Sunday Puzzle

The first and last names of American actor BRAD ROWE contain the eight letters of a single word. What is that eight-letter word? Comment with your answer, if you want.

The answer to this puzzle is here.

Enoch

From The New English Bible with the Apocrypha (1970):

Genesis 5:21-24, Ecclesiasticus 44:16, Hebrews 11:5-6

Enoch was sixty-five years old when he begot Methuselah. After the birth of Methuselah, Enoch walked with God for three hundred years, and had other sons and daughters. He lived three hundred and sixty-five years. Having walked with God, Enoch was seen no more, because God had taken him away.

Enoch pleased the Lord and was carried off to heaven,

an example of repentance to future generations.

By faith Enoch was carried away to another life without passing through death; he was not to be found, because God had taken him. For it is the testimony of Scripture that before he was taken he had pleased God, and without faith it is impossible to please him; for anyone who comes to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who search for him.

No one on earth has been created to equal Enoch,

fot he was taken up from the earth.

Smile: A Word Game

"It was only a sunny smile, and little it cost in the giving, but like morning light it scattered the night and made the day worth living." So reads a quotation attributed to F. Scott Fitzgerald. The speed of light is approximately 186,282 miles per second. The word SMILE contains the same letters as the word MILES. Can you change the word SMILE into the word MILES in as few steps as possible (in far fewer steps than 186,282)? Change only one letter at a time, making a new word each time, and do not change the order of the letters from one step to the next. Proper names, slang, and obsolete words are not allowed.

MY ANSWER: Smile, stile, stale, stare, stars, sears, seals, sells, sills, mills, miles (10 steps).

Ian McKellen Performs Speech About Immigrants by Shakespeare from Thomas More

Sir Ian McKellen Quoting Shakespeare: Words for the Modern Day

 Actor Sir Ian McKellen recites an excerpt by William Shakespeare from the anonymous Elizabethan play Sir Thomas More.

The Justice of the Law of the LORD

 From the Good News Bible: Psalm 119:73-80, 137-144 (Good News Translation)

You created me, and you keep me safe; give me understanding, so that I may learn your laws. Those who honor you will be glad when they see me, because I trust in your promise. I know that your judgments are righteous, LORD, and that you punished me because you are faithful. Let your constant love comfort me, as you have promised me, your servant. Have mercy on me, and I will live because I take pleasure in your law. May the proud be ashamed for falsely accusing me; as for me, I will meditate on your instructions. May those who honor you come to me -- all those who know your commands. May I perfectly obey your commandments and be spared the shame of defeat.

You are righteous, LORD, and your laws are just. The rules that you have given are completely fair and right. My anger burns in me like a fire, because my enemies disregard your commands. How certain your promise is! How I love it! I am unimportant and despised, but I do not neglect your teachings. Your righteousness will last forever, and your law is always true. I am filled with trouble and anxiety, but your commandments bring me joy. Your instructions are always just; give me understanding, and I shall live.

Song: "Heavy Foot" by Mon Rovia

Watch this video of Liberian-American singer and songwriter Mon Rovia singing "Heavy Foot" from his debut album Bloodline, which is out now.

The Miser

When I go out, when I creep into those silent houses,

I steal newspapers.

An armload, no more than I can carry comfortably.

Sometimes they are already tied up

on the side porch or by the kitchen stove.

Nobody misses them.

They think each other or the maid

has carried them out to the street.

--from "The Miser" by Mona Van Duyn

You can read "The Miser" in its entirety by clicking on the link above.

 

Song: "Bloodline" by Mon Rovia

Bloodline

Bloodline, the debut album by Liberian-American singer and songwriter Mon Rovia, has just been released. Watch the vdeo below.

War Is Over!

Photo credit: WarIsOver.com

Watch the Academy Award winning animated film

War Is Over! It was inspired by the music of John & Yoko.

Good King Wenceslas

GOOD KING WENCESLAS

by John Mason Neale (1818-1866)

Good King Wenceslas looked out,

On the Feast of Stephen,

When the snow lay 'round about,

Deep and crisp and even:

Brightly shone the moon that night,

Though the frost was cruel,

When a poor man came in sight,

Gath'ring winter fuel.

"Hither, page, and stand by me,

If thou know'st it, telling:

Yonder peasant, who is he?

Where and what his dwelling?"

"Sire, he lives a good league hence,

Underneath the mountain,

Right against the forest fence,

By Saint Agnes' fountain."

"Bring me flesh and bring me wine,

Bring me pine-logs hither:

Thou and I shall see him dine,

When we bear them thither."

Page and monarch, forth they went,

Forth they went together,

Through the rude wind's wild lament

And the bitter weather.

"Sire, the night is darker now,

And the wind blows stronger;

Fails my heart, I know not how;

I can go no longer."

"Mark my footsteps, good my page;

Tread thou in them boldly:

Thou shalt find the winter's rage

Freeze thy blood less coldly."

