THYME Magazine: Motherhood and Invention

Citizen Journalism with a Better Flavor


Volume VIII, Issue XIII

How the Gilbreths Changed Work

When my children were younger one of the things we enjoyed was reading the story: Cheaper by the Dozen. We later found Belles On Their Toes and continued our adventures with the Gilbreth family. The books tell the actual story of Frank Bunker Gilbreth, Sr. and his wife Lillian Moller Gilbreth from the perspective of two of their twelve children. The books focus on the life of a very interesting family, to be sure, but touch briefly on a most amazing and inspiring couple and how they changed the way we work.

Frank Gilbreth was born in 1868 in Fairfield, Maine where his father ran a hardware store. Frank's formal education ended with high school and he became a bricklayer's apprentice. It was as a bricklayer that Gilbreth began his life's work improving the way we work.


Film of Frank Gilbreth's work to improve bricklaying.

Noticing that a lot of time was spent reaching down to pick up bricks from the scaffolding below, Gilbreth devised a work level height platform for staging the bricks. The result was improved efficiency in performing the job, but an added benefit was that the workers received less fatigue from the reduction in repetitive motion. Frank Gilbreth went on to become a building contractor, but he also developed and patented a number of such innovations that improved efficiency and workflow.

He became sought after as a consultant and became involved in the engineering process for many industrial processes. He lectured at Perdue University and founded his own consulting firm with his wife Lillian as collaborator. Together they studied how work was done in factories and offices and devised better ways to accomplish it. Their office is described in Cheaper by the Dozen. Gilbreth Inc. consisted of Frank and Lillian sitting across from each other at a colossal table/desk where they performed their analysis.

When the Simmons Harware Company built their large warehouse in Soux City, Iowa, they hired the Gilbreths to design and manage the flow of work and materials, a process often taken for granted as part of construction design today. When  World War I began, Frank Gilbreth went to work developing procedures for rapidly assembling weapons, reducing it to a relatively simple series of steps. He developed a system whereby soldiers could train blindfolded and successfully assemble their rifles, allowing them to smoothly do so in total darkness if required to later.

The Gilbreth's work even led to improvements in medicine. It was their idea to have a "caddy" hand instruments to a surgeon during operations. The Gilbreths employed motion picture technology to analyze and identify essential motions. Then they refined them. These "Therbligs" (Gilbreth spelled somewhat backwards) became the building blocks of improved workflow. It is worth noting that while their contemporary Frederick Winslow Taylor sought to reduce the time it took to DO each process, the Gilbreths sought to reduce the number of processes and so make the worker more productive through the wise focus of their energy.

"Blessed is the man who makes two blades of grass grow where only one grew before. More blessed is he who multiplies the harvests of toil not merely two-fold, but three-fold or more-fold, for he virtually lengthens life when be adds to its fruitage. Such a man is Frank B. Gilbreth who tells in this book just how he wrought this wonder. For years he has closely watched workers at tasks of all kinds ; he has discovered how much they lose by moving unprofitably hither and thither, by neglecting to take the shortest and easiest paths. In the ancient trade of bricklaying he has increased the output almost four-fold by doing only what must be done, and using a few simple devices of his own invention."

--George Iles (1917) in: "Introduction" of Applied Motion Study

"Management practitioners today largely ignore Frank and Lillian Gilbreth, possibly because the principles of motion study they pioneered are now very unfashionable. Motion study entailed the detailed examination of the movements individual workers made in the process of carrying out their work. It was, however, just one of the concepts the Gilbreths developed. Through Frank's concerns that the efficiency of employees should be balanced by an economy of effort and a minimisation of stress, and Lillian's interest in the psychology of management, their work laid the foundations for the development of the modern concepts of job simplification, meaningful work standards and incentive wage plans."

--Editors Of Perseus Publishing (2002) Business: the ultimate resource. p. 994

Frank Gilbreth died of a heart attack on June 14, 1924. He was 55. He died as he was talking on the telephone at the Lackawanna railway station in Montclair, New Jersey. Lillian Gilbreth continued in the work that they had shared. She was a brilliant person in her own right, having received an undergraduate degree from the University of California in English. She went on to obtain her Phd. in Industrial Psychology in 1915 from Brown University. Her dissertation subject: Some Aspects of Eliminating Waste in Teaching.

Most of us are familiar with the fact that the Gilbreths had twelve children, carting them about in the Pierce Arrow nicknamed "Foolish Carriage." Cheaper by the Dozen has indeed immortalized this family. Perhaps what is forgotten is the contribution they made to American life, enriching the way we live and work.

20th Anniversary of Opus 24
An Evening of Beautiful Music Offered to the LORD


The organ at Christ Lutheran Church in Staunton.

Friends of Christ Lutheran Concert Series; Celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Taylor and Boody Pipe Organ installed at Christ Lutheran Church with a Choral and Organ concert. This will be Sunday, September 28th at 4pm. We will be presenting Bach's Cantata 80 "A Mighty Fortress is our God" with professional soloists and instrumentalists. The choir will also be singing Cantate Domino by Pitoni, César Frank's Psalm 150, and Nunc Dimittis by Ralph Vaughan Williams.

Does My Vote Really Matter?


The importance of One Vote!

In 2004, Christian voter turnout increased by 93 percent over the 2002 turnout, and 42 percent of voters identified abortion as an important issue. As a result:

• 63 percent of the freshman U.S. congressmen elected were pro-life.
• 77 percent of the freshman U.S. senators were pro-life.

By increasing pro-life representation in Congress in the 2002 and 2004 elections, America witnessed the first four major abortion-restricting bills enacted since Roe v. Wade:

• Infants Born Alive Protection Act
• Unborn Victims of Violence Act
• Partial-Birth Abortion Ban
• Fetal Farming Ban

In addition, those senators helped confirm strict constructionists John Roberts and Samuel Alito to the U.S. Supreme Court. By 2006, Christian voter turnout decreased by 30 percent from the 2004 numbers, and only 30 percent of voters said that abortion was an important issue. As a result:

• Only 31 percent of the freshman U.S. congressmen elected were pro-life.
• Only 10 percent of the freshman U.S. senators elected were pro-life.
• The Baltimore Sun labeled the 2007 Congress as “the most pro-choice Congress in the history of the Republic.”

Your vote does matter, and you have the opportunity to protect life, marriage and family. Will you commit to cast your vote in support of the family this November?

Virginia Voter Information:

State General Election: November 4, 2014
Virginia polling times: 6:00am to 7:00pm
Registration deadline October 14, 2014
Register Online [click to register].

THYME Magazine: Finding the C.U.R.E.

Citizen Journalism with a Better Flavor


Volume VIII, Issue X

Finding the C.U.R.E.
Star Parker's Mission to Give People a Voice

As the wreckage of Watts smoldered in the wake of the riots of 1992, a young woman's dream lay shattered in the ruins. Star Parker had dreamed of creating an urban Christian magazine and that enterprise was now a casualty of the violence. As a teen she had had a troubled life, influenced by crime and drugs. She came to Los Angeles with a dream to become a dancer on Soul Train, but ended up as a single mother on welfare instead. Her life was forever changed when she gave it to Christ. She credits her G-d-given Faith for everything that happened after that.

Ms. Parker was motivated by her Faith to do more than simply cash her check and languish for the rest of her life on public assistance. She worked under the table and found a way to put herself through school, earning a degree in marketing. She launched her magazine, only to see her business destroyed in 1992. But Star Parker was only defeated temporarily. She continued her writing and her activism. Taking on the welfare system she had escaped, she wrote her autobiography, Pimps, Whores and Welfare Brats, published in 1997. Her second book, Uncle Sam's Plantation, was released in 2003.

Star Parker founded the Coalition on Urban Renewal and Education, or CURE, to: "provide a national voice of reason on issues of race and poverty in the media, inner city neighborhoods, and public policy." As a social policy consultant, Star Parker has given regular testimony before the United States Congress, and is a national expert on major television and radio shows across the country. She recently RAN for Congress but was unsuccessful. Star is a regular commentator on CNN, MSNBC, and FOX News. She has debated Jesse Jackson on BET; fought for school choice on Larry King Live; and defended welfare reform on the Oprah Winfrey Show.

Today Ms. Star regularly publishes compelling commentary on issues of the day. Many of them appear on the website of CURE [click to read] and provide a welcome contrast to the repetitive tomes of Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton. Her story is amazing. Her writing is clear and lucid. She seems like a woman who has stepped out of the Harlem Renaissance and into our century! She is on a mission to inspire black pastors so that they might inspire their congregants.

So why don't we hear more about her? Her story of overcoming does not square well with the 'victim' narrative favored by so many contemporary activists. Also, her Christian Faith, the catalyst in her amazing life story, is problematic to modern Liberal narrative as well!

