Written on a 4x6 note card by Stan Julin.
[Blog Author's Note: My father comments on the story found on Luke 6:24-26.]
September 17, 2000
The words of Jesus in Luke 6 are fearful. Life is every bit as sober as I have thought it is. I do not want to get to the end of it and be found wanting. It is easy to drift, unaware that there is more to know, to understand, to do, to believe, to avoid, to hold. I know so little, I have done so little, as a child playing make-believe. If I, serious as I am, have a glimpse of this, what do other Americans have in a generation that is walking away from God in every direction?
Note Card: Putting a Child's Eyes on Luke 6
Written on a 4x6 note card by Stan Julin.
[Blog Author's Note: My father comments on the story found in Luke 6:6-11. My dad loved simple truths, and as a tool for understanding scripture, he sometimes attempted to look at a passage through a child's eyes.]
September 14, 2000
A child in the synagogue where and when Jesus cured a man with a withered hand would have been unable to understand what was wrong with Jesus healing the man, in spite of any amount of attempted justification of opposition to it. Surely the law in its nature and intent was as Jesus said, and the child would have been completely bewildered by the condemnation of that wonderful event.
[Blog Author's Note: My father comments on the story found in Luke 6:6-11. My dad loved simple truths, and as a tool for understanding scripture, he sometimes attempted to look at a passage through a child's eyes.]
September 14, 2000
A child in the synagogue where and when Jesus cured a man with a withered hand would have been unable to understand what was wrong with Jesus healing the man, in spite of any amount of attempted justification of opposition to it. Surely the law in its nature and intent was as Jesus said, and the child would have been completely bewildered by the condemnation of that wonderful event.
Proverbs 20:6-7
Most men will proclaim every one his own goodness: but a faithful man who can find? The just man walketh in his integrity: His children are blessed after him.
Note Card: Psalm 45, A Bride's Perspective
Written on a 4x6 note card by Stan Julin.
[Blog Author's Note: My father did not fully develop the following thought... at least not in the note card I am looking at right now. However, it seems to be an interesting idea and one that might prove inspiring to anyone whose devotions have been recently dry.]
March 18, 2006
Psalm 45 appears to be a series or a progression of realizations that the bride advances through as she encounters and looks about upon fabulous new surroundings and people among whom she has been placed.
Verse one: The overwhelming excitement of being with the King, as being special to him.
[Verse] two: The exceeding graciousness of the king as a person attracting the human soul like a magnet, the pleasure and expectation of hearing his next words...
[Blog Author's Note: My father did not fully develop the following thought... at least not in the note card I am looking at right now. However, it seems to be an interesting idea and one that might prove inspiring to anyone whose devotions have been recently dry.]
March 18, 2006
Psalm 45 appears to be a series or a progression of realizations that the bride advances through as she encounters and looks about upon fabulous new surroundings and people among whom she has been placed.
Verse one: The overwhelming excitement of being with the King, as being special to him.
[Verse] two: The exceeding graciousness of the king as a person attracting the human soul like a magnet, the pleasure and expectation of hearing his next words...
Note Card: Some Thoughts on Understanding Paul
Written on a 4x6 note card by Stan Julin.
March 16, 2006
Paul sometimes is exceedingly difficult to follow. I wonder, should we look at his process of building a case for his conclusion? That seems to be the usual assumption. But it may be that we ought to look at his conclusion first and then to think through the steps essential to understanding how it is that we got to here. After all, God sent His Son to acomplish our salvation for us. That foundation is the conclusion that we desire, and it is handed to us, not by study or logic but as fact and as a revelation. Rather than trying to figure out how to get somewhere, we need to learn how it was, is, that we got here and stand in thie grand position and place of favor. We push the string, rope, but it is the anchor to which it is tied that is the security. The various knots in the rope between us and our anchor (Christ) are but places to grip. But is is not that we must hold on to be saved. We are tied.
March 16, 2006
Paul sometimes is exceedingly difficult to follow. I wonder, should we look at his process of building a case for his conclusion? That seems to be the usual assumption. But it may be that we ought to look at his conclusion first and then to think through the steps essential to understanding how it is that we got to here. After all, God sent His Son to acomplish our salvation for us. That foundation is the conclusion that we desire, and it is handed to us, not by study or logic but as fact and as a revelation. Rather than trying to figure out how to get somewhere, we need to learn how it was, is, that we got here and stand in thie grand position and place of favor. We push the string, rope, but it is the anchor to which it is tied that is the security. The various knots in the rope between us and our anchor (Christ) are but places to grip. But is is not that we must hold on to be saved. We are tied.
