The Internet Monk Archives

Another Look: Spiritual Formation — Some Clarifications

For many Protestants, discussion of the “spiritual disciplines” raises a number of questions. In particular, we have questions about the relationship between God’s grace and human actions in the process of spiritual formation.

Today, I’d like to make a few things clear.

1. When we talk about growing through practicing spiritual disciplines, we are not discussing doing anything that affects our acceptance with God. It is those who receive Jesus, who believe in his name, that God gives the power to become his children (John 1:12). We are saved by grace through faith, and this salvation does not arise from our works, but is pure gift from God. We have nothing to boast about — it is Christ’s work that saves us, not ours. No amount of praying, fasting, attending services, studying the Bible, almsgiving, or performing any other act of piety can win God’s favor or gain us release from our sins. “By his doing you are in Christ Jesus” (1Cor 1:30).

To reintroduce our musical metaphor from yesterday: spiritual formation is not about securing a place in the orchestra — that is by appointment of the conductor. It is, however, about learning to play the music together.

2. Nor is this discussion about the assurance of our relationship with Christ. Michael Spencer summarized the way he counsels those who struggle with being sure of their salvation like this:

Christians are sinners. That’s who Christ died to save. That’s what the Holy Spirit convicts us about. We’re sinners throughout life, and because the Spirit is in us, we are unhappy about our sin. Instead of doubting our salvation, which is what the Devil wants us to do, we need to continue to believe the promise of God that if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us of all unrighteousness for Jesus sake. We trust Christ for forgiveness of what we do wrong, but also for the gift of His righteousness so we know we are accepted by God for Christ’s sake, and not because we lived up to our intentions or promises to Him. Remember that only Christians struggle with the issue of assurance, and that is because the Holy Spirit in us constantly brings us into to the light of the Father’s love and the grace of Jesus Christ. Accept what Christ has done for you and apart from you. Meditate on the promises in the Gospel: they are yours and are always all true for you. Read about Jesus’ tender love for sinful people. Rest in the finished work and gracious righteousness of Christ. If you go through a time of being unsure, expect your assurance to return as you focus on Christ, and not on yourself.

– On Faith’s Crumbling Edge

You can’t work your way into feeling more sure of God’s love for you. That is not at all what practicing spiritual disciplines is about. You may indeed have many wonderful experiences of intimacy with God as you seek him in prayer or through some other spiritual practice. You may not. Regardless, God loves you with an everlasting love in Christ, and nothing can separate you from his love. Gaining a deeper assurance is about focusing on God’s hold on you in Christ, not about you working to get a stronger hold on him.

Continue reading “Another Look: Spiritual Formation — Some Clarifications”

For Memorial Day: Another Look — Music of Peace in the Midst of Chaos

With Prayers for Peace on Memorial Day 2013

Back in the early 1990’s a simple counter-intuitive act of heroism caught the imagination of those who learned about it.

On May 27, 1992, Vedran Smailovic, principal cellist for the city opera, was practicing his cello in an upstairs apartment in Sarajevo, in the former Yugoslavia. It was a time of war, and Sarajevo had become ground zero in the conflict. Beautiful Sarajevo. A center of art and culture in Europe. Now transformed into a living hell each day by sniper fire and bombardment from the nearby hills that overlooked its neighborhoods and streets. They called it the Seige of Sarajevo.

Across the way from Smailovic’s apartment, a line of people waited at one of the city’s few remaining bakeries to buy bread. Without warning, an artillery shell fell from the sky and exploded in the midst of the crowd. The cellist, shaken by the blast, ran to his window and looked out through the smoke on a scene of horror. Twenty-two people lay dead. Bread and blood and bone and bricks lay scattered and mingled together in the pulverized pavement.

For Vedran Smailovic, the terror had finally struck close to home, before his very eyes. But he felt helpless to do anything about the fear and uncertainty that now filled every day. His beloved city was plunging headlong into chaos and darkness. Tomorrow it might be his own apartment destroyed.

And so it came to pass that this musician decided to do something that would make the world take notice.