Could it be that the modern activist narrative, perpetuated by writers like Howard Zinn, conveniently ignores the sin, violence and retribution that lies outside of 'Western' activity. His 776 page A People's History of the United States [click to read] is required reading on many college campuses. No doubt, his philosophy has influenced many an aspiring journalist in their own activism. But Zinn must be seen for the Marxist that he is, and his convenient 'omission' of important history needs to be corrected.The problem is that Zinn, not sin, has become the basis for the activism of men like Sharpton and Jackson, who for the media serve as icons of the Civil Rights Movement.

First of all, it must be noted that Zinn himself admits: “Once I was bar mitzvahed, and I had done my religious duty, and my family needn’t be ashamed of me anymore…. that was the end of my religiosity.” He further perpetuates the marginalization of Faith in his works. Bob Cheeks [click to read] writes: "Rhetorician Richard M. Weaver in his essay, Up From Liberalism, explained the spiritual discernment that gave birth to his intellectual epiphany: “Original sin is a parabolical expression of the immemorial tendency of man to do the wrong thing when he knows the right thing.” By acknowledging Original sin, Weaver, abandoned a youthful dalliance with what at that time (the 1930’s) was called liberalism. Unfortunately, historian/activist Howard Zinn had no such epiphany."

The problem becomes most apparent when 'history' focuses on slavery in the Western world, conveniently forgetting its long-standing existence both ancient and primitive societies. Ignored is the fact that it was the Western world that created conditions for the dialogue and activism that largely ended the foul institution. Faith was the catalyst in the lives of men like John Newton and William Wilberforce. It was the catalyst for Martin Luther King's dream as well.

Indeed, Star Parker finds herself swimming upstream (as far as the academy is concerned) with her message of personal responsibility and empowerment. Her message and indeed her own life story serve to deconstruct the 'victim' narrative so essential to the perpetuation of the modern Liberal philosophy. Where they would focus on reforming 'corrupt' (as they see it) institutions, Parker seeks to reform the man! We would do well to remember that our great universities were founded on this principle, to bring the Gospel into practical practice in the hearts of individuals that make up our society. Star Parker is merely picking up their original mission in the work she does. Her message resonates with that of Martin Luther King's 1962 Speech, given at the Lincoln Memorial:

I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.

Five score years ago a great American in whose symbolic shadow we stand today signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beckoning light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.

But one hundred years later the Negro is still not free. One hundred years later the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination.

One hundred years later the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity.

One hundred years later the Negro is still languishing in the comers of American society and finds himself in exile in his own land.

We all have come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to change racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice ring out for all of God's children.

There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted citizenship rights.

We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.

And the marvelous new militarism which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers have evidenced by their presence here today that they have come to realize that their destiny is part of our destiny.

So even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its Governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places plains, and the crooked places will be made straight, and before the Lord will be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the mount with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the genuine discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, pray together; to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom forever, )mowing that we will be free one day.

And I say to you today my friends, let freedom ring. From the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire, let freedom ring. From the mighty mountains of New York, let freedom ring. From the mighty Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!

Let freedom ring from the snow capped Rockies of Colorado!

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California!

But not only there; let freedom ring from the Stone Mountain of Georgia!

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain in Tennessee!

Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill in Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of G-d's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! Free at last! Thank G-d almighty, we're free at last!"

The Divine Plan of Redemption

If my people, which are called by my name shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then I will hear from Heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land." -- 2 Chronicles 7:14

The Great Depression of the 1930's in America...


What does redemption really look like? "The greater the struggle, the more glorious the triumph" -- Mr. Mendez.

"What this world needs is a little Wonder!" -- Mr Mendez

This beautiful short film has much to say about the mission of G-d's people in the world today. Do we grasp the wonder of Imago Dei in those around us? Do we seek to encourage and nurture it. The Butterfly Circus should be seen as a challenge to all of us in this regard.

THYME Magazine: The Gift of Language

Citizen Journalism with a Better Flavor


Volume VIII, Issue IX

The Gift of Language
How Sequoyah Gave His People Written Words

Perhaps the most remarkable man who has ever lived on Georgia soil was neither a politician, nor a soldier, nor an ecclesiastic, nor a scholar, but merely a Cherokee Indian of mixed blood. And strange to say, this Indian acquired permanent fame, neither expecting or seeking it." -- H. A. Scomp, Emory College

He was hardly someone you would predict would create such a significant contribution to his nation. George Gist was born to a Cherokee mother, Wu-teh, a member of the Paint Clan, and Nathanial Gist, an English fur trader near the village of Tushkeegee on the Tennessee River. The year was around 1760 but no one knows for sure. Learning the ways of the Cherokee, young George became a trapper and a fur trader himself. He would probably have lived out his days as a man of the forest, but he suffered a hunting accident (or possibly succumbed to a crippling disease, depending on which version of his story you read), but the young man was permanently disabled, unable to earn his living by the skills he had been taught in childhood.

George Gist developed a talent for metal working. He learned to be a blacksmith and silversmith. His disability became both a source of ridicule (Sequoyah means "pig's foot" in Cherokee) and a spur to greater things. The man was a good learner and became a competent craftsman. A man who purchased one of his pieces suggested that he sign his work, but he was unable to. He could not write! And here as well his story might have ended, but events in the greater world were to spur him to his greatest work. Sequoyah married a Cherokee woman and raised a family. They moved to Cherokee County in Georgia where George learned how to write his name from a local farmer. Later he joined other Cherokees who fought under Andrew Jackson against England in the War of 1812. Though he never learned to read or write English, Sequoyah was fascinated by the white man's ability to create "talking leaves" by making marks on paper.

As early as 1809, Sequoyah was exploring the creation of a Cherokee alphabet. Though scholars believe there may have once been a written Cherokee language that was later forgotten, there was no written Cherokee language when Sequoyah was a youth. People suspected that the white man's words "moved around on the paper," and the time was right for Cherokee to be able to read things for themselves. Cherokee soldiers could not write letters home, read military orders for themselves, or record events they wished to remember. When he returned home from the war, he worked in earnest on a phonetic alphabet of 86 letters to write the Cherokee Language. Sequoyah became something of a recluse. His friends and family ridiculed him. Some said he was insane or practicing witchcraft. Moving West to Arkansas, he continued his great work.

He found that his young daughter Ayoka could easily learn to use the syllabary and demonstrated this to his cousin, George Lowrey, who encouraged him to demonstrate the use of the syllabary to the public. In a Cherokee court case in Chattooga, he read an argument about a boundary line from a piece of paper. In 1821 the Cherokee Nation officially adopted Sequoya's alphabet and within a matter of months thousands of Cherokee learned to read and write! In 1824 the Cherokee National Council at New Echota, Georgia presented him with a silver medal. Sequoyah proudly wore it for the rest of his life. He was given a $300 annuity and his widow continued to receive it after he died.

By 1825 the Cherokee had the Bible in their own language along with hymnals and all sorts of educational materials. There was even a large group of Moravian Cherokee. Legal documents and books of every kind were available, all translated into the Cherokee Language. In 1827 The Cherokee National Council funded the printing of Tsa la gi Tsu lehesanunhi," the Cherokee Phoenix. It was the first Native American newspaper printed in the United States. It was produced in the Cherokee Capital, New Echota on a press shipped there from Boston. The paper had parallel columns in Cherokee and English, printed side by side.

Sadly, the discovery of gold in North Georgia, unscrupulous men and treachery in treaty would lead to the removal of most of the Eastern nation. Sequoyah moved to Oklahoma were he served as an envoy to Washington D.C. to assist the displaced Eastern Cherokees. He continued to serve his people as a diplomat and a statesman. Well into his eighties, he traveled West again, looking for a band of Cherokees who were said to have moved to Mexico. He took ill and died in 1843 and the location of his grave remains unknown to this day. Two species of giant redwood trees have been named in his honor, as has Sequoia National Park in California. He gave his people the gift of literacy. His contribution is unique, as he, an uneducated, seemingly undistinguished individual, created a totally new system of writing for his beloved nation. [1.]

J. Lanphier's Journey of Prayer
How A Nation Was Turned to G-d and Restored


Jeremiah Lanphier discovered the power of prayer in his own life.

By the middle of the Nineteenth Century, America found herself at a crossroads. Wild speculation and greed had built a house of cards. While a few became incredibly wealthy, the gap between haves and have-nots grew ever wider.   The economic crash had put 30,000 men out of work on the streets of New York City.  Churches languished as people explored Spiritism and other "new" ideas. We, of the Twenty-first Century, would find the condition of the culture strangely familiar.

