First Line Friday #36: Pligrim's Progress in Today's English by John Bunyan & James Thomas

Thanks to Carrie at
Reading is My Superpower
for the Link-up

 

 

Title:  Pilgrim's Progress in Today's English
Author:  John Bunyan (Retold by James Thomas)
Genre:  Christian classics, allegory

    〰First Line〰

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As I walked through the wilderness of the world, I came to a place where there was a den.  There I lay down to sleep; and as I slept, I dreamed a dream.

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Synopsis:  (From Goodreads) 

The best allegory ever written is rewritten in modern English , making it clearer and more forceful to the modern reader. With more than 100,000 in print, this retelling by James H. Thomas follows Christian as he leaves his home in the City of Destruction and begins a long journey to the Celestial City. His adventure is full of encounters with interesting people, such as Faithful, Hopeful, and Ignorance. Traveling through places such as Vanity Fair and the Valley of the Shadow of Death, he reaches his heavenly home but learns rich lessons during the journey. The story has immediate application to everyday life.

Later on, Christian's wife, Christiana, decides to join her husband in the Celestial City. As she travels, Christiana comes upon a different set of people, such as Greatheart, Mercy, and Honesty. Her story illustrates how Christians follow different paths but with the same eternity with Jesus. of God.

 〰First Thoughts〰

This famous allegory is the third of three books that are part of our undergraduate level Spiritual Formation Class at the university that I'll be teaching later this summer and again in the fall.  The First Line Friday posts for the other two books are here and here.

Year ago (I'm not sure how many) I read this book in its original 17th century English.  Because I struggled with allegorical literature even worse than I do now, I do not remember the story or the symbolism at all. I'm looking forward to rereading it in hopes that it will jog my memory.  

While I'm a proponent of making old English more understandable to the masses within reason, I fear that this updated edition won't do justice to the original.  Will it simply update the language to the modern equivalent of the wording, or will it dumb down the story to the point it loses its impact?

We'll see. 

 So, what's the first line of the book you're currently reading?

Ice Cream Tips: The Weekly Hodgepodge

Join the fun! 

Come on over to 

From This Side of the Pond 

for the Hodgepodge link-up!

 

What does adventure mean to you? 

For me, adventure means to step out of my comfort zone, face a fear, and/or do things I've never done before.  For example, I describe my latest adventure here.  Now, for many, these activities are mundane, but for me these were grand adventures.

What are your thoughts on tipping? What businesses or service providers do you regularly tip? Do you resent being asked if you'd like to add a tip? What about when a suggested amount is presented? 

Servers work hard, so I don't mind tipping at a sit-down restaurant.  However, let me choose whether to tip and the amount.  This may be an unpopular opinion, but if I get bad or rude service, I tip very little or nothing at all. I do my best not to draw a server's ire so he/she doesn't hate me the whole time I'm there. 

My biggest issue is with establishments that pool the servers' tips.  I do not find that fair or a good business practice.  A customer's tip should belong solely to the particular server; not be divided among those who may not be putting forth the same effort.  If I know that a restaurant does this, I don't eat there.  Pooling tips is a surefire method for mediocre service.  No thank you. 

I scream you scream we all scream for ice cream...do we? Is ice cream a favorite treat at your house? What's your favorite flavor? Regular, soft serve, gelato, sherbet, or some sort of non-dairy version of ice cream...what's your pleasure?

For health reasons, ice cream is not in my regular meal rotation, but I thoroughly enjoy it when I occasionally treat myself to some.  My favorite flavor is butter pecan, then anything with peanut butter. The Great Value ice cream pictured here is quite good and one of my favorites that contains peanut butter.  Honestly, so far I've not had an ice cream flavor that I didn't like.

What's your 'back in my day, we____________________ ' story or saying? 

"Back in my day, we didn't have artificial intelligence; we used our own brains to do our work." 

