Culture – A Writer's Daughter

A Lesson from 2 Oxford Dons

I listened to a podcast recently on the friendship between C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien, two 20^th century English authors (Lindsay Mast interviewing Joseph Loconte, The World and Everything In It, link below). Specifically, the discussion centered on the context of their friendship and a shared mission that developed. They were Oxford professors building a friendship in the 1930’s, as British foundational beliefs in humanity, Judeo-Christian values and human purpose declined, followed by isolationism and apathy toward Hitler’s rise in power, before eventually facing the threat of German invasion, the terror of the bombing of London.

Into this time period, the two men, Lewis and Tolkien, forged a deep relationship, grappling with the problems of their day, concerned about the demise of a classic Christian worldview, and asking how in their university setting with their limited assets they could fight back. They agreed they could write! They could write stories reflecting the great story; stories that demonstrated goodness over evil, fighting for what is right, heroism in a pure form. The result was Lewis’s space trilogy Out of the Silent Planet and Tolkien’s The Hobbit. Armed with their thoughts and a pen (or a typewriter) they produced a mighty advance, “a beachhead of resistance against the ideological madness that is (was) all around them.” (Loconte)

The modern acclaim for these two esteemed intellectual authors clouds the reality that they really didn’t start with much. They could only endeavor to take a stab at a large and looming moral collapse with the sword of their pen, their writing skills (Ephesians 2 v 10 ). But oh my, how God used and continues to use their stories to point readers to God’s redemptive story, the real savior, Jesus Christ!

Using what you have, the competence and forte of your background, your mind, and your heart, to participate in God’s kingdom is the call of Christ followers. Years ago, I heard Rick Warren preach a sermon on Moses’ calling. When Moses, joined by his brother Aaron, did not think he had much to offer as God called him, he was asked what they had on hand. Aaron held a staff or a walking stick, and the Lord told him to throw it down, where it immediately became a live, writhing snake! God used Moses’ one asset when Moses was willing to respond.

The feature photo and this one were taken in Oxford, England. This is the door of Magdalen College, where C.S. Lewis taught.

This is what I pray for myself in the New Year: in interviewer Lindsay Mast’s words to “meet the forces of evil in starting where we are and doing what we can with what we have.” Loconte agreed, quoting Ecclesiastes, “Cast your bread upon the waters.” (Ecclesiastes 11 v 1) Blessings and Godspeed for your 2026 endeavors, Brenda

https://wng.org/podcasts/oxfords-inklings-and-the-christian-imagination-1764950179, Lindsay Mast interviewing Joseph Loconte for The World and Everything In It, wng.org, 12/06/2025.

If you subscribe to my posts via email, thank you. They are best viewed on the website “A Writer’s Daughter”

Clean Sweep

Starbucks named last Monday, the Mondayest Monday of the year. To help us through, the chain offered free brewed coffee to all who stopped in. Yours truly partook with pleasure! I assumed the “Monday, Monday” got the tag due to the cold, gray month and impending Hallmark holiday. The winter blues and/or uncertainty about Valentine’s Day does send some into the drearies but the worst Monday identifies something else. The Mondayest Monday is so named for Super Bowl hangovers: too much junk food, too much alcohol, and entertainment or team letdown. But that is all behind us now and we will have to pay for our Monday coffee fix.

What is also behind us is January, the new year month. It’s the month of resolutions, of fresh starts, blank slates and a clean sweep. The human heart and mind seek to move forward and give life another go. We are still in that fresh window of 2025, and I have a literal opportunity for a clean sweep.

Two years ago, I saw an ad in the post office for a broom sale sponsored by the Lions Club. I needed a broom for outdoor sweeping, so I called the advertised number but never heard back. Again last year, I saw the promotion and a quick text had a broom at my door in two days for $15! I also found out that the Lions Club corn fiber brooms are made by blind and visually impaired, supporting employment and education.