Walking in the Footsteps of a Giant
[Blog Author's Note: Walks with my father were sometimes a pleasure but frequently a duty. Yet the lessons learned during those walks will not soon be forgotten. (See also Marci's Thoughts on Walking.) My son's words below call to my mind 3 John 1:4, which I heard my father quote any time he was pleased with one of his sons. "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth."]
A stooped old man, shuffling down the side-walk, dressed in a red and black checkered flannel shirt, with one pant-leg hiked up, wearing a shoe five sizes too large on the wrong foot, and on the other wrong foot, a woman’s sandal, this is not what most people consider a giant, but I would. I should know, since I was normally chasing after him. This giant was unlike any other. He did not leave a path of destruction wherever he trod; rather, he left a legacy in the hearts of everyone he knew. He did not tower over everyone or stoop through doorways, rather he was a man of small stature. It was not his appearance that intimidated, rather his intellect. Why then do I call this man a giant? He was a giant because, as children look up to a giant in wonder and maybe even dream of one day being as tall, so everyone who knew this man, Stanley Cabot Julin, looked up to him as a person they wished they could be. He was not respected because of money, for he certainly did not have much of that, but rather, because he was a man so devoted to his Lord that nearly everything he said had some spiritual value.
Note Card: And All This to Justify Hyphenating Two Words
Written on a 4x6 note card by Stan Julin.
1 Peter 2:9 says (to the Christian diaspora), "...ye are...Kingdom-Priesthood..." I cannot see how anything can be added, subtracted to or from that translation (mine), if one is striving for literalness. I know and understand such expressions as, "a Kingdom of priests", etc., but that serves to make it smoother in English. It is not inaccurate, particularly. I think "A kingdom a priesthood" would be more accurate (no comma between), and I would rather have that than "a Kingdom of priests."
1 Peter 2:9 says (to the Christian diaspora), "...ye are...Kingdom-Priesthood..." I cannot see how anything can be added, subtracted to or from that translation (mine), if one is striving for literalness. I know and understand such expressions as, "a Kingdom of priests", etc., but that serves to make it smoother in English. It is not inaccurate, particularly. I think "A kingdom a priesthood" would be more accurate (no comma between), and I would rather have that than "a Kingdom of priests."
Audio Update
Note the addition of content to the Audio Visual Page. The eulogies of Eric Julin and Timothy Pent have been added.
Note Card: The Manner of Scripture
Written on a 4x6 note card by Stan Julin.
Memorizing Isaiah 66, it struck me that the manner of scripture is not always information or instruction. Sometimes it is the tossing to and fro of thoughts as one would have while sitting in a window on a rainy and windy day and sipping coffee with no rush, pondering a matter in a rare enlightened moment when thoughts come easily and quickly...
Memorizing Isaiah 66, it struck me that the manner of scripture is not always information or instruction. Sometimes it is the tossing to and fro of thoughts as one would have while sitting in a window on a rainy and windy day and sipping coffee with no rush, pondering a matter in a rare enlightened moment when thoughts come easily and quickly...
Note Card: A Significant Kindness and a Prayer for My Sons
Written on a 4x6 note card by Stan Julin.
[Blog Author's Note: There are three things that struck me about this short note card entry. First, he recorded the exact date and time. He frequently recorded the dates of his entries but not the times. So the recording of the time is his indicator that his words mark a very significant event. Second, I know that he was by that point in his life having some noticeable brain problems. Indeed, the problems are evident in his writing (I have typed it exactly as he wrote it.) Third, in spite of brain trouble, he was memorizing the 26th Chapter of Isaiah. ("Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.")]
[Blog Author's Note: There are three things that struck me about this short note card entry. First, he recorded the exact date and time. He frequently recorded the dates of his entries but not the times. So the recording of the time is his indicator that his words mark a very significant event. Second, I know that he was by that point in his life having some noticeable brain problems. Indeed, the problems are evident in his writing (I have typed it exactly as he wrote it.) Third, in spite of brain trouble, he was memorizing the 26th Chapter of Isaiah. ("Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.")]
