AnthonyFosterPhD

Those who flee temptation generally leave a forwarding address. - Lane Olinghouse

Sometimes when a song comes to me it seems so familiar and complete that I can’t distinguish whether I have already written it or not. This is one of those moments. It has been written one way in early August and now another expression is due. The first took a corporate direction and this version is more intimate and personal, I think. Make My Heart Completely Yours Make my heart completely Yours Give me grace and make me pure Give me mercy to endure And make my heart, Make my heart, Make my heart completely Yours. Give your strong support As I dwell within your courts As I dedicate myself to one desire As my soul repents Grant me confidence To obey and do what you require I would do justly, I would love mercy, Walking humbly with the Lord my God As to this I’m set apart Distractions all depart I seek the comfort of your staff and rod. Make my heart completely Yours Give me grace and make me pure Give me mercy to endure And make my heart, Make my heart, Make my heart completely Yours...

A prophet to dry places Called to the wandering He sees their haunted faces Laughing, crying, lingering And he knows their hearts are heavy And he know they are confused Buying wholesale in the marketplace Any new deal that they choose He knows they have everything to lose. Here in the aereopagus Of shattered dreams and ploys Their sorrow terminates their trust And renders songs to noise. He’s a prophet to the pagan And a harbinger of love For those who dare not hope to plan To raise their eyes above One word may be enough. For once he was a prisoner Now he is set free And he dare not cheat the listeners Now he cannot keep his peace. A tiller of unfertile fields A keeper of lost sheep A survivor who’s been truly healed And rescued from the deep. Now he weeps with those who weep In the desert of the classroom In the offices and bars From the blight of the boardrooms To the cults and culture wars To the one who violates the womb To the ones who bear the scars In these holy halcyon days ...

I have danced to mercy's music And I've flown on eagle's wings And I 've marched to love's strong drumbeat As I've burnt my offerings Until nothing's left but shalom There's no despair left to face And I find I am a rich man Resting in this blessed place. Here in the green pastures of grace. For I wandered as a seeker Searching for that greener grass long bewildered, I grew weaker As I starved for that which lasts Never knowing there's a banquet Set and waiting for the child Who wills but to receive it Who is willing to believe it Those who enter from the wild. Those redeemed and reconciled. There we find the stiller waters We have chosen to lie down And I want to see my daughters And my sons and brothers now Lying peaceful here beside me In this most peculiar place Here where the shadows falter Where the heart becomes the altar Here in the green pastures of grace. Here in the green pastures of grace. Here in the green pastures of grace. August 27, ...

I was on a bulletin board for Parkinson's caregivers by 1989, published my first webpage in 1993, was into Shockwave in 95, taught "internet literacy" from '98-03 and started blogging in 2003. So's I went out to the World Wide Web and did a little web surfing on the infobahn this morning. Then a long distance call came in on my personal digital assistant about something someone read on my weblog. Now that is REALLY dating yourself. Here are the Business Week 12 words that are so passe as to embarrass you... Who wants to do that?

Ancestry.com has a new datasource this week- I suddenly have a hankering for a piece of cake...

I'm up for this - first thing I'll do when I get a life. Ready to ditch cable if it weren't for Turner Classic Movies.

First I saw my friend Amanda, then Rippy and said- now I wonder what we would look like Simpsonized? For my friends who don't Facebook, now we know. 2D flatters me...

A life of pleasure makes even the strongest mind frivolous at last. - Edward Bulwer-Lytton

Dancing at the darkened door Forgetting what Has gone before When all is said, we muddle through Forget the why of what we do. At the edge of eternity. At the edge of eternity. I look on every face and name And see that we are all the same No little lives, no little dreams And nothing’s truly as it seems At the edge of eternity At the edge of eternity. Avoid the eyes Avoid the truth And choose your idols In your youth That way is sure To devastate When you find you finally Meet your fate On the edge of eternity At the edge of eternity Each indiscretion Each mistake We know the sin we give and take Doing all For our own sake Hoping for no more than an even break On the edge of eternity At the edge of eternity. So get your eyes On things above Where vision’s cleared By the fire of love For darkness flees The searing light Here on our knees We set our sight O’er the edge of eternity O’er the edge of eternity. How close we are... To the edge of eternity How close we are... To the edg...

