Here toward the end of Spring Break week, I once again find myself lamenting the fact that I don’t do time off well. Some families go to Hawaii for Spring Break; the Dunhams can’t make it out of town (though we seriously thought about it for an hour yesterday afternoon).
Personally, I never grew up with Spring Break as a kid (our school never took one). To complicate things, my enjoyment of this annual ritual has strangely - spookily - been marred by a variety of ailments (gout, insecurity, kidney stones, depression) over the years. Honestly, I probably gave up on the idea of Spring Break being anything more than a hassle as a result, and tend to lay low so as not to get smashed by whenever the next Spring Break shoe might fall.
Lest anyone think my family has been completely Spring Break deprived, we have had a couple of good experiences: the first, a trip to Oklahoma’s Wichita “Mountains” with two of our foster kids; the second, a Spring Break in Montana when we rented a cabin at Lewis and Clark Caverns State Park and had the entire place to ourselves. And, during the past two years, we tried something different, with Megan and a permutation of daughters heading to a southern California beach while Peaches and I stayed home to enjoy the quiet, which seemed to work.
Peaches, Millie, Megan, Maddie, Katie, and Chloe at Lewis & Clark Caverns State Park in March of 2017. They don’t look that Spring Break-deprived, do they?
This year, I’ve had to work all week while the girls have been home (though they’ve hardly been hermits), but yesterday I decided - spur of the moment and spontaneous-like - that I would take the afternoon and all day Friday off so that we could do something together. I got as far as perusing websites for Butte (the Spring Break destination hotspot that it is) before I gave up.
Thankfully (or sadly), Megan and the girls were not at all surprised and extended much grace. Last night we lived it up with pizza at Red Tractor and some Genuine Ice Cream on a walk through downtown Bozeman, and today the plan is to go for a hike somewhere and maybe even do some overnight camping since our best Spring Break experiences seem to have involved the outdoors (forecast is clear with a high/low of 55/34 with a 70% chance of snow on Saturday).
If you’re on Spring Break, I hope it’s been an enjoyable one. As always, thanks for reading.
Craig
PPS: As a reminder, you’re welcome and encouraged to email me directly with feedback, ideas, links, your own bad Spring Break stories, etc. at cmdunham [at] gmail [dot] com. Just know that, unless you specifically tell me not to, I may quote you (but it will always be anonymously).
Hot Takes
I’m still trying out more/shorter versus fewer/longer Hot Takes. If you have a preference, send me your opinion. For now, here’s some news that caught my eye:
“Fox News asked Gen X to 'stop cancel culture' and the responses are simply hilarious” - This was an interesting walk down memory lane of how “cancel culture” is not particularly new or historically affiliated with one political party. A good reminder from my generation, who usually get left out of these discussions (despite my best - but often futile - efforts here at Second Drafts).
According to this graphic, no one (or at least no generation of consequence) was born between 1965 and 1980.
“The presence in such relationships of positive elements, which are in themselves to be valued and appreciated, cannot justify these relationships and render them legitimate objects of an ecclesial blessing, since the positive elements exist within the context of a union not ordered to the Creator’s plan.”
“At the same time, the Church recalls that God Himself never ceases to bless each of His pilgrim children in this world, because for Him ‘we are more important to God than all of the sins that we can commit’. But he does not and cannot bless sin: he blesses sinful man, so that he may recognize that he is part of his plan of love and allow himself to be changed by him. He in fact ‘takes us as we are, but never leaves us as we are.’”
Your Rebellious Life Now
Last week, a reader/former student of mine from back during my high school teaching days in St. Louis (2007-2011) messaged me via Facebook. Here’s what he wrote:
“Mr. Dunham (or I suppose I can refer to you as Craig now),
I hope you’re doing well. I look forward to reading your posts and hearing your wisdom in a wisdom-less world these days. Wanted to touch base in regard to your ‘woman’s day’ post. I thought it was really good content. The trans issue really weighs on my heart these days, along with other issues.
I never knew how hard following Jesus really was until a few years ago when I truly gave my life over to Him. Have never looked back, and am eager to see what He has planned for me…especially during a time like this.
I feel as though my generation and future generations are lost…I’m struggling how to handle this and other ‘woke’ situations. I pray the Lord reveals my role in this culture because I really do have a heavy heart when it comes to my generation and all its foolishness. Just wanted to encourage you to keep up the good content and I look forward to hearing from you soon.”
