Still my heart and mind Lord that I may hear the things you hear. Guide my thoughts Lord that your thoughts are my thoughts. Quiet my words so that your words will be heard. Make me aware of you in my life.
Awareness brings knowledge. Jesus died, was buried, and he rose again. Three facts that lead to action. Stand firm, let nothing move you, always give yourself fully to the work of the Lord.(1 Cor 15:58)
Awareness, knowledge, and action three small steps in pursuit of him.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Friday, April 24, 2009
Unlikely Hero
I have found a new hero in a place I never would have suspected, my latest hero is a beauty pageant contestant. No, she's not my hero for her outer beauty, she's my hero for the inner beauty she allowed the nation to see when she was placed in one of those rare moments in time when the next 60 seconds will define her next 60 years.
Carrie Prejean, Miss California was seemingly moments away from achieving a lifetime goal of winning the Miss America Contest, the tiara was within her grasp, and with the answer to one question the dreams of a young girl becoming Miss America ended. Carrie was simply asked what her thoughts were on gay marriage, I am certain she knew
that her answer would determine whether or not she would win the crown. Carrie spoke from her heart and declared marriage "should be between a man and a woman." Instantly he response became the "answer heard round the world."
I'm not familiar with how one becomes a contestant in the Miss USA contest, I'm sure it takes years of practice, dozens, countless prior pageants and thousands of hours of preparation. I think winning Miss USA would be the ultimate goal for pageant contestants. When Carrie Prejean answered it was the equivalent of Tiger Woods needing a two foot putt to win the Masters, and picking it up. Brett Farve needing to make a key first down in the Superbowl instead takes a knee. Michael Jordan with the clock running down, holds on to the ball rather than taking the winning shot. It was in her power to reach the pinnacle, but not if it meant selling out her beliefs. That's why a pageant contestant is my new hero.
She did the right thing. Today she is being both vilified and commended for her response. Had she answered the way the eventual winner did "I'm not going to say whether or not I think it should be defined as marriage because that's up to our politicans and our elected officials.", she would have sold out.
The bible tells us not to store up treasures on earth, rather we should store up treasures in heaven. The bible says let your yes be yes, with her answer Carrie Prejean choose the ways of God, not man. Today Miss Prejean you are my hero.
Carrie Prejean, Miss California was seemingly moments away from achieving a lifetime goal of winning the Miss America Contest, the tiara was within her grasp, and with the answer to one question the dreams of a young girl becoming Miss America ended. Carrie was simply asked what her thoughts were on gay marriage, I am certain she knew
that her answer would determine whether or not she would win the crown. Carrie spoke from her heart and declared marriage "should be between a man and a woman." Instantly he response became the "answer heard round the world."
I'm not familiar with how one becomes a contestant in the Miss USA contest, I'm sure it takes years of practice, dozens, countless prior pageants and thousands of hours of preparation. I think winning Miss USA would be the ultimate goal for pageant contestants. When Carrie Prejean answered it was the equivalent of Tiger Woods needing a two foot putt to win the Masters, and picking it up. Brett Farve needing to make a key first down in the Superbowl instead takes a knee. Michael Jordan with the clock running down, holds on to the ball rather than taking the winning shot. It was in her power to reach the pinnacle, but not if it meant selling out her beliefs. That's why a pageant contestant is my new hero.
She did the right thing. Today she is being both vilified and commended for her response. Had she answered the way the eventual winner did "I'm not going to say whether or not I think it should be defined as marriage because that's up to our politicans and our elected officials.", she would have sold out.
The bible tells us not to store up treasures on earth, rather we should store up treasures in heaven. The bible says let your yes be yes, with her answer Carrie Prejean choose the ways of God, not man. Today Miss Prejean you are my hero.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Inertia Part II
My last post was intended to convey a simple message, two of my esteemed colleagues have pointed out the simple message was not necessarily clear. It is to them I dedicate this summary.
We are all creatures of habit, if we are in the habit of reaching out and helping others we will continue to do so. Our efforts will connect us with like minded individuals who are also excited to reach out, this connection to others will create a synergy, momentum, or inertia. Our energies will feed off each other, and we will become further charged to continue and increase the work we do. As Newton states: "A body in motion tends to stay in motion."
