Oh, the wisdom of youth! If it were only true! How I wish I could take some of what I’ve learned in life, as little as it is, and play it back into decisions I made as a young man and certainly into my middle years. But as they say, no can do! Let me ask you a question. What did you think when you read Psalm 18 today? What was your reaction to what the psalmist David had written as a song of his heart? Some of the phrases just hit me the wrong way: ‘according to my righteousness’, ‘the cleanness of my hands’, ‘I have not turned away from His decrees’, ‘I have been blameless’, ‘I have kept myself from sin’…Oh, really! Like he’s singing off-key here. Now we know lots and lots about David’s life, his successes and then his struggles. Hardly one of the Ten Commandments that he didn’t break at least once and sometimes many times more. Lying, adultery, murder…you name it. So, what’s he talking about–blameless, righteous, clean? Oh, really! Let’s go back a moment and read what’s right before the body of this psalm, underneath where it says ‘Psalm 18’ (at least in most Bible’s today). Called by Bible scholars the ‘superscription’, it is from tradition identifying where a psalm comes from in the life of the author, in this case David. This is a musical psalm, as most are. It calls him ‘the servant of the Lord’, and tells us that the occasion for this psalm is God’s deliverance of David from all of his enemies and especially Israel’s jealous first king, Saul. We don’t know David’s age here, except that he is a young man, early in his life. He’s got a lot of living ahead of him, good times and bad. Good decisions and lots of not so good ones as well. Sound familiar? Certainly is my experience. When I look back I had such good intentions. Then I got in the way; me, I and myself. Am I alone in this? Hope so, but I doubt it! What I do know is that David’s exuberance quickly was deflated by his own sinful nature, and so has mine in so many ways, at so many times in my life. Let people down, said what shouldn’t have been said, done what shouldn’t have been done, selfish and thoughtless. The list is just beginning. And that is why I look to Psalm 143 for a more mature word and song from David; later in his life, looking farther back over the decades of decadence and defeat. Now he says, ‘O Lord…listen to my cry for mercy; in your faithfulness and righteousness come to my relief…Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you…(Psalm 143:1, 8). David sounds a bit different here, doesn’t he? He’s been eating that humble-pie after looking carefully and honestly in the mirror of his long life. That’s why he cries for mercy, for God’s love and forgiveness, exhibiting trust not in himself but in the One who is always righteous, always good, always clean and just. It’s not about me, but about Him. God’s grace is getting what I don’t deserve. His mercy is not receiving what I do deserve. The longer I live the more I depend not on me but on the One whose grace and mercy is new every morning…both now and forever. That’s good news, right? You agree, right?
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BLEACHED AS BRIGHT AND WHITE CAN BE! Read Mark 9: 2-13
My great-grandmother’s name was Eliza Jane Gibson. She emigrated from Derry Hale, Portadown, County Antrim, Ireland to the United States in 1888. She was my mother’s favorite relative and my mother always spoke so fondly of her grandmother. Didn’t she have just the loveliest of names, Eliza Jane? In 1891 she married another expatriate Irishman, James Gibson. They had 5 children;however, only 2 lived to adulthood. One died of rheumatic fever at 14 months, another died of smallpox at age 4 and yet another of some kind of tumor at age 15. After celebrating just 10 years of marriage, her husband James also dies of smallpox. Life must have been so full of challenges for Eliza Jane. In a matter of 20 short years she had left forever her family and home country, and then endured a string of unrelenting death of her husband and most of her children. I can hardly imagine the griefs she bore. Her eldest child, the only one I ever knew, was Margaret Gibson, my great-Aunt Margaret, who ironically never married, never had children and lived to a great