“Happy International Women’s Day, unless you refuse that moniker because ‘gender is only a cultural construct and meaningless,’ in which case the day doesn't matter and seems silly to celebrate, so I won't, but if you're actually a biological woman, I will, by saying happy International Women’s Day.”
I won’t bore you with my conversation with a few other former students in the comments (though it was an interesting one). Instead, this former student’s thoughts aligned with a conversation Megan and I had with a young couple (mid-30s) over dinner a month or so ago. Rather than throw in with any despair (which can easily be my melancholic default) or fight another round in the culture war which, let’s face it, has all but been lost, some other ideas came to mind. Here’s what I wrote back:
“Great hearing from you! And yes, by all means, call me Craig. I was just on your [Facebook] page the other night (I should have left a comment) and was so thrilled to see all that seems to be taking shape in your life. Congrats on getting engaged, buying a house, and kudos to both of you for wanting to get married the right way - with you holding down the fort until you're married and your bride moves in.
I can't tell you how great it is to hear from you and see that you are striving to walk with God and wrestling through what that means. We should set up a time for a call to talk more about your situation, but for now, here's how I’d answer your question:
What you're doing - seeking God, getting engaged, not living together until you get married, being faithful to your soon-to-be wife - this is the new revolution. Living the way you know is right - regardless of what so many in your generation say or think about it - is quickly becoming more counter-cultural than any hippie movement or sexual revolution ever was. Being faithful to one wife, committing to raise the children God may give you with her, and caring for people even as they mock you - this is the new radical. It seems crazy, but that's where we are.
Don't let your heart be hardened by either the screwed up sexuality situation or those pushing it. Don't let self-righteousness drive you to write off your critics. Now is when the Church that Jesus is building can hold back the gates of Hell - not with violence, but with love, compassion, and all the things that don't make sense to a world so confused by its own self-worship. Judgment won't get us there, but neither will apathy.
Be in Church; read God's Word; pray; love your soon-to-be wife and honor her now as your fiance; work hard and be honest; live the life you were taught to live. Luke 16:10 says, “He who is faithful with very little will be faithful with much.” That's all we can do, but according to Jesus, that is all we need to do.
I'm so proud of you and am grateful for your saying hello. Give my love to your family and your bride-to-be. How about a honeymoon in Montana?”
Meet Evie
On the heels of this exchange, late last week, I came across a most startling tweet (even despite the textspeak) on the Twitter feed for Evie Magazine. It read:
As a father of four daughters, I was intrigued. I went to the About Us page. It read:
“Millions of women across America have been forgotten by the publishing world. They’re tired of having to go to trashy or politically biased sites and magazines just to get quality reads on health, beauty, and more. For years, these publications have focused on proving how women are great by showing how they can be just like men.
Not us. We focus on women and celebrate what makes us so wonderfully unique. Because men can’t be us. And the ones who know that are the ones who love us the most. With that in mind, we’d like you to meet Evie.”
Website header for Evie.
“What manner of magic is this?” I marveled. I read on, learning that Evie’s mission is,
“…to empower, educate, and entertain you with the highest quality content that affirms your femininity, encourages virtue, and offers a more truthful perspective than the biased agenda of other publications.”
And finally, as I entered my email address to subscribe to this women’s newsletter (it’s free), I almost fell over at this statement:
“We believe that if you seek truth, you’ll find beauty…the kind that really matters.
I did a background search as to whom was behind all this madness. The Founder & Editor-in-Chief is a woman named Brittany Martinez, a graduate of The University of Dallas (a well-respected Catholic Humanities school) and a former model from Texas now happily married to her college sweetheart and living in Los Angeles. Per her bio, she “was always disappointed with the lack of values in popular women's magazines,” so she started her own. And it’s crazy how outright rebellious it is in its…goodness.