Smailovic determined that he would do what he knew how to do — make music. The next day he dressed in his formal wear, as though for a performance, took his cello and a small plastic stool, and walked out amid the rubble where the bombing had taken place. There, in full public view, Vedran Smailovic played his cello. He would do so for twenty-two consecutive days, to honor each victim of the bakery bombing.

What music did he play? The cellist decided on a sonata purportedly by baroque composer Tomaso Albinoni, the Adagio in G Minor. The piece had an interesting history. After the Allies bombed the German city of Dresden in World War II, one of the most fearsome attacks in history, when 1,300 heavy bombers dropped more than 3,900 tons of bombs on the city, destroying 15 square miles of the city’s center, it was said that a composer named Remo Giozotto found a fragment of a composition by Albinoni in the rubble of the city library. The fragment had only four notes, but from that small piece of the sonata, Giozotto composed a work of great beauty and serenity.

Vedran Smailovic was determined that he too would make lovely, tranquil music in the midst of the ugly bedlam that Sarajevo had become. He chose Albinoni’s Adagio.

And so he played, day after day. In time, Smailovic became known as “The Cellist of Sarajevo.”

Not only did he play in the streets. He also became known for playing at funerals, which was extremely dangerous because such gatherings were targeted by snipers. As his story became known, composers and artists wrote and performed pieces dedicated to him and his courageous performances. He assisted in writing a children’s book to help young people deal with tragedy and uncertainty by performing beautiful, life-affirming acts.

When I read that story today I think of Jesus. During the final, climactic week of his earthly ministry, our Lord stood daily in the midst of the spiritual war zone of Jerusalem, ducking the snipers and avoiding the explosive vitriol directed at him.

And what did he do as the world, the flesh, and the devil massed its forces against him that week? He made music. His words and actions were like a melody from another realm. Surrounded by disciples failing in courage, fickle crowds, conniving religious leaders, and clueless officials, Jesus nevertheless stood serene and kept releasing the vivifying breath of heaven into the stench of death.

I don’t deny that Jesus trembled, fearing the prospect of the cross. In private moments he admitted his soul was troubled unto death. He felt the utter loneliness of knowing that all his friends and supporters would abandon him. He dreaded the cup he was about to drink. He even took proper precautions that kept him safe until his hour had come.

Nevertheless, like Vedran Smailovic, Jesus kept going out into the mean streets day after day, pointing to another reality.

And then it also struck me as I read this story that this sort of thing is also the calling of those who follow Jesus — to simply lift a melody of peace in the midst of the rubble and snipers’ bullets.

Yeah, I know, it seems silly, really, when you reflect on it. Not very practical. And pretty inconsequential in the long run, don’t you think? What’s a bit of music in a war zone? Not much of a strategy for “changing the world”. Those in charge won’t be happy. What are you going to say when they ask for results?

I won’t try to defend it.

I’d just like to see a few more of us give it a try.

Another Look: Spiritual Formation — How It Happens

We intend what is right, but we avoid the life that would make it reality.

– Dallas Willard, The Spirit of the Disciplines

Let’s say I’m in a room with three adults, all seated at pianos. I want to find out their ability to play the instrument. I ask them all to play “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.” The first has trouble. The keyboard is unfamiliar. She stumbles around and finally finds a few notes that resemble the simple tune. The second and third pick out the notes right away.

Then I ask them to play a four-part hymn from a hymnal. I hand each the same book. Once again, the first struggles, stopping with each chord and passing note to look at her hands, then back up at the music. She finally gives up. The second plays the notes as written. The third also plays the tune, but enhances the hymn with additional chords and rhythmic patterns.

Finally, I turn to these three friends and say, “OK, for your final challenge, I would like to hear you play Bach’s “Goldberg Variations.” The first laughs. She barely knows who Bach is, and has never heard of this particular piece. The second has heard of it, but has no idea how to play it. The third pauses, sets her hands on the keyboard, and begins playing the opening aria.

All three of these friends have a relationship with the piano. One is an obvious beginner, still trying to grasp the basics. The second is a competent pianist. She can read music and play from a book. The third is much farther advanced. There is no hesitation about picking out simple tunes. Not only can she read and play from a score, she has the ability to improvise and explore a song’s possibilities. And she has obviously studied and mastered classic pieces of the repertoire. In fact, she can play complex works on the spot, upon request! They all “know” the piano. Only one has the capacity to make music at any given moment, solely from the resources that lie within her.