age, just a few weeks short of her 103rd birthday! When my Aunt Margaret spoke of her mother there was always one thing she proudly mentioned over-and-over about her mother; that she washed clothes for a living, was a house-keeper for wealthy families in Jersey City, New Jersey, and that the sheets and linens she washed and bleached were brighter and whiter than what anyone else could ever do! They were so white you could hardly stand to look at them for more than a moment! I think of Eliza Jane when I read Mark’s Gospel, the 9th chapter. It’s the story of Jesus being transfigured, changed in appearance as He’s talking with Moses and Elijah, and then hearing the voice of God the Father affirming His love for His only Son, this same Jesus. Mark records that Jesus’ ‘clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them.’ Brighter and whiter, dazzling with light itself, more than the brightest anything that we have ever seen! Jesus, the light of the world, lights our lives, lights our way, lightens our load of guilt and shame and sin. Some say that angels can fly because they take themselves so lightly. In Jesus, through faith in Him alone, we become light and lighter in this dark and soiled world so in need of cleansing,and washing,and bleaching and direction. ‘You (and I) are the light of the world’, Jesus said (Matthew 5:14). How about that? Time to shine? ‘This little light of mine, I’m going to let it shine, let it shine, let it shine, let it shine!’ How about you? It’s time…
HEARING THE SHEPHERD’S VOICE……..Read John 10:1
One of my most vivid childhood memories is of a trip to the Bronx in New York City to attend a night game at the old Yankee Stadium, the one I thought Babe Ruth had built all by himself! I remember travelling the Cross-Bronx Expressway following the signs to the Stadium (you must know that Yankee Stadium is called ‘the Stadium’ to us back in the greater New York area as if there really is no other stadium or certainly no other of any consequence!), my father carefully parking his 1956 Lincoln Capri in one of the huge parking lots at the Stadium. Then hand-in-hand walking together along with thousands of other people up to and through the turn-stiles to have our tickets checked, then buy a program for that day’s game (who they were playing against meant nothing to this 9 year old as long as the Yankees were here in their Stadium!), inching our way up those concrete ramps to the right level squeezing through the musty, cavernous tunnels leading right out to the brightest, greenest grass I had ever seen. There was the playing field of the New York Yankees! I could hardly believe my eyes. The stadium lights were so brilliant that daytime surely could never be brighter. The smells of hot dogs and roasted peanuts and cotton candy flouted in the air. The sounds of a baseball cracking off those white bats, and of mitts slapping in reaction to a hardball going so fast and being caught so well. And then…oh yes, and then came the voice of the Yankees announcer, the man who announced their games for over 56 years. The voice of Bob Sheppard. I can still hear his euphonious voice announcing, ‘and now batting for the Yankees, number 7, Mickey Mantle, number 7’. Still sends shivers up my spine. And then Yogi and Phil and Whitey and Gil and Billy…and more shivers and thrills with each Yankee player named by Bob Sheppard. That 10th chapter of John’s Gospel tells us about sheep and the shepherd whose voice the sheep always know and follow. It’s the very voice of Jesus, the Good Shepherd. “…the sheep listen to his voice, He calls his own sheep by name and leads them…I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me…they too will listen to my voice…” (John 10:3,14,16). Just as Bob Sheppard called out each Yankee player by name, so Jesus knows us, each one of His very own, and calls us into His service…by name. Your name, my name. What’s more, He goes before us and leads us. We follow because we know His voice. As you read the Bible more and more, you’ll hear the voice of our Lord Jesus. Read it…hear it…pause over phrases that just grab you. Listen…to the Voice of the Shepherd! Do you hear Him calling, calling your name?
EVEN WHEN I AM OLD AND GRAY……..Read Psalm 71 Again!
