Last month I took a trip to California with some good buddies. Here is the first of several videos from that trip.
Plenty of God’s Beauty to go around.
Yes, I Believe
Several years ago I recited a poem to Susan that I knew she would like. I knew why she would like it. The poem is by Yeats, The Lake Isle of Innisfree. I recited it again in my Eulogy at Susan’s funeral mass.
I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree
And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made:
Nine bean-rows will I have there, a hive for the honey-bee,
And live in the bee-loud glade.*
And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow,
Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings;
There midnight’s all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow,
And evening full of the linnet’s wings.
I will arise and go now, for always night and day
I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore;
While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements grey,
I hear it in the deep heart’s core.
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Well it wasn’t the Lake Isle of Innisfree, but it was a small cabin. On the north shore of Lake Oneida in Central New York State. It was the family camp. Susan’s family would spend entire summers there. Card and board games. Tea kettles and cups. Sunbathing. Laughter. Fishing. Food. Family. I knew this poem would bring those memories flooding back. That’s why she would like it so much.
We visited the camp on every trip to see the family. Susan loved it there. I said to her once;
“You know why you love coming here so much, aside from the obvious reasons, why you long to see this place when you are away? There is a deep primal need in all of us to get back to the garden. To get back to a place of peace. A place of recreative silence. Joy. The unencumbered embrace of family. But most of all, so that we might, at the time of the evening breeze, in the cool of the day, walk with our God.1 Genesis 3:8 (NRSV): They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze.
“That’s what we want. That’s really what we want.
“You believe in that garden don’t you sweetheart?” “Yes,” she said, “I believe.”
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We thought and studied about other gardens too. Gardens of the past, present, and future, for all who believe.
One garden in particular, in the distant future, spoke to us like never before.
You can read about it in the last book of the book of books we call the Bible. John wrote it as an exiled prisoner of the Roman Empire on the Isle of Patmos (about 35 miles off the coast of south-western Turkey). We know it as the book of Revelation. Otherwise known as “The Apocalypse of John.” Apocalypse comes from a Greek word meaning to uncover, unveil, reveal. Thus “Revelation.” It’s a book about Last Things. And things in between too. Fittingly, the final two chapters reveal the destiny of the people of God. Two chapters that give meaning to all that has gone before. Both in the book of Revelation and all of Scripture.
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Although many naturalists yearn for it, there will not be a return to Eden. The human couple began in a garden paradise, but the final scene is that of an enfoliated, fruitful city, and the unencumbered embrace of a very large family, from every tribe and nation. 2 Rev. 21-22, but there should be plenty wide open spaces inside & outside of the city! . The Tree of Life will be there. The River of Life will be there. All suffering and evil banished forever. But the most important part of living in the Garden is seeing, walking, talking with our God. That’s the longed-for future. For all who believe.
Oh happy day.
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The first reading at Susan’s funeral mass was from another book. The book of Job. A book about great suffering but unlike Revelation, the problem of evil remained unresolved. And yet, yet, incomprehensibly3 If you know the story of Job you know what I mean., Job, a man who suffered much, could say:
“But as for me, I know that my Vindicator lives,
and that he will at last stand forth upon the dust;
Whom I myself shall see: my own eyes,
not another’s, shall behold him;
And from my flesh I shall see God;
my inmost being is consumed with longing.”
At the end of her mass, I finished my Eulogy with…
“Sleep for a season sweetie. I can’t wait to walk hand in hand with you into the light and life giving presence of a loving God. My inmost being is consumed with longing.”
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“You believe in those gardens don’t you sweetie.” “Yes”, she said, “I believe.”
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This post is a shortened version of a longer post entitled “Two Gardens.”
“Sloppy Care” Top Trans Doctors Say
In exclusive interviews, two prominent providers sound off on puberty blockers, ‘affirmative’ care, the inhibition of sexual pleasure, and the suppression of dissent in their field.
