Chess and Michael Farady

About noon today my former wife called me and asked if I was near Basil's school.  He was sick and waiting in the nurse's office.   As it happened, I was just leaving one of my dealers not 3 miles from Basil's school. When I got him home I medicated him (he has an ear infection, I think.) I made him lunch, played a game of chess with him, and helped him with is chess homework (he's working on mating in 2 moves) before I went back to work.

At 4:30 I picked Anselm up at his school and we drove to Los Gatos where I visited with one of my dealers.  It was kind of a useless visit since my bank specializes in serving dealers who sell to people with bad credit and this dealership is in one of the richest areas of California.  But I still have to visit him.  Anselm sat in the car and read an electronics textbook while I was seeing the dealer.  When my meeting was over we drove to my parish for the Vigil of the Annunciation.

Anselm is a boy of ever changing enthusiasms.  He has moved from painting to wood carving to coin collecting to Rubik's cubes to ceramics to stamp collecting.   Now he is very interested in electronics. The table in his room is covered with diodes, bits of wire, circuit boards, solder, switches, batteries, speaker parts and lights.  While we were driving to church tonight he said, "Dad, will you buy me a Faraday switch?"

"Anselm, I am very poor, and I am saving as much money as possible to buy a van or a truck to live in.  I will buy you one if I am able.  But tell me what you know about Michael Farady."

Anselm said,"I know he invented the Faraday switch and the Farday cage."

"Yes, and he proved the link between light and electricity, and discovered benzene, and made the discoveries that lead to the electric motor, and is called the Father of Electronics, but do you know the most important thing about him?"

Anselm said he didn't.  So I told him.

"He was a Christian.  And it was his his faith in the rational God that lead him to make all his scientific discoveries."

"Was he Orthodox?"

"No.  There were no Orthodox left in his country when he was born.  But he believed in the Trinity and that Jesus died on the cross for our sins and came back to life, and he believed the Bible.  And that is the most important thing about him.  It's why he was able to be a scientist.  There is a reason why science did not develop among the pagans.  Hindus think their god Brahman, if he is aware of the universe at all, is just dreaming it, the Buddhists are not even sure the universe exists, and the animists, such as the Chinese, worship a chaotic bunch of gods and spirits who have no order and make no sense.  You see the Chinese folk religion..."

"You mean like accupuncure?"

"Yes, that's part of it, but also fortune-telling, the black dragon, astrology, and tens of thousands of spirits and gods,   It's a crazy and unpredictable mess.  But the true God is a God of order and....

"Natural law!", Anselm interjected.

"Yes, natural law.  He is reasonable and His creation is knowable.  And it is because of Faraday's faith in God (he was a deacon in his church) that he had the theological and philosophical foundation to do science."

So we talked about God making sense, and our faith being rational until we got to church.  And at church during the vigil, when we sang the Polyeleos we smiled at each other when we sang the line "To Him who by understanding made the heavens, for His mercy endureth forever, hallelujah hallelujah".

Being with the Boys

My ex-wife, Athanasia had to fly to Orlando for work for a few days.  So Sunday through Tuesday nights I stayed at her house with the boys.  

At lunch time on Sunday I picked the boys up and brought them to the YMCA where I work so they could go swimming while I finished the work day.  Then, after work we went grocery shopping and then back to their home.  When we got there the Icon corner was cluttered with other stuff, dust covered everything.  I set Basil Wenceslas to dusting and removing things that didn't belong, and Anselm Samuel was tasked with cleaning the lampada filling it with oil and replacing the wick. 

Once that was done we made supper together and ate it.  We played two fun games after supper.  The first, Ticket to Ride is one of the best board games I've ever played.  The second game, Bananagrams, was fun, too but it wasn't a fair game for an adult and children to play together. 

After the games we said evening prayers.  Basil was a little upset that we did the Lenten tones.  He didn't know it was Lent.  But when I explained it to him he was alright.  He quickly remembered the Lenten music and by the time we were finished he was chanting the responses with the correct music.  I've been sick since mid February (mostly better now) and have lost a lot of my hearing so I it was difficult for me to sing the prayers.  I was very glad when last night and this morning Anselm was able to lead and Basil was able to respond while I just stood and prayed before the Icons with them.

Each night after prayers we fell asleep listening to a recording of "An Irish Country Courtship".  I like the whole series.

I took Anselm to his swim team meeting.  It was fun watching him.  He's been swimming at the YMCA for years but I didn't know he was good enough to make the team.  He tried out for the team last week and was selected.  He's really good.

This morning, after I dropped Anselm off at his school, Basil asked me what my favorite holiday is.  I said, "Well, that's a difficult question to answer.  I really like St. Patrick's day when Anslem and I made the book about St. Patrick and you and I made soda bread and we all prayed that prayer written by St. Patrick.  And I like Christmas when we read the books all Advent and go to church on Christmas and we cook the sausage we ground and stuffed ourselves.  And I like Thanksgiving when your mom cooks the best turkey and we go to the Cathedral in San Francisco.  And I like Pascha.  We always make the Paskha and Kulich. Do you remember the year we took the train to San Francisco, walked through the tunnel, bought BBQ pork buns in Chinatown on the way to the hotel, and then shared them with everyone after the liturgy?" 

Then Basil leaned over, put his head on my arm and said, "I love you, Dad."

I loved being with my boys the past few days. 

A log near the fire

I haven't been to church since Christmas.  I work every day.  Also, I haven't been reading or praying as a Christian should.  I didn't think about it much, and certainly didn't think it would be a problem.  But a few days ago I read something in a British newspaper that rattled my faith.  I began to have serious doubts about whether or not God exists, whether or not Jesus really did all the things reported in the Gospels, whether of not there is life after death.  It would be difficult to describe how alarmed I was by these thoughts. 

The last couple of weeks I have been sick.  Yesterday I was even too sick to go to work.  I just remained in bed and listened to Ancient Faith Radio.  My doubts are gone now.   

This experience reminded me of something my Dad said in a sermon many years ago.  He as preaching on "forsake not the assembling of yourselves together" and said that a log pulled away from the other logs in a fire will soon stop burning; the logs need each other to burn hot.

I will be so glad when I can quit one of my jobs and start going to the services again.