Sometimes I go to God and say, "God, if Thou dost never answer another prayer while I live on this earth, I will still worship Thee as long as I live and in the ages to come for what Thou hast done already. God’s already put me so far in debt that if I were to live one million millenniums I couldn’t pay Him for what He’s done for me.- AW Tozer
Saturday, December 31, 2011
A Good Word to Close 2011
Monday, December 26, 2011
The Amazing Dance of Bees
Blown away by this video. There are no words to describe the glory and awesome brilliance of our Creator God. As I think about this vector calculus dance with the bees, I am reminded of Job 38-40 and God's response to Job's questions. Here is just a snippet of that passage:
"Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?
Tell Me, if you have understanding.
Who determined its measurements?
Surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it?
To what were its foundations fastened?
Or who laid its cornerstone,
When the morning stars sang together,
And all the sons of God shouted for joy?" [Job 38:4-8]
Friday, December 23, 2011
The Incomprehensible Incarnation
- Augustine, Sermons 191.1Man’s maker was made man
That He, Ruler of the stars,
Might nurse at His mother’s breast
That the Bread might hunger
The Fountain thirst
The Light sleep
The Way be tired on its journey
That the Truth might be accused of false witness
The Teacher be beaten with whips
The Foundation be suspended on wood
That Strength might grow weak
That the Healer might be wounded
That Life might die
Saturday, December 17, 2011
"Use Your Words"
More and more, I have overheard parents use this phrase ("use your words") when trying to navigate their child's temper tantrum. It seems this phrase is somewhat in vogue today. I've even overheard parents discuss how useful this phrase can be to help a child learn to express their feelings in the midst of their fit - implying that it encouraged the child to communicate their needs in the heat of the tantrum.
Now, I'm not a fan of this phrase at all; And, the problem of saying "use your words" in this context is to imply that in some way vocalizing one's selfishness is somehow redeeming. That if the child can only vocalize his selfish desires, then all is well and the parent will be more willing to meet his expressed desire.
Now, to be fair, it's a great thing to encourage communication. And, it's also wonderful to encourage rational thought in the midst of stress. But, if a chief goal as a parent is to shepherd and guide your child's heart, then it appears to me that in this context, it's more helpful to hone in on your child's motivation rather than the verbalization of the selfish motivation. Are his words to be rewarded?
If anything, shouldn't we encourage our children to just the opposite - knowing that in the midst of anger, words generally do not help? That's been my experience; in the heat of a tantrum - be it a toddler tantrum or a full grown adult-sized one, my words have typically not served me nor the situation well. Which may inform us to lead our children to handle their tantrums by advising, "Strive to restrain your words" instead of "use your words." It seems like Solomon had a few things to say about this...
Now, I'm not a fan of this phrase at all; And, the problem of saying "use your words" in this context is to imply that in some way vocalizing one's selfishness is somehow redeeming. That if the child can only vocalize his selfish desires, then all is well and the parent will be more willing to meet his expressed desire.
Now, to be fair, it's a great thing to encourage communication. And, it's also wonderful to encourage rational thought in the midst of stress. But, if a chief goal as a parent is to shepherd and guide your child's heart, then it appears to me that in this context, it's more helpful to hone in on your child's motivation rather than the verbalization of the selfish motivation. Are his words to be rewarded?
If anything, shouldn't we encourage our children to just the opposite - knowing that in the midst of anger, words generally do not help? That's been my experience; in the heat of a tantrum - be it a toddler tantrum or a full grown adult-sized one, my words have typically not served me nor the situation well. Which may inform us to lead our children to handle their tantrums by advising, "Strive to restrain your words" instead of "use your words." It seems like Solomon had a few things to say about this...
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Knowledge is Power ...or not
Last week I attended the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium. It was an extremely interesting conference.
Not directly related to the conference, but one of the more ironic if not entertaining scenes could be seen just outside the beautiful Henry B. Gonzales convention center. I was surprised almost every time I exited the building to spot a handful of people just calmly puffing on their cigarettes. "Surely, these could not be conference attendees," I thought. From their badges and the blue bags handed out to the conference attendees, it was clear that they were indeed conference attendees... and maybe even conference speakers!
