I was up late last night writing, reading, thinking. Right before bed I wrote this poem (haiku) as I was thinking about life, my own life, the life of dads my age. Then I didn't sleep a wink all night.
Sips of midnight tea
interrupt encroaching fears.
Midlife night terrors.
Chicago has been on my mind and the mind of America with injustice and pain and protests. And so for me Carl Sandburg's poetry has been on my mind and his his famous poem "Chicago." A reminder of the stormy, husky, brawling, city. The city of the big shoulders.
Sandburg said of himself, "I am the people—the mob—the crowd—the mass." He wrote poetry that everyone could read and understand, he wrote poetry of understanding the common man, and yet scholars read and respected Sandburg. His collection, Chicago Poems, is still widely read today and available cheap. I read again through the first dozen or so poems last night I was moved near tears, both for what he said and the fact that he said such beautiful things so simply. We should aspire to do the same.
CHICAGO by Carl Sandburg
HOG Butcher for the World,
Tool Maker, Stacker of Wheat,
Player with Railroads and the Nation's Freight Handler;
Stormy, husky, brawling,
City of the Big Shoulders:
They tell me you are wicked and I believe them, for I
have seen your painted women under the gas lamps
luring the farm boys.
And they tell me you are crooked and I answer: Yes, it
is true I have seen the gunman kill and go free to
kill again.
And they tell me you are brutal and my reply is: On the
faces of women and children I have seen the marks
of wanton hunger.
And having answered so I turn once more to those who
sneer at this my city, and I give them back the sneer
and say to them:
Come and show me another city with lifted head singing
so proud to be alive and coarse and strong and cunning.
Flinging magnetic curses amid the toil of piling job on
job, here is a tall bold slugger set vivid against the
little soft cities;
Fierce as a dog with tongue lapping for action, cunning
as a savage pitted against the wilderness,
Bareheaded,
Shoveling,
Wrecking,
Planning,
Building, breaking, rebuilding,
Under the smoke, dust all over his mouth, laughing with
white teeth,
Under the terrible burden of destiny laughing as a young
man laughs,
Laughing even as an ignorant fighter laughs who has
never lost a battle,
Bragging and laughing that under his wrist is the pulse.
and under his ribs the heart of the people,
Laughing!
Laughing the stormy, husky, brawling laughter of
Youth, half-naked, sweating, proud to be Hog
Butcher, Tool Maker, Stacker of Wheat, Player with
Railroads and Freight Handler to the Nation.
Thoroughly enjoying Whitney Bozarth's album, Anchor for My Soul. More good stuff coming out of Sojourn Music!
If you missed the Country Music Awards last night, and I'm guessing many of you did, you missed a remarkable performance by Chris Stapleton and Justin Timberlake. No worries, it's below. When Jason Isbell can't help but tweet multiple times about Stapleton last night, you know you found something good. Chris won Album of the Year, New Artist of the Year, and Male Vocalist of the Year.
I like award shows, even if only to sharpen my snark, but this moment is one of my all time favorites across the genres and disciplines. When you are done and want to look up Chris Stapleton's music, and you will, just go here to check out his album Traveller.
Ahem...crank it UP!
Demi Lovato's two performances on SNL this weekend were just amazing. "Stone Cold" had me almost in tears. This is how you do pop music ballads, folks. THIS.
An Uber driver and riders via dashcam sing "Can't Feel My Face" by The Weeknd. Love this song and love the big smile I got from this video to start my Weeknd. Now download the song, because good pop music is good.
Another year, another first day of school! Love these growing and maturing and beautiful children. As a case study, you might want to note Elijah's slow growth compared to the other kids. Elijah was diagnosed with Crohn's Disease in early 2015, which is the cause of his delayed growth.
2015 - Daniel (12, 7th grade), Elijah (14, Freshman), Jack (16, Junior), Sarah (18, College Freshman)
2014
2013
2012
2011
2010
2009
2008
2007
2006
Our 14 year old, Elijah, has now gotten his 5th Remicade treatment for Crohn's Disease. Here are some previous updates, if you are interested in his story. Here's what we learned this week.
First we (me, Molly, Elijah, and Danny) met with Elijah's rheumatologist on Tuesday at Shriner's Hospital in Oak Park. E had received some physical therapy for arthritis at her request and he's done well with it. No need to continue, though he is still a little tight. E has morning soreness, but mostly can do whatever he likes, so we feel this area of his health is better.
We went to the Ronald McDonald House in Chicago (RMHC) after for our overnight, but had most of the day to play around. So we grabbed some Shake Shack for lunch, which is Elijah's absolute favorite place to eat in the city. Then we headed to Millennium Park, which was a favorite place to visit when our kiddos were smaller. Haven't been there in years. It was a wonderful, relaxing time and the boys had a blast.
