Opus 2026-375: Not in My Circle

The power of advertising and first impressions is well known.  It doesn’t always carry past the first impression but is important to get people to take a second look.

I just came in from walking and as usual, I emptied out the mail that had come in the day before.  It only had one piece of junk mail which was called “Business and Dining Guide”.  What caught my eye on the front was the caption for the business that was advertising.  In consideration for lawsuits, I won’t mention the name of the business, but it got me to wonder what it was all about.  That’s half the battle for an advertiser.

I looked at the picture of people who were proudly displayed in a well-thought-out array.  It was confusing enough that I was still interested enough to keep looking.  Win number two.  It was when I looked at the bottom and found out just what they were selling that I lost interest.  Evidently it was a yuppie beauty salon.  The first thing that met my eye was Botox.  Then it told me I could get fillers, waxing, and it went on from there.  Well, you can’t win them all.

Advertising is powerful, but as I looked at the people on the front, the first thing that struck me was, they weren’t exactly people I would want to look at.  There were five ladies and one man. At least I think he was a man, he had a millennial beard.  The others went from mildly attractive to someone that would be good at flipping burgers.  You’ve heard about a face for radio.  That’s kind of what I was seeing.  Then you look at one of them holding a head cut in two to show you all the veins, another one with a pair of scissors and an expectant smile on her face, another was sitting like a psychiatrist with pen and paper.  You get the idea.

Nice try . I’m sure that you will get some response.  My response involves the circular file.

I think I will stay in my circle.

homo unius libri

Opus 2026-197: Pass the Potatoes, Please

As I was contemplating the prosperity and wealth that we have, I offered up a prayer of thanks for the previous generations who worked hard to build this country. My thinking was stimulated by a piece of road-working equipment parked on our street in preparation for some resurfacing . It has been sitting there waiting for at least a week, inactive and gathering dust. I would probably need to refinance my house if I wanted to buy such a machine but it just sits there patiently.

Have I done my share to pass on the torch of prosperity? I have not built any railroads. I have not invented any great gadgets or processes. I have discovered no new lands or mineral deposits. What have I done?

I guess we should understand that the thousands of men who worked to build the transcontinental railroad did not see it as establishing wealth for future generations. They were simply earning a living. What built the greatness, in addition of course to the blessings of God, was the simple process of believing certain truths and passing them on to their children. The basic values of Christianity were assumed to be of value. They may have been rejected on a personal level but were assumed for society. Thus you may have had an affair with your neighbor’s wife but you acknowledged that adultery was wrong.

We are at a time when those of us who still have a sense of right and wrong built on eternal truths need to get back in the business of being squeaky wheels. We should have passed on such concepts as honesty and hard work to our children. It needed to be done in deed as well as word. I seems that many have abandoned those standards which means that we need to be even more squeaky.

Look for opportunities to pass on the torch of Western civilization. You don’t know what that torch looks like? Get a Bible and start to read it. You may not accept the idea that Jesus is Lord but the principles that are laid down apply to everyone where they believe or not. The workers on Ford’s assembly lines were not doing it for you but they supplied the inexpensive transportation that transformed a continent.

Be a torch passer.

homo unius libri

Opus 2026-190: On the Street: A Lesson in Civil Rights

As I was leaving the grocery store today I came to where I was going to cross the street and found a stream of cars approaching. Now I had a crosswalk and I had the right way but what I did was, I stepped back and stayed out of the way so that the cars would know I wasn’t going to cross and I allowed them to go on their way. When we had a break, I made my way across.

Between there and my car a lady stopped me and informed me that I had the right way and that I did not have to wait for those cars to go by. I conceded the point. I was aware of that. But in my mind it was a matter of courtesy. I am one retired, elderly man, as opposed to people that might have to get somewhere in a hurry, and it was only right for me to stand back and let them go. We exchanged some few thoughts, and then we went our way.

What I missed was another opportunity to witness of my faith. I could have very simply said something to the effect that when I waited for others to go by I just felt like Jesus smiled at me. Or I could have referred to Philippians chapter 2, where it talks about considering the other person is more important than yourself. Either way I missed an opportunity.