A must read interview of two top Trans doctors by ‘my gal’ Abigail Shrier. It’s all about the inappropriate medicalization of dysphoric youth. And although Shrier doesn’t say it, I will, this and other recent developments1In May the Karolinska Institute, the same institute that awards the Nobel Prize in Medicine, advised its hospital to stop hormone treatments and surgery for young people under 18! vindicate the thesis of her book.
Here are a few quotes from the piece and some comments from me in [brackets] & bold italics:
(the) new orthodoxy (affirmative care) has gone too far, according to two of the most prominent providers in the field of transgender medicine: Dr. Marci Bowers, a world-renowned vaginoplasty specialist who operated on reality-television star Jazz Jennings; and Erica Anderson, a clinical psychologist at the University of California San Francisco’s Child and Adolescent Gender Clinic.
[Both of whom are Transgender “women.” Bowers has built or repaired more than 2,000 vaginas, the procedure known as vaginoplasty.]
Earlier this month, Anderson told me she submitted a co-authored op-ed to The New York Times warning that many transgender healthcare providers were treating kids recklessly. The Times passed, explaining it was “outside our coverage priorities right now.”
[What! With many in Europe questioning the Dutch Protocol and halting the distribution of puberty blockers and hormones to anyone under the age of 18,2In May the Karolinska Institute, the same institute that awards the Nobel Prize in Medicine, advised its hospital to stop hormone treatments and surgery for young people under 18! the NY Times says the issue of dispensing puberty blockers to children is “outside our coverage priorities right now.” Unbelievable! You can read about what’s happening in Europe, here and here. When one of the leading trans-surgeons in the world says gender clinicians are being “reckless” that’s not a story to tell? ]
The problem for kids whose puberty has been blocked early isn’t just a lack of tissue but of sexual development. Puberty not only stimulates growth of sex organs. It also endows them with erotic potential. “If you’ve never had an orgasm pre-surgery, and then your puberty’s blocked, it’s very difficult to achieve that afterwards,” Bowers said. “I consider that a big problem, actually. It’s kind of an overlooked problem that in our ‘informed consent’ of children undergoing puberty blockers, we’ve in some respects overlooked that a little bit.”
[Can you say lawsuits? To all those clinicians and surgeons who assured children and parents that puberty blockers were “totally reversible” the trial lawyers are lining up.]
I asked Bowers about the rise of detransitioners, young women who have come to regret transitioning. Many said they were given a course of testosterone on their first visit to a clinic like Planned Parenthood. “When you have a female-assigned person and she’s feeling dysphoric, or somebody decides that she’s dysphoric and says your eating disorders are not really eating disorders, this is actually gender dysphoria, and then they see you for one visit, and then they recommend testosterone — red flag!” Bowers said. “Wake up here.”
[If you follow this Planned Parenthood link you will see they boldly advertise “Planned Parenthood staff may be able to start hormone therapy as early as the first visit.” Look below the section telling you about their locations in Texas.]
Wake up indeed.
The part in the story about world famous celebrity Jazz Jennings (male to female transgender “woman”) is illuminating. And heart breaking. Even after all “her” celebrity and financial compensation in the millions, Jazz admitted in 2021 to an eating disorder where “she” gained over 100 pounds in two years. It looks like “her” transition is not going smoothly. As you read that part of the piece and the parts about surgical procedures, ask yourself the question: Who is the Conversion Therapist?
Shrier’s piece is one of the best articles you’ll read on the subject. So…..
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If you’ve just found my blog and are intrigued about this issue, and want to learn more, I highly recommend a book by Abigail Shrier.
Shrier is a graduate of Columbia College who went on to earn a bachelor of philosophy degree from the University of Oxford and a JD from Yale Law School. Her book Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters was named a “best book” by The Economist and The Times of London. [2020, 2021]
Full disclosure. I recently became an Amazon Affiliate. So I will receive a very small percentage of the sale of any books I recommend on my blog. Just so you know.
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As a Classic Christian I encourage everyone to “Embrace, Don’t Affirm” those with a Gender Identity Disorder (Gender-Dysphoria). Please read this post for more details.