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Get Quite
Psalm 131
1 My heart is not proud, O Lord, my eyes are not haughty; I do not concern myself with great matters or things too wonderful for me.
2 But I have stilled and quieted my soul; like a weaned child with its mother, like a weaned child is my soul within me.
3 O Israel, put your hope in the Lord both now and forevermore.
Commentary:
Sometimes we need to stick our fingers in our mouth and just be quiet and let God be God.
{Photo of TJ; August 2006)
I Know I Can’t Spell
If you have read many of my post you’ve probably come to the conclusion that I cannot spell. My inability to spell started very early in life. Do you remember the spelling bees in school? Yeah I was usually out in the first round. But not Moose. He usually pulled his arms in his shirt, flapped like a chicken, and finished at the top. Getting put out in the first round was not something I really shot for, but it did allowed me more time to sit and my desk and read SI. I always enjoyed Science and Math, but to this day I have a very difficult time spelling.
But then came the advent of the computer with spell check. Turns out I was born at the right time in history after all. Those of us who use PCs (not sure about MACs) have been indoctrinated to the Microsoft Office products which utilizes the F7 key to activate spell check. While it can correct the spelling of works, it unfortunately can’t read my mind for the word I’m trying to spell. Even after I run spell check – I may have all the words spelled correctly, but simply not have the right words on the document. Most of the time when I reread things I’ve wrote, I find myself reading over a wrong word (and not catching it), while saying in my mind what I wanted that word to be (don’t know if any of this makes sense). The conclusion of the matter is this. I know I have trouble spelling so if you see words that really make what I’m trying to communicate wrong or blasphemous let me know. In a day of “miss speaking” there are those of us who “miss-type”.
Making the Bible True
For years I’ve received emails claiming to have facts that substantiate Noah’s Ark , Sodom and Gomorrah, and a various other Biblical stories. The problem is that many of these have often proved to be false. I’m not sure why some people feel that it’s up to them to make the Bible true. I don’t need proof of these things in order for me to believe the stories in the scripture. Some call this attitude ignorance, others call it faith.
One of the last stories I received involves the discovery of chariot wheels at the bottom of the Red Sea. You can read about the story here. I decide to email Dr. Dennis Cole, who taught a class I took on Biblical Archaeology. He granted me permission to post his response below.
Trenidy:
The web site you cited in your email outlines the serious questions raised against the claims made by Ron Wyatt and Bob Cornulke (also Larry Williams) regarding items they found in the Gulf of Aqaba (eastern arm of the Red Sea)which they thought were evidence of chariot parts. These claims were never substantiated, and furthermore are based on another widely discredited speculation that Mt. Sinai should be located in NW Saudia Arabia. The traditional crossing of the Red Sea (Heb Yam Suph) in the Bitter Lakes region or Lake Timsah are the most plausible, especially in the crossing of the Sea into the Wilderness of Shur (Ex. 15:22). The Wilderness of Shur is in the NW quadrant of the Sinai Peninsula.
See the following web site for ample refutation of the Mt Sinai in Arabia hypothesis: http://ldolphin.org/sinai.html
Dennis Cole
It All Rises and Falls with Him
..if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.
1 Corinthians 15:14 (NIV)
Happy Easter
Take the Reel
The two reasons I’m posting this video are:
