound of the loons making their haunting sounds.
5.
Comparisons as Predictable as the Sunrise
I thoroughly enjoyed this examination of similes, focused on the ones that follow this form: “as __ as __.” The English language is extremely rich in the means it gives us to express ourselves, and this article proves it. It also offers some neat interactive elements.
Similes are all around us. But, if you haven’t considered this figure of speech since grade school, here’s a refresher: similes compare a shared quality of two things, often using “like” or “as.”
I pulled every simile in the form “as ___ as ___” from tens of thousands of fiction books for the top 500 most common adjectives.
It’s a great read!
6.
TypeLit
Speaking of a great read, how about typing one out … in full? TypeLit allows you to practice your typing by typing out great books one character at a time. If you’re a writer, you can type out the entirety of The Elements of Style. If you want to brush up on your Bible, you can type out the entire KJV. If you really want a challenge, you can type out Anna Karenina (and therefore be constantly typing names like Stepan Arkadyevitch Oblonsky and Darya Alexandrovna—good luck to you!).