I am not laying awake nights suffering from guilt, but somewhere along the line I’m going to learn to take those opportunities.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-522: Influence

I was walking and my mind goes all over the place when I do that.  Part of my routine as I walk is  a prayer map I follow.  I came to my grandchildren and my children and was thinking about influence.

I pray that my children would be the kind of adults that will cause my grandchildren to love Jesus.  I have some influence, but it is limited.  We’re about 40 minutes away, and I don’t see them as much as I would like.  But my thinking focused on how we still have influence.

Some of the old people that I hang around with tend to think that they’re all used up, that nobody cares anymore, that they’re just bidding time.  There is an aspect of that I guess, but I think we need to also look at the fact that we have influence that we give towards our grandchildren.  It may just be in the sense that God will bless them through us as we are faithful.  It could be the weight of our prayers.  It could be many things that we wouldn’t even think about, things we say, memories we share, things we do.  But we still have influence.

So don’t give up.  Don’t stop living in such a way that would encourage God to bless you and yours.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-492: Forgotten but Not Gone

Who? How often have you been asked that question when you mentioned someone that you thought would be remembered forever?  There are so many people who have left a big footprint behind them and yet the sands of time tend to fill in the footprint.  In spite of that their influence still continues.

I think of people like Jim Dobson, John MacArthur, Rush Limbaugh, and others who have passed away recently.  Who?  I think of Alistair Begg who just retired.  Who?  History is full of people who during their lifetime made a big splash and left a meaningful legacy.  We benefit from their legacy without knowing their names.  To that list we would add Charlie Kirk.

I remember when my father died.  He was a blue collar worker in construction.  He wore a white shirt on Sunday but you knew it was not his natural state.  Most people would not give him a second thought but I wondered why the world kept going after he died.  He made an impact.  He left four healthy, responsible, God-fearing sons to carry on.  He touched the lives of other people who lived below the radar.

The contribution we make to the world is not measured in how many headlines we get.  It is measured in how many lives we touched and how they pass that touch on.  If you are faithful then the results will linger.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-471: The Cog of Destiny

How many cogs does it take to make a gear effective?  I’m going to suggest all or most of them.  I only am willing to say “most” because it’s possible something depending on a cog wheel might be able to function if one were broken off.  I don’t know.

My reflection is based on an awareness of how little influence I will ever have on the world.  Bear with me on the assumption that I might actually have something to offer.  I know that is an assumption, but consider it just a bit of my ego as I was wondering what difference it made if I lived the good life, seeking to be upright, following the rule of law, keeping the golden rule, in general being what used to be considered you’re basic American citizen.

What difference does it make?

And I got to thinking about how one drop does not create a flash flood, but if enough drops of water were redirected, instead of a flash flood you would have a life giving rain.  You never know if you’re going to be the straw that breaks the camels back.  I’m not sure how you turn that positive but try to take it that way.

My recent experience brought this home.  I may have written about it before in the sense of talking about my riding mower.  My wife finally manipulated things so that I ended up with a used riding mower.  It did the job OK until one day it didn’t.  It started getting hard to steer and I had to play around with it to make it go left.  Then came the day when it refused to go left.  The reason?  It was missing a couple of cogs.  Part of the steering mechanism is a rod with teeth on it that meshed with the column coming from the steering wheel.  If you looked at it from one angle, you couldn’t see any problem.  If you held it up and sighted down the row, you could clearly see how there was a dip in the smooth line somewhere in the middle.  There was a cog that just would not bite.

It only took one cog to make the tractor worthless.

Are you that cog?  Am I that cog?  The point is we will never know until it’s too late.  That is why it is so important for each of us to fulfill our small role in making our world worth living in.  That of course is easier if you believe in God’s Providence and that He knows what He’s doing, which I do.  I will admit I tend to forget it sometimes in my frustration, but the belief is still there.  So I will continue with my little drops of wisdom.  Nothing I write will change the world, but combined with what you do and what God has others doing it could just happen.

Destiny is often fulfilled in small packages.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-442: The Pauline Fallacy

History has produced a long list of names that we remember.

History has also produced a long list of names that we never heard of.

Which list has made the biggest difference?

