QUARANTINE BLOG # 343

March 8, 2021

The following is inspired by QB 339, and is offered without comment (thanks, Matt, for sharing this):

👉  Elizebeth Smith Friedman was an American expert cryptanalyst and author.  She has been called “America’s first female cryptanalyst.”  The rare spelling of her name is attributed to her mother, who disliked the prospect of Elizebeth ever being called “Eliza.”

Elizebeth Smith began working at Riverbank Laboratories, Geneva, Illinois, in 1916, in one of the first facilities in the U.S. founded to study cryptography.  It was at Riverbank that Elizebeth met her husband, William Frederick Friedman, whom she married in 1917.  In 1921, the Friedmans left Riverbank to work for the War Department in Washington, D.C.

She and her team deciphered many encoded messages throughout the Prohibition years and solved many cases, including some codes which were written in Mandarin Chinese.  Prevailing conditions during Prohibition encouraged illegal activity.  To avoid taxes and other fees, smugglers brought liquor into the U.S., and, to a lesser degree, narcotics, perfume, jewels, and even pinto beans. While working for the U.S. Coast Guard, the Bureau of Narcotics, the Bureau of Internal Revenue, the Bureau of Prohibition and Customs, and the Department of Justice, she solved over 12,000 rum-runners’ messages in three years.  One of the individuals Friedman helped to indict was Al Capone.

During World War II, Friedman’s Coast Guard unit was transferred to the Navy where they were the principal U.S. source of intelligence on Operation Bolívar, the clandestine German network in South America.  In March 1942, Elizebeth Friedman discovered that Nazi spies in Latin America had located a large Allied supply ship named the “Queen Mary” along the coast of Brazil, and German U-boats were planning to sink it. 

So intent was Adolf Hitler on destroying the ship that he’d offered $250,000 to whichever captain could take it out.  Friedman’s discovery allowed the “Queen Mary” to evade the U-boats, saving the lives of the more than 8,000 soldiers on board.

👉  Although Commonwealth Day is not a public holiday in Canada, we salute our neighbors to the north, and particularly our blog readers in Victoria BC.  Commonwealth Day (formerly Empire Day) is the annual celebration of the Commonwealth of Nations. 

Commonwealth Flag

The Commonwealth of Nations, generally known simply as the Commonwealth, is a political association of 54 member states, almost all of which are former territories of the British Empire.  After the death of Queen Victoria on January 22, 1901, her birthday, May 24, was the first observed Empire Day.  In 1958, Harold Macmillan announced in Parliament the renaming of Empire Day as Commonwealth Day.

The day is marked by an Anglican service in Westminster Abbey, normally attended by Queen Elizabeth II as Head of the Commonwealth.  However, due to the pandemic, no service was held this year.  Instead Her Majesty delivered her annual message broadcast on BBC ONE in the UK.  Speaking about the past year of the pandemic, the Queen noted that “stirring examples of courage, commitment, and selfless dedication to duty have been demonstrated in every Commonwealth nation and territory, notably by those working on the frontline who have been delivering healthcare and other public services in their communities.”

👉  Beginning with QB 105 last July 14 we saluted Bill Waterson’s great comic strip, Calvin and Hobbes (the first of 3 days of salutes).  Calvin has several secret identities: Spaceman Spiff, Stupendous Man, and a private eye named “Tracer Bullet.”  Written in the style of the old hard-boiled detective stories Calvin solves crimes – of which he is usually the culprit – in his own special style.  In the following adventure he solves “The Case of the Broken Lamp.”

👉  Today’s sermon from the Crawfordville Pulpit is “Precious Name, Promise Keeper.”

👉   “I am.  Have no fear.”

Last Sunday I wrote a Lenten devotion which was expanded to become the sermon I preached yesterday at Crawfordville UMC.  I want to go back to that scene in Exodus 3 where Moses asked, “What is your name that I can tell the people who sent me” (Exodus 3:13).  God replied, “‘I AM WHO I AM.’  And He said, ‘Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you’” (Exodus 3:14).  

The Hebrew word “Yahweh” is a very personal name for God.  The first time he used it was from the burning bush, and it means “He who will make things happen now.”  God was telling Moses he was not any longer just “El Shaddi,” the all-powerful God of the mountains, but Yahweh, the Lord, the “I am” who would make things happen in the lives of the people who called out to him.

In John 8, Jesus was challenged by leaders of the Jews when he said, “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it and was glad.  Then the Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?  Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM” (8:56-58).  The Greek word John records from the lips of Jesus is the same as the Hebrew word God spoke from the burning bush.

Twenty-two times in the Gospel of John, Jesus says, “I am,” declaring to his listeners that he is “the God who makes things happen now.”  For the next few days, I’m going to write about them in these Lenten devotions.  And we begin with John 6:20 – “I am.  Do not be afraid.”

Fear seems to be something we are born with.  As babies we have a fear of loud noises.  As children we fear the darkness or fear falling.  It takes us a while to learn the truth of what Paul told Timothy: “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:17).

The disciples of Jesus were confronted with great fear one night on the Sea of Galilee.  They were in a boat on their way to Capernaum when a storm came up that lasted for 9 hours.  Rowing against the wind, they were terrified when they saw Jesus walking on the sea towards them.  Jesus spoke with authority and power.  “I am.  Have no fear.”  English translations read, “It is I.  Have no fear,” but the literal impact of his words is, “Yahweh, have no fear.”  The God who makes things happen now, calmed the angry sea and brought the disciples safely to shore.  

Over and over again in his ministry, a watchword punctuated his message.  “Do not fear, only believe” (Mark 5:36).  “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom” (Luke 12:32).  He rose triumphant from the grave and told His frightened disciples, “Do not be afraid” (Matthew 28:10).  And to each of us today that imperative is really an invitation.  “Here, let me help you overcome your fear!”

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