Political corruption, shady dealings in business and a general moral decline were the norm.  "Atheism, agnosticism, apathy and indifference to God, to the church, and its message abounded on every hand. The decline was fourfold: social, moral, political and spiritual." -- Tom Shanklin

Then came the crash! Factories were shuttered. Banks failed and merchants were ruined. Thousands were destitute. Winkie Pratney, who chronicled the great revival, says: "A near socio-economic collapse jolted America away from her apathy into a national cry for spiritual reality." Chuck Balsamo presents a wonderful concise history of this revival in his book Make Me a Legend [click to read]. The story does not begin with a mighty move and thousands of conversions, rather it begins in a rather small way.

Jeremiah Lanphier was a middle-aged businessman caught in the crossroads. Having no children and no family, he was drawn to minister to the needs of those living in the dark slums of Hell's Kitchen. Leaving his business, he became a lay missionary with the North Dutch Church in Manhattan. Pouring his life into the lives of those he saw caught in hopelessness, he soon came to the end of his own strength. Physically and mentally exhausted, Lanphier discovered that just as the body needs food, the soul and spirit of a man need to be nourished in prayer.[1.]

Each day at midday, Lanphier would seek solace in the Church Consistory Building, where he would cry out to G-d for spiritual strength. He experienced G-d in a mighty way in these times and felt that others would benefit from prayer as well, especially the city's businessmen. He printed up and distributed 20,000 flyers advertising his first noontime prayer meeting, on September 23, 1857.

That day he prayed alone for thirty minutes before six others joined him. The next week there were twenty. The week after that forty people showed up. In time over 100 churches had noonday prayer meetings going throughout the city. G-d's powerful move was felt far beyond New York City. Newspaperman Horace Greeley wanted to get a count of the number of men  praying in New York so he sent a reporter out to the meetings. Racing around the city in a horse-drawn buggy, the reporter was only able to get to twelve meetings in the noon hour, but he counted 6,100 in attendance.

Spiritual awakening followed and Americans found strength in G-d for the turbulent days that followed. This Third Great Awakening not only revitalized the spirit of America's people, but led to missionary outreach around the world.  [2.]

THYME Magazine, Esther of the Year

Citizen Journalism with a Better Flavor


Volume VII, Issue I 

Sgt. Mayan Yogev, Esther of the Year

"She (Sgt. Yogev) never hesitates. There were dire situations in which she had to give on-the-field care to a victim with a gun shot wound to the head or perform a tracheotomy on 12-year-old girl in critical condition." -- Yoav Zitun ht/Phillip Pasmanick [1.]

Just another day in the life of 20 year old Mayan Yogev. Don't be fooled by her youth and beauty, Sgt. Yogev is probably the busiest first responder in her Golan Heights patrol. Hundreds of Syrians in this troubled border area have been the recipients of Yogev's good care. Like a modern-day Florence Nightingale, she lights the lamp of compassionate care for her patients without regard for their citizenship.

"During the last months she has seen things that your average paramedic sees in a decade," says one of her commanders.Indeed the parallel to Nightingale's service during the Crimean War seems fitting. Here is a person who has tirelessly performed her duties with dedication and courage. Yoav Zitun [click to read] has much good to say about this remarkable woman!

Her brother Yitach says of her: "We weren't surprised, she has a strong character which allows her to deal not just with painful sights but also with difficult challenges without reservation or fear.

When she returns home she goes out and has a good time, she speaks of how much she believes in what she is doing, no questions asked. She tells us how she meets people in dire need of help, and does not embellish stories as heroic. Even as a high school student, she knew she wanted to have a meaningful period in the IDF, offering help and saving lives."

Her Father says of her: "it was always important for her to make a contribution and help other people. Her work over the last few months fills me with pride."

Her IDF colleagues have much to say in praise of her as well. Known for her courage and willingness to head into any forward area to render medical care, Yogev is a valued and respected member of their team. Those of us who pray for the Peace of Jerusalem look forward to the day when scores of Syrians and Israelis will simply remember her as their angel, their "lady with a lamp," in a difficult distant past.

Santa Filomena
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Whene'er a noble deed is wrought, 
Whene'er is spoken a noble thought, 
Our hearts, in glad surprise, 
To higher levels rise.

The tidal wave of deeper souls 
Into our inmost being rolls, 
And lifts us unawares 
Out of all meaner cares.

Honour to those whose words or deeds 
Thus help us in our daily needs, 
And by their overflow 
Raise us from what is low!

Thus thought I, as by night I read 
Of the great army of the dead, 
The trenches cold and damp, 
The starved and frozen camp, -

The wounded from the battle-plain, 
In dreary hospitals of pain, 
The cheerless corridors, 
The cold and stony floors.

Lo! in that house of misery 
A lady with a lamp I see 
Pass through the glimmering gloom, 
And flit from room to room.

And slow, as in a dream of bliss, 
The speechless sufferer turns to kiss 
Her shadow, as it falls 
Upon the darkening walls.

As if a door in heaven should be 
Opened and then closed suddenly, 
The vision came and went, 
The light shone and was spent.

On England's annals, through the long 
Hereafter of her speech and song, 
That light its rays shall cast 
From portals of the past.

A Lady with a Lamp shall stand 
In the great history of the land, 
A noble type of good, 
Heroic womanhood.

Nor even shall be wanting here 
The palm, the lily, and the spear, 
The symbols that of yore 
Saint Filomena bore.

THYME Magazine Special Advent Edition

Citizen Journalism with a Better Flavor


Volume VI, Issue XXVIII

The Forgotten Season

The turkey leftovers were still cooling when the much media hyped 'Black Friday' events began. In a Long Island Wal Mart, a young associate was trampled to death as bargain hunters literally broke down the doors. A young man had to die because twenty dollars could be saved on flatscreens. Managers closed the store and someone actually was irate that he couldn't get in. Come on, if a colleague has died, its 'Game Over' on the shopping frenzy. Close the store and try to help the poor man's significant others. To hell with reopening for the remainder of the day! Management reopened the store at one o'clock that afternoon. Satirical publication 'The Onion' came out with a story where thousands were 'reported' to have died in Black Friday shopping. I did not find it funny. One death to satisfy the greed gods is too many. Our prayers go out to the family and friends of this young man. May they find comfort.

Lost in the madness of Black Friday, Cyber Monday and yes, even Small Business Saturday is the wonderful celebration of Advent. The high churches still celebrate it. It is a time of waiting and preparation for the miracle to come. It is so un-modern! It ties us to history. The traditions of Judaism are full of waiting. Abraham and Sarah saw the child of promise when they were way past the age of child bearing. I sometimes think of one-hundred year old Sarah as a preschool parent and join her in her laughter! Then there was Joseph and his imprisonment, followed by hundreds of years of exile in Egypt. We often think about the Promised Land, but we forget that all Promised Lands seem to require a prep!

In fact, there came a time when people forgot the lessons of the brick kilns and lost the Promised Land to the Babylonians and the Persians. The Temple, center of worship, was destroyed. But it was in this time of living as expats that the community of the Synagogue strengthened the people anew. Ezra and Nehemiah presided over a return to the land of promise. Again, the promise required a prep. As the exiles built the prosperity of Persia, they prepared themselves for the time when they would build their own.

A second Temple was built. The exiles returned. Then came the great empires of the Greeks and the Romans. The Temple was rebuilt, but the heavy hand of Roman rule presided over a time of trouble. Many looked to the future Messiah to put things aright. Indeed, there were many who claimed to BE Messiah. They came and went. But in a time when Heaven seemed so distant, there came another child of promise... to a couple way past child bearing. John the Baptist, a "Voice crying in the wilderness," came saying: "Prepare ye the way of the Lord." At the same season of history, his mother Elizabeth's cousin Mary came to visit.

Mary had been visited by an angel and told that she, a virgin, would bear the child of promise. Though this was an incredible blessing, she faced the prospect of unwed motherhood... in a culture that stoned you for it. Her betrothed, however, had also been given a message from Heaven, that he should take her for his wife. What incredible faith and love! When I chose my Confirmation name, as a boy, I took the name Joseph. It was not that I ever thought I could match such selfless love, but that I so admired it! Even to this day, some of the people I admire the most are those men who have stepped into the lives of children they did not physically father, and yet have earned the name Dad nonetheless! These men live as both an example and a challenge to me. Some of them are my juniors in years, but they far surpass in their maturity!

Such are the lessons we miss if we merely content ourselves with instant gratification. There is an old saying: "Rome wasn't built in a day." Indeed our own nation cast off from its sure position as an English colony to pursue an uncertain future. In 1812 England returned to burn the young country's capital. The White House is so called because its sandstone outer walls had to be painted after the burning left them permanently blackened. By the middle of the Nineteenth Century, however, Isambard Kingdom Brunel was building great ships to strengthen Bristol's trade with America. A hundred years after barely surviving her revolution, the nation we know had taken her place as a world power.