Wedneday, August 6, 2008 11:21 AM
Someone anonymous had the lady at the place where people get coffee + at Borders (had her) give me a card with the remark that I was a good guy. I do not yet know $.$. I guess he was moved that I am memorizing Isa 26 I am moved. - very much- to tears.
Note Card: We Are Not Dealing With Spiro Agnew Here
Written on a 4x6 note card by Stan Julin.
[Blog Author's Note: I searched the Internet a for a little while, looking for what my father had in mind regarding Spiro Agnew. I found several stories that could have been the source of my father's rather obscure reference to him but nothing that seemed to surely match his thinking. Still, I thought the line made a good title.]
[Blog Author's Note: I searched the Internet a for a little while, looking for what my father had in mind regarding Spiro Agnew. I found several stories that could have been the source of my father's rather obscure reference to him but nothing that seemed to surely match his thinking. Still, I thought the line made a good title.]
It will be a good idea to recommend letting [people's]minds wander as to what it will be like in eternity - in heaven. No sitting on a cloud playing a harp - what did God save us to? No seeing Jesus from a distance as he waves from the limousine - these are infirm thoughts of one who is used to this life - we are not dealing with Spiro Agnew here.
Audio Update
Note that I have added two of the songs from my father's memorial service to the Audio Visual Page. I experienced some trepidation in doing so. I do not think the sound system did a completely accurate job of recording them. Nonetheless, for the time being at least, they are there.
Twenty Minutes On a Swing
Something has been leering at me through my kitchen window for the last few days. It sits in my back yard and beckons to my thoughts every time it falls within my line of vision. The last time it caught my attention was at 2:30 this morning, when I got out of bed and went to the kitchen for a glass of water. There it was, its light color visible just outside the window despite the moonless night. I went back to bed.
It is now 3:15 AM, and I am back out of bed, sitting in my living room, writing my thoughts on a piece of paper. The significance of the view out my kitchen window passed from my subconscious to my conscious mind about the time I tried to go back to sleep. Forty minutes later, it was evident that sleep would come after I had committed my thinking to paper.
The object that leers at me from the back yard is a yard swing, a plain and simple bench swing suspended from an A frame, the likes of which can be procured from the garden department at any Wal-Mart or Target in the United States. Purchased in March of this year, it was a birthday gift for Marci, requested by her not only because she knew she would enjoy having it but also because it occurred to her that my parents, particularly my father, might enjoy it. She was correct in that assessment, and my father whiled away many hours on that swing.
We are right now in the midst of those months which, in Florida, are unpleasant for sitting outside; so the swing has a cover over it and has not recently been used. But I know exactly when I last sat on that swing. It was May 16th of this year, beginning at about 8:00 PM.
It is now 3:15 AM, and I am back out of bed, sitting in my living room, writing my thoughts on a piece of paper. The significance of the view out my kitchen window passed from my subconscious to my conscious mind about the time I tried to go back to sleep. Forty minutes later, it was evident that sleep would come after I had committed my thinking to paper.
The object that leers at me from the back yard is a yard swing, a plain and simple bench swing suspended from an A frame, the likes of which can be procured from the garden department at any Wal-Mart or Target in the United States. Purchased in March of this year, it was a birthday gift for Marci, requested by her not only because she knew she would enjoy having it but also because it occurred to her that my parents, particularly my father, might enjoy it. She was correct in that assessment, and my father whiled away many hours on that swing.
We are right now in the midst of those months which, in Florida, are unpleasant for sitting outside; so the swing has a cover over it and has not recently been used. But I know exactly when I last sat on that swing. It was May 16th of this year, beginning at about 8:00 PM.
Note Card: She Coming Worshiped Him
August 16, 2005
Matthew 15:25 "She coming worshiped him, saying, 'Lord help me.'" This is worship, to beg of God. This is good for me. I often feel like a beggar before God. To hear that such an approach can be considered worship is good for my soul.
Note Card: A Thought That Perched Upon My Mind
May 3, 2006
Just a thought that perched upon my mind while gazing at Psalm 47: from verse 8. "God sitteth upon the throne of holiness." I cannot help but think that perhaps the throne of God features, or embodies holiness, while the throne of the Son features righteousness. Holiness of character suggests that it must be followed by a character of righteousness in behavior. Righteousness of behavior suggests a foundation of holiness of character behind it. The two of them must go together. Psalm 45:7 We speak of the unseen in spirit. Yet the unseen cannot be suppressed; life must find an outlet for manifestation.
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