As pictured, I enjoy sweeping the front walkway, and our screened in porch is always in need of a clean sweep. When I sweep outside, I think of my parents-in-law. They were always intrigued that in the Polish (actually Ukrainian) section of their town, the women swept their sidewalks. Not having a sidewalk on their road, it seemed strange to them. As their daughter-in-law of Ukrainian descent, I smile when I grab my Lions Club broom to brush up our outdoor entries.

Now I’ve taken you readers from hangover Mondays to Lions Club brooms made by the blind, and Ukrainians who like to sweep, what is the conclusion? Clean sweeps are a good thing. We must live with our past and take responsibility for our choices, but with God, we can always claim a fresh start. As we push through the last days of the shortest month, which sometimes feels like the longest, we can lean on God’s promise that His mercies are new every morning (Lamentations 3 v 22-23), that we are not what we were (1 Corinthians 6 v 9-11), and that those who know the power of salvation through Christ Jesus’ work on the cross are a new creation: the old has gone, the new is come (2 Corinthians 5 v 17).

If you subscribe to my blog via email, thank you. The posts are best viewed “A Writer’s Daughter”

Our God Is A Consuming Fire

As footage of the devastating California wildfires filled our screens these last two weeks, these words of Scripture came to mind: “Our God is a consuming fire” (Deuteronomy 4 v 24 and Hebrews 12 v 29). Thinking of those Biblical words, one might think that God is burning up California for some reason, possibly judgement. It is true throughout Scripture that God judges sin and disobedience, but we cannot confirm God’s intent in this natural disaster. The statement “Our God is a consuming fire” must be considered with the entire text of the Bible, Scripture’s whole counsel.

The Bible is a long book, a collection of sixty-six books actually, written over a lengthy period of time by men inspired and directed by God to encode His Word. One (or two) verses isolated without context and without the study of related Scriptures can lead to erroneous conclusions. It is equally important not to dismiss a Scripture, tossing a truth out as irrelevant when it seems misplaced. Both are dangerous extremes. So how does a reader of the Bible understand its right meaning? See my blog Pages tab, How to Read the Bible, for suggestions.

So, what about God and fire? Fire can be, as I mentioned earlier, God’s judgment of sin. God also used fire as a protection against cold and danger (Haynes). God’s powerful glory sometimes manifests itself in a blaze. Eternal separation from God, hell, is a “lake of fire.” Burning is also a cruel form of persecution, from New Testament times continuing even today. God’s word promises “when you walk through the fire, you will not be burned” (Isaiah 43 v 2) but Christians were torched in Roman times, burned at the stake in more recent centuries, and today are burned out of their homes or bombed during worship services. Martyrs lose their earthly lives but gain eternal glory in Jesus’ presence. It is a reality I struggle with, but we should be aware as Scripture warns: “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you” (1 Peter 4 v 12).

We visited the Martyrs’ Memorial in Oxford, England honoring three ministers burned at the stake in 1555.

The loss of life and property in California saddens us, as did Hurricane Helene’s destruction in the eastern US last fall. We know the winds “obey” God as they did for Jesus on the Sea of Galilee. Therefore, we lean into His Sovereignty in disasters with compassion and generosity.

Haynes, Clarence L. “Why God is a “Consuming Fire”? The Meaning of Hebrews 12:29.” BibleStudyTools.com October 13, 2023.

Open Doors (opendoorsus.org) and Voice of the Martyrs (www.persecution.com) are excellent Christian resources to keep abreast of current persecution.

The Man from Plains

The late summer that I began my freshman year at Wheaton College, Jimmy Carter was the Democratic nominee for President. As the family station wagon headed off to take me to Illinois, we stopped at National Airport, now named Reagan National, to pick up the first copies of my Dad’s new book, The Man From Plains – The Mind and Spirit of Jimmy Carter. My Dad had quickly drafted the book in the spring of 1976. I remember his research and investigative trips, including one to Plains and to a news conference in Chicago, where I had the privilege of accompanying him. The book was published in time for the final months of the election. We excitedly flipped through the new book, and I came upon the dedication: “To Brenda whose interests kindled my own.”