Why Advent is Important to Artists [click to read]

We do well to celebrate Advent, though it is largely forgotten in the popular narrative, because it causes us to pause and prepare. In a world where preparation is limited to four years it does us good to remember the lessons of centuries. Advent allows us to step back from our busy lives and ponder timeless truths... like the man that the Bethlehem baby grew to be. He too died, some say on a Friday, but his death was not just his own. Did He indeed carry the sins of the world? The account of His Resurrection causes us to ponder mysteries far greater than ourselves and our puny wants. In our next issue of THYME we will ponder more wonders and present some compelling evidence that we should indeed consider the life of this man. (to be continued)

THYME Magazine American Renewal Issue VI

Citizen Journalism with a Better Flavor


Volume VI, Issue XXVI
 
Pursuit of Virtue
Cover: The School of Athens by Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino

"Properly understood, therefore, when John Locke, Samuel Johnson, and Thomas Jefferson wrote of 'the pursuit of happiness,' they were invoking the Greek and Roman philosophical tradition in which happiness is bound up with the civic virtues of courage, moderation, and justice. Because they are civic virtues, not just personal attributes, they implicate the social aspect of eudaimonia. The pursuit of happiness, therefore, is not merely a matter of achieving individual pleasure." -- Carol V. Hamilton, Ph.d.

The 'other' weekly news magazine a while ago considered The Pursuit of Happiness [click to read]. Quoting the philosophers who say we're "wired for happiness," they then delve into the conundrum of why we are so unhappy. THYME once again ventures in where angels fear to tread... to consider the truth intended by the original writers.

Consider These Advertisements [click to read] for Colorado's Health Insurance Marketplace. While they are an insult to the fine young people I actually know and work with, they nonetheless represent the popular narrative's description of "Pursuit of Happiness." Really?, "Kegstands" and "shotsies?" Again, I have to wonder if ageing advertising executives are being allowed to define young people they really need to go out and talk to. One surprise in Virginia's recent gubernatorial election was that the Conservative candidate actually won a strong percentage of the so-called 'Millenial' vote. The 18-24 demographic broke strongly for the Conservative [1.] begging the question: "Is the self-actualization message of the popular culture deconstructing under its own weight as young people open their eyes and see the true cost?" 

Those who seek to write the narrative about modern Americans err because they've replaced the institutions of virtue and protection with the multiplex cinema and the mall as center of the settlement. Consider the first Jamestown settlement, where the church, the storehouse and the armory were at the center. Personal happiness, in the packaging of self-actualization demands we redefine marriage and reduce consequences for pleasurable behaviours. Society must now provide outcome instead of opportunity, even if that outcome is tepid compared to the results of mankind unchained to pursue loftier goals that are out of the direct pervue of government.

Thus, many are lauding the Supreme Court's latest "Dred Scott"  [2.] moment as an American triumph, overturning a portion of the Defense of Marriage Act and striking down the restoration of California's popularly ratified Proposition Eight. The portion of DOMA actually overturned has to do with an inheritance case and is NOT at all like Roe vs Wade, which nullified state abortion laws in a sweeping motion. The media rushes to herald it, but it does not really create what qualifies as a landmark decision. In fact it is but one more strike against traditional thinking which includes the government forcing Catholic Charities in Massachussetts to place children with same-sex couples (they folded rather than compromise their beliefs), the suit against a photographer who, on faith grounds, declined to photograph a same-sex ceremony and the Methodist group in New Jersey who were denied tax-exempt status because they would not allow a same-sex ceremony to be performed in their facility [3.]

Marriage Wins in the Big Picture [click to read]

In each of these cases, there were other options open to the couples and they were in no way forbidden from creating their covenant relationship. At issue, in each case, was the religious freedom of those who hold that G-d alone may define what is marriage. Beyond the religious freedom considerations, a strong body of research suggests that children are best raised by a father and a mother [4.] While the thought may nor be politically correct, the evidence is well-documented. State law is still able to support traditional marriage and may well strengthen the virtues epitomized in eudaimonia by doing so. Courage, moderation and justice would ask: "what is best for our children?"

The First Amendment of the Constitution both prohibits government establishment of a 'state' church and protects citizens in the free exercise of their faith. While it is a good thing to restrict the government's direction of the distribution of an estate (property being an important right), it also follows that the government has no business redefining what for many is a matter of faith (freedom of belief being one of the fundamental rights). Providing protection for a person's directives concerning shared property and hospital visitation priviledges is in keeping with the virtues of courage, moderation and justice. Creating a 'right' for someone to overwrite the tenets of faith with fines and sanctions is the antithesis of them.

Much of the so-called 'Affordable Care Act's' controversy surrounds the law's establishment of access to contraceptives and abortion as 'fundamental rights' in defiance of those institutions and traditions who's purpose is to instill virtue. Requiring Faith-based institutions to provide coverage for things they don't believe in violates the true spirit of "pursuit of Virtue." Mandating that Christian businessmen like David Green [click to read] provide them is equally intrusive on true personal liberty.

Indeed it would seem that the time has come to offer a clear alternative to the tired old cliche's that would reduce significant personal choices to the level of a Superbowl beer commercial. I am not a recognized expert on youth, but I have worked closely with enough young people to know that they can indeed wrap their fingers around noble purposes. History tells us that young people of old took up the task before them to survey great lands and build great works. They were not shipped off to "professionals" to be trained, but rather, received mentoring from older people, often in a highly individualized fashion. Older people were not always 'retired' from service in a mandatory fashion. In an era when few lived past the age of 62 they were a cherished resource. That changed when leaders like Prussia's Otto Von Bismark discovered that their most effective opposition was from people over the age of 65 [5.]. In the days before penicillin it was a safe bet to pension the relatively few Germans who did live past that age.

As one who is two years into his sixth decade, I can tell you that it is a great joy to freely share the things you have learned with a bright young apprentice! Sadly, this does not happen in a world where people enter productive life late and leave too early. There is more of a competitive than collaborative mindset in a workforce that excludes experience and enthusiasm found at the ends of the age spectrum. We need to return to a world where we train our own replacements, cherishing the creation of a legacy more than the accumulation of one's own accomplishment. We do not create a legacy for ourselves, rather we pass the baton and cheer. Virtue WANTS the next generation to run faster, farther and surer!

What better place for this to be reborn than in our churches. A couple of Sundays ago I heard a most inspiring message of intentional care for the younger generation. We were encouraged to pray for each child in our congregation... creating intentional relationships for mentoring, support and discipleship. All of the clever programs in the world cannot surpass the strength of such intentional relationships.

In Colossians 1:9-12 we read: "For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of G-d; Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness; Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light:" What would it look like to pray/model that for our young people? The results would certainly be changed young lives...and changed young lives would make an impact on their world! What if our young people were to be brought up in the narrative that they are for us a cherished investment?... Masterpieces of IMAGO DEI entrusted to our care?

THYME Magazine American Renewal Issue V

Citizen Journalism with a Better Flavor


Volume VI, Issue XXVI

The Divine Plan for Our Redemption

"If my people, which are called by my name shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then I will hear from Heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land." -- 2 Chronicles 7:14

The Great Depression of the 1930's in America...


What does redemption really look like? "The greater the struggle, the more glorious the triumph" -- Mr. Mendez.

"What this world needs is a little Wonder!" -- Mr Mendez

The Great Depression of Modern America...

Politicians won't save us. Economic vitality won't save us. Indeed we have seen conditions in our nation move ever more from difficult to impossible. The great nation that nurtured us in my youth appears to be disappearing forever. Another election was approaching a few weeks ago. My depression over the situation was obvious. I'd gone to the September 12, 2009 rally on the National Mall and come away hopeful back then. The 2010 elections seemed to indicate that the wind was shifting. Solid principles would once again govern us. In 2011 I cautiously laid foundations for my little architectural visualization business to grow again.

But as 2012 rolled along, the work dried up. One of my clients simply stopped paying me for work already performed and I was living off of my 'second job' and some part-time teaching. The 2012 elections brought many of our worst fears to a depressing reality. The country was being 'fundamentally transformed,' and many of us saw that transformation taking us away from our foundations and into dystopia. 2013, whatever the experts said, saw a stagnation I don't think any of us could imagine. Our parents talked of the Great Depression and what I saw in my own business life seemed to be a revisiting of that dark era.