The one that I have thought about recently is the apostle Paul.  He is glorified as being the apostle to the Gentiles.  People think of him being a great teacher and evangelist.  He was.  He changed the world or at least pushed it in the right direction.  He was not the greatest influence, though, in the spread of Christianity through Europe.  Paul’s greatest contribution was not his evangelism, but his writing.  If we went through and added up all the people that Paul was responsible for witnessing to you would get a couple thousand.  If we went through and added up all the people who came to know the truth of God through his writings you would have multiplied millions, possibly billions.

Paul is remembered for his writings, but they don’t bring as much sparkle as the idea of going into a new town and spreading the gospel.  In the enthusiasm of the apostle Paul, what we often overlook is that he was just one voice and could only be in one place.  We often miss that the gospel went before him.  It amuses me reading the first chapter of the letter to the Romans.  Paul is excited about going to Rome because he wants to preach there.  What we often miss is that there was already a strong church in Rome and Paul had never even crossed the city limits.  The gospel went before him.  The gospel was spread by hundreds and thousands of little Paul’s who weren’t even thinking about being great evangelist.  They were just spreading the good news.  Paul with small potatoes compared to their combined effect.

A modern example might be Billy Graham.  I remember attending one of his crusades in Los Angeles.  The Colosseum had thousands of people listening to his preaching.  His sermons were broadcast on TV and radio.  Millions heard him.  People get impressed.  I think, though that he would say that the greatest force in evangelism with the people going to work every day and living out their Christian lives in front of others.  They did more by simply witnessing and talking about Jesus that he could ever do with all of his multimedia presentations.

Think of Jesus himself.  He never left the Jewish areas of the world.  He talked only to Jews for the most part.  He was murdered after three years of ministry.  Of course, He had advantages that none of us have.  He was the eternal, incarnate, son of God.  He has already been resurrected and had the contacts to send the Holy Spirit.  And yet, in spite of that He told His disciples that they would do bigger things that He had done.

We are still mourning the loss of Charlie Kirk.  He was one in a billion.  He was a unique servant of Almighty God.  He was taken from us too early.  But when he was speaking to those crowds of students and having such a great effect, don’t forget all the conversations that we’re going on in the dorm rooms and around the dinner tables, and in places that you would never think about it.  He was spreading salt.  Salt was doing his work under the power of the Holy Spirit and under the many individuals who are being faithful.

Think of yourself as being a Paul Junior, a Charlie Junior, a disciple of Jesus.  You will talk to people that none of them could ever come close to.  Don’t fall for the Pauline Fallacy.  We need our apostles.  Even more we need faithful salt.  That is where you and I come in.

Be salty.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-438: Diversity Applied

When I walked into the room that was reserved for our group dinner I noticed there were only two people there, Joy and Larry.  I sat down and very quickly the waitress brought in the iced tea that she asked me about as I walked across the dining room.  She commented that she hadn’t noticed Joy and Larry come in.  I’m not sure the exact sequence of events, but she went and brought them water and as she was leaving, Joy said to her, “Aren’t you forgetting something?”

I couldn’t figure out what she was talking about.  Neither could the waitress at first.  Then the waitress smiled and walked back over.  Joy stood up and gave her a big hug.  It was a wonderful warm moment.  It was the kind of expression of human compassion and caring that exhibits ways in which we as believers can witness to our world.

I don’t know where the waitress is spiritually.  I’m not a hugger.  I wouldn’t go hugging waitresses anyway if I were.  I don’t think my wife would approve.  But it was a moment of spontaneous love expressed to someone others might look down on as a servant.

I trust that our presence in that room is touching people with the fact that we love Jesus and that Jesus loves them.  They may not know the words.  They may not even know the name as anything but a curse.  But they do know that there’s something about us.

Live joyfully.  Be aware that you influence people even when you’re not aware of it.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-433: Full Court Press

I was marveling at the way in which God can deal with human beings who are each individual creatures.  I guess statistically you may be able to find someone in the world that is almost identical to you, but in reality it’s not going to happen.  We each look at things differently.  We have different values.  We have different priorities.  You get the idea.

And yet God deals with all of us in a way that is just and righteous.  It may not be fair, but it is just and righteous.  How does that work?

As I was pondering this, I got to thinking about the game of basketball.  Basketball has rules.  The rules are the same for both teams.  The equipment is the same for both teams.  Both nets are the same height on the ground.  The time allowed is the same for both teams.  Now I accept the fact that you may have a referee that is not having a good day, but they are supposed to be the same for both teams.

