Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters. Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. [James 1:17]

Written in the context of someone frustratingly blaming God for their trials and temptations they struggle with, the words above warn against self-deception. It’s easy to deceive myself that God is to blame for my bad day or that moral lapse or this very trying experience. Easier still to forget that God is THE generous giver of every good thing that I have—my wife, my health, my friends, my financial security, my family…the list could be a really long one. Maybe during Lent (and not just around Thanksgiving) I would do well to make a list of all the “good and perfect gifts” I have received from God’s hand. And if I’m smart the list will begin with the gift of his Son: “For God so loved the world (and me) that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him would not perish but have everlasting life.” That’s what this season of Lent is meant to draw us toward.

For your reading accompaniment: “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God” sung by the choir of King’s College, Cambridge
Join me in my final Sunday morning prep with a cup of espresso.

Doing a double take
Last week, my article on the benevolent Dr. Z prompted a text from my brother. Dr. Z was the physician who practiced in the one of the poorest neighborhoods of Baltimore while caring little about insurance coverage or patients’ ability to pay their bills. My brother reminded me that our father, a surgeon in Warren, Ohio, had similar practices. “Dad never turned anyone away, regardless of insurance or ability to pay. He had a system of index cards in the office, and if those unfortunate situations occurred, his assistant would record if/when the patient might send in a few dollars they’d scratched together to pay down a balance. Dad never tracked delinquency or non-payment, nor did he ever charge interest or turn them over to collection agencies.” Nicely done, Dad! Thanks for the reminder, Robert.

Several Tuesday Afternoon readers commented on how much they liked the musical piece “Pie Jesu” by HAUSER from last week. I was reminded of this excellent audition of the same piece by a young boy named Malakai Bayoh on Britain’s Got Talent. Enjoy!

My other brother and the birds
My other brother is an ornithophile (a bird lover). For many years he and his wife had several birds in their home in New York. They loved these birds like their own children. They were heartbroken as they had to leave them behind when they moved permanently to France. I thought of Steve when I read recently that because of colliding into windows, over 5 billion birds die in the United States every year! “That means 3.5 million die from striking windows every day of the year” worldwide.

Windows are the number 2 killer of birds. Do you know what the number 1 killer of our fine feathered friends is? Wait for it…

Cats!

Unplug it first
Did you see the massive recall of the Tesla Cybertrucks? Trim from the vehicle’s body has been falling off the truck and increasing the risk of a crash. Yikes! That can’t help the plummeting stock market value of the company (down 40% this year)! Protests and acts of vandalism and arson have been targeted against Tesla products and its polarizing owner Elon Musk.

Overheard recently
“It’s all about balance. I push her to practice, push her to do the right things so she can be a better player. Outside the tennis court, she’s a happy girl. She sings and she jokes. We can work hard and also have fun.” (PS Note: Seems like good advice no matter what we are doing or how old we are.)
[Coach and former tennis player Conchita Martinez on coaching 17-year-old phenom Mirra Andreeva]

“In the long run, if your faith can’t stand up to some difficult questions, then you have got to ask whether it’s a faith worth having. There’s a kind of growth that requires a certain amount of uncomfortable questioning, but rather like the butterfly emerging from the chrysalis, it can be difficult and painful but ultimately it makes you stronger.” (PS Note: If you’re a Christian person, don’t check your brain at the door.)
[Justin Brierley, apologetics podcaster and writer in an interview with Christianity Today, March/April issue]

“Religion—any religion—is such an important aspect of human life and society, even for atheists, that it should constantly be scrutinized. Catholicism, Judaism, Hinduism and Islam have inspired some of the greatest works of art ever seen because they offer cohesive, fascinating, muscular doctrines from which we can learn a lot, even if we vehemently disagree.” (PS Note: Hmm…I have seen some amazing Hindu art in museums in India.)
[Ben Lawrence, journalist, The Daily Telegraph, March 13]

“We live in a moment when political extremists have figured out how to game our system and hijack our parties. They may well be succeeding. A Confessing Church would respond to them with Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s famous aphorism: ‘You can resolve to live your life with integrity. Let your credo be this: Let the lie come into the world, let it even triumph. But not through me.’” (PS Note: That I have Christ-following friends who are aligned with both sides of the political aisle reminds me that many Christian people have not succumbed to the extremists.)
[Paul Miller, American scholar and former staff member for Presidents Bush and Obama, on the need for the American Church (and believers) to reflect the truth of Christ amid political extremes and polarizations from both sides]

This and that
I came across this as I was looking at renting an apartment for when Sue and I are ministering in Italy this June. As our friends with a vacant flat in Milan have retired and moved, we now go the expensive rental routes.

I’m sure his mother loves him!

It seems that the wave of judgmentalism and condescension has spread even to soup. I saw this outside of Marc’s.