Charlie

Something that we care about and paid attention to every morning and evening is Charlie.  No, Charlie is not a dog, a fish, or animate object.  Charlie is my dear Alex’s iPod.  Now I know what you must be thinking sitting there and rolling your eyes thinking about how this new generation cannot exist without their technology. But Charlie’s appeal is not in his ability to play our music, the game Angry Birds, or any sort of communication with our friends.  No, Charlie has an incredible app that allows us to read the meditations of Charles Spurgeon’s devotional Morning and Evening.  (This is how the iPod was dubbed Charlie.  We often shout across the house at breakfast—Do you know where Charlie is at so we can do our morning devotional?)

For those of you who may not be familiar with Charles Spurgeon, just know that he was an English theologian whose style I could only characterize as C.S. Lewis-like, a man of vast intellect coupled with a poet’s heart.  The meditation usually starts with just a verse or two and from that verse will flow Spurgeon’s thoughts about it and what it tells us about God’s character and our relationship with him.  Alex and I have both been really blessed in that we both received an excellent Bible education growing up and because of that we can really appreciate the various references to passages scattered throughout the Bible that Spurgeon will use.  The metaphors and poetic language that Spurgeon draws from Scripture come out as fluently as most of us can talk about our everyday lives.  (Side note: Spurgeon’s writings are fluid and lyrical unless Alex is trying to read aloud with all of the old English wordings that are strange and get tangled at her tongue, but I enjoy watching her try.) 

Besides Charlie, our devotional time usually entails something that neither Alex or myself ever did growing up—we sing a hymn.  Back when I was at the university, the church I attended started the Hymnal Project, a compilation of hymns and songs that the people of his church found meaningful and design particularly for individual family worship time.  I was very excited by this and got my own copy and Alex perhaps less excitedly agreed to make singing a part of every day’s devotional.  It has been something that allows us to get our minds and hearts geared toward praising our Lord every day and is something that we both have grown to enjoy.  Recently Alex has gotten us on a Stuart Townsend kick and Arthur perhaps suffering from a mild case of chronological snobbery has been forced to admit that there are people writing wonderful hymns even today (which would make it contemporary  music).  Alex’s favorite hymn “How Deep the Father’s Love for Us” is written by Townsend.  It was probably good I didn’t realize this was a “new” hymn when Alex suggested we sing it at our wedding but I found the lyrics incredibly moving.  Alex has never been crazy about singing and will usually only sing during a church service when it is obligatory but rarely outside of that.  Now I have her singing hymns with me each day.  Alex was talking to one of her close friends a few weeks ago and mentioned that we sing hymns each morning as part of our devotional.  Her friend, knowing very much that Alex detests singing replied, ”It’s official, you are really  in love with him  if Arthur can get you to sing.”  Omnia Vincit Amor.