Miscellany – Gregory Scott Blog

Irish-Scotch Travel Journal – Day 1

Travel does not always go as planned, but we on the GSB Team are experienced travelers. Little did we know, though, when we left home all that lay ahead on this day.

When weather in New Jersey was threatening our connecting flight to Dublin, Ann and The Wife sprung into action, making the calls and weighing the options.

We were rerouted through Philadelphia, where we circled while thunderstorms over the airport dissipated. We were wheels down at 6:15 p.m. but had to wait on the tarmac for 2 1/2 hours 100 yards from the gate until the lightning stopped.

All flights were now delayed, and by the time we got in the terminal and waited another two hours we were notified our Aer Lingus flight to Dublin had been canceled. We then stood in line for another thirty minutes to be told to wait until we received an email about our rebooking to Dublin and hotel accommodations. It was now almost 11 p.m.

A little later, Aer Lingus announced they would not be booking anyone in a hotel and that we were on our own to find accommodations. Then we received the email with our new booking. They had booked us on the flight to Dublin two days later.

I went back to gate desk and was told that was the next available flight. That would have been good to know 2 hours prior. It was now 12:30 a.m.

Our bags were not on the carousel where we told they would be. They were not even in the airport. The United app said our bags had been checked at the airport there, so we walked to Terminal D to check with United. The United CSR there sent us across the street where she said our bags would be, and the United CSR there sent us back. The first United CSR then scanned our tickets (which she should have done the first time) and told us our bags were in New Jersey.

After waiting thirty minutes for the Holiday Inn Express shuttle, we finally got to the hotel, where we stood in line for another thirty minutes to learn their computers were down. We were then assigned to rooms that had been slept in but not cleaned. I’m not kidding.

England Travel Journal – Reading List

If you are GSB regular, you know that in anticipation of GSB Travel Journals I publish a reading list.

Keeping that tradition alive, I offer the following books in preparation for following the GSB Team as we travel across the pond and back through history to study the christianization of England.

The books are as follows:

Bede’s Ecclesiastical History, The Venerable Bede. I love this book for the same reasons I love Eusebius’ Ecclesiastical History-it is written by a man who loves God and is looking for His hand in history. I also like that Bede finished this book in 731 A.D., which makes him a lot closer to the events he describes than modern historians. The Venerable Bede has served as our posthumous tour guide before, and I expect we will lean hard on him again this time.

The White Horse King, Benjamin Merkle. The author had me hooked in the first few pages when he explained how historians are always looking for a new angle on popular historical figures to knock them off their perch but that in the case of Alfred the Great, there was a reason he is the only English monarch ever given “the Great” tag-he was truly a great man. The rest of the book did not disappoint.

Musings in Adversity V – Epilogue

I am now about a month out from suffering from the medical scare that led to this series of blog posts.

I’m happy to report my vision continues to improve from the torn retina.

Every Thursday night The Wife and I go to the bar at an historic hotel downtown for martinis. We know the bartenders by name, and they know us. We sit there, chat, and just relax.

As I was sitting there last Thursday, I felt different. It was no big thing: a drink at a bar with The Wife and some familiars. In the past, I might have been thinking about all that needed to be done, or what was on the calendar for the next day.

This time though I just savored the moment. I wasn’t worried about losing my vision, or whether my vision was going to improve following surgery. That was behind me. It was a day of prosperity, and I embraced it fully. I was happy.

Will tomorrow bring prosperity or adversity? I don’t know. In His grace and kindness, He has not shown me. But I do know that goodness and lovingkindness will surely follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. GS

Musings in Adversity IV

On Sunday night, knowing the seriousness of the medical situation I was facing, I could not sleep.

So, as lay in bed, I begin going over Psalm 23, memorizing it verse by verse.

I had memorized it years ago but had not gone back over it in an attempt to recommit it to memory in years. Then, as I lay in bed, and later as I sat in the doctor’s office I kept going over it in my mind and meditating on it and what each verse meant.

1 The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. 2 He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters. 3 He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake. 4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. 5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You have anointed my head with oil; My cup overflows. 6 Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life, And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
Psalm 23

Maybe it was 50th time I had gone over it in my mind, I noticed something. In the first three verses when David is talking about the good times – the lying down in green pastures, walking beside quiet waters, the refreshing of his soul, and walking in righteousness – David speaks of the Lord in the third person.

But when David turns to the times of adversity, he refers to the Lord in the second person. When walking through a situation where death is such a possibility it casts a shadow on David’s life, he says, “You are with me . . . ,” “Your rod and staff, they comfort me . . . ,” “You prepare a table before me . . .,” and “You anoint my head with oil…”

Musings in Adversity III

On Monday morning when I was waiting for the doctor’s office to open to make an appointment before I suffered any permanent loss of vision, I spent time in prayer. As I was praying, I was drawn to Ecclesiastes, chapter 7.

As I started reading, verse 14 jumped off the page:

In the day of prosperity be happy, But in the day of adversity consider— God has made the one as well as the other So that man will not discover anything that will be after him.
Ecclesiastes 7:14

As I began to dig into this verse, the contrast became conspicuous.

Solomon explains how one should react to the good days, the days of prosperity: “be happy.” When I was younger, I thrived on deferred gratification, whether it be working when others were playing, or saving when others were spending, telling myself I would enjoy the good days in the future. Age and experience has since taught me to embrace those now rare days youth offered so liberally. However, this was not one of those days.

Instead, the word for me was in what followed in verse 14: “but in the days of adversity consider . . . .” Our response to prosperity should be an emotional one–be happy, embrace it, enjoy it–but our response to adversity should be an intellectual one: consider. Think. Realize. Understand.