Then back to the room to relax, then some dinner as provided at the RMHC...italian beef, chips, fruit, and root beer floats. After dark we decide to head back out and walk down to Navy Pier. Not to do anything, but just enjoying a gorgeous evening in Chicago.
Wednesday Elijah had 9am Remicade infusion at Lurie Children's Hospital in Chicago. He was upbeat and happy the whole time, which has not been his experience in previous treatments. He's not a fan of the way Benadryl makes him feel. But this was the best he's felt during treatment, which was a real blessing since we didn't go home right after like usual.
At 3:10pm, and after lunch at Blaze Pizza, we had an appointment with Dr. Brown, E's gastroenterologist. This is the first time we have met with his doctor since his diagnosis. That was the plan from the beginning. They like at least 4 treatments before a follow-up.
A little background: As of the 4th treatment, we were concerned that E wasn't growing enough, or fast enough. We felt there may be a significant growth spurt, so the worry was that the Remicade wasn't working, maybe that his body was developing antibodies for it. Two different tests in the last several weeks seemed to show that the Remicade was working well, but we wanted to hear the doc's explanation.
Here's doc Brown's analysis.
1. Elijah is a healthy boy. There is no evidence of Crohn's sores in his body. Everything from previous tests as well as blood taken Wednesday showed every level of every area of possible concern shows nothing to be concerned about. Everything in his body and blood looks fantastic and the Remicade is doing the job.
2. Elijah is growing better than ever. His growth chart before diagnosis showed plateaued growth. Really bad. Really skinny. Really small. His growth chart since Remicade treatments have started is nearly straight up. It's not explosive growth, but it's solid and continual growth.
We learned months ago that Elijah's bone age was that of a 10-11 year old though he's 14. The doc said that's a good indicator that all the growing that he hasn't done isn't a closed door to future growth. If his bone age was of a 14 year old, he may never get too big. But his body is still ready for explosive growth and we are very thankful for that.
3. Elijah's way forward is patience and calories. With everything headed in the right direction for him, the goal now is getting him good calories. He's eating fairly well, though not eating everything in site like kids often do when growing rapidly. So we are going to start supplementing his diet more with something like Carnation Breakfast Essentials which isn't cheap but helps him add good calories in a simple way. The doctor said to think of how we can do things daily that add up over time to get him the stuff his body needs to grow.
We don't know if he will take off quick with more growth or just keep going slow and steady. Either way, the doctor is convinced it's going very well and we can be happy he's a healthy, growing boy. While Remicade treatments will continue every 8 weeks, we won't see the doctor again until mid-winter since all is going so well.
Thanks, as always, for the many who have been praying for Elijah and our family. Thanks for your expressions of love and concern. I get asked so often about his health, and just in the asking we feel well loved. We've even received some gifts from some of you to help and they have been a tremendous help to us. We love you and thank you so much.
This is my favorite song right now. It on repeat. It's a new song from Jason Isbell's new album Something More Than Free called "24 Frames."
You thought God was an architect, now you know
He’s something like a pipe bomb ready to blow
And everything you built that’s all for show goes up in flames
In 24 frames
"...between...times of devotion, labor to be much in ejaculatory prayer. While your hands are busy with the world, let your hearts still talk with God; not in twenty sentences at a time, for such an interval might be inconsistent with your calling, but in broken sentences and interjections. It is always wrong to present one duty to God stained with the blood of another, and that we should do if we spoiled study or labor by running away to pray at all hours; but we may, without this, let short sentences go up to heaven, ay, and we may shoot upwards cries, and single words, such as an "Ah," an "Oh," an "O that;" or, without words we may pray in the upward glancing of the eye or the sigh of the heart. He who prays without ceasing uses many little darts and hand-grenades of godly desire, which he casts forth at every available interval. Sometimes he will blow the furnace of his desires to a great heat in regular prayer, and as a consequence at other times, the sparks will continue to rise up to heaven in the form of brief words, and looks, and desires."
From Charles Spurgeon's sermon "Pray Without Ceasing."
This is great whether you like Father John Misty, Arcade Fire, or just good music.
Heard a great discussion with Sam Allberry yesterday about his book Is God Anti-Gay? (Kindle only $5.99). Once again The Good Book Company is showing that they are serious about publishing important (and often wonderfully succinct!) books for our time.
You can listen here to the discussion on Westminster Seminary California's podcast, Office Hours. Sam also gave a lecture while at Westminster.
I also discovered this talk Sam gave at the ERLC national conference in 2014 which I remember hearing about but until now hadn't heard. Good stuff.
This is maybe the first time Fox News seemed interesting to me. #Genius
Some supercheap gems...
NAC Studies in NT Theology
Also...
Taylor Swift's "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" mashed up with "Bad Blood." Maybe you thought her music sounded a bit recycled?? You were right.