1. This is first video I’ve posted to my blog, so its kinda of a test.
2. This is my kind of humor! Unfortuanatly I can’t get the lyrics out of my head.
Life Exchange
The Christian life is not about being changed, it’s about being exchanged. Because of Easter we can turn in our curses for His blessings. 2 Corinthians 5:21 reads, “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
We exchange:
- Sorrows for Joy
- Fear for Courage
- Hell for Heaven
- Money (we can’t keep) for Treasures (we can’t lose)
- Bodies that decay for Bodies that will live for ever
- Foolishness for Wisdom
- Hate for Love
- Depression for Joy
- Timidity for boldness
- Selfishness for otherness
- Guilt for Forgiveness
- Anxiety for Peace
- Hurriedness for patience
- Meanness for kindness
- Wickedness for goodness
- Doubt for faithfulness
- Harshness for gentleness
- Death for Life
- Anger for Assertiveness
- Greed for Contentment
- Bareness for Fruitfulness
- Insecurity for Confidence
- Bitterness for Sweetness
- Wariness for rest
- Deceit for truthfulness
- Poverty for riches
- Doubt for faith
- Despair for hope
- Ignorance for knowledge
- Pride for humility
- Brokenness for healing
- Shame for glory
Worldly Bubbles
I’m reading a small book, Seeing and Savoring Jesus Christ by John Piper, in the days leading up to Good Friday. This morning I was reading the prayer at the end of chapter 8 when some of the words went straight to my heart. In my relationship with Christ, I’m working through how obsessed I am with the trivial things of this world as opposed to him. I don’t think there is anything wrong with a Christian having hobbies or enjoying some game, but when those things become the focus of our lives {what we catch ourselves thinking about most often}, then they are wrong. Piper’s poetic prayer (hey it rhymes) says it all,
“Fight for us, O God, that we not drift numb and blind and foolish into vain and
empty excitements. Life is too short, to precisions, too painful to waste on worldly bubbles that burst. Heaven is too great, hell is too horrible; eternity is too long that we should putter around on the porch of eternity.”
Christ alone is the only object worthy of obsessive thoughts.
Folsom Wildlife Blues
I took a day of vacation last Friday and chaperoned a group of 1st graders on their field-trip to the Global Wildlife Center in Folsom, Louisiana. The group contained Lizzy’s 1st grade class along with 3 other classes from P.C.S. We took a charter bus from Hattiesburg and I got to ride co-pilot with the bus driver. He was a really nice guy, who had recently retired and would only drive when called upon. He told me of his many adventures over the years on the road, but I didn’t get to get his name. We took the Safari with the kids and it’s a pretty neat trip if you’ve never been. Basically all the animals come right up to the wagons and you literally pour food right down their throats. Sorry to be so graphic but that’s exactly what you do. They have a wide variety of animals that you can pet and feed. You get to see them up close, unlike most zoos where you might catch a glimpse of some animals if you are lucky. And my favorite part is the fact that they drive you around and you don’t have to walk too much. After the kids poured about 100lbs.s of “feed” on the ground, we returned to picnic and purchase some souvenirs before we left. We had a great time and kids seemed to enjoy it almost as much as the teachers.
And if you didn’t get the title, read this Folsom Prison Blues.
Generosity and Love
The public outpouring over my traffic ticket has been incredible. Actually I’ve found no one that has been upset by this, other that my 7year old daughter. Wednesday before bed, I told both of my daughters about me getting a ticket. The next morning I found this note along with $15 on my dresser. I’ve been saving up for a new MP3 player and I told them that because of my ticket I wouldn’t be able to purchase it. I was trying to teach them that adults suffer consequences too when we do wrong. What I got was love from a little girl who didn’t want her Dad to miss out. Thanks Liz, I love you. Dad
(Notice the illustration of the nice cop (smile) with the ticket and Dad sitting (humbly) in his truck in the background.
3 Crazy Happenings from Today
- Someone called at 1:30 AM and left us a voice message saying they had some questions about our house that we have for sale here. Needless to say we aren’t calling them back.
- I got a traffic ticket today for making an illegal turn. The cop walked up to my window and asked “Sir Do you know why I pulled you over.” I responded, “Yes Sir” (I made a U turn) and the rest is history. The fine, $132. Note: Be sure you keep an updated insurance card on you. The outdated ones don’t count. Thanks goodness I found mine because that one is a $1000 fine.
- We woke up this morning and had about 20 little fish (eyes and a tail is all) swimming around in the girls fish tank. We purchased the fish a few weeks ago at PetSmart and they warned us that one of them might be pregnant with eggs. The girls were pumped. They’re trying to name them all. Tonight we’re planning a covert operation to extract the small fry and relocated them to a safer habitat. All this because I told the girls that the other fish would probably eat them.
