Ruminating and Delighting Upon God's Word

Lately I’ve been appreciating the Jewish artist Marc Chagall’s 1933 work SOLITUDE, which I first stumbled across a month or so ago in a book I've been reading. In the painting, a man wearing a prayer shawl is resting on his hand meditating. He holds a Torah scroll close to his heart in the other hand. Even though the man’s back is set against the city, he's not ignoring his surroundings. Rather, he’s meditating deeply about what God's Torah says about eternal realities. And what of the goat chewing its cud -- while playing a violin?!!! In Chagall’s paintings goats often depict how the Jews were seen as Nazi scapegoats. Even more signficantly, a goat chewing on its cud illustrates the delight an observant Jew experiences ruminating on God’s Word. And what of the violin? Remember the 1971 musical “Fiddler on the Roof”? (By the way, the actor who played Tevye died in May of this year) FIDDLER was inspired by a delightful theme from several of Chagall’s paintings, one of which carried the same name. Instead of being distracted by arguing factions regarding current events, may God's people find their joy and delight by ruminating continually on God’s Word.

2020 Reading

I can't believe I forgot to post about 2019 (except for on facebook)! Oh well, I enjoyed another wonderful year of reading and listening to audiobooks. Except for any I didn't record, it looks like my total for the year is 53. Some favorites included (but were by no means restricted to): Just Mercy, Mama's Last Hug, Stay Salt, Confronting Christianity, Godric, and any of the Life/Works of classical composers by Jeremy Siepmann. What did you enjoy reading this year of the coronavirus?

Guns in Taiwan

Generally speaking, Taiwan is a safe country with strict gun control regulations. There is no legal private gun ownership. By way of contrast, Taiwanese think America is more dangerous. They are right (the intentional homicide rate is about 0.82 per 100,000 in Taiwan compared to about 5.35  in the USA from the wiki I quickly perused).

But earlier this week I heard a story from a young man which challenges this perspective. He told me that one of his friends carries three guns, two of them loaded, with him in his car at all times. He said he feels very safe whenever he rides with this friend!

When I related this story to my Saturday English class, one of my students topped it. A few years ago, she was caught in traffic directly behind a criminal caught in a standoff with two policemen. First, he pulled out his pistol. Then when the police produced their pistols, he quickly exchanged his for a machine gun, which sent the terrified policemen scurrying for shelter. Finally he put away his machine gun and brandished a hand grenade, beckoning with his hand for the scared policemen to draw near. Apparently no shots were ever fired. Neither was he apprehended at that time. But what a story! Was it just posturing? Who knows.

These gun-related stories remind of a huge story back in 1997 around time I came on island. Chen Chin-hsing , who was from the area where I am now living, had been on the run for months. People all over the island seemed scared out of their wits beyond all credible reason. The South African couple linked here and here later wrote a book about their moving experience and their ability to forgive in Jesus' name.

2018 Reading

Another year, another 39 books. All but 10 were audiobooks. Several were re-reads. I wish I had read a couple more science-related. What did you read this past year?

Book Review of "Under the Sea Wind"

Having little knowledge of the fields of biology or zoology, I appreciated "Under The Sea Wind" like few other books I read the entire year.

Considered one of the first environmentalists, Rachel Carson popularized words such as "ecology", "ecosystem", "food chain", and "biosphere".

As I listened to and read the lyric prose of this her first novel I found myself being drawn in as if to move in harmony with the deep rhythms of creation. The migratory tales of Scomber the mackerel and Anguilla the eel particularly intrigued me. I often found myself wondering how many of the species she described way back in 1941 are now endangered or depleted.

In addition to the author's prose, I found C.M. Hebert's hypnotic voice narration of the audiobook excellent as well. Since the ebook I followed up with had no pictures of the various plant and animal species described in the book, google and wikipedia proved to be invaluable resources to which I frequently turned.

Earlier this year, I enjoyed "Sense of Wonder" by the same author. Next up, I want to read Carson's "The Sea Around Us", or at least watch the documentary it inspired!