Those who had railed at the much lower unemployment statistics of the previous administration seemed all to content with the "new normal." Unemployment was far higher, but the figures did not even include situations like mine -- still technically 'at my desk' but seeing only a trickle of small jobs, if that. The nation that put men on the Moon couldn't even keep the shuttle flying. The victory in Iraq that stablized the Middle-East for a time was being squandered as the administration pursued an unclear course in Afghanistan. Debt soared to 17 Trillion dollars as government spending was the ONLY sector of the economy that was growing.

Eventually required payments such as Social Security and other entitlements would be squeezed by debt service to the point that there would be not enough money to meet these required obligations. Meanwhile, the administration moved decisively to block energy production on our public lands and a vital pipeline that would have helped us wean ourselves of foreign oil. A bleak picture was being painted. When Ted Cruz did what he was elected to do, represent the PEOPLE in the Senate, he was chastized by his own party! When Congress dared to defy the President by funding everything but the so-called "Affordable Care Act," the national media painted THEM as extreme... even though the "Affordable Care Act" would soon prove to be anything but.

But as the administration had its way and launched their $500 Billion Healthcare Marketplace Website, created in an extreme and blatant example of crony capitalism, the fall of that house was disasterous. People who create secure marketplace sites for the commercial marketplace have criticized the website's shoddy design and security lapses. A designer who was a guest on Sean Hannity's show said he could have produced a working site in several months (as opposed to six years), adequately tested it in a month and would have been embarrassed if he asked more than a million dollars for his efforts.

Awarded in a no-bid contract to a Montreal company, CGI Federal, which had bought a subsidiary "beltway bandit" firm in Virginia, turned out to be run by an old college friend of the First Lady! Many are shaking their heads at the blatent sloppiness, not only of the website, but the process. Are these people really to be trusted with one-sixth of the country's economy as they rewrite healthcare?

So, going into Viginia's Gubernatorial election, the media narrative was criticizing Attorney General Cuccinelli for OPPOSING THIS MONSTROSITY by mounting the first challenge to the mandates of the "Affordable Care Act." His opponent in the Governor's race -- a Democrat FUNDRAISER, was painted as the 'reasonable' candidate. Though Cuccinelli is being proved right as people actually 'see what's in it:' (the 'affordable Care Act') , vindication moves slowly in the mainstream media. An ever growing population of government-dependent Northern Virginians stood ready to steamroll the electorial process. Virginia has NO Conservative representation in the United States Senate. Were we about to lose the Executive Branch of our own state as well?

Healing for Our Land... Where Will it Come From?

It is days like these that make me think moving to Belize would be a better option than staying put and watching the decline. I wish for the days of the Texas Republic. Was I born in the wrong Century? Some of the great heroes of Texas came from Rockbridge County and were lovers of liberty in their own right. Our nation barely survived the revolution that spun it free from England. What led men to pledge their lives and sacred honor instead of cower in the hopes of "security?" A lot of young people seem all to happy to "take the free stuff" and vote for the "fundamental transformation" that provides it. What's the point in fighting it?

And so I faced the prospect of the upcoming election with some depression. But G-d has a way of breaking through that sort of thing. The young lady who had been my assistant in the studio during the optomistic days of 2011 proudly announced her support for Cuccinelli on Facebook, sharing this sentiment with her fellow college students! Another young man about my son's age did the same. I felt the baton being passed. There is indeed another lap in this race! But this race will not be won by merely prevailing in elections. It will be won by the method revealed in 2 Chronicles 7:14!

Turning G-dward! First of all, we must not be ashamed to call ourselves G-d's. Psalm 91:2 says: "I will SAY of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my G-d; in Him will I trust." Someday they may indeed sandblast the words "LAUS DEO" or "Praise G-d" from the cap of the Washington Monument, but they cannot remove them from my heart! Indeed, I am called by His Name. No amount of politically correct legislation can change my identity... and who I shall identify myself with. Though I am weak, HE is unwavering! My identity in the Lord places me on a firm foundation. Though I bend with the wind, the Rock I stand upon cannot be moved.

Then we must come to our Creator in all humility. Yes, we face situations bigger than our abilities to solve. In Centuries before us others did too. When we seek the face of G-d, we will of necessity check our hubris at the door. He is Lord. He is, as C. C. Lewis says: "Not a TAME Lion!" Our Redeemer is Dangerous! We must acknowledge... I MUST ACKNOWLEDGE... EVIL! Not just some distant evil, like a Hitler or a Terrorist, but that evil that lurks in my own heart. Yes, that evil must be acknowledged and put off. A man alone may deceive himself into thinking he is doing just fine, a man in intentional community knows better. We must learn: "Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let us esteem each other better than ourselves" -- Philippians 2:4 by dying to our own default desires. This can only be done by journeying together.

then G-d says HE will "Hear from Heaven!" HE will forgive! HE will HEAL OUR LAND! Yes, it is the Divine who will save us. Angus Buchan, who's true story inspired the Movie: "Faith Like Potatoes" says: "the condition for a miracle is difficulty. The condition for a GREAT miracle is impossibility!"

Last week, THYME looked at the life of IsamBard Kingdom Brunel [click to read] and how he was used by G-d to bring new economic vitality to Bristol, England in the time of George Müller and Charles Dickens, Victorian England. Indeed, G-d used the vision of Müller to begin the healing of a people. The emergence of Brunel must be seen as part of that healing as well. History has much to teach us about faith and perseverance in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds... and the great miracles that have come in the face of just such times of adversity. History, you see, is not some obscure set of facts to be memorized or dates to be organized; Rather, it is a map to be followed. The paths of others who have walked where we are about to walk are described in its pages.

Learning from the Example of Previous Generations

We are in need of a Great Miracle today. Other generations have faced times like this as well. In previous times of national peril, our LEADERS called for prayer. Today it is necessary for people of faith everywhere to pick up that fallen standard and lift it high. If we will prepare our own hearts, like soil for the planting, HE will plant the seed. If we will cultivate what G-d plants, nurturing it to maturity, HE will provide the bountiful harvest. If we will prepare the land, G-d promises to HEAL it. History (REAL history, that is) is filled with stories of just such promise being realized in the lives of ordinary men and women.

But to participate in promise requires a relationship. G-d is not some abstract concept, but rather He is the Author/Creator of the Universe. He has a NAME... a Name so Holy as not to be uttered lightly on Earth, but a Name, to be KNOWN by. And how shall I find this G-d? There are men and women in this world who converse with Him in prayer. It is through relationship with THEM that we may be introduced to the Magnificent One, the G-d of Redemption. I am at best a poor disciple of His, but I am His disciple. You should not be introduced to Him by some formula in the writings of man, but rather in the Inspired Words of His Own Testimony. That is why I, and many more of His disciples stand ready to open the Holy Scriptures WITH YOU. In them you will find the Life and Light I speak of. The Food Channel cannot actually nourish you. You must step into the room where the meals are served.

An Earthly author cannot see the 'Great Miracle' that you, the reader, desparately need. But we CAN go together to the Master, who indeed knows what will nourish each of us. It is highly likely that you know someone who knows the Master, who can take you to the place where He can meet you with healing and nourishment. As I write this I pray that that person might indeed come to mind. Before I came to faith I was keenly aware that there was a certain brightness and clarity about the lives of certain people I knew. Later I realized that some of them had indeed been praying for me. Yet, you might be reading this and G-d's Holy Spirit may be speaking to you and you are not sure who to go to. If you would like to know G-d as Reedemer,  watch Defining Moments [click to view], or you may contact me at bobsjourneyblog@gmail.com for more information. Your inquiry will be in complete privacy. It is my desire that you be able to find the 'Living Water' that you so deeply desire. A life transformed by G-d is but a heartfelt prayer away:

Dear Heavenly Father, I know that I’m a sinner. And I ask for your forgiveness. I believe your son, Jesus, died for my sins and rose from the dead. I turn from my sins. I repent of my sins. I invite you to come into my heart and life. I want to trust and follow you as my Lord and Savior. In Jesus’ name, Amen

The greatest miracle is not the parting of the sea or the feeding of thousands, it is the transformation of the human heart. That is the miracle that gives us access to G-d. It is in knowing G-d that we will find far more than we were looking for in the first place! A G-d who can part the Red Sea, Create worlds and has power over death is pretty much to be respected. A G-d who changes human lives in intimate communion with his Creation is amazing.


A Caterpillar becomes a butterfly. Nature itself suggests the possibility of miraculous transformation and new life! Rice Paper Butterfly, or Paper Kite Butterfly, Idea leuconoe.
Illustration © 2013, by Kristina Elaine Riley for HOPE Publications, Pvt. ltd.