In his master's step he trod,

Where the snow lay dinted;

Heat was in the very sod

Which the Saint had printed.

Therefore, Christian men, be sure,

Wealth or rank possessing;

Ye, who now will bless the poor,

Shall yourselves find blessing.

Listen now to Bing Crosby singing the Christmas carol "Good King Wenceslas":

Christmas Is Giving . . . Cheerfully

THE FINAL SAY

Read "Beggar's Rhyme: A Blogger as Beggar" (a post in this blog).

Beggar's Rhyme: A Blogger as Beggar

O Christmas is coming,

The geese are getting fat,

Won't you please put a penny

In a poor man's hat?

If you haven't got a penny

A ha'penny will do.

If you haven't got a ha'penny

Then God bless you!

Author Unknown

Thank you for reading this post. This blogger, this poor man, is now passing the hat among his readers. If enjoy reading this blog and would like to make a donation of $1.00 (100 pennies) or more to support my work on this blog -- and to help me pay my monthly bills -- will you please send your donation via  PayPal to oldelway02@duck.com? As Proverbs 28:27 (New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition) says, "Whoever gives to the poor will lack nothing." God bless you! I wish you a merry Christmas and a happy New Year.

A Christmas Poem on Sin and Redemption

I have quoted the final two lines in each of the second, fourth, seventh and ninth stanzas below from "The Holly and the Ivy," a fifteenth-century English carol. The quotation in the fifth stanza below is from verse 15 in chapter 1 of the First Epistle of Paul the Apostle to Timothy (King James Version).

From the letters of

The name of what month can be

Formed a word of six

Letters that means "to free from

The consequences of sin"?

From the letters of

The name DECEMBER can be

Formed the word REDEEM.

"And Mary bore sweet Jesus Christ

To be our sweet Saviour."

From the letters of

The name DECEMBER can be

Formed a verb of six

Letters that means "from sin and

Damnation to deliver."

From the letters of

The name DECEMBER can be

Formed the verb REDEEM.

"And Mary bore sweet Jesus Christ

To do poor sinners good."

"This is a faithful

Saying, and worthy of all

Acceptation," wrote

Paul, "that Christ Jesus came into

The world to save sinners."

From the letters of

The name DECEMBER can be

Formed a word of six

Letters that means "to free from

The consequences of sin."

From the letters of

The name DECEMBER can be

Formed the word REDEEM..

"And Mary bore sweet Jesus Christ

On Christmas in the morn."

From the letters of

The name DECEMBER can be

Formed a verb of six

Letters that means "from sin and

Damnation to deliver>"

From the letters of

The name DECEMBER can be

Formed the verb REDEEM.

"And Mary bore sweet Jesus Christ

For to redeem us all."

Thanksgiving Day, 2025: "We Gather Together"

WE GATHER TOGETHER

Netherlands folk hymn; translated by Theodore Baker

We gather together to ask the Lord's blessing;

He chastens and hastens His will to make known;

The wicked oppressing now cease from distressing,

Sing praises to His name: He forgets not His own.

Beside is to guide us, our God with us joining,

Ordaining, maintaining His kingdom divine;

So from the beginning the fight we were winning:

Thou, Lord, wast at our side, all glory be Thine!

We all do extol Thee, Thou Leader triumphant,

And pray that Thou still our Defender wilt be.

Let Thy congregation escape tribulation:

Thy name be ever praised! O Lord, make us free!

America the Beautiful Again

"America the Beautiful Again" is a poem by American poet Richard Blanco.

Forsake Me Not, O Lord

Do not forsake me, O Lord!

O my God, be not far from me!

Rescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked,

From the grasp of the unjust and cruel man.

Do not cast me off in the time of old age;

Forsake me not when my strength is spent.

O God, be not far from me;

O my God, make haste to help me!

Make haste to help me,

O Lord, my salvation!

Sources: Psalms 38:21; 71:4, 9, 12; 38:22 (English Standard Version)

The poem "Forsake Me Not, O Lord" is a found poem of mine from the English Standard Version of the Holy Bible, copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

A Brilliant Thought on Prayer

Here is a quotation from Ashleigh Brilliant (1933-2025) on helping other people and on prayer.

If we could all hear

one another's prayers, God might be relieved

of some of his burden.

A Brainteaser and a Biblical Quotation

A communications code word of seven letters and a chiefly Scottish word of four letters have two letters in common. The fourth letter in the communications code word is the same as the third letter in the chiefly Scottish word, and the second letter in the chiefly Scottish word, the Scots' word for church, is the same as the sixth letter in the communications code word. What are that seven-letter communications code word and that four-letter, chiefly Scottish word for church?

To read the answer to this brainteaser, click here  for the communications code word and here for the chiefly Scottish word.

From Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus,

called to be an apostle

and set apart for God's good news. . . .

To those in Rome

who are dearly loved by God

and called to be God's people.

(Common English Bible: Romans 1:1, 7)