Now think about the UCLA full court press introduced by John Wooden.  I marvel at watching how in his first national championship with a bunch of guys who are really too short to be playing that level of basketball win it all walking away.  It was awesome.  It was coaching.

When I was in high school we had a church basketball team and we had a young guy who came in and taught us to use the full court press.  We ate them up.  We were 17 wins and one loss that year and the one loss was in triple overtime against a team that had three players who were starters in the freshman team at our college the next year.  Opposing them were a bunch of us non-basketball stars.  We had a guy who was good on baseball and I believe one who ran track, but they were the only genuine athletes in the group and they were not tall or great basketball players.

What made the difference?  Coaching.  Knowing how to make things work in a way that brought us to victory.  That’s how God works with us with our differences.  He coaches us in a unique way.  He knows us as individuals.  He knows our strengths and weaknesses.  He knows our environment.

And he gives us the benefit of a spiritual full court press.  Of course, it only works if we listen to what He tells us and play the game the way He teaches us.

Play ball.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-409: Reverse the Thorn

Paul had a thorn in the flesh.  It was a handicap to keep him humble.  If what he got is humility then without the thorn it would have been a sight to behold.

I’m wondering if we can use the same principle but turn it around.  Could we be thorns in the flesh to try and bring people to spiritual growth.  I think of a friend being a thorn in the flesh to the pastors he had to work with.  The man needed someone to keep him on edge, to ask him the hard questions and face him with reality.

It could be that many of us have that role.  It doesn’t have to be aggressive.  In fact I would recommend a gentle and courteous demeanor.  When he presents some juicy heresy act mystified and ask him for his references.  Pretend like it is your memory problem not his theology.  

Of course if you have a personality like Paul you might mention him next time you write a letter to the church in Galatia.  

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-355: Don’t Call Them Boycotts

I am not against the idea of boycotting businesses and people that violate the basic values of my life.  One of the problems I am facing now is that there are so many places that have joined the forces of Satan that it’s hard to find any place to shop.  I can’t boycott everything.

So I’ve decided to make it more of a choice, an act of stewardship, rather than a refusal to do business.  Do I need groceries?  Of course I need groceries.  Am I going to go out and plow my backyard to get my vegetables and fruits?  Am I going to buy a cow and make my own cheese?  Am I going to plant wheat, harvest it and grind it into flour in order to get bread? I  think the answers are obvious.

Instead of looking for the faults, which are many, I will ask myself, which one is the most deserving.  When I go, I will try to bring a ray of Sonshine into the darkness.  We are to be salt and light in our world.  We are not told to be surgeons removing every mark of sin.

I keep forgetting to do it, but one of the things I think would be interesting would be to thank a person stocking the shelves for his work today.  Perhaps comment to someone who is pushing one of those carts and loading up groceries for someone who can’t get out of their car about how they are helping improve someone’s life.  I know one thing I do remember is when they ask me at the checkout how am I doing?  I don’t give the standard reply, “I’m making it.”  Instead, I try for something like “marvelous”, Or as they say here in Texas, “So blessed, I can hardly stand it.”

Spread a little salt today.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-214: Keeping up Appearances

It’s really hard to be an insightful, brilliant intellectual when the grandchildren are over.  It’s hard to follow a complex train of thought when someone wants you to read book about Bob the Dinosaur or you are the only person who can find just the right Lego to complete the dream of your grandchild.

It’s not even a trade-off.  The great thoughts can wait.  Long ago I came to the understanding that I was not going to be God’s golden boy.  I understand that I am not going to reform American society based on my wisdom and clever writing.  I can, however, keep adding to the foundation that builds my grandchildren into godly adults.

Trade-offs are between things of close value.  Being a grandparent is a major investment in the future.  There is no comparison.  Being a parent is the same.  It is possible that being an uncle or God-parent also qualifies.  There is a lot of sacrifice involved, at least it seems like sacrifice at times.  In reality being proud of your children when they grow up is a much greater return I need on my investment than a great stock portfolio.