THYME Magazine American Renewal Issue IV

Citizen Journalism with a Better Flavor


Volume VI, Issue XXV

Isambard Kingdom Brunel
What a Nineteenth Century Innovator Can Teach Us Now
© 2013 The Kirchman Studio, All rights reserved.

“They say that the condition for a miracle is difficulty, but the condition for a great miracle is impossibility” -- Angus Buchan, “G-d's Farmer”

When William Wilberforce [1.] had ended the slave trade in the British Empire, he had thrown the city of Bristol, England into economic depression. The port there was heavily devoted to that wretched business and suffered heavily when it was brought to a sudden halt. The unintended consequence had been a rise in children condemned to a life of poverty. Ending the vile business of enslaving Africa's children had resulting in England's society spurning the needs of her own. Into this world came George Müller [2.], who, relying on faith in G-d alone, provided redemption for thousands of orphans. Many of these children were cast-offs of a society in economic despair.

George Müller [3.] had seen the wretched street urchins most people despised as jewels to be polished. Muller, relying solely on Divine provision, built five large houses for Orphans at Ashley Downs in Bristol, England. He trained the girls to be nurses, teachers, clerical workers and domestics. He apprenticed all the boys in various trades. He was excoriated for training these unwanted children "above their station." He ignored the critics.

Müller looked to G-d alone, but Bristol needed an outfowing of Divine provision to provide for her children. G-d's provision for Bristol was to come in the form of inspiration and innovation, embodied in the work of a young pioneer of civil engineering. He also ignored his critics.


Brunel's Clifton Suspension Bridge became the symbol of the City of Bristol.


Building the Great Western Railway.

In 1831, 24 year old Isambard Kingdom Brunel [4.] was awarded a contract to bridge the Avon Gorge. It was the dream of a prosperous wine merchant who provided the initial funding. The completed bridge would become the symbol of the city, but lack of funding dogged the project. It took thirty years to complete it. For years only the towers stood completed. In 1833 Brunel began work on the Great Western Railway, which would become the instrument of Bristol's economic revitalization. The nicknames: "Great Way Round" and "G-d's Wonderful Railway" seem to describe well Brunel's great work.

Brunel was an innovator. He probably experienced as many failures as successes in his short lifetime. Born on April 9, 1806, the son of Sir Marc Brunel, he assisted his father in building a tunnel under the Thames. He would later become the resident engineer of that project. At twenty years of age, he designed a suspension bridge to cross the Avon river. A modified version of his plan was actually constructed.

At 26, Brunel was building the Great Western Railway, commissioned to maintain Bristol's importance as a port and position her for  trade with America. This wide-gauge railroad linked Bristol and Western regions of England to London. Bristol's prosperity as a port was assured and the work of Müller created solid citizens with strong spiritual foundations to benefit.

But Brunel was not content to simply build a better railway. He looked across the Atlantic, envisioning fleets of ocean greyhounds -- great steamships that would complete the linking of his Great Western Railway to America! The S. S. Great Britain was his creation. It was the first metal-hulled propeller-driven ocean ship and became the prototype for modern ocean liners.

Building the South Devon Railway as a spur to the Great Western, Brunel experimented with an alternative to steam engines -- Vacuum tube powered trains. Stationary vacuum plants evacuated tubes laid along the center of the track that powered the movement of trains.


Brunel's 'Atmospheric Railway.'

"The technology required the use of leather flaps to seal the vacuum pipes. The natural oils were drawn out of the leather by the vacuum, making the leather vulnerable to water, rotting it and breaking the fibres when it froze. It had to be kept supple with tallow, which is attractive to rats. The flaps were eaten, and vacuum operation lasted less than a year, from 1847 (experimental service began in September; operations from February 1848) to 10 September 1848.[45] It has been suggested that the whole project was an expensive flop. In Brunel's favour, it has been noted that he had the courage to call a halt to the venture instead of struggling on with it at greater cost." -- Wikipedia

Like alternative transportation prototypes of our day, the vacuum tube system was more expensive. The accounts of the SDR for 1848 show that atmospheric traction cost 3s 1d (three shillings and one penny) per mile compared to 1s 4d/mile for conventional steam power.Though considered a failure at the time, vacuum powered trains may have been a distant precursor to Evacuated Tube Technology [5.] which is now being developed to move entire transport capsules through large tubes -- essentially powered in the same way as Brunel's South Devon train. Brunel was simply two Centuries before his time on this.

What can we learn from Brunel today? Plenty! Inspiration and innovation are needed now as they were needed then. Brunel teaches us valuable lessons about expanding vision with proven technologies and wisely exploring alternatives (and abandoning them when they do not work as planned).

Praying people see the diaconate role of economic development as an integral part of G-d's provision. In “Resources for Deacons, Love Expressed Through Mercy Ministries,” [6.] Tim Keller states his belief in three “levels” of mercy in diaconal ministry:

The first Level Is Simple Relief: That is taking care of the immediate need.

The Second Level Is Economic Development: That is teaching the poor how to get out of poverty by teaching them how to handle money, property, etc. and furnishing them with the means to do so. “Not handouts, but ownership is the way to break the cycle of poverty.”

The Third Level Is Social Reform: Christians should be involved in the culture in an effort to change the social structure.

We see it very localized in a place like Zambia, where people of faith instruct widows to become seamstresses (and people in America gift them with sewing machines). But, can we believe G-d for ever greater inspiration? What vision would G-d give us for our family, our company of employment, our city and county... and beyond? Müller said "the age of miracles is not past." Angus Buchan [7.], in the turmoil of Zambia and South Africa, looked to G-d for inspiration. G-d met him in a corn field where he learned the power of prayer!

Buchan had packed his family up during the unrest in Zambia in the late 'seventies and moved them to South Africa. A successful farmer in Zambia, he felt that he would be happy if he could acquire another farm in South Africa. It didn't. Experiencing deep depression, Buchan was angry and confused. Wandering into a lay-witness Sunday at the local Methodist Church, Angus heard builders, tradesmen and fellow farmers tell of what Jesus meant in their lives. For the first time he saw men crying, he wept unashamedly himself as he responded to an altar call. He took the Lord seriously about the changed life promise.

Buchan went back to his farm and learned to pray in his own corn field. Then he sought to minister to his Zulu workers. His farm manager, Simeon Bhengu, told him: "that's women's religion..." But G-d met Angus and spoke through his friendship with Simeon. Today the men are brothers in faith and brothers in every way. "My children are his and his are mine." Angus says of his Zulu brother. Angus expanded his farming operations and G-d's miraculous provision was seen at every turn. The movie "Faith like Potatoes" is the true story of Angus Buchan and it is quite inspiring! Buchan used machinery but avoided totally mechanizing the farm, looking to provide steady employment to his Zulu neighbors.

In the early 1980's Buchan became aware of a new tragic development. AIDS was ravaging families and creating untold numbers of orphans. Buchan reached out to these orphans but had no place to house them. A local school had temporary classrooms they were going to demolish and Angus received permission to take them apart and reassemble them at Shalom, which he had named his complex at the farm. At first the children lived in dormitories but gradually Angus was able to create "houses" where one "mother" cared for a smaller number.

South Africa in her recent history has experienced much uncertainty and Buchan's experience is instructive as we look to address the turmoil in our own country today. Isambard Kingdom Brunel should serve as an inspiration as well.

"Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity." -- 1 Timothy 4:12

His Simple Faith Gave Hope to Street Children


George Müller changed the way those around him saw the plight of orphans.

Next Week in THYME: Metamorphosis
Bob Kirchman writes on: "Transforming a Culture... One Person at a Time"

Psalm 91 Illustrated

Hope and Promise for Our Troubled Times


Doves. Detail of a Mural by Kristina Elaine Greer and Bob Kirchman

He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.

I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my G-d; in him will I trust.

Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence.

He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler.

Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day;

Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday.

A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee.

Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked.

Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation;

There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.

For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.

They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.

Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet.

Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known my name.

He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him.

With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him my salvation.

Psalm 92 Illustrated

Hope and Promise for Our Troubled Times


Chocolate Flax Unicorn. Detail of a Mural by Kristina Elaine Greer and Bob Kirchman

It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord, and to sing praises unto thy name, O Most High:

To shew forth thy lovingkindness in the morning, and thy faithfulness every night,

Upon an instrument of ten strings, and upon the psaltery; upon the harp with a solemn sound.

For thou, Lord, hast made me glad through thy work: I will triumph in the works of thy hands.

O Lord, how great are thy works! and thy thoughts are very deep.

A brutish man knoweth not; neither doth a fool understand this.

When the wicked spring as the grass, and when all the workers of iniquity do flourish; it is that they shall be destroyed for ever:

But thou, Lord, art most high for evermore.