Yes, I know that AI can be a helpful tool.  However, part of my work is to deal with reports of AI misuse (as the admin) or students who've chosen to cut and paste from AI rather than do their own work (as the instructor).  While this is a small minority of our student population, it's very frustrating, and the students don't learn anything.  They are given specific guidelines on how they can and cannot use AI, but you know the saying "if you give them an inch...they use ChatGPT to write for them."

Somehow this is our last Hodgepodge in the month of June. Next week's Hodgepodge lands in July. Wow. Sum up your June using three adjectives. 

1. Beautiful
2. Fun
3. Busy 

Insert your own random thought here. 

 

Miss Joyce's first question made me think of this:

 

In case you missed it:  

• My previous Hodgepodge post "Pansies and Mollycoddling" is here.
• My latest Weekly Digest "Fauna and Flora" is here.
  
• My latest First Line Friday post: #35:  Finding the Groove by Robert Gelinas is here. 
• My "25 for 2025" challenge is here.  (Updated regularly)
• My "2025 I Can Only Blame MyShelf Reading Challenge" is here. (Updated regularly)

Fauna and Flora: The Weekly Digest

 Looking out the window....

 

My stoop is ready for summer.

 

I'd not paid attention to this tree at our apartment complex
before.  It's called a Russian olive tree.  I find its gray green leaves
and reddish brown branches beautiful.

 

 

This lovely cluster of Tickseed flowers were in a container
in front of my dentist's office.

This was my first time seeing Lamb's Ear plants.  These were in
the flower beds at Green Mountain Recreation Center.

Day lilies are one of my favorite summer perennials.
There were several beds of these around town.  I took this picture 
near the ARC Thrift Store. 

Favorite quote(s) of the week...

 

Lord, help us in such a way that we can see that You are working. May we magnify You in our inmost souls. Make everyone around us see how good and great a God You are. - Charles Spurgeon, Faith's Checkbook, p. 179. 

Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord my soul to keep,
And if I die before I wake,
I pray the Lord my toys to break.
So none of the other kids can use 'em....
Amen.

"Prayer of the Selfish Child" - Shel Silverstein, A Light In the Attic

 

You show me a perfect quilt and I''ll show you a quilter who's probably got some issues.  Mark Darrell (The Quilting Marine).

 

Misinformation about the Bible’s answers to these issues has led to much wrong teaching about boundaries. Not only that, but many clinical psychological symptoms, such as depression, anxiety disorders, eating disorders, addictions, impulsive disorders, guilt problems, shame issues, panic disorders, and marital and relational struggles, find their roots in conflicts with boundaries. Cloud & Townsend, Boundaries, p. 26.

 

I'm thinking about...

This is the best picture of the flow of my thoughts right now.

What I've read since the last digest...

• A World of Charity by Jonathan Edwards  ✮✮1/2   
• Charles Dickens by G. K. Chesterton  ✮✮  (Please see my Goodreads comments here)
• The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola by Saint Ignatius of Loyola  ✮  
• A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein (Category:  Kiddie Lit) ✮✮✮✮  

I'm currently reading...

• The Dieter's Prayer Book by Heather Harpham Kopp
• Mansions of the Heart by R. Thomas Ashbrook 
• Boundaries by Henry Cloud and John Townsend 
• A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
• On Reading Well by Karen Swallow Prior
• Now, Discover Your Strengths by Gallup 
• Faith's Checkbook by Charles Spurgeon
  
• The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin
  
•  Celebration of Discipline by Richard J. Foster
• The New American Standard Bible
  

Recent blog posts...

• My previous digest, "Prince and the 'Round Tuit'" is here.
  
• First Line Friday #35: Finding the Groove by Robert Gelinas is here. 
• My "25 for 2025" challenge is here. (Updated regularly)
• My "I Can Only Blame MyShelf" reading challenge is here.  (Updated regularly). 

From the Workshop... 

I am thankful for...

• Reverse look up on Google.  I've learned about many plants and flowers using that feature.
• Colored pencils.
• The ceiling fan in my office area.
• Craft glue that doesn't wrinkle paper.
• Small health victories.