The goal of spiritual formation is to be a person that would do what Jesus would do, say what Jesus would say, think and feel what Jesus would think and feel, at the moment when it is required — the moment of crisis or need or opportunity. As Dallas Willard so helpfully reminds us, the question “What would Jesus do?” is not enough. Instead, we must be driven beyond that query to ask, “Why would Jesus do what he would do?” and, “How can I live and walk in relationship with God as Jesus did, so that I too might do as he would?”

These are key questions for spiritual formation.

Continue reading “Another Look: Spiritual Formation — How It Happens”

Another Look: Spiritual Formation — What Is It?

Like a Tree Planted by the River (detail), Simpson

Note from CM: This will be my last week of full time writing for awhile. When it gets to Tuesday of next week, pray for me, because by then the DT’s will probably be setting in hard.

As I’ve tried to think about what to share this week, I thought it might be good to reach back and re-post a series that was important to me at the time and seemed to be well received as helpful by many readers. I also think it’s appropriate because of the recent death of Dallas Willard, whose fingerprints are all over these posts, as you will see. If I can, I will try to work in a couple of book reviews of two of his most important books this week as well.

At any rate, if “Jesus-shaped spirituality” is what this site strives to promote, then the subject of spiritual formation must be high on our list of concerns. Paul wrote to the Galatians and described his ministry as being “in the pain of childbirth until Christ is formed in” his congregations (Gal. 4:19). If I end up returning to pastoral ministry in a congregation, I guess I’d better get out the maternity clothes again!

Until then, here are some of my thoughts from the Spiritual Formation series.

* * *

Spiritual Formation.

First of all, I don’t like the term. It is too “spiritual” for me. We’re talking about personal formation, about becoming a more gracious, loving, virtuous human being; the person God created me to be. It is not about developing some part of me that is “spiritual,” it’s about me becoming more mature. It is not about developing some part of life or some special version called the “Christian” life. No, it takes place in the midst of life, ordinary everyday human life.

Second, I appreciate the term. Correctly understood, it reminds me of a few important concepts. (1) It is “formation” — a process of organic development. “Growth” is another good word in this regard. At its core, it is not about something manufactured or constructed, it’s about life, evoking images of human or agricultural development. (2) It is “spiritual” in the sense that it happens because the Spirit of God vivifies and indwells his children, enabling and energizing our development into the family likeness. Perhaps “Spirit-led formation” says it more clearly.

Of course, here at Internet Monk, we want to emphasize, thirdly, that this formation is “Jesus-shaped.” Michael Spencer would say that it is designed to help us live lives “that Jesus would recognize as being like him, about him, and formed around him, not religion.” Growth happens through walking with Jesus, living with Jesus, eating and drinking with Jesus, watching Jesus work, listening to Jesus teach, asking questions of Jesus, fulfilling the callings Jesus assigns us, and living the life with God that Jesus showed us and makes possible for us.

Continue reading “Another Look: Spiritual Formation — What Is It?”

Saturday Ramblings 5.25.13

Good morning, Mr. and Mrs. iMonk from border to border and coast to coast and all the ships at sea. Let’s go to rambling …

Here is a very good story about a family who lost everything—but say they lost nothing—in the Moore, Oklahoma tornado this week. By the way, this pastor’s new church is about four miles from where I live. Welcome to Tulsa.

Let’s just get this one out of the way now. Evangelical leaders are lining up to high-five C.J. Mahaney after a judge ruled 9 out of the 11 people accusing Mahaney’s Sovereign Grace Ministries of abusing them as children waited too long to file their cases. At the head of the line was Al Mohler, talking about Mahaney’s integrity. Our friends at the Wartburg Watch have a different view of things.

Is Pope Francis an exorcist? It appeared so when he laid hands on a man purportedly possessed by the devil after a mass last week. The man shook in his wheelchair, then slumped forward. Some are saying the pope performed an exorcism, but the official word is that this was just a simple prayer for healing.