You ask, how is this possible? This is not really a review of the movie we just saw tonight. It is more a commentary on the state of the art form that has shaped the American consciousness like none other. So there are no spoilers here. I am not sure what would even constitute a spoiler in the present case, and that says it all. I think Merle Streep is one of the great actresses of all time and certainly the best of this day. Merle Streep is fascinatingly entertaining and touching as Julia Child, and contrary to what I have read in some reviews, the double adaptation of two books in one movie works for the most part. It was good entertainment and a nice distraction. The problem as I see it is that with Streep, the material rarely rises to the level of the actress. She saves every movie she is in and gives it value it would not otherwise have. What I was struck with was the same feeling I had recently when watching a month of 1930's movies on TCM. I remember John Barrymore for his...

And then there's the seven Deadly sins: "Lust", "Gluttony", "Greed", "Sloth", "Wrath", "Envy", and "Pride", which would seem to be a negation of the "Seven Holy Virtues"... In the Book of Proverbs, it is stated that there are specifically "six things the Lord hateth, and the seventh His soul detesteth," namely: Haughty eyes A lying tongue Hands that shed innocent blood A heart that devises wicked plots Feet that are swift to run into mischief A deceitful witness that uttereth lies Him that soweth discord among brethren

There are several different approaches to the concept of virtue. To start the thought processes going, I'll post them here. The Seven Holy Virtues: Valour: Pursuit of Courage and Knowledge Generosity: Pursuit of Giving Liberality: Pursuit of Will Diligence: Pursuit of Ethics Patience: Pursuit of Peace Kindness: Pursuit of Charity Humility: Pursuit of Modesty The Church Fathers List: 4 Cardinal virtues of Prudence, Justice, Restraint (or Temperance), and Courage (or Fortitude), and the 3 Theological virtues of Faith, Hope, and Love (or Charity) The seven Heavenly Virtues-Purity, Temperance, Love, Diligence, Patience, Kindness, and Humility. You can see lots of overlap here; I'm not really sure why anyone thought they could improve on the Apostle Paul and the Holy Spirit's Fruit of the Spirit: Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, Self Control First thought: I think diligence, faithfulness, and goodness imply truthfulness.

One thing I strongly believe is that leadership is a trust and a test and leaders should be held to a higher level of accountability than others. This is a biblical principle that the apostle Paul applied when referring to teachers. In the Pitino case, I am disappointed in the vernacular being used, but then again, it was exactly what I expected. So far, Pitino's actions are being characterized as an "indiscretion" and a "mistake"- both of which remove any moral overtones to the conversation. We've had weeks of denials of wrongdoing, and it echoes the vernacular that has been evident in the coverage of many of the instances of major moral failures of our leaders this year. I expect this will drag out in the press here locally. I probably won't be commenting further on it, but my view of the man has changed dramatically, whatever the nature of the allegations and confessions are. I note that the media spin was previously totally against the woman involv...

What I look forward to is continued immaturity followed by death. Dave Barry

Earnie and I have been discussing the importance of the virtuous life versus success as key to living the COMPELLING LIFE. More on that to come here or on her blog, EyefOfE . Case in point: the current Rick Pitino scandal is hitting Louisville fans hard. With the narrative of this mess thus far, one has to consider the possibility that there never was a baby and extortion was in view. That's the first thing that should be proven or disproven. It would seem from the reports that some of the following is true; a. Rick Pitino is a liar. b. Rick Pitino paid to have his baby aborted. c. Rick Pitino is a rapist. d. Rick Pitino can't hold his liquor. e. Rick Pitino has disgraced and damaged his wife and children. f. Rick Pitino has damaged his reputation irreparably. g. Rick Pitino has damaged his integrity irreparably. So how much of this attains? It remains to be seen how his public, his fans, the press, and the communities-sports, religious, etc. will react to this news. Some will...

I was always under the impression that the canooter valve, muffler bearing, blinker fluid, halogen headlight fluid, left handed monkey wrenches, metric screwdrivers, and metric crescent wrenches all have this is common: they don't exist. Au contraire- I just spotted what I believe to be an antique canooter on ebay! Only 5.99 and 8.95 shipping at this writing! (Wonder what the odds are that someone will actually buy it?)