In my high school senior year U.S. government class, we studied the election process real time. My teacher, Mrs. Laura Crites, was extraordinary for her expertise and passion for her subject. She taught with admirable dignity and stayed completely nonpartisan. One of our class assignments was to write a nomination speech for a candidate: I wrote a speech for Jimmy Carter. I do not recall anything about the speech I wrote, but what was happening at the time was a public fascination about a successful politician with down-home style, from the back woods of Georgia, who spoke openly of his Baptist roots and professed his faith in Jesus for life changing salvation. This was quite different from the usual staid, mostly Protestant, nominal church membership that most American politicians professed at that time*. Jimmy Carter, instead, was an outspoken Christian who continued to teach an adult Sunday School class when he could be back at his home church in Plains, Georgia.

The rest is history, as they say. Jimmy Carter was elected as the 39th President of the United States, for one term. Foreign policy challenges marked his Presidency. I finished a degree at Wheaton College over those four years, considering a political science major, but ended up with a degree in Elementary Education. My father never authored another book but continued his journalist career. His book had faced opposition by acquaintances who thought he should have written about the Republican nominee. I do not think The Man From Plains sought to endorse Carter as a candidate; it merely provided a study of his life up to that point, concentrating on the overt Christian faith Carter professed.

Jimmy Carter went on to found Habitat for Humanity, a nonprofit organization “that helps families build and improve places to call home.” He returned to Plains, Georgia to live and probably to teach Sunday School. I had an encounter with him once, many years after his Presidency. He hosted a book signing at our local Walmart. I decided to go over to see if I could get my copy of Dad’s book signed by him. When the staffer handed former President Carter my book, I hollered out, “My Dad wrote that book.” He answered back, “Tell him to come see me in Plains,” and he signed my book!

Jimmy Carter’s signature in my copy of Dad’s book.

Jimmy Carter leaves a legacy of faith and service. From his open Christian testimony on the campaign trail, to his inaugural address based on Biblical text Micah 6 v 8, to his work for those in need of housing, he publicly expressed his faith, and its resulting personal transformation*. I believe his boldness helped the broad public, including the press, understand that knowing Jesus makes a difference in someone’s life. For those of you who know me and my family personally, my father is facing a serious health diagnosis. We are grateful for his full life, his noteworthy career in journalism, and his legacy of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you for your prayers.

*Based on content from Kucharsky, David. The Man From Plains, Harper and Row Publishers, New York: 1976.

Note: If you subscribe to my blog, receiving it via email, thank you. The post is better viewed by going directly to “A Writer’s Daughter”

Musings on a Saturday

I have been mulling over a podcast I listened to last week. Following the news story of the Lakewood Church shooting in Houston, TX, “The World and Everything In It” (wng.org/podcasts) contributor John Stonestreet discussed some of the issues related to the event. Stonestreet spoke of “deaths of despair” and “acts of desperation,” terms I was not familiar with. These are increasing at “skyrocketing rates,” he said, and he rightly attributes that to the logical outcome of a secular worldview. He explains that the “expressive, individualistic secular culture (that) gives them no strong resources of a stable family, a stable sense of identity or anything else” leaves people “grasping for a cause, grasping for hope.” But Stonestreet lands the interview on hope, and it is the hope the church has to offer: “Christianity grounds (us in) dignity and value and purpose.” For the church, “this is a mission moment,” he concludes.

Here is a place I often arrive at: the unique role of the church for you and me. The Church is the God-given structure for bonding believers to Biblical truths and to each other. As we gather and grow, what we know fills our lives and the lives of others we touch. That does not mean that there will never be a searching, confused soul like the woman at Lakewood Church, but more of us will be grounded and confident in God’s design and purpose for our lives and this will have a ripple effect around us.