For, lo, thine enemies, O Lord, for, lo, thine enemies shall perish; all the workers of iniquity shall be scattered.

But my horn shalt thou exalt like the horn of an unicorn: I shall be anointed with fresh oil.

Mine eye also shall see my desire on mine enemies, and mine ears shall hear my desire of the wicked that rise up against me.

The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree: he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.

Those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our G-d.

They shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat and flourishing;

To shew that the Lord is upright: he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.

THYME Magazine American Renewal Edition I

Citizen Journalism with a Better Flavor


Volume VI, Issue XXII

Threats to America's Foundations
By Donna Lou Shickel - © 2013 Donna Lou Shickel Publishing Co. Distribute freely with permission

Most of us are well aware of the war on Christianity. Our Founder, Jesus Christ, promised us that from the beginning. And that through these attacks we will be given the call to choose God’s way or the world’s. But what we may not be aware of, are the ways we Christians today have compromised and cooperated with the decline and decay of Christian Judeo values in our society by trying to choose both ways. And in the process, are we jeopardizing our own standing before God by consenting to laws that oppose His? Welcome to A Place of Grace, I’m your host, Donna Lou. You may not be aware that socialism, which is without exception in human history the final and necessary step leading into communism, is in fact a pagan religion. The socialist religion was founded primarily on the teachings of the pagan Greek philosopher and writer Plato. His book “The Republic,” written 400 years before the time of Christ teaches a "World Republic" led by a royal prince, a "World Philosopher King". Hitler, Lenin, Stalin, Marx and Mao were great followers of Plato, Frederick Nietzsche and Charles Darwin and they all shared the same vision of a world prince (whom they all hoped would be themselves) who would solve all human ills and reign over this new utopian world. The foretelling of this prince was also given us by Jesus Christ. This prince is better known as the anti-Christ, the man of Satan. We’re going to talk about the indoctrination of Satan’s religion in our schools today.

Well friends, if you thought that the economy and radical Islam are our only problems, you might be surprised to learn that there are more members in the Communist Party worldwide and in the U.S. than ever before. Most are no longer using the name, “communist,” but rather they now describe themselves as Progressive. If you go to the Communist Party websites, you’ll find that all of the policies they support are now labeled, “progressive.” And if you compare the goals of the Communist Party USA, over 150 chapters in America, not counting their offshoot groups, with the goals of the NEA, the National Education Association, you’ll see that they, whatever they call themselves, have been incredibly successful. These people have an agenda and that is the destruction of our children’s Christian faith and morals to replace with the religion of socialism and immorality. And what is so deceiving about these people is that they claim to work toward fairness and reform, but take what is good to infiltrate it with something evil and call that social justice. And anybody who cries foul is attacked as intolerant, unjust and uncaring. Teaching God’s Commandments has been labeled a hate crime. And teaching early sexual behavior, anti-patriotism, and group consensus rather than individual reasoning have been openly stated goals of Communists who hate Christians for holding civilization back with our outmoded theology.

 Noah Webster, early Father of American Christian Education said, “The Christian religion is the most important and one of the first things in which all children under a free government ought to be instructed.” Of course, our students today won’t find that quote in their textbooks. Because John Dewey, father of modern US education, who completely transformed it said, “There is no God, there is no soul. Hence, there are no needs for the props of traditional religion.” John Dewey, in his 1934 essay, “The Great American Prophet,” claimed capitalism imposed a restriction on freedom, and “socialized industry and finance” would be the vehicle by which people would reach their full potential. And Dewey decided that American schools would condition children for the desired "social order". In the 1930’s he promoted that teachers must stress "mutually helpful living" in order to indoctrinate children in collectivism. Deemphasize facts, knowledge, and real-world skills to create a generation who could become totally dependent on government, thus ushering in the religion of socialism. John Dewey, known communist, changed school curriculum, discipline and class structures. Our “father” of modern American education said, “The kids don't need to understand "economic value. Children who know how to think for themselves spoil the harmony of the collective society which is coming where everyone is interdependent."

Dumbing down our children was a prime goal in the Communist party USA, to raise generations for the collective whose only salvation would be big government. Even though a slight increase in student SAT scores is released now and then, they are still LOWER than they were fifty years ago, because this open agenda has been in effect now for sixty years. Only one in ten high school graduates believe there is an absolute right or wrong. Those who hate American Christian Judeo values and founding principals have been writing school curriculums containing hatred and revisionist history, and pushing laws denying parental rights and we regurgitate their lies that say we can do nothing about it. See, we’ve been dumbed-down over the last 60 years too. We’ll watch a liberal news broadcast, where they no longer report news, but rather opinions as facts, and swallow whatever they feed us and regurgitate it at every opportunity. How could this happen in Christian America, you ask? Well again, these plans were begun over a century ago. They’ve been patient and dedicated to their religion for over a hundred years! After last week’s show, a listener wrote to say that our government “tried” abstinence education in the schools “for two years” and it didn’t work. It didn’t work! How many others said the same thing regarding this or other Biblical values? God’s way doesn’t work?! Being brainwashed to even THINK that a certain child would have been better off if they never had lived, let alone say it, has led many a young person to agree and take their own lives. When we know, that according to Jesus, contributing to the harm of ANY little one would leave US, not that child, but US better off if WE had never been born! So let’s look back a century or so. In the 1920’s, John Dewey, along with others from the Communist Party USA and the National Education Association, traveled to the Soviet Union to study how the communists succeeded so well in educating their children as to make them a generation of puppets, and to bring their method back home to America. The Bolsheviks admired Dewey and his work so much they translated his books into Russian. But as part of his goal to transform the US through education, Dewey co-authored and signed the Humanist Manifesto in 1933.

 Humanism is a worldview that focuses on human wisdom and denounces God’s Divine Wisdom and refers to itself as a religious movement to transcend and replace previous religions. See, separation of Church and State (as now interpreted) only applies to Christianity. Dewey said it would be necessary for American teachers to promote the Theory of Evolution to further humanism and remove God from the minds of children. He also implemented plans for children to be re-educated away from the traditional values of the parent, get them into government schools at birth if possible, which remains another goal of the National Education Association. They say this would make kids better citizens for the new world order. Dewey promoted the redistribution of wealth and called for universal socialism, as all progressives today say, for the cause of social justice. Again Dewey wrote, “You can’t make socialists out of individualists. Children who know how to think for themselves spoil the harmony of the collective society, which is coming, where everyone is interdependent.” And now it’s here. Among his many continuing honors, John Dewey was the first honorary president of the NEA. Think about their goals – federalized standardized testing and groupings of desks for the collective, not individual thought. Teach to the test, bypass individual reasoning and logic, tell them that three times four equals eleven (that fact was at least reported by liberal media last year!) and kids will grow up to believe whatever they are fed. Even I thought it was wonderful when I saw they had little groupings of desks in our sons’ elementary schools, until I found out this was part of the socialist plan to dumb-down our kids. Not by these wonderful teachers, most of whom love our children and commit their lives to providing them with a good education, but by communists and socialists who’ve set out to destroy our Christian Judeo values. See, even communists know that faith comes by hearing. How many parents “make” their kids go to church on Sundays, but throughout the week spend no time in family Bible study or even have a conversation about their faith, but will get behind their children to do their best in sports, make good grades without taking a look at their assignments, never miss their kids games or favorite TV shows, but can’t get to a parent teacher conference once a year?

A few weeks ago I spoke to a frustrated mother who said her nine year old son had been given a low grade on a school project. The mother said he was so upset, because he knew the right answers but the other three students insisted on the wrong answers, so all four were given a “collective” low grade, in a system that has replaced the Ten Commandments with “the pillars of character.” Another local mom I spoke with a few days ago said her fifth grade son had come home from school so upset about his fifth grade sex education and begged her that he not have to take it, and said, “Mom, if I want to know about that stuff, I’ll ask you and Dad. It’s just weird.” Now there’re some involved parents who have set a foundation of godliness and trust for their children. But how many of us church-going parents can say that? Home-schoolers, who continue to be demonized in our culture, are out-testing everyone, and they’re turning out to be very successful taxpayers which will come in handy when the average child in Virginia entering kindergarten today can expect to cost us taxpayers over $136,000 by the end of high school! So why this maniacal effort to prevent parents from having school choice and vouchers to save over a hundred thousand per student? You do the math. Opponents who say vouchers erode public schools by taking away money and teaching jobs (what?) violate the separation of church and state only want our tax dollars to promote their own religion. And they’ve been very successful, with the majority of Christian children denying their faith by the time they leave college and only one in ten high school seniors believing there is such a thing as absolute right or wrong. Let’s look again at some of the 45 Communist Goals updated in 1958 which I shared with you two weeks ago on part one of “God or Government”:

Goal #28 – Eliminate prayer in the schools on the grounds that it violates the principle of “Separation of Church and State.”