If the pope is not an exorcist, is he a heretic? He created quite a stir when he dared to say Jesus has redeemed the entire world, even atheists. Who does he think he is, saying something like that? One thing I know, Pope Francis is no heretic. What I wouldn’t give to sit at tea with Robert Capon and Pope Francis …

Ok, iMonks, just for fun. You can invite any two living Christians to tea with you this afternoon. You’ve heard who my two would be. Who are you inviting?

Continue reading “Saturday Ramblings 5.25.13”

Job and Jacob

jacob-wrestling-with-the-angel — Jacob Wrestling with the Angel, Chagall

I would like to clarify a point I made in the post about the book of Job yesterday.

In that piece I said, “One might say that the Book of Job ends with a stand-off.”

A few respondents here and elsewhere have disputed that analysis and have pushed back with the more traditional understanding that in the end God asserts his sovereignty in such a way that Job is simply and roundly humbled, chastened, and put in his place by God.

God ends up the “winner” in the book, and everyone else, including the protagonist, takes their places as lowly sinners before the Almighty and Righteous One.

I have understood and taught Job that way, but this time through, with the help of some commentators like Walter Brueggemann, I saw something very different, something that I think fits with other stories in the Hebrew Bible that leave us with lessons more complex than this simple “God-centered” interpretation.

So let me clarify what I mean by the “stand-off” at the end of the book of Job.

I think the paradigm of Jacob wrestling with God (Gen. 32:22-32) is quite pertinent here.

Jacob was left alone; and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he struck him on the hip socket; and Jacob’s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. Then he said, “Let me go, for the day is breaking.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go, unless you bless me.” So he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” Then the man said, “You shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with humans, and have prevailed.” (32:24-28 NRSV)

In one sense, no one can wrestle with God and win. The text is clear that “the man” (later identified as “God” in the text) defeated Jacob, deeply and permanently wounding him. As day was breaking, all Jacob could do was cling to his opponent.

Yet cling he did, saying, “I will not let you go, unless you bless me.” It seems that God counted that an expression of faith, for God went on to declare Jacob the winner! He named him “Israel,” the one who had striven with God and humans and prevailed.

God defeated Jacob, but Jacob was declared the winner.

Jacob remained wounded his entire life, but he had won the blessing.

I see this same kind of “wrestling match” in the book of Job.

Chapter after chapter, Job agonizes and contends with God and his friends about the sufferings he endures. Then, in the end Yahweh overwhelms Job with a mystical vision that shows God and his ways to be beyond human explanation. One might say that God defeated Job, put him in his place, deeply and permanently wounded him.

Job was humbled in dramatic fashion. And yet the denouement of the story shows that God considered Job a “winner” — he had striven with humans and God and prevailed. God “justifies” Job — declares him to be in the right, calls him his servant. God commends Job to the others as a priest who can pray for them and restore their lives. He never once calls Job to account for his sins or casts any blame on Job. Just like Jacob, deeply wounded through a dramatic personal encounter with One mightier and more mysterious than he could imagine, Job arose and lived the rest of his days in God’s blessing.

This is what I mean by the “stand-off” at the end of the book of Job.

God defeated Job, but Job was declared the winner.

Job remained wounded his entire life, but he had won the blessing.

* * *

There is a side to the stories in the Hebrew Bible that asserts the dignity of human beings, as well as their precocious, spirited nature before God. People are characters, and I use that word in its idiomatic sense. I love what our regular commenter HUG wrote yesterday:

Job argues with Proverbs. Jacob gets his leg broken getting physical with God. Abraham haggles God down to “ten righteous men in Sodom” like a bazaar merchant. Peter & Paul have a knock-down-drag-out over whether to let the Goyim into the Church. There is just something wild and pugnacious and REAL about this.

At the risk of being misunderstood, let me say that there are times when religion can be far too “God-centered,” and we miss this delightful human, earthy dimension. In their laudable efforts to restore transcendence to the Christian faith, it is my opinion that folks of Calvinist and Reformed persuasions sometimes miss the playful humanity of the Scriptures, the parts that tell stories about characters who stand up to God and get declared winners.

Michael Newnham: God and Disaster

Note from CM: We will give the last word on this stormy week to one of our friends.