Each Friday, “The World and Everything In It” podcast ends with a blessing and a charge for the weekend. It is my closing today for you as well: “the Psalmist writes: “Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.” (Psalm 43 v 5) Worship with brothers and sisters in Christ in Church this weekend, and Lord willing, we’ll meet you right back here on Monday. Go now in grace and peace.”

The extensive quotes in this blog post are all from this source:

Brown, Myrna, Lindsay Mast, and John Stonestreet. “The World and Everything In It.” February 16, 2024 https://wng.org/podcasts/culture-friday-jesus-and-super-bowl-commercials-1708027228

This is the Church of St John the Baptist in Burford, England. It is not just a beautiful relic in The Cotswolds, it is a functioning church. We were touring on a Sunday and the usher asked us not to come in if we couldn’t stay for the whole worship service. A praise team with guitars were leading upbeat music and a mother had to leave the sanctuary with her fussy toddler. Real church!

Pardon My French – Part 1

Before our September trip to London and Paris, we met with a couple friend of ours to get their insights on Paris. He spent some of his youth there, and they had returned to Paris for a family trip. Being the sweet hostess she is, there was a lovely snack prepared for our short visit. With the snacks, she laid out the “Pardon My French” napkins. I laughed at the unlikely thought that my friend would speak any indiscretions. She laughed too saying she didn’t even think of that, but that her grown children had given her the napkins because of the way she mixed a little bit of French and a smattering of Korean into her English vernacular. Such fun humor!

I read up on culture as our trip approached, especially for Paris. One hears that the French do not care for American tourists. What I read is that the French dislike our brash style. Americans, especially Americans on travel, may lack courtesy as they pursue their travel itinerary, expect to get all they paid for, and move on to the next event or destination. In the American rush, politeness may be cut short. This, I believe, is not the French way, The French are gracious and desire to provide polite service but expect to be approached with due courtesy.

A few years ago, I discovered a book series entitled Madame Chic. The American author, Jennifer Scott, lived with a French family as an exchange student. Scott was taken with the priority for grace and elegance she experienced in the home of her French host family. The hosts were not a family of means, but they took the time to make everyday life elegant. This included setting a nice table for every meal, keeping the house orderly and uncluttered, and taking care to dress and groom well daily. These little niceties created a sense of beauty, enjoyment, and calm in the everyday. The French expression “Joie de vivre,” the joy of living, suggests living well in the moment.

I think we felt this vibe in Paris. Many Parisians dress nicely. For example, an older lady may be seen wearing pumps to walk her dog. The cafes of Paris – there are three on every corner – are filled late into the night, even on weeknights, with folks savoring their meal, their cigarettes, and their wine. There appears to be no hurry; they do not seem to worry that it’s getting late on a ‘school night.’ I rarely saw a laptop open in a Paris cafe, unlike an American Panera where half the patrons are working on their computers or phones.

Espresso is not the size of American coffee!

Called ‘red stonefruit tart’, this fresh raspberry tart was extraordinary!

I certainly admit that I can tend to be in a rush, especially when we lived in DC, especially when I was working. I caught myself barging into an office or classroom, in a hurry to meet a student, blurting out a request, not taking the time for a kind greeting. I get impatient in inefficient lines, rather than saying a friendly word to someone else who is also waiting. Jesus’s disciples had a similar tendency: anxious to find food or in a hurry to move on to the next stop, missing the mission of the moment. Jesus, on the other hand, savored His earthly time. He stopped to heal, paused to engage (with Zaccheus, among others), welcomed children. The Apostle Paul wrote that we should “make the most of every opportunity because the days are evil.” (Ephesians 5 v 15 & 16) The words God speaks through Paul may not be emphasizing the large quantity of things to be done, but rather the value of quality pursuits, using time wisely for God’s kingdom, relishing opportunities rather than rushing through them. What do you think? And yes, these are ominous days.