Goal#40 – Discredit the family as an institution. Encourage promiscuity and easy divorce.

Goal #17 – Get control of the schools. Use them as transmission belts for Socialism…soften the curriculum. Get control of teacher associations.

Goal #24 – Eliminate all laws governing obscenity by calling them censorship and a violation of free speech and free press.

Goal #25 – Break down cultural standards of morality by pro-moting pornography in books, magazines, motion pictures and TV.

Goal #26 – Present homosexuality, degeneracy and promiscuity as “normal, natural and healthy.”

Goals # 20, 21 are to – Infiltrate the press. Gain control of key positions in radio, TV, and motion pictures.

Goal #27 – Infiltrate the churches and replace revealed religion with “social” religion. Discredit the Bible.

How have we permitted this indoctrination of our children? There was an offshoot of the Fabian Society, in accord with Communist goal 42 which states: Create the impression that violence and insurrection are legitimate aspects of the American tradition; that students and special-interest groups should rise up and use united force to solve economic, political or social problems, founded groups like Students for a Democratic Society, or SDS. There were chapters popping up at nearly every American University. When I was a student at Old Dominion University I was invited by my English professor to attend a meeting of Students for a Democratic Society. This professor had given us as a reading assignment, “The Feminist Mystique,” by the lying Betty Friedan who confessed later she was only doing her job as a member of the Communist party USA in destroying America, and another book by Saul Alinsky, “Rules for Radicals.” Students for a Democratic Society was a radical communist/socialist group begun in the 1960's by the Fabian Society and spread throughout US Colleges, and it became one of the main representations of the New Left, now progressives. I thought it was only what it advertised: “The most powerful collaboration of American college students with America’s most powerful leaders to help the poor and disenfranchised. It also promised that working with these powerful figures in government, education, and the media had gotten thousands of college students high ranking jobs right out of school! Wow, a means to fight for minorities and the have-nots AND get connected with a good job when I graduated? Hey, I was in. And I would have stayed in, but for a few things that made my first meeting my last. Yes, they delivered what they promised. The meeting room was filled with students just like me, and lots of professors, including the English professor who had personally escorted me to the meeting. But there were so many older professional men who looked out of place schmoozing young college students like me. It gave me a really creepy feeling, and in their speeches, these men seemed to be fueled more with hatred of what they claimed was wrong with America than they were with love of the down and out. They promoted lifting up minorities by tearing down the white capitalists; elevating women by degrading men; by capitalizing on every individual failure of members of “the establishment” and, this really got me - to never underestimate the influence one person has to take down the “autocratic” Church with mockery and division. Promote divisions wherever they arose to divide and conquer. No, they didn’t seem to be very nice people. Afterward, my professor insisted I meet the speaker, and I remember asking him about the organization’s name, “Students for a Democratic Society - Worker-Student Alliance.” I thought Students for a Democratic Society was just like Young Democrats, but what was the Worker Student Alliance about and how were they connected. But I didn’t hear what the man said, because while he was talking I saw behind him, on the other side of the room, a man, about 60 or so, in a suit wearing an armband, and I thought I was seeing things, but the emblem was a Nazi swastika. Someone else looked to be arguing with the man about the armband and that’s when I started feeling sick. When I got back to my apartment I called my Dad to tell him about the meeting. He lost it. Dad knew all about this radical group, its goals and its roots in the Fabian Society and Communism. Dad said, “I didn’t sacrifice all those years to give you girls a Christian education and pay college tuition just so you can get involved with communist groups who hate God and America!” My Dad’s name was William A. Foster, and that’s when I learned about William Z. Foster, General Secretary of the American Communist Party in the thirties, forties and fifties, who ran for US president in 1924, ‘38 and ’32. William A. Foster ordered me to the campus library to check out a book by this Stalinist called “Toward Soviet America.” And here’s a quote: "Among the elementary measures the American Soviet government will adopt to further the cultural revolution are...[a] National Department of Education...the studies will be revolutionized, being cleansed of religious, patriotic, and other features of the bourgeois ideology. The students will be taught the basis of Marxian dialectical materialism, internationalism and the general ethics of the new Socialist society."

So that was my first and last meeting of Students for a Democratic Society, which has over a hundred chapters throughout our Country today – including Virginia, filled with unsuspecting young people who are taught that to eradicate injustice you have to destroy whoever enjoys justice. And to do so, you must transfer all individual rights to the government who will see to it that everyone is taken care of in a just manner. Remember, a child’s nature is to trust those in authority, and we’re warned we won’t enter Heaven without this childlike trust in God’s ways, not man’s. But now the vision of federal government control is precisely the plan of “Common Core” – which violates the Constitutional rights of States and local boards to govern education and transfers them to the Federal Government. Our Constitution was framed so that this immense power could not be placed in the hands of one dictator! But these standards, promoted by the NEA without the input of state legislators, local school boards, teachers or residents level all schools to one, low national standard. Federal bureaucrats set the test standards and federally redistribute education funds among school districts. Fortunately, Governor Bob McDonnell pulled us out of Common Core, along with a few other states. But this socialization of education is precisely what the National Education Association lobbies for every election. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, in 2009, the NEA collected over $377 million dollars in 2009, mostly from unsuspecting teachers around the country who believe the NEA has their best interests at heart. These beautiful teachers, who have to pay out of pocket for supplies and special projects, paying dues to the country’s biggest “progressive” union touting itself as a professional employee organization. But they put little of their money toward teacher professional development and most on lobbying for goals from a Communist Manifesto and padding their own salaries. Union statisticians and the Department of Labor list over 450 officers and staff making six figure incomes, with their executive director making $492 thousand a year. Go to the NEA Website and look up Professional Development. where teachers can learn about the importance of unions, how to identify students who can be groomed as activists, how to engage others in politics, assertiveness training which teaches how to move to “an assertive mode of behavior.” Look up the NEA “diversity day” calendar. They’ve added Oct. as a day to celebrate the founding of communism in China by Chairman Mao Tse-Tung. And for many years, they’ve promoted and sold a book by Saul Alinsky as recommended reading for ALL teachers, called “Rules for Radicals.” That was the other reading assignment from my college English professor. By Communist Saul Alinsky in 1971, it sets forth plans of action that I plead with you all to look up. At least look at the opening dedication in this book, where Alinsky wrote: “Acknowledgement to the very first radical known to man who rebelled against the establishment and did it so effectively, that he at least won his own kingdom – Lucifer.” Again, look up Saul Alinsky and see for yourself who in our administration today embraced and even taught his plan to others. This book was the inspiration behind the Cloward-Piven Strategy, or “Crisis Strategy” which seeks the collapse of America by providing financial entitlements beyond its means, making people so dependent on government, that they will turn to the very people they trust the least to rescue them in a time of crisis, and gladly submit to marshal law, giving up their weapons of self-defense, stop standing for whatever it was they were standing for before, like the unborn. Alinsky wrote, "Make the enemy (that’s us!) live up to their (sic) own book of rules," When pressed to honor every word of every law and statute, every Judeo-Christian moral tenet, . . . human agencies (like our churches) inevitably fall short. The system's failure to "live up" to its rule book can then be used to discredit it altogether, and to replace the capitalist "rule book" with a socialist one. So, for example, even if the majority of the country is opposed to paying personally for unlimited abortions, sterilizations of women (not men, just women), giving your hard earned dollars to pay for contraceptives and Planned Parenthood’s pornographic propaganda (which is given out in elementary schools without parental knowledge or consent) and say the majority is opposed to any language in a health law that could even remotely be interpreted to deny your elderly grandparents health care, Alinsky-ites say that when the finances of such Christians are affected, we’ll abandon our own “book of rules”, (like the Bible, the Constitution and Bill of Rights) and those we elected to stand for us. John Adams, America’s second President wrote at the time,  

“While our country remains untainted with the principles and manners which are now producing desolation in so many parts of the world; while she continues sincere, and incapable of insidious and impious policy, we shall have the strongest reason to rejoice in the local destination assigned us by Providence. But should the people of America once become capable of that deep simulation [that is, hypocrisy] towards one another, and towards foreign nations, which assumes the language of justice and moderation while it is practicing iniquity and extravagance, and displays in the most captivating manner the charming pictures of candor, frankness, and sincerity, while it is rioting in rapine and insolence, this country will be the most miserable habitation in the world; because we have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry, would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”

So beloved in Christ, what say you and I join hands for the sake of our children and future generations before it’s too late? And under the sovereignty and power of Christ our King, grab that whale by its tale, before he makes it all the way through, and fling him back to hell where he belongs?