Saturday's Old Photo

For the first two years of my life, my dad was a student  at Bryan College in Dayton, Tennessee, and I lived with my parents on campus there. The married students attending in the 1950s lived in little trailers in what was known as Trailerville. You see one of the Trailerville trailer houses in the background of this photo.

Most of the trailers would have been the size of our travel trailers. My family had only three people—my parents and me—but some couples had four or five children. Can you imagine what it would have been like to spend a rainy day with five children in one of those little homes? Now, a mother could just pack  all the kids in the car and drive someplace for a break, but back then, no one used the car—if they had one—for trivial things like that.

And none of the trailers had bathrooms. Instead, there was a communal shower house and a communal laundry. There was no air conditioning, either, and the trailers became like ovens in the heat, so when it was hot, families spent most of the day outdoors.

I’ve made things sound miserable, but I think my mother was really happy in Trailerville. She loved having lots of people around her, so meeting a neighbour or two every time she used the bathroom or did the laundry wasn’t necessarily a drawback for her.

That’s me on the trike in the center of the group of Trailerville kids. Going by the date printed on the photo, I would have been 15 or 16 months old, so there’s no way I could actually ride that trike. Maybe that’s why I’m looking so grumpy.

Round the Sphere Again

Church History
Quoting Justin Martyr’s description of a church service in the second century. (Pulpit Magazine)

Thinking about the Crusades. (The Upward Call)

David Helm on Charles Simeon, who endured 30 years of opposition while he preached at Holy Trinity Church at Cambridge.

For nearly ten years the congregation refused to listen to Simeon’s sermons by locking their pews so that even visitors would not have a place to sit. When Simeon rented chairs at his own expense and placed them in the aisles, the churchwardens threw them out into the street, forcing visitors to stand while he preached. Opposition to Simeon continued for another 20 years and even included incidents of student’s hurling bricks through his windows while he was preaching.

Read the whole thing. (Between Two Worlds)

Clarifying the controversy around Isaac Watts and his hymns. (Religious Affections Ministries)

Theology
Twelve reasons for believing that the Bible affirms that Adam was a real, historical person. (Analogical Thoughts) HT: Between Two Worlds

J. I Packer’s Concise Theology is online. Are you as excited as I am?

Hymnody
Counting down more hymns on the top 100 list (Semicolon):

• Beneath the Cross of Jesus (26)
• Blessed Assurance (25)
• In the Garden (24) Hmmm…one of the few hymns on the list so far that I actually dislike, and apparently I’m not alone.
• All Creatures of Our God and King (23)

My Desktop Photo 72: Carcross Desert...

Photo by Andrew Stark
(click on photo for larger view)

with Lake Bennett in the background.

It is, supposedly, the world’s smallest desert. Nevermind that it isn’t technically a desert. Still, it’s a fun place to visit.