Take some time to examine your priorities.  Do you feel frustrated?  It could be because you are looking at things today with a long-term view in mind.  Of course, it’s easy for me to make those decisions for you.  I understand that.  I use most of my energy making those decisions for myself.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-137: Smiley Faces

I was thinking of someone that I see rarely but when I do see him just brings a smile to my face.  Just thinking about him causes that reaction.  That made me start thinking about other people who don’t bring a smile to my face.  You could make two lists.  You might ignore the frown face list but it could make your day to think of all the smiley faces you are blessed with.

That made me think about whether I bring a smile to other peoples faces?

Sounds like a good goal to me.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-107: Swift Decline

You should have sympathy for Taylor Swift.  Keep in mind that she started as a child star and is now moving into that age where everything goes downhill.  She needs to grab for all of the attention and notoriety possible because tomorrow people will say, “Taylor who?”  If you don’t believe it just ask a college student who Bing Crosby was.

I must confess I know nothing about her music.  My son tells me she’s done some good work.  I will take his word for it without further research.  I put her in a class with people like Madonna, Cher and Lady Gaga who owned the world at one time but are now on their way to becoming little old ladies clinging to what was.

Celebrities age like everyone else.  If we ever see them without all that make up, corsets, Photoshop pictures and special lighting they look like a hillbillies sitting out on the front porch in the fading sun.

Consider yourself better off then they are.  Do you have children?  Have they become adults you can be proud of?  Do you have friends who like you for what you are rather than what you can give them?  Do you have a living faith in a living God?  

Like I said, you are better off than they are.  You will probably never be the target of scandalous click bait.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-236: Seeds

I was in dialogue with a lady in our church, and she made the comment, “Seeds.”

I liked that and I told her so.  I then went on to pontificate on how we were planting seeds of oaks and not seeds of grass.  If I had spent a little time thinking about my word picture, I might have said “acorns”, not “seeds”.  That would’ve been much more pithy and clever.

We get in such a hurry.  That was illustrated by my quick response which a little thinking would have made much more penetrating.  We do that in life.  We want “now”.  We have fast foods. We have instant oatmeal.  We have instant grits.  Disgusting can also be instant.  We want the doctor to give us a pill.  We want Donald Trump to cure our country.  We want revival in the church, but let us start with someone else.

Someone once said that changing our mind quickly is rather counterproductive.  They pointed out that if someone would change their mind for you quickly, they would change it back just as quickly for someone else.  That applies to our political discussions.  Remember that when it comes to witnessing and talking to people about Jesus.

Quick change is often either incredibly weak or excessively destructive.

Give it time. Be consistent. Be persistent. Be patient.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-225: Monday Pulpit: Cave Free

We had a guest speaker Sunday and he spoke on I Samuel chapter 22.  It is a passage relating one of the times David hid in a cave.  He said many things, but the one that stuck with me was the call for Christians to come out of their caves.  David went from his cave to hiding in what is called a fortress.  At that point he was told by a prophet to come out and get moving.  We in the church need to hear the same thing.

We of course need to be praying.  We need to be at worship.  We need to study and mediate on what we read.  There are many things that we need to be doing in our secure world.  We need also to come out of that security and get active in the bigger world.  I’m not sure what that will look like for each of us, but there must to be ways in which we can influence our environment.  One of them is by contacting our representatives in Washington.  Don’t overlook giving them a pat on the back if they were actually doing the right thing.  Another thing we can do is be more vocal in non-vocal ways.  We tend to be afraid to put a sign on our lawn.  It might be something we need to do.  I know I need to start wearing my Trump hat instead of just letting it hang in my room.

I have a long tradition of not liking bumper stickers or other things stuck on my car or any other place.  I don’t like to wear logo clothing.  I definitely don’t like T-shirts that have advertising on them.  I need to get over that.  They’re a bigger issues at stake in my pride.

Find some small way to make a statement or take a stand.  Hope that it develops a trend in your life.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-206: The Law of Intended Consequences

We are all familiar with the concept of the law of unintended consequences.  What about the opposite?  I know that when I am in a difficult time, I will ask myself, “What is going on.?”  I might ask, “What did I do to deserve this?”  Those are the wrong questions.

