In the Margins - 2/11/26

Things I Read 

I've mentioned before that I'm reading Anne of Green Gables. I'm almost done. But I read this today (the Monday after preaching Genesis 24 and make a point about luck vs providence): 

“Well now, I guess she ain’t been much spoiled,” he muttered, proudly. “I guess my putting in my oar occasional never did much harm after all. She’s smart and pretty, and loving, too, which is better than all the rest. She’s been a blessing to us, and there never was a luckier mistake than what Mrs. Spencer made—if it was luck. I don’t believe it was any such thing. It was Providence, because the Almighty saw we needed her, I reckon.” 

Even Matthew Cuthbert is learning to distinguish luck from providence.

Things I Listened To 

For whatever reason, the song "You're So Vain" by Carly Simon has been heard around the Durso house recently. Fun song.

Things I Watched 

This rendition of "He Leadeth Me" is great. Told my girls to learn to sing it like this.

Things I Thought

I decided to preach a whole sermon on Rebekah this Sunday (2/15), and one of the reasons why is that I think our culture has totally misunderstood feminine strength. According to the world, for a woman to be strong, she must be like a man. That is, she must be masculine. But feminine strength is something entirely different than masculine strength, and it deserves its own recognition, and whenever I see it in the Bible I am eager to point it out because of how frequently it is misunderstood. Hopefully this Sunday's sermon will help us sort out some biblical truth and separate it from the weirdness of our world's views on gender.

Quotes to Ponder 

This Bob Hope quip made me laugh. “Sincerity is what matters. Once you can fake that, you’ve got it made.”