Not Extraordinary Times, No Need for Extraordinary Measures
“‘The end of all things is near’—or, alternatively, ‘at hand.’ (1 Peter 4:7)…We do live in apocalyptic times when everything is always at stake, our very civilization hangs in the balance, and we are all obliged to engage in the great political and culture war with one hundred percent of our time and energy—‘silence’ is ‘violence;’ not being a racist isn’t enough because one must be actively (anti)racist; if you don’t campaign for and support this political candidate you’re the enemy of all good things, and so forth. At least, that is what people, Left and Right, want you and me to believe. The dystopian, hellish end of the world is right around the next bend, but if we collectively rise up and join the fight we might avoid that fate and instead turn history toward our imagined utopia.”
Mattson, of course, is being facetious in his application. Looking for a better way, he goes on to reflect on what Peter meant, and more importantly, what reaction Peter was trying to elicit from his audience. He summarizes a list from Peter’s first letter:
“In light of the real—not peddled—‘end of all things’ looming ahead of us, what does Peter expect us to do? What’s the action plan?
Be clear-minded and self-controlled so that you can pray.
Love each other deeply.
Offer hospitality.
Use whatever gift you’ve received to serve others.
Faithfully administer God’s grace in its various forms.
Speak with authority in alignment with God’s word.
Serve in God’s strength.
Please just notice how ordinary all that is. In our fear and anxiety we are always looking for extraordinary things. You’ve heard it a million times in the past few years: ‘extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures.’ From Peter’s point of view, these are not extraordinary times, and they call for utterly ordinary measures. Pray? Love each other? Be hospitable? Serve others? Really?”
Playing off biblical heretic Joel Osteen’s Your Best Life Now(please don’t read his stuff), I’m suggesting that what the Apostle Peter, Dr. Mattson, and the ladies at Evie are all getting at is the importance of Christians living Your Rebellious Life Now - a simple life of following Jesus in accordance with the Scriptures, not for the sake of trying to be rebellious, but because doing so is and always has been so. As Mattson writes,
“I am convinced that many Christians need to recover the art and spiritual discipline of the ordinary. There’s been too much pressure to be ‘radical’ and hyper-spiritual and engaged in whatever is the outrage of the day. Pray, love God, love each other deeply, use your gifts, serve others, give grace, speak truthfully, and rely on God’s strength. You can do all of those things whether you are a CEO, politician, a mover-and-shaker, a stay-at-home mom, an artist, or a plumber and a thousand other things besides. They are the ‘foolish’ things of this world that God uses to confound the wise.”
So, let’s get to it. Let’s trust and obey the Bible for what it is - God’s Word and our best and clearest understanding of His desire for us to be His people and Him to be our God. Let’s choose not to live together until married (and if we are, let’s repent and separate), then let’s make/adopt babies and raise them in the fear and admonition of the Lord (which includes spanking - talk about going against modern parenting ideas).
Let’s honor God as Lord rather than an idol or version of Him more like ourselves. Let’s not take His name in vain by calling ourselves Christians despite acting like we’re not. Let’s honor the Sabbath by resting and not working on Sundays, instead being contributing and committed members of a local church (one led by a plurality of male elders and pastors - again, another rebellious no-no), tithing our 10% and seeking to give even more in terms of our time and talent.
Let’s honor our fathers and mothers and authorities placed over us so as to model to our children how they should also live. And let’s refrain from murdering people in our hearts by speaking poorly of them with our tongues, of lusting and longing for those who are not ours to lust and long for, and by not stealing from, bearing false witness against, or coveting what others may have that we want so badly, lest we find ourselves wishing no one can have it if we can’t. Let’s love God and our neighbor like we should.
This - all this and in this day and age - is living a rebellious life. And like my second-born daughter, we may even need to get tattoos to commemorate the revolution.
New tattoo for twenty-year-old Chloe, one of the rebellious.
Post(erity): “Bracketology”
Each week, I choose a post from the past that seems apropos of something (of course, you’re always welcome to search the archives yourself whenever you like).
In honor of the start of this year’s March Madness starting up this weekend, I thought I’d bring back “Bracketology: A Study in Postmodernism,” from March 13, 2007. Who knew March Madness could teach us so much?
On the first night of Spring Break, we re-watched Kevin Costner’s Dances with Wolves. The best actor of the film has to be Graham Greene as Kicking Bird.
In case you missed it, “Lou Ottens, Father of Countless Mixtapes, Is Dead at 94.” The cassette was my first step toward mobile music and personal mixtapes (which Megan and I still have all of the ones we made each other), and I miss its warm and soothing hiss of sound.
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