Just a few weeks ago I achieved a milestone in my life. I have now lived longer than any of my grandparents! Hope that means that they all died premature deaths, way before their time, younger than most half their age! Nevertheless, here I am! Reading Psalm 71:18, where the author says ‘even when I am old and gray’, a dagger went through my ancient heart muscle! Now, officially, I could have written this psalm! How could that be? How could I be so old? Maybe my mother was really 40 years old when she had me instead of 30 making me that much younger?She never did tell the truth about her age. But wait, that would mean I had polio years after the Salk and Sabine vaccines were introduced, and long after the epidemic had waned. That’s too bad. Don’t think this is going to fly! Oh well, as Popeye would say, ‘I yam what I yam!’ Look back at verse 18 again and you’ll see a wonderful challenge for each of us regardless of age, but especially if we’re a bit older. This is the time in life to, as the 1960’s Gospel song says, ‘Pass It On’. We’re older, been around the block a few times, know all the excuses, made lots of big and little mistakes, failed a bunch, seen the futility in not following Jesus Christ in our daily lives, we know the only truth worth holding onto in this crazed and crazy world is found between the pages of our Bible…so we can speak from experience, hopefully laced with compassion and mercy and understanding. This is our time to let the younger generation know of the power and might of our Lord. Pass it on–institutions fail, people fail but Jesus never fails.He is everything everyone needs for all time. They may not know it, but Jesus Christ is the ultimate all-in-all of life. Pass it on! We all have children and grandchildren, step children, children we can sponsor through a good Christian group,children to tutor after school, kids in our church Sunday School and VBS, those in our neighborhoods. We all have one of the above and some of us have all -of -the- above. Pass it on! Verse 24 says ‘My tongue will tell of your righteous acts all day long…’ In the New Testament,Jesus Himself asks His followers who other people say He is. And they spout off a litany of good guesses. Then He looks them in the eye asking them who THEY think He is. How about you? ‘Who do you say I am?'(Mark 8:27-29). Behind His question, I hear Jesus telling me (and you) to tell others who He is. Don’t be ashamed of Him, and we’re not. Maybe we’re just shy or easily hurt when others snicker or mock. Pray for courage. Find a way. Okay, be comfortable but remember ‘no pain, no gain’! So, stretch a little. Say who He is and who He is to you. Is there not someone right now that God has put on your heart and mind that you know you should tell about Jesus? Find a way to tell them…don’t hit them over the head with your Bible even though that may be quite tempting! As Oswald Chambers said in his devotional My Utmost for His Highest, “Don’t say ‘I’ll do it’, do it!” Couldn’t have said it better myself! Good advice for me too…That’s exactly why I write this blog, submit devotionals to Christian magazines, and someday put together these thoughts in book form…even now, to pass it on!
SINCE MY YOUTH………Read Psalm 71
Whoever wrote Psalm 71, certainly said it better than I ever could. But so much of what is written in this psalm could have been written by me. Let me explain myself, if I can! To me it is such a personal psalm. Expresses my struggles in life, my coming to the Lord as a young teen and even some of my goals now as I approach the latter part of my life. My struggles in life began at age 2. In Jersey City, New Jersey, the city of my birth where I also contracted polio and spent a period of time in the Margaret Hague Hospital in the Sister Kenny Polio Ward, was where I can identify the beginnings of fears and insecurities and what moderns call angst. My parents had moved to the suburbs just days after I caught the polio bug (drinking out of a water glass at our neighbor’s house–why I am always the 1st to drink out of a common cup for communion or just plain pass it by!). My sister says I showed no interest in eating ice cream. I guess a sure sign of dreaded disease in our family! Anyway,off to isolation back in Jersey City at that Medical Center. The home I was used to–gone. The family who cared for me–gone. Somewhere in my young psyche, I learned that life at any moment can and will shake you out the door into an unknown world of crying children, hot water packs, mean-looking nurses,endless exercise routines, shrill sounds and very dark rooms at night. Like it says in verse 2 of Psalm 71–‘Rescue me and deliver me…’ I thank God…and that Australian nurse Sister Kenny and my mother who for years pushed me to exercise my legs… that I healed well, so that there are very few observable residues of polio in my body. Moving on… when I was 16, I remember hearing that God loved me and wanted to be in my life by simply accepting His gift of Jesus Christ into my life. He died for me and rose to new life offering the same to all who believe in Him. One night, I can’t give you the exact day or month, there in my tiny bedroom, I just opened my heart and life to Jesus. I didn’t know much if anything about the Bible or theology or right living or anything else that others think you must know to be a believer. Zippity-do-dah for me! I knew I needed Him and I believed He wanted me in His life. So, a life-long journey began for me that night. And now I’m just perfect–yeah, right?!! Far, far, far…from it, at best! Just an old sinner, saved by grace. That’s me! It’s not about me but about Jesus…by His mercy and love for me…and you! That’s good news, right? As this psalm says in verse 5–‘for you have been my hope…my confidence since my youth.’ Here’s a personal example. In those young years in public school, I was an okay student, fair to middling. That was before Christ. BC–actually that was my grade point average in middle and high school! B’s and C’s. Until I became a Christian. Miraculously, I got straight A’s thereafter. That’s right. You read it. Getting straight A’s in my senior year allowed me to bypass all my finals as that was our high school’s reward for avoiding ‘senior slump’. Great grades…no finals! Jesus in my life…did something that no physical therapy, as good as that was for me, could ever do. Gave me an inner confidence, an acceptance from Him. But this new inner feeling was like that mustard seed which was planted and cared for, and took months and months and years and years to grow. Still growing…for God’s not done with me yet. And He’s not done with you either. You could give your own story. You can have that same confidence in the Lord…to help you, to rescue you, to deliver you from whatever darkness lurks in your shadows. Ask for His help…He is never far away. Never, ever…More next time.