The converse is true, we know what we should do, but we don't do it. The longer we remain at rest, the more familiar that habit becomes, we end up doing nothing. The more nothing we do, makes doing something all the harder, and that is a bad thing. As Newton stated, "A body at rest tends to stay at rest." Today is too important to let it pass without making a positive contribution.
So, get your cold weather gear on, start doing something, and get in the game. We are created in the image of God, and he came to us a servant, so lets serve.
We are all creatures of habit, if we are in the habit of reaching out and helping others we will continue to do so. Our efforts will connect us with like minded individuals who are also excited to reach out, this connection to others will create a synergy, momentum, or inertia. Our energies will feed off each other, and we will become further charged to continue and increase the work we do. As Newton states: "A body in motion tends to stay in motion."
The converse is true, we know what we should do, but we don't do it. The longer we remain at rest, the more familiar that habit becomes, we end up doing nothing. The more nothing we do, makes doing something all the harder, and that is a bad thing. As Newton stated, "A body at rest tends to stay at rest." Today is too important to let it pass without making a positive contribution.
So, get your cold weather gear on, start doing something, and get in the game. We are created in the image of God, and he came to us a servant, so lets serve.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Inertia
According to Wikipedia inertia is the tendency of a body to maintain its state of rest or uniform motion unless acted upon by an external force. It's the body at rest, the body not moving, the body ready for movement, it's me and it seems I'm not moving much.
A body at rest tends to stay at rest, a body in motion tends to stay in motion. These are seemingly simple concepts, yet the difficulty arises in knowing when to be at rest and when to be in motion. Sometimes its easy to figure out, a long work out is followed by rest, work six days and rest on the seventh. Those examples are easy ones, we rest with the expectation that we will continue to move, our rest in the present is only so we can move in the future.
I'm training for a 100 mile bike ride June 6th, at least I should be training. I'm letting the lingering grasps of cold weather, keep me from doing what I know I should be doing, I should be pedaling but I'm not. The funny part, I have all the cold weather gear I need to be warm as I ride. The body at rest tends to stay at rest.
So is it lethargy? Romans 7:15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but I do what I hate to do. Paul understood inertia. Paul knew we all know what we should do, he knew we wouldn't do it, and he knew we would hate not doing it. I love timeless truths, you see it's not lethargy it's inertia, the body at rest tends to stay at rest, even when rest is no longer required. That's why we need an external force to come and change our speed, so we begin to move, because a body in motion tends to stay in motion.
We are the Body, and the body is built for movement. Right now is more than just a gap between ice ages, right now is the time for the Body to be in motion, the season of rest will come later, time to move. Time for the cold weather gear.
A body at rest tends to stay at rest, a body in motion tends to stay in motion. These are seemingly simple concepts, yet the difficulty arises in knowing when to be at rest and when to be in motion. Sometimes its easy to figure out, a long work out is followed by rest, work six days and rest on the seventh. Those examples are easy ones, we rest with the expectation that we will continue to move, our rest in the present is only so we can move in the future.
I'm training for a 100 mile bike ride June 6th, at least I should be training. I'm letting the lingering grasps of cold weather, keep me from doing what I know I should be doing, I should be pedaling but I'm not. The funny part, I have all the cold weather gear I need to be warm as I ride. The body at rest tends to stay at rest.
So is it lethargy? Romans 7:15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but I do what I hate to do. Paul understood inertia. Paul knew we all know what we should do, he knew we wouldn't do it, and he knew we would hate not doing it. I love timeless truths, you see it's not lethargy it's inertia, the body at rest tends to stay at rest, even when rest is no longer required. That's why we need an external force to come and change our speed, so we begin to move, because a body in motion tends to stay in motion.
