"A Soldier and a Fisherman" by Doug Spurling

In A Soldier and a Fisherman, Doug Spurling takes us into Acts 10, the story of Cornelius the Roman centurion and Peter the fisherman and disciple of Jesus. If there were an a more unlikely pair who would transform very early Christian understanding of the law and set Christianity on its revolutionary course in society, you might be hard put to find one. 

Cornelius was the Roman centurion charged with keeping the peace in Caesarea in Judea. He also happened to be the one commended by Jesus for his faith. And he had held fast to his faith. Cornelius hears a command – to send to Joppa for a man named Peter. Cornelius knows what to do with a command – and he sends three men.

 

Doug Spurling

In Joppa, Peter is staying with Simon the tanner. He is praying on the roof when he has a vision – a sheet let down from heaven full of the things that were considered unclean under Jewish law. And he, too hears a voice, telling him to kill and eat. That came as a shock to Peter’s Jewish teaching, training, and thinking. But the voice wasn’t finished; Peter is told that three men are looking for him, and he is to go with them. And like Cornelius, Peter obeyed, fathering some friends to go with him. 

 

When they meet, a revolution starts – the understanding that Jesus didn’t die for only the Jews. He died for Gentiles as well.

 

Spurling retells this story in an expository fashion, citing the specific Bible verses as he expands upon the story. (He points out the significance of Simon the tanner to the narrative – a man practicing what the Jews considered an unclean trade.) We’re put into the minds of Cornelius and Peter. We initially see what they initially see. And we come to understand what they came to understand. The story comes alive in contemporary language.

 

Spurling is the author of the novel The Voice and lives with his family in Minnesota and Florida. A Soldier and a Fisherman is a short but impactful account of Cornelius and Peter is a gem of storytelling and insight.

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Doug Spurling’s The Voice.

Doug Spurling’s “The Voice”

As I read Doug Spurling’s The Voice, a phrase Kept going through my mind – “unto the third and fourth generation.” It’s from the Book of Exodus in the Bible – “You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me.”

The Voice isn’t about sins being passed down through generations, but it about patterns of behavior recurring in generations. But fundamentally, it’s a love story, a story of love and faith stretching across generations and decades. Four generations, in fact.

It begins with RJ, who owns a fishing shop at a marina in the Florida Keys. His 16-year-old son Mac is working there, doing so well that he’s put in charge of maintenance at the dock and marina. He meets Maggie, or perhaps Maggie meets him. Mac joins the Navy, he and Maggie marry, and have one son, Richie. They want more but are unable to have more children. About the time Richie turns 16, he meets a girl, but Mac and Maggie know a mistake is being made. They marry anyway and Richie goes off to the Navy.

Then come the losses. Spurling piles several on at once – death, desertion, depression. Mac faces personal devastation. Richie’s wife moves away.

Doug Spurling

Eventually, we learn there’s a Rickey. And it is around Rickey that the story begins to turn.

The Voice is full of the stuff of life – love, faith, tragedy, injury. It’s about the sea, and sailing, and why we do the things we do when we’re dealing with pain and suffering. It’s about hope, and redemption. It’s even about how a bar can serve as a missionary outpost.

Individual patterns and character traits repeat themselves – falling in love at a young age; the connection to the sea and the Navy; and even a crooked smile. Extending through the years and generations is something else, too – faith.

The Voice is a story written for the heart, from the heart. Well done, Doug Spurling.

Photograph by Weyenbergh Jacky via Public Domain Pictures. Used with permission.

Saturday Good Reads: A Quartet

Roaming over the internet this week, I happened upon a quartet of posts that had “Saturday Good Reads” written all over them.

Doug Spurling at Spurling Silver

Doug write a story, one that sounds true like all good stories, and I suspect there’s at least some truth to it. But it’s one of those stories you read and say, “Wow that’s a great story.” And I loved the title: Copenhagen Chapel.

Harriett Gilham at The Other Side of the Mountain

Harriett is a retired English schoolteacher in Atlanta, and Atlanta is where she grew up. She writes about family, literature, teaching – and stories about growing up. Like Mostly Shots.

Greg Sullivan at Sippican Cottage

I’ve been reading Sippican Cottage longer than just about any other blog (including my own). Greg Sullivan makes furniture way up thar in Maine. He used to make furniture in Massachusetts, but that’s another story. He loves music, and he loves fine woodworking. And he has some observations to make in Hey Althouse Readers, this is What IKEA furniture is Good For.

Diana Trautwein for A Deeper Family

Diana blogs at Just Wondering, where she tells stories, posts wonderful photographs (mostly of California), and talks about family. This week she had a guest post at A Deeper Family that is classic Trautwein: A Note to My Younger Self.

Painting: Emerson String Quartet at Tanglewood by J Fox. 

The Seventh Day of Christmas: New Friends

For the seventh day of Christmas, I want to highlight some new friends I’ve found via blogs, comments on blogs, Twitter, and various web sites.

Doug Spurling. Doug lives in Minnesota. He has a blog called Spurling Silver (I like that name), where he writes about family, grandchildren, life, faith and God. He had two posts last week, one entitled “Frozen” and the other “The First Christmas Tree,” which will give you a good indication how he can surprise a reader, and take you where you didn’t expect to go. You can follow him on Twitter, too.

Susan Etole. Susan lives in Minnesota, and posts about the “three Ps” on her blog, Just…A Moment – poems, prose and photos. She’ll take the simplest of ideas and combine a few words with a photo to blow you away, like she did with “No Storm Here” and “The Riven Heart.” Susan and I have at least three things in common – faith, a love for poetry and a love for good mysteries.

Randall David Tipton. Tipton is an artist in Oregon, and he posts his oils and watercolors on his blog, Painter’s Process. He does some beautiful work, painting in a luminous way. His subjects are often nature – woods, trees and other natural settings – but he also did this recent work of “Steam and a Mill” on the Willamette River. And thanks to my friend Maureen Doallas for introducing me to Tipton’s work.

Phoenix-Karenee. Phoenix-Karenee is an artist, a poet and an author. I don’t know her or his real name or (obviously) gender; the blog site is something of a mystery and that’s part of the enjoyment. I suspect it’s a she, but I could be wrong. But I really enjoy the poems and the art that’s posted occasionally.

Claire Burge. Claire, who lives in Ireland, writes a blog called My Memoir of You, and she posts her poetry and photography. She also has a tutoring business, a blog devoted to her photography, and a blog about family, where she posts occasionally. I tweet her poems whenever she posts one – they’re good.