WOULDN’T THAT BE SOMETHING! Read Romans 16
I was reading 2 Samuel chapter 17 verse 17 where 2 names were mentioned of characters about whom I knew next to nothing. Who were this Jonathan (not Saul’s son or mine either!) and Ahimaaz anyway? Not major characters in this story of Absalom and his father David. But their names are in the Bible! Imagine if your name was in God’s Word? Wow, talk about something to crow about! Your name remembered–the greatest honor indeed. A few years back my wife and I drove east on one of our 7 cross-country driving trips. On this journey I really wanted to see the building and some of the people in the first church I ever served. Immanuel Mennonite Brethren Church in Onida, South Dakota–where I filled in for but a summer in 1970 between my undergraduate work at the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago and graduate study at the Seminary at Princeton in New Jersey. I had dreamed for quite awhile about this little church in a small town in rural South Dakota, and so wanted to go back and reconnect with just the most wonderful people who had to endure the most amateur of pastors hopefully they ever had. I hoped beyond hope that they would remember me, and not the work for the Lord that I should have given them but in reality did very feebly at best! When we pulled into town and drove to the church, we discovered that this lovely group of Christian people and their friendly, hospitable pastor and wife had a reception ready for us in the fellowship hall. I guessed they must have remembered me. We gathered around tables and reminisced for a couple hours until it became very obvious to me that none of these kind people had ever remembered me even in the slightest. I had been their pastor! For all of 3 months! For me, I never forgot. For them, a totally forgettable experience! Gone…and totally forgotten! Humbling? Yes, but probably for the best now that I reflect on what a great pastor I was for them!! My name may not be in the Bible, I may be forgotten in South Dakota, but when we’re a child of God, He never forgets us. Never, ever. St. Paul writes in Philippians 4:3–“…my fellow workers, whose names are written in the Book of Life.” And in the last book of the New Testament, in Revelation 3:5, “…I will never blot out his name from the Book of Life, but will acknowledge his name my Father and His angels.” When we accept Jesus into our lives (and have you?), we have our names written into God’s Book of Life. That’s a living Bible…one that grows with each new name engraved within its pages. With our names there, nothing can or ever will erase them. We’re never forgotten, always acknowledged before God and His angels. Our precious names never blotted out of God’s Book of Life. That’s right–He gives us life and that eternal. And it’s His gift to us in His Son Jesus Christ. So, remember–you and I in Christ are as secure as anyone or anything can ever be. Isn’t that something! To rejoice over…and over and over again!
AN ILL WIND IS BLOWING YOUR WAY! Read Mark 6:45-52
Sorry for the scary title! But the disciples are in a boat on the Sea of Galilee after Jesus has performed an amazing miracle (most are!!) by feeding well over 5000 people with just a small basket of fish and a couple of loaves of bread. Jesus Himself has sent them off so He could get up on the mountainside to pray, to spend quality and quantity time with His Father, to rest and relax…and pray. Doesn’t sound too scary to me. After all, great success in our mission to help people in need, Jesus doing what He needs to do, we’re off on a little cruise on the lake…but then! All heaven breaks loose! Someone turned on the big jet engine fans, and we’re going under! Help! Help, Lord! Mark 6: 48 says that ‘(Jesus) saw the disciples straining at the oars, because the wind was against them.’ We have friends who were visiting in Israel near the Sea of Galilee. What started out as a nice,calm day, almost in the blink-of-an-eye turned into a storm like they had never experienced. It came on so suddenly, that they panicked and ran for cover literally falling all over each other resulting in the wife having a terrible crushed hip requiring two separate surgeries in two different countries. That was certainly an ill wind blowing their way. And maybe, just maybe, you feel much the same. Not falling all over each other but just in a free-fall like there’s no bottom or if there is, it’s not going to be fun to find it. This story is for you…and me in the midst of the storm. Back to the disciples–Jesus sees their struggles and after awhile (God will allow us to struggle, He has a purpose that may be beyond an explanation that He’ll share with us in this life) He goes to them, walking on the water, and they think that when things couldn’t possibly get worse, now a ghost is out to get them! They are truly spooked! ‘Terrified’, Mark records. “Immediately (Jesus) spoke to them and said, ‘Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.'” When we are in the midst of whatever storm blows our way, Jesus is right there with us in the midst of it all. Like what He told His disciples–take courage, don’t be afraid. The middle phrase is ‘It is I’–between our need for courage and our great big fears stands Jesus being right there with us. He’ll be there with us no matter what, no matter how it long it takes. Tough times aren’t half as difficult when we know that people who love us are standing with us. I’ve experienced that in my life more than just one time. Haven’t you? And maybe there’s someone on your mind right now that needs you to stand with them in the midst of the ill wind blowing their way? Has God put someone on your mind? He has on mine…Let’s do it, then, standing with them like Jesus will always do for us.
