The Husband Tree

There they sit, those widowers. Looking lost in their gray aloneness. Singles in church, singles in the restaurant. Wearing mis-matched socks.
Little do they know, they're widow fodder. In fact, they're low hanging fruit.
John was the best of them. A former lifetime member of the Republican party, he had a brain waiting to be molded. The author of a house bill to restore tax breaks to home-based business, he had earned his modicum of fame. A good looking guy with just a bit too much fat, he could be slimmed down.
Three years of married life, he's a slimmer Democrat and tons of fun. He entertains me daily with his avocation, magic, and earns some coin with his vocation, accounting. He always has a project: The History of Russian Opera is current and with him I watch A Life For the Tsar in it's four hours of glory, found at Amazon for $10. Since he creates on a typewriter, my Internet facility, such as it is, is indispensable to him.
We're learning Russian from Rosetta Stone and planning a Volga River Cruise. He's been amazed at all the places I've taken him. I've been amazed that he's been willing to go.
What a good guy; and there he was, lonely and wifeless. Ripe for the picking.
A real treasure. Widow fodder.

Is it ok to be intelligent?

Dears:

I hid my Phi Beta Kappa key when I became a Christian because I was pretty sure Orville Roberts would come and take it and send it back. "We don't want none of them scholar-types in this deal" seemed to be the prevailing cant.

Then, steadier believers steered me to the likes of Pascal and C.S. Lewis and Phillip Yancy, all of whom were first rate thinkers. Pascal's Dilemma: If I live as if there is no God, and get to my end only to find I was wrong, what an awful consequence! If I live as if there is a God and get to the end of my life and find I was wrong, I still will have lived a fine life. The right decision comes down to living a Godly life and hoping for the best.

Lewis wrote: Jesus was a liar, a lunatic, or a Lord, and proved the first two were impossible based on his life; thus leaving the third to be true.

And Phillip Yancy? I became his disciple when I read his column in Christianity Today, a slight little magazine much frequented by ministers. Then I read his books, most notably What's So Amazing About Grace?

You may, dear children, wonder why I have left Lee Strobel off the list? I'll tell you. He's a good reporter, but he ain't no deep thinker. Hey, wait a second. Is that true of me? "No, no, Orville. You can't have my Phi Beta Kappa key."