Wearily upward

A funny thing happened to me recently.  I have always wondered about my IQ and how I measure up with the rest of humanity intelligence-wise.  So I took an accredited IQ test a couple of months ago.  It was surprisingly difficult.  Thinking about it, I don't know why it surprised me that an accredited IQ test was hard.  I can tell you that it wasn't because I thought I was smart enough to ace an IQ-test.  I do remember, however, coming away from that test feeling like the most dim-witted person alive.  True story. Fortunately I read Luke 10:21 soon after: " At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said,  ‘I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do." (NIVUK) The word translated as 'wise' is sophon, which is where the word 'sophisticated' comes from.   {Sidenote: ...

This is an odd, unusual time for me.  It's a time of change. A lot of change.  It seems like the culmination of everything that happened in the past year. My wife gave birth to our son at the end of September, 2017.  Ten days later my boss, our vicar, passed away suddenly and unexpectedly.  Dealing with that has been difficult, to say the least.  It was a strange mixture of happiness about the birth of our son and the death of a dear friend and mentor; a father-figure since my dad passed away in 2014.  It was especially tough around Christmas. The whole church was hurting.  And yet we kept on doing what we were doing as best we could.  By the grace of God. Some months later I went on a selection panel for possible ordination training in the CofE.  I wasn't accepted.  In fact, I missed the mark by not meeting 5 of 9 criteria.  This hurt a lot more than I would like to admit for two reasons: 1) It was the final step in a two and...