WHAT REALLY IS IMPORTANT Read Mark 6:30-44
This is the story of the feeding of the 5 thousand. And that just accounts for all the men, now add all those women and children. So, Jesus feeds thousands and thousands of hungry people. A very familiar, miraculous story for each of us. But there’s so much more going on underneath those bare bones facts. Reading the story again today, I just saw so much more in it that I had to share with you today. By the way, as you read and think about this Scripture, you’ll have your own special insights… from the Lord. But here’s mine. The context of these verses is that Jesus has sent out His disciples to teach and preach and heal with godly authority. And now they are gathered around Him to tell Him all about their adventures in the various villages around. But with all the people still coming and going, with all their needs and wants and demands, none of the disciples even had time to grab a bite to eat. Tired, worn out and just plain famished, Jesus, in His most sensitive and caring way for His own, tells them to ‘come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest’ (verse 31). Doesn’t that sound good! Getting away from the phones, the TV, the projects around the house, the work demands, the money issues, the car needing this and that. Oy Vey! Jesus bids us come to Him. Spend time with Him. Alone with the Lord who loves us and so cherishes any time He has with you …and me. Come by yourself…with just yourself, with who you are warts and all, baggage and stuff from the past you’re just carting along, bring all of yourself to Jesus. And be quiet…turn off the radio and the world for a bit. Take a break from the sickening world we live in and bask in the rest and sonshine of our Savior Jesus Christ! Be on a beach with Him or by a gentle rolling stream off in the mountains. All this without leaving your living room! That’s right. Right there where you are, wherever you are. I think many Christians don’t feel like their everyday spiritual life is really that special, like they thought it would be. Ever feel that way? Maybe that’s you today? Then hear what Jesus says…come away with Him, come by yourself, come to a quiet place, and come to receive rest and nourishment from the One who can feed a multitude with just a couple of fish and some loaves of bread. He can do that for the disciples and all those hungry people years and years ago now, and He’ll do it for you and me as well…today! Read verse 31 again…hear Jesus’ words…heed them and be healed by time alone with Him! Why not just get alone somewhere right now and read these verses and spend time with your Lord! More next time…
SOMETHING YOU CAN HANG YOUR HAT ON! Read 2 Samuel 14:14
Do you find it difficult spending time in your Bible’s Old Testament? Books like Samuel and Kings and Chronicles? I used to feel that way until I just decided to spend more time in that Old Testament neighborhood. Not avoiding it but digging a little deeper, spending more time in that first part of my Bible and even restudying some of my very rusty Hebrew language from Princeton Seminary days! After all, the Old Testament has such great stories, so many amazing characters, good guidance for living, and some verses you’ll want to memorize, I’m sure. I was reading today in 2 Samuel chapter 14. Why not read it yourself and then key in on verse 14–‘But God does not take away life; instead, He devises ways so that a banished person may not remain estranged from Him.’ Isn’t that neat? I love that verse from God’s Word. Now, the context here is King David estranged from his son Absalom while some others are trying to get them back together, an effort at reconciliation between father and son. But read that verse again. Primarily, the verse is referring not to a father and son, but first-and-foremost to reconciliation with God Himself. ‘…not remain estranged from Him.’ See what I mean? Being reconciled to God, having peace with Him. And that’s exactly where we worry the most. Don’t we? Children, grandchildren, siblings, a parent, dear friends who seem to have no relationship with the Lord, who could care less about Him, and we know exactly what the outcome of that kind of life will be for them… forever. And that just bothers me to no end, especially since I know that I haven’t done everything possible to lay out the Gospel of Jesus Christ to all in my family and all our friends over the years. Not at all. Have you? Back to 2 Samuel 14:14–now, this verse gives me great hope. Not for a moment am I off the hook in praying and sharing with those I love. But what’s paramount is not my efforts, but what God is doing in their lives. Read it yet again…it says that He’ll never stop reaching out to them. He’ll never stop finding ways and people and strange situations where they’ll need to seek Him for He’s never really far away from anyone of them or us. He’s ‘devising ways’ so that they will not be estranged from Him. Oh, I can relax a bit more. I can depend on God’s reaching my loved ones, your loved ones. Yes, yours also; yours ,of course. He’s knocking on the door of their hearts every single day. That you can depend on. That is a promise right here in the Old Testament, like a gem mined deep from inside the ground of God’s being. That is something you can hang your hat on! Pray…share…and do it all over again knowing that our Lord is working all kinds of ways to bring our loved ones to Him, just like He did with you…and me! Thank you, Lord…!
FAVORITE BOOKS! READ THE BIBLE AND FOR TODAY MARK 4:1-21
I read last month that the 6 favorite books of Americans (to our dear friends in Australia, pardon me!) have 3 of my favorites on the list. I couldn’t believe it! I’m batting .500! Wow! Gone With the Wind made it. Read that last year and this year my wife did. We both loved it, especially spending months in the south this year. Then Moby Dick, my all-time favorite American novel, which I’ve read 3 times. You can guess which book was number 1 on the favorite’s list. It’s always number 1. Best-seller of all time and the number 1 favorite of all–of course, the Bible. I cheered when I saw that! Yes, the Bible, God’s book. Most purchased, biggest favorite, but most read and followed? The Bible is to be our tuning fork. We get out of tune so easily with sin, which the Bible will tell us all about. We sound weird because we’re not in tune…with our Lord. We’re off-key, sounding flat and discordant. So, it’s time to read that portion of Mark’s Gospel. Very familiar parable? About the seed and the soil. And all the troubles of getting a good crop with those foibles of farming. I just know that you want to be that good soil as I do. I want my life to mean something for the Lord. Not for riches or fame or ego or legacy or anything like that (looks I’m getting this part of my wish!!), but to know Jesus and make Him known. Can’t imagine a better meaning in life than just that. ‘To know Him and make Him known’ became the motto of the last church we served. Every program, every idea had to be checked against the tuning fork of knowing Jesus and making Him known to others. If not, then just plain out-of-tune and out-of-touch with our God. Jesus says in Mark 4: 20 that if you want to be that good earth, that rich soil so productive for the Lord, then you must listen to God’s Word. Not just buy lots of Bible and keep them dusted-off in case the pastor stops by unannounced ; but read the Word, chew on it, digest it, make it ‘daily bread’ feasting on it at least once a day or maybe like normal meals, 3 times a day. Whatever,but don’t get legalistic…just listen to your Lord during the day. Then Jesus says that if you want to be good soil you must accept His Word. Accept means to receive it, believe it, study it, treat it like the gift it truly is. Make it a part of yourself. Food for your inner life… and your outer life as well. The breath without which you would just plain fade away. And then after listening and accepting God’s Word, Jesus says that we’ll produce an abundant crop for Him…30,60,100 times what we sowed. It will just happen like good seed in good soil. How big a crop? Who knows? Don’t worry about it. Doesn’t really matter. That’s God’s business. I try not to get discouraged since only a few ever read this blog. That’s okay. I’m going to keep doing what I feel God wants me to do…and the rest is in His hands. Satan would love to derail us, to make us sing flat. Maybe he’s taken the wind out of those sails that God wants you to go with. Something for Him…for you to do. Listen to Him. Spend time with Him in the Bible. Accept His Word…it’s totally reliable and trustworthy without any error from Genesis to Revelation. Pretty good, huh? You know what? I can see a crop growing in your life that will produce abundantly… for the Lord! Agree?
Reflections out of time 