Now, don't get me wrong; I am not talking about the moral implications of smoking. And, truly, I am not even sure that smoking is much of a moral issue. That's another topic; debatable perhaps in the realm of liberty and what is profitable. And, I guess in every group there are a percentage of smokers, but at a cancer symposium?! With an audience of the brightest doctors and researches on the planet - leading experts in the conventional treatment for cancer....SMOKING?!? It's just surprising... something like going to see a 400lb cardiologist! To be fair, the percentage of people smoking was quite small, but perhaps I was naive and idealistic enough just to think that in this particular group that maybe... just MAYBE... that number would be ZERO!! Well, that number was a good bit larger than the ZERO that I had presumed... lending to the idea that even having a PhD in one's field is no 'salvation' from acting in contradiction to what one knows to be true or right... (now that's an interesting idea to play with)
Not directly related to the conference, but one of the more ironic if not entertaining scenes could be seen just outside the beautiful Henry B. Gonzales convention center. I was surprised almost every time I exited the building to spot a handful of people just calmly puffing on their cigarettes. "Surely, these could not be conference attendees," I thought. From their badges and the blue bags handed out to the conference attendees, it was clear that they were indeed conference attendees... and maybe even conference speakers!
Now, don't get me wrong; I am not talking about the moral implications of smoking. And, truly, I am not even sure that smoking is much of a moral issue. That's another topic; debatable perhaps in the realm of liberty and what is profitable. And, I guess in every group there are a percentage of smokers, but at a cancer symposium?! With an audience of the brightest doctors and researches on the planet - leading experts in the conventional treatment for cancer....SMOKING?!? It's just surprising... something like going to see a 400lb cardiologist! To be fair, the percentage of people smoking was quite small, but perhaps I was naive and idealistic enough just to think that in this particular group that maybe... just MAYBE... that number would be ZERO!! Well, that number was a good bit larger than the ZERO that I had presumed... lending to the idea that even having a PhD in one's field is no 'salvation' from acting in contradiction to what one knows to be true or right... (now that's an interesting idea to play with)
Monday, December 12, 2011
The Indictment of Twitter
One of the great uses of Twitter and Facebook will be to prove at the Last Day that prayerlessness was not from lack of time.- John Piper
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
32000 ft on a Bankrupt Airline
Should it make me nervous that I am somewhere over Northern Arizona/Southern Utah right now flying on an airline that just declared bankruptcy? This has got to be one of the emptiest flights I have ever experienced...and to think, I was tempted to upgrade! As it stands, this is nearly a personalized air taxi to Austin. :-) I would guess this flight is not 10% occupied...
With all the seats empty, it kind of makes me wonder where they had to take shortcuts to meet the profit margin model for this flight? Nope, this may just be a break even flight...maybe...
Shortcuts... it reminds me of being in Ottawa earlier this year in an "I can't see 5 feet in front of me" snowstorm... I had just sat down on the full flight when the stewardess came on to let us know that there would only be a short delay because there was a problem with the wing... the WING!?! At that, everybody just looked in at each other in astonishment as if to say, "she didn't just say WING, did she??" That whole Bernouilli effect, fluid dynamics, wings... it just sounds kind of important. Shortly thereafter, she bounced back to the PA system to "reassure" everyone that they would have us off the ground in "no time at all!" ...no, seriously, please take your time... take your time... make sure that thing is bolted on!
With all the seats empty, it kind of makes me wonder where they had to take shortcuts to meet the profit margin model for this flight? Nope, this may just be a break even flight...maybe...
Shortcuts... it reminds me of being in Ottawa earlier this year in an "I can't see 5 feet in front of me" snowstorm... I had just sat down on the full flight when the stewardess came on to let us know that there would only be a short delay because there was a problem with the wing... the WING!?! At that, everybody just looked in at each other in astonishment as if to say, "she didn't just say WING, did she??" That whole Bernouilli effect, fluid dynamics, wings... it just sounds kind of important. Shortly thereafter, she bounced back to the PA system to "reassure" everyone that they would have us off the ground in "no time at all!" ...no, seriously, please take your time... take your time... make sure that thing is bolted on!
Monday, December 5, 2011
Saturday, December 3, 2011
Abandon Your Pride
A good word before Christmas...
Burst of Joy is a Pulitzer Prize winning photo taken on March 17, 1973 at Travis Air Force base.
If that photo does not represent you and the key relationships in your life, seek reconciliation, abandon your pride, and build and rebuild those relationships with time, attention, prayer and patience.- Dr. Jay Smith, Professor of New Testament, Dallas Theological Seminary
"Plan to Finish Well", Oct. 11, 2011, Dallas Theological Seminary Chapel
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