One of the blogs in our Blogroll that I go to regularly is Phoenix Preacher, Michael Newnham’s simple yet provocative and readable site. He is the author of Make Your Own Application. In the aftermath of the heartbreaking devastation in Oklahoma earlier this week, he wrote one of the best pieces I saw. One line says it all: “…the theologian is no match for a grieving parent.”

I am grateful for his permission to re-post this poignant piece here.

* * *

God and Disaster
by Michael Newnham

I saw the initial reports on Twitter when I was picking up my son after school.

The tornado had hit the town hard, but all were accounted for at the elementary school.

I prayed a silent thanks and took my boy, safe and sound, to his martial arts class.

We have a big tournament coming up this weekend…

Then another report came in…there was another elementary school.

It was devastated…and there were dead children.

I prayed again, but had no words.

My son was the first to ask “why”?

Why if God is good did he allow this to happen?

All Christian traditions have a theodicy, an attempt to explain the existence of evil and pain.

Mine has one too…but theology is small comfort when fitting a casket for a child.

I explain it to an 11 year old…and to myself… this way.

This creation is good, but broken.

For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.

– Romans 8:18–23 ESV

Sin has broken it and it groans…it cries out for the day when all things will be recreated and set right, just like we do.

In that state of brokenness and corruption and bondage to sin the creation acts like its inhabitants often do…and tragedy is the result.

We are broken, the earth is broken, it’s all broken…but we know in our spirits that’s not the way it’s supposed to be and we dare confess it’s not the way it will always be.

We groan together under the burden of of sin and the damage it has done and those groans are the cries of our souls for the Creator to return and do His good work over again.

I know that God is truly good, because my spirit knows that all of this is so truly bad…His spirit testifies to mine that this is not how it should be.

Some will speak this morning of judgment and mercy and sovereignty and glory and other things of God… but I will not listen to them speak.

These things are too lofty for me to understand, too fearsome for me to ponder.

I will not pretend to understand.

I will groan and I will weep with those who weep.

I will thank God that I will hug my child and put him on a bus and pick him up and go to practice and if God’s willing we have a big tournament this weekend.

I will know that the plans some will have for this weekend will be for funerals…and I will shiver and hold him all the closer.

That is the best I can do…the theologian is no match for a grieving parent.

Maranatha…come quickly, Lord Jesus.

John Piper, Miserable Comforter

@JohnPiper: “Your sons and daughters were eating and a great wind struck the house, and it fell upon them, and they are dead.” Job 1:19

@JohnPiper: “Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped.” Job 1:20

* * *

As expected, John Piper, retired pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, MN, weighed in on the destructive tornadoes in Oklahoma. That same night, while first responders were heroically combing through the damage trying to find survivors, Piper sat comfortably at his computer and posted two theological tweets, texts from the book of Job (see above).

Most of the folks that I read who responded to Piper’s musings mentioned only the first tweet. This was not good, and not fair to John Piper. It gave an incomplete picture of his thoughts. It is bad form and improper when critics give partial quotes out of context and then pass judgment. In a follow-up piece at Desiring God, Tony Reinke defended Piper, explained why he put up the tweets in the first place, and why he subsequently took them down. Reinke correctly criticizes the unfortunate selectivity by those who blasted the outspoken pastor and the wrong impression it created.

The impression given by online sources is that only Job 1:19 was posted, an isolated tweet some critics have thought “crude” and “insensitive,” thereby neglecting the most important point made in the second tweet, of Job’s response, and why our sovereign God is still worthy of worship even in the midst of the most unimaginable suffering and personal tragedy.

Point taken.

Problem not solved.

Even with both tweets, perhaps especially because of both tweets, Piper represents a “miserable comforter” who, remarkably, still has not learned the wisdom of Qoheleth: there is “…a time to keep silence, and a time to speak” (Eccles. 3:7).

I have heard many such things;
miserable comforters are you all.
Have windy words no limit?
Or what provokes you that you keep on talking?

– Job 16:2-3 (NRSV)

By steadfastly refusing to be silent, to take his place by the side of those who are suffering with mouth shut and heart open wide, he misses the point of the very Bible book he cites in a misguided attempt to bring theological perspective to the Oklahoma disaster.