If you receive this blog post via email, it can be better viewed at www.brendaproulx.com

The Woes of June

This month many folks must endure workplace propaganda that contradicts their personal beliefs. Friends have told me how tiring and oppressive the continuous onslaught can be. I am no longer employed but similar promotions appear in businesses and media I come across. ‘Pride’ ideology is massively divisive. For this reason, my post features words directly from the Author of Life, letting Scripture speak for itself to the issues at hand. My compilation spans the Old and New Testaments and various Biblical genres of history, poetry, the Gospels (of Jesus) and the Epistles (letters). The prudent practice of comparing multiple passages is referred to as “the whole counsel of Scripture.”

Genesis 1 v 26-27 NIV

²⁶Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” ²⁷So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.

Genesis 9 v16-17 NIV

¹⁶Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.” ¹⁷So God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant I have established between me and all life on the earth.”

Psalm 139 v 13 – 16a NLT

¹³You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body
and knit me together in my mother’s womb.
¹⁴Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!
Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.
¹⁵You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion,
as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.
¹⁶You saw me before I was born.

Proverbs 8 v 13 ESV

¹³The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil.
Pride and arrogance and the way of evil
and perverted speech I hate.

Matthew 19 v 4 – 6 ESV

⁴He [Jesus] answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, ⁵and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? ⁶So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.”

Romans 1 v 21, 24 – 27 ESV

²¹For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. ²⁴Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, ²⁵because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.

²⁶For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; ²⁷and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.

Galatians 6 v 14 CSB

¹⁴But as for me [Paul], I will never boast about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. The world has been crucified to me through the cross, and I to the world.

2 Timothy 3 v 1 – 5a CSB

But know this: Hard times will come in the last days. ²For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, proud, demeaning, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, ³unloving, irreconcilable, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, without love for what is good, ⁴traitors, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, ⁵holding to the form of godliness but denying its power.

To briefly summarize, some of you may think these are intolerant words. I believe them to be God’s perfect plan for what He created. God’s way is worth celebrating! As the Apostle Paul put it, we take pride only in God’s work on the cross for us. With humility, Brenda.

*Note – the abbreviations following the references indicate the Bible translation used: Christian Standard Bible, English Standard Version, New International Version, New Living Translation.

For those of you who receive my blog via email subscription, thank you. The posts are better viewed by going to my blog website http://brendaproulx.com

Our family celebrated a long-awaited June reunion.

Befriended in Ruther Glen, Virginia

Traveling home on the last leg of a recent, long road trip, we stopped to eat at an Arby’s in Ruther Glen, Virginia, off I-95. I placed my meal order with a very upbeat cashier. Repeatedly she interjected “m’ dear,” an endearment quite typical in Southern speech, as she confirmed my selections. The sweet expression felt good as my husband and I were in need of rest and refreshment at this point in our many miled journey. Next to me, a handsome young Black man also placed his order and a few minutes later a woman in a cute yellow dress joined him.

Ruther Glen is big enough to have an Arby’s but too small to be named on the exit sign. Photo by Doug Kerr, from the site Mapcarta.

Our meal came and we sat in a booth, the fast food satisfying our hunger. Being the people watcher that I am, I saw that the African American couple sat in the booth next to us. As they too ate their meal, I overheard playful banter in their conversation that spoke of love and a healthy relationship, nothing course or lewd about it. At some point, her man and mine left our tables and she spoke to me. She commented that she noticed us and thought we showed a mature and seasoned relationship. I told her that indeed we had recently celebrated our fortieth wedding anniversary. She congratulated me with seemingly genuine happiness for us. I asked about their life together and she answered that they were at the twenty-year mark. “Wow,” I responded. “You look too young for that!” Our little chat ended with wishing each other many more years of loving commitment in marriage.