We are the Body, and the body is built for movement. Right now is more than just a gap between ice ages, right now is the time for the Body to be in motion, the season of rest will come later, time to move. Time for the cold weather gear.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Prophecy
I was doing some research last week on Old Testament prophecy fulfilled in the New testament and came across the following calculation:
Peter Stoner a mathematician, came up with these probabilities in his work titled Science Speaks. The odds of one man living throughout history and up to today fulfilling just eight of the hundreds of prophecies of the coming messiah in the OT are 1 in 10 to the 17th, or 100,000,000,000,000,000. Let me give a visual. Take the entire state of Texas cover it two feet deep in silver dollars, mark one of those silver dollars with a red x, and mix them all up. Blindfold a person, tell them to go as far and wide as they would like, they can reach down and pick up one coin. The odds of coming up with the right coin are the same odds of one man fulfilling just eight of the hundreds of prophecies fulfilled by Jesus. In other words, it’s mathematically impossible for one person to fulfill eight prophecies, Jesus fulfilled hundreds.
The following probabilities are taken from Peter Stoner’s work in Science Speaks to show that coincidence is ruled out by the science of probability. The analysis is concerned with the following eight prophecies:
1. Messiah is to be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2; fulfilled in Matt. 2:1-7; John 7:42; Luke 2:47).
2. Messiah is to be preceded by a Messenger (Isaiah 40:3; Malachi 3:1; fulfilled in Matthew 3:1-3; 11:10; John 1:23; Luke 1:17).
3. Messiah is to enter Jerusalem on a donkey (Zechariah 9:9; fulfilled in Luke 35-37; Matthew 21:6-11).
4. Messiah is to be betrayed by a friend (Psalms 41:9; 55:12-14; fulfilled in Matthew 10:4; 26:49-50; John 13:21).
5. Messiah is to be sold for 30 pieces of silver (Zechariah 11:12; fulfilled in Matthew 26:15; 27:3).
6. The money for which Messiah is sold is to be thrown “to the potter” in God’s house (Zechariah 11:13; fulfilled in Matthew 27:5-7).
7. Messiah is to be silent before His accusers (Isaiah 53:7; fulfilled in Matthew 27:12).
8. Messiah is to be executed by crucifixion as a thief (Psalm 22:16; Zechariah 12:10; Isaiah 53:5,12; fulfilled in Luke 23:33; John 20:25; Matthew 27:38; Mark 15:27,28).
This Easter remember, we worship the Lord of the universe who is all and in all.
Peter Stoner a mathematician, came up with these probabilities in his work titled Science Speaks. The odds of one man living throughout history and up to today fulfilling just eight of the hundreds of prophecies of the coming messiah in the OT are 1 in 10 to the 17th, or 100,000,000,000,000,000. Let me give a visual. Take the entire state of Texas cover it two feet deep in silver dollars, mark one of those silver dollars with a red x, and mix them all up. Blindfold a person, tell them to go as far and wide as they would like, they can reach down and pick up one coin. The odds of coming up with the right coin are the same odds of one man fulfilling just eight of the hundreds of prophecies fulfilled by Jesus. In other words, it’s mathematically impossible for one person to fulfill eight prophecies, Jesus fulfilled hundreds.
The following probabilities are taken from Peter Stoner’s work in Science Speaks to show that coincidence is ruled out by the science of probability. The analysis is concerned with the following eight prophecies:
1. Messiah is to be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2; fulfilled in Matt. 2:1-7; John 7:42; Luke 2:47).
2. Messiah is to be preceded by a Messenger (Isaiah 40:3; Malachi 3:1; fulfilled in Matthew 3:1-3; 11:10; John 1:23; Luke 1:17).
3. Messiah is to enter Jerusalem on a donkey (Zechariah 9:9; fulfilled in Luke 35-37; Matthew 21:6-11).
4. Messiah is to be betrayed by a friend (Psalms 41:9; 55:12-14; fulfilled in Matthew 10:4; 26:49-50; John 13:21).
5. Messiah is to be sold for 30 pieces of silver (Zechariah 11:12; fulfilled in Matthew 26:15; 27:3).
6. The money for which Messiah is sold is to be thrown “to the potter” in God’s house (Zechariah 11:13; fulfilled in Matthew 27:5-7).
7. Messiah is to be silent before His accusers (Isaiah 53:7; fulfilled in Matthew 27:12).
8. Messiah is to be executed by crucifixion as a thief (Psalm 22:16; Zechariah 12:10; Isaiah 53:5,12; fulfilled in Luke 23:33; John 20:25; Matthew 27:38; Mark 15:27,28).
This Easter remember, we worship the Lord of the universe who is all and in all.
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