Now when Job’s three friends heard of all these troubles that had come upon him, each of them set out from his home—Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. They met together to go and console and comfort him. When they saw him from a distance, they did not recognize him, and they raised their voices and wept aloud; they tore their robes and threw dust in the air upon their heads. They sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great.

– Job 2:11-13 (NRSV)

This is the high point of the three companions’ friendship and ministry to Job. Silence. Tears. Presence. Symbolic expressions of solidarity and mutual grief.

Once they opened their mouths, it was all downhill. They became “miserable comforters.” It is not simply a matter of timing. The friends’ words came after the accepted period of silent mourning. Their words were wrong. And so it is with John Piper. It is not as though Piper’s words, inappropriate in the tender moment, would be appropriate once wounds have healed somewhat, once things have calmed down and we have time to gain perspective on the tragedy. No, his understanding and application of the book of Job is wrong. He has taken his place with Job’s friends, not with the argument of the text.

From the point when Job’s friends open their mouths, the Book of Job becomes a protest against their “miserable comfort,” particularly by challenging all theologies of explanation.

Continue reading “John Piper, Miserable Comforter”

Playing God With Tornadoes

And the idiots have landed.

Monday I watched with great terror and shock as a massive tornado roared through Moore, Oklahoma, leaving at least 24 people dead. I was at work when someone said “the City is getting storms.” I live in Tulsa, 100 miles east of the City—Oklahoma City—and was trying to keep an eye on the weather. The City had a “moderate” risk of severe weather according to the Weather Channel, while Tulsa was in the “exceedingly high” risk area. I knew that when the City started to see storms, they would be on their way eastward to where I was.

So I pulled up an Oklahoma City TV station on my phone and … and watched on live TV as a massive tornado destroyed everything in its way. Buildings were ripped apart as though they were made of straw. I know people who live in and around Moore. My heart went out to them, even as I began thinking of what to do for my family if the storms held together. But they petered out before they got to Stroud (about halfway between Tulsa and the City), and we just got a brief rain shower.

Okies stand together (except when it comes to football), and those of us outside of Moore looked for ways to help the families who suffered such incredible loss. Don’t you think it pleases our Father when we look for ways to help others? Apparently that isn’t so obvious to some who cannot resist cramming their feet in their mouths at times like these. Before I get to these idiots, I want to share a story of someone whose life is given to giving.

Continue reading “Playing God With Tornadoes”

Midweek Monkery 5/22/13

Yesterday, we learned that some denominations are considering making 45 the age cut-off for ordination. Since I haven’t seen 45 for a few years and am much closer to many higher numbers (that will remain unmentioned), today’s Midweek Monkery features some smiles and laughs I’ve had lately with regard to the subject of getting older.

* * *

Jack Benny didn’t set his sights low enough

I get to serve some of the most delightful people in the world. The other day I was visiting a man who was enjoying his 95th birthday. Reminding him of Jack Benny’s famous “stuck on 39” schtick, I asked him, “So how old are you, Frank? 39?” He paused and thought for a moment, smiled, and said, “36!”

Great Grandma Grace

My great grandmother lived to a wonderful old age — 103. Her name was Grace and her life embodied that virtue. When our children were little, we used to take the drive over to St. Joseph, Michigan every year to celebrate her birthday with her — on Halloween. They loved to go see “Grandma Great Great,” as they called her. One time, I think it was when she was 98 years old, we took her out to a restaurant that would give you the number of your age as a percentage off your meal bill. The young waitress stuttered and stumbled a bit when we told her Grandma was 98. All she could think of to do was to follow normal procedure, which was to ask the birthday person to produce a driver’s license! I’m actually not sure my great grandma had ever driven a car, but we had a good laugh and asked the waitress if she thought she could trust the little lady (well under 5 feet tall) with the pure white hair that she was telling the truth. Of course, she did.

This one’s for Matthew B. Redmond:

One of my favorite stories in recent days is the piece out of Texas about the 105 year old woman who was asked the secret to her long life. The answer should have been obvious: “Bacon,” she said. “I eat bacon every day.”

Her delightful interview caught the attention of one of America’s premier bacon producers, and they decided to give her a gift. Here’s the news report:

Continue reading “Midweek Monkery 5/22/13”