About this time, the cashier from up front began circulating the dining area with a broom. She too engaged in conversation with me. It was almost Mother’s Day weekend and I think that’s where she started. She shared about all the gifts she got for her mother and couldn’t wait to give her on her day off. I think one of the gifts was a plaque or decorative family tree because she began telling me the names of her kids and siblings and step-siblings. It was clear that she adored her mother and planned to generously express her love through gifts.

It struck me that both women initiated conversations with me. Did I look lonely or lost? I doubt that was the reason: the Southern way is just warm, friendly, and casual. The Southern way has also been associated with prejudice, yet both Black women felt comfortable and interested in talking to me, a white stranger passing through town. Life’s commonalities drew us together. I was a wife sharing fast food with my husband, and I was a daughter, possibly also a mother, to the talkative cashier. We found a connection by sharing those life roles. The connection provided a measure of kindness.

God felt the same about connecting with us. He sent His Son Jesus to experience our humanity. Jesus willingly gave up the glories of being God, to share life’s human realities on earth, including the eventual agony of death. At this point, some of you will recognize these as truths from Philippians 2. I was part of a discussion on that passage on Sunday. I love how one person said it: God who is eternal and omnipresent (is everywhere at once) subjected Himself through Jesus His Son to our limitations of time and place.

Three years ago, at this time, our country experienced a terrible fissure. What appeared to be an unnecessarily harsh police arrest incited an uproar of protests. Thousands rioted in city streets to voice their indignation, even as churches and schools were shut down, parks and beaches were closed, and many jobs were suspended. Fear of a virus and social isolation fueled the reaction and rage.

As grievous as the Minneapolis incident was, my encounters at the Ruther Glen Arby’s happen more often. I believe when kindness or empathy occur, it is a small reflection of the great image of God’s kindness, as explained in Philippians 2; how Jesus demonstrated the ultimate emptying of His divine rights and privileges. We can receive His saving grace (which Scripture defines below as bending the knee and verbal consent), and common grace can be imparted to those with whom we walk this earth.

~from Philippians 2 ⁵In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: ⁶Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
⁷rather, he made himself nothing
by taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
⁸And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to death—
even death on a cross!

⁹Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
¹⁰that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
¹¹and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.

For those of you who receive my blog via email subscription, thank you. The posts are better viewed by going to my blog website http://www.brendaproulx.com

Dr. Timothy Keller: My Personal Legacy

The Christian community lost a giant yesterday. Tim Keller, preacher and author, died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 72 – we would have wished for another decade or two of his unparalleled contributions to The Church. He pastored a church in New York City for 28 years and wrote over thirty books.

Dr. Keller significantly impacted me and three generations of my family. My parents, who lived in the suburbs of NYC, began attending evening church services to hear Keller preach in the 90’s. As different family members visited my parents, they joined in the late afternoon trip to the city and to Keller’s church. Once, while with my parents on that very outing, my husband and I ran into Dr. Keller, who was leaving the coffee shop we were entering, catching a meal between church services. The five of us had a brief chat and he was gracious in speaking to us though he had to continue on to preach again. We expressed our appreciation for his ministry. Dr. Keller’s intellectual giftedness and logic, his unbelievably wide scope of reading, and his keen understanding of culture and thought, brought an unmatched depth and applicability to his Biblical teaching. My father, an intelligent and widely read man who was selective with words and not prone to exaggeration, described Keller’s influence on his own life-long faith as profound.

Tim Keller’s congregation consisted of young NYC professionals, and he was able to connect with that age group. His preaching and writing resonated deeply with the third generation of my family. Our family rarely took a road trip that Tim Keller didn’t join us on, as we listened to his sermons either on CD or online while we drove. My kids have read more Keller books than I have! So yesterday was a day of shared sorrow in our family at the news of his death.