What we should be asking ourselves is, “What opportunity or situation was I put here to deal with?”  It should be asked in a positive way, not in desperation.  How often in life does God put us someplace in order to be a blessing to someone or to help them find an answer to a problem they’re having?  How often do we end up someplace unexpected and only later find out the blessing we provided.  Often we are the angels unaware.

We all know situations where the outcome depends upon our attitude.  When I find myself sitting in a doctors office or some such place am I there to read my book, talk to someone else in the next chair, or meditate on world peace?  Only you can answer that question.  I know that I find myself realizing that I should reach out to people around me more.

That means making eye contact.  I hate eye contact.  It means moving from introvert mode to extrovert mode.  I hate being an extrovert.  It can be done, but for some of us, it has to be a conscious decision.  Consider the possibility that there are many people in the world that need the input that you can give.  It may not be a desperate cry for help, it may just be the answer to a general question.  It may not be anything that they are aware of needing.  But God knows and He put you there for a purpose.  Possibly.  Or it could just be a random situation and He wants to see what you’re going to do with it.

Be a game changer.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-160: Fill Your Nitch

I  have been hearing a lot of praise for people who share things so well that you don’t have to think yourself.  There is a place for that.  We can’t read everything.  We can’t study everything in depth.  There is a time to kick back and listen.  Care is still recommended.  You may not have time to major in microbiology but you can recognize a breakdown in reason when you see it.  You may not have children but you know a dirty diaper when you smell one.

When it comes to Bible teaching I think this applies double.  There is a lot of nonsense out there masquerading as profound.  Some of it is harmless.  Some of the distortion has eternal consequences.  Many are deceived when they don’t need to be.  I feel that it is laziness on the part of the Bible reader.  They don’t want to read themselves.  They don’t want to think.  How much energy does it take to get a Bible off the shelf, blow off the dust, turn to the table of contents and read for yourself?

Then it occurred to me that I am that way in regard to computers and some degree to science.  I am not helpless.  I can do basic stuff.  I know that rebooting can cure most problems.  I have learned to put my glasses on before I start punching buttons.  I once learned enough Basic to debug a computer game I got out of a book.  Don’t ask me to do it again because I don’t care enough.  After all, there is a reason why we have children who are geeks.  I do feel a responsibility to not bother my personal computer guru over simple stuff.

It could be that we are all this way in relation to areas that we don’t have any great interest.  Each of us must evaluate what is important enough to invest our time and effort in.  I don’t plan to ever learn to fix my lawnmower.  I would, on the other hand, like to make mouth watering chocolate chip cookies.  I would also like to learn to bake bread but I have a daughter that fills that slot.

Grow enough to be an asset.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-029: Ode to Old: The Gilded Agers

A lot of people want to write off the elderly.  They are past their prime and have little to contribute.  I am here to say that is not the case.  Let me give you a couple of examples.  

Joe Biden is past his prime.  That assumes he ever had one, but give him the benefit of the doubt.  Even though he is blatantly out of touch with reality, look at what he has accomplished.  He has brought the greatest republic in history to the brink of dissolving.  And keep in mind that he still has at least until next January to keep it on the skids.  If his handlers manage to steal another election our dust bin of history status will be assured.

And look at the contributions of George Soros.  One man with his billions has managed to buy off every major judicial system in the country.  His bucks have made fair trials, the rule of law and civilized behavior a thing of the past.  Add to that the realization that he has trained his son up to follow in his steps.

So don’t tell me you can’t make a difference just because you are old.  If you wonder how history will judge you remember that it is the winners who write the history books and those who persevere who get to revise them.

homo unius libri

Opus 2023-263: The Danger of Dull Eyes

Let me share an old story that you may have heard but is still funny.  A little boy asked his father where he came from.  The father gulped, took the bull by the horns and went into a detailed explanation of why there are babies.  The boy listened attentively and when his father was finished he said, “That is very interesting, Dad.  Johnny next door said he came from Chicago.  Where did I come from?”

Often in life people ask us questions and we answer in great detail but miss the whole point.

It can happen in politics.

It can happen in Bible study.

We need to work at answering the questions that need to be answered on the appropriate level.  A good answer will inform.  It will also bring up more questions but those tend to show what the listener needs to know rather than the expertise that you want to demonstrate.  Watch for the dull look in the eyes.  Less glory but more value.

homo unius libri