For a few years, I ran a small dog sled team. I had four female dogs on my team, Kai (the lead dog), as well as Suka, Kina, and Pika. Each dog had their own unique, and at times annoying, personality. Each dog had a job on the team, and while some shared jobs, they each employed a different emphasis to the way they executed this job. Three to four times per week, I would load all the dogs in the van along with the sled and all the gear and then we would drive the forty miles or so to our sledding zone; Hope Valley.
Category Archive: Scott Keith
So, in my last blog I introduced you to my newest obsession, my 1968 VW Type II Double […]
So, as some of you might remember, I have a passing interest in writing about being a dad. […]
During the Covid-19 health crisis, I think that we have all accepted the restrictions placed upon us by […]
By Scott Keith –
“Traditionally, masculinity is what stands between the innocent and the wolves.” – Ben Shapiro
Well, I’m back. You can call me Pappy or call me Cantankerous. At this point it doesn’t matter. What I am today is mad, outraged, and oddly—at least for me—a little sad. The Gillette commentary on masculinity which was closely followed by Harry’s not-so-subtle jumping on the bandwagon has pushed me over the edge. I didn’t want to be the Cantankerous Critic, but apparently someone needs to be.
By Scott Keith –
Shadows one and all. Gifts under the tree, people singing carols, lights that twinkle, even Santa Claus, are shadows one and all. We rightly celebrate this time of year by getting together with family and friends, eating good meals which take much time to prepare and exchanging gifts meant to communicate our love for one another. We call it the most wonderful time of the year, and so it is.
By Scott Keith –
(Warning: this blog represents a return to my cantankerous Jagged Word roots.)
I have been beating the drum of the loss of masculinity for years now. Writing Being Dad – Father as a Picture of God’s Grace and publishing The Jagged Word Field Guide to Being a Man have both been attempts to push back against the groundswell that has been rolling over men for years. I could again harp on the media and its tiresome portals of men as daft, inept, bumbling fools who know little and do even less. The fact is, it’s still bad. Commercial after commercial fails to show positive portraits of men and dads for our boys and young men to emulate. But I’m not going to put you through that again. I think that you get the point. I hope. I pray.
By Scott Keith –
When the disciples of Christ Jesus asked him how to pray, he gave a somewhat uncharacteristically forthright answer. He uttered the words for them to repeat in what has come to be known as the Lord’s Prayer. From that time forward, the Lord’s Prayer has been a staple of catechetical instruction when one Christian attempts to teach another Christian the “basics” of the Christian faith. Accordingly, Martin Luther included this surprisingly simple prayer in his Small Catechism, along with a few questions and answers for the young to memorize, contemplate, and hopefully, one day, make an organic part of who they are in their Christian faith. Thus, Luther begins his section on the Lord’s Prayer by giving an exhortation to the “Head of the House,” and simply listing the text of the prayer.
By Scott Keith –
I recently heard a preacher say that it is possible for preachers and teachers to “Gospel souls right into hell.” I really don’t wish to mischaracterize or impugn what the preacher was trying to communicate, but, needless to say, I was a bit shocked.
By Scott Keith –
“We will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason, if we dig deep into our own history and our doctrine and remember that we are not descended from fearful men, not men who feared to write, to speak, to associate, and to defend causes which were for the moment unpopular.” These are the words spoken by Edward R. Murrow as encouragement to those who would stand up in opposition to then Senator McCarthy’s hearings designed to root out all dissenters, whether they were guilty of being communists or not. Mr. Murrow goes on to remind us all of a simple yet exceptionally difficult reality: “We can deny our heritage and our history, but we cannot escape responsibility for the result.”