We grieve because we feel a loss and an end, but we also know well that this is a beginning and a victory for Tim Keller. Followers of Christ look forward to seeing and spending eternity with Jesus, the Savior they served. Dr. Keller said recently of his expected death, “There is no downside for me leaving, not in the slightest.” We shed tears but all is not lost. Thankfully, he left a legacy of sermons and writings that will continue to challenge and inform us. I trust that God will raise up others who will rightly continue to inspire His kingdom on earth … bearing the torch until Jesus returns! AMEN

Here is a link to one of Tim Keller’s sermons “Christ the Final Word.” It is classic Keller: his depth of Biblical insight, his humor, his connection to culture and the modern mindset, and landing on the Gospel! I hope you will listen to it through to the end (and it begins with a Scripture reading by someone else). If you get lost a little, hang on. You’ll catch up; he goes deep, but it is real! His website is http://gospelinlife.com

Rev. Keller’s memorial service took place on August 15, 2023 in St. Patrick’s Cathedral, NY A Worship Service of Praise to God for the Life of Tim Keller

North Carolina Now

Two years ago this week, we moved into our new home near Wilmington, North Carolina. We left the DC area in the fall of 2020, but lived in temporary housing for several months, while we oversaw the building of our house. It was the height of the pandemic and we also lost my mother-in-law during this time. So I like to think of March as our real move anniversary.

Wilmington is a small, port city located on the Cape Fear River. UNC Wilmington is a major university, and the film industry is a presence in the area. Our town is on the outskirts of Wilmington. It has less city influence and a more rural southern personality. Farming and fishing were once the main businesses. While things are quickly changing here, the homey ways intrigue me.

Just down the street from us on the main highway of our town is a pawn shop. I see bikes, lawn equipment and surf boards propped up for sale in front of the store. I ventured into the store because I noticed a sign for jewelry repair. Sure enough, past the case of pawned jewelry and watches, and the inventory of sports equipment and power tools, I turned the corner through the guns and ammunition section, to find the small work space of a jeweler.

The jeweler wears a large leather cowboy hat and decorates his niche with neon-lit western motifs. His space is neat, and he is soft spoken, especially when you consider he’s from Long Island. He assessed my broken chain and gave me an estimate. I left it for repair and in a few hours got a text from him with a photo of my necklace draped on a lovely velvet model, saying, “Here she is!” The idea that my necklace was repaired by a New Yorker in a cowboy hat who works in a pawn shop where they sell guns and ammo amuses me.

Just a few buildings down the highway from the pawn shop is a paint store. We were sent there by our builder to select the interior colors for our house. “Go talk to Jimmy, ” we were told. Jimmy and his business partner, who both sport gray ponytails, run a no-fuss paint supply store. Without fanfare, they carry all the paint brands in all the colors. A gentle cat keeps them company and one of them drives a vintage truck always parked out in front. Neither of the guys ever wore a mask during the mandate period.

There’s also a warehouse fish market off the highway strip where I occasionally shop. The place is wet and stinky but I think I get fairly fresh catches there, though I’ve never tried the alligator. They fly the American flag on the porch, carry homemade birdhouses and advertise bushels of crabs for Mother’s Day. Young kids, probably relatives of the owner, run the counter. In deep southern twangs they can advise you on flavor and cooking methods.

This culture is new for me; so different from the cosmopolitan suburban area we left. I enjoy the downhome feel of the unincorporated town where we now live. It is appealingly unpretentious. That’s how I find the true local people too: down-to-earth, authentic, likeable. Don’t get me wrong, there are also many conveniences and amenities that I miss greatly now! But as I said, the area is changing quickly due to

rapid growth and many outsiders who, like us, are moving in. I hope in our time here, it doesn’t completely lose its southern, country soul.

At the two year mark, my husband and I marvel that we are here, that we transitioned away from DC during such a crazy time. We are confident this is the new place for us now and thank God for His good provision. Like the Psalmist David wrote, “The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places.” (Psalm 16 v 6). Read all of Psalm 16 for insights into God’s goodness in this life and in eternity.