I was just posting info about the Perseid meteor shower tonite on Facebook, and I was reminded of another fairly rare conjuncture. What do Sam and Sue (the animated clown robots that terrorized me on trips to Fontaine Ferry Park as a child) Galileo and Copernicus have in common? Answer: they are all in exhibits at the Frazier Museum in Louisville. I'll be there- you go too! Fontaine Ferry Park was a staple of Louisville amusement for most of the twentieth century. Waaaaay back on September 8, 1905, my great-great Grandfather C. W. Ridgway wrote of a trip to the park for a family reunion "to enjoy all the beauties art can lavish upon any one spot. The Park is beautiful beyond description." Of course, Sam and Sue were johnny come latelies compared to that. From what I see on the "memories" website, I was not the only youngster that was scarred for life by their crazed, cackling gyrations. I guess they seemed like a good idea to somebody.

...what I would look like as a Muppet. Here's the answer.

We went to this barbecue joint yesterday and it was filled with Coca Cola advertisements everywhere you looked. Old time posters, metal signs, and the like.I counted over thirty signs that could be seen from where I was sitting and I didn't look at the whole place. Sounded pretty good. But when we ordered a Coke we were told they only had Pepsi products. Hmmmm.... Then when I ordered barbecue it turned out to be mystery meat...Live and learn...

United Kingdom Distance Learning Funding announced- http://www.emediawire.com/releases/2009/6/prweb2581744.htm The Obama Plan-Obama Administration pushing to fund Community College creation of online courses. Community colleges and high schools would receive federal funds to create free, online courses in a program that is in the final stages of being drafted by the Obama administration. A formal announcement could come in the next few weeks. In addition to the free online courses, the plan would provide $9 billion over 10 years to help community colleges develop and improve programs related to preparing students for good jobs, and a $10 billion loan fund (at low or no interest) for community college facilities. http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/06/29/ccplan http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/07/15/obama U.S. Department of Education Study Finds that Good Teaching can be Enhanced with New Technology. The findings revealed that on average, online students out performed those r...

Your reign is coming and has come You are sovereign of this garden Kingdom The whole earth with your glory is filled And here in this garden we till and are tilled. We are the new Eden and hearts are the soil The hearts of humans are the place where we toil And you send living water to make the seed grow Until with the harvest you reap what you sow. Make me a ploughman Make me one now Looking not left nor right Set my hand to your plow My furrows will lay straight My lines will run true The harvest will come With my eye set on You You planted the seed in this ground The blessed hope has taken root. Raising heavenward the earthbound And from this garden springs forth fruit. Make me a ploughman Make me one now Looking not left nor right Set my hand to your plow My furrows will lay straight My lines will run true The harvest will come With my eye set on You Anthony Foster August 4, 2009

Heaven is your throne And the earth is your footstool You abide within your own The basilica in whom you rule There is no holy house in which you dwell There is no separation and no veil There are no other wings under which to hide. Other than this tabernacle of your bride. In You alone we hide In you alone we abide Hid with Christ in God we rest We enter in and we are blessed. Transform our striving into rest Let us enter in to that place where we are blessed Not some earthbound sanctuary Not some sacred place to tarry But we find the holy hidden in our hearts You are the sacred ground of which we are a part In you alone we trust In you alone we are declared just We come our sins to confess And we are made into your righteousness. Anthony Foster August 4, 2009

So it has its effect on my quiet time. Most of the songs I receive are in that context, and here are a few more lyrics... Make Our Hearts Completely Yours So many distractions, plans and reactions So many vocations compete with the call We would hear a music That transcends the sounds of earth We would listen to a voice That gives the wilderness its worth. Make our hearts completely Yours And give us courage that endures Search and destroy this world’s lures And make our hearts completely Yours. Give us a bent, a way, a view That consecrates our lives to You A willing walk and humble minds Till no distractions You will find. Make our hearts completely Yours And give us courage that endures Search and destroy this world’s lures And make our hearts completely Yours. For the eye of the Lord searches out the earth To find a heart that knows His worth His strong support will be supplied To the heart that to all but Christ has died For these are the hearts that in Him confide. We dedicate We...