You are currently browsing the monthly archive for June, 2008.
And now, for a little break, here is the late, great Nickel Creek (not disbanded, but on hiatus) with their cool video rendition of “When In Rome.”
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After much urging from my family, I bought a new lawnmower last week at the local Sears store. Like I told 
my wife, I’m very comfortable buying electronics, but buying tools and machinery leaves me more uncomfortable. I looked at several stores before we settled on the 625 series Craftsman mower.
My current mower, a Snapper, I bought 13 years ago for $75 from one of my neighbors. He used to go to estate sales and buy lawnmowers and then fix them up. So I don’t know how old this mower really is, but I got a great deal on it and it has run for years. Still, my family hates it because it is loud and is not the easiest to push around the yard. I’m the only one who mows our yard, so I don’t care. But now that the kids are old enough, we decided it was time to get a more family-friendly mower. And now the time has come.
Because I want to use my new mower the right way, I’ve been reading through the owner’s manual. You know, how to use it correctly, maintain it and generally avoid cutting off a needed toe or finger. As I’ve read it, I realize that it is sort of like a bible of lawn mowing. There are things to do and things not to do on the path to happy mowing. Here are some of them that I’ve read:
- If you feel uneasy on a slope, do not mow it
- Clear the area of objects such as rocks, toys, wire, bones, sticks, etc. which could be picked up and thrown by the blade. Bones? Maybe cutting the grass isn’t the problem.
- Be sure the area is clear of other people before mowing. Stop the machine if anyone enters the area. That’s not a great incentive to get that lawn mowed: “I saw someone while I was mowing so I stopped.”
- Never direct discharged material toward anyone. It’s a lawnmower, not a gun.
- Never assume that children will remain where you last saw them. So true. That is, unless it’s summer, they’re teenagers and they are watching television.
- Never run a machine inside a closed area. It’s easy. The lawnmower is for the grass, the vacuum cleaner is for the carpet. Lawnmower outside. Vacuum inside.
- And finally: Mower blades are sharp and can cut. And you thought this machine was for BENDING the grass.
John Piper has an upcoming book on marriage that is based on a sermon series he did last year at Bethlehem Baptist Church. Based on what I’ve heard of those messages, it should be excellent. In one of his messages, Piper talks of the wonder of marriage:
Marriage is more wonderful than anyone on earth knows. And the reasons it is wonderful can only be learned from God’s special revelation and can only be cherished by the work of the Holy Spirit to enable us to behold and embrace the wonder. The reason we need the Spirit’s help is that the wonder of marriage is woven into the wonder of the gospel of the cross of Christ, and the message of the cross is foolishness to the natural man, and so the meaning of marriage is foolishness to the natural man (1 Corinthians 2:14).
And because of that thinking, we are confused about what is intended by marriage. He explains in the following excerpt from that message:
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John Piper, on his online program Ask Pastor John, answers the question, “Does Suffering Always Make Sense?“
Does Suffering Always Make Sense?
UPDATE: The person who posted this online did so illegally. Like others who linked, I was unaware of this. My apologies. Rather, go here to see this awesome book.
What this book is about:
The Christian church has a long tradition of systematic theology, that is, studying theology and doctrine organized around fairly standard categories such as the Word of God, redemption, and Jesus Christ. This introduction to systematic theology has several distinctive features:
- A strong emphasis on the scriptural basis for each doctrine and teaching
- Clear writing, with technical terms kept to a minimum
- A contemporary approach, treating subjects of special interest to the church today
- A friendly tone, appealing to the emotions and the spirit as well as the intellect
- Frequent application to life - Resources for worship with each chapter
- Bibliographies with each chapter that cross-reference subjects to a wide range of other systematic theologies.
Desiring God is now offering what it terms the “essential Piper trilogy” of Desiring God, The Pleasures of God and Future Grace for $22.50. What are these books about? Glad you asked.
DESIRING GOD: MEDITATIONS OF A CHRISTIAN HEDONIST
The message of Desiring God is that God is most glorified in us when weare most satisfied in him. In this book, Piper calls this worldview
“Christian Hedonism” and explains why pursuing maximum joy is essential
to glorifying God. He discusses the implications of this for
conversion, worship, love, Scripture, prayer, money, marriage,
missions, and suffering.
THE PLEASURES OF GOD: MEDITATIONS ON GOD’S DELIGHT IN BEING GOD
One way to see the glory of God is to meditate upon the object of hisdelight. In this reissued version with a new cover design, John Piper
unfo lds for us a vision of God through the lens of his happiness. What
most delights the happiest Being in the universe? God’s gladness in
being God. If God’s excellencies can be admired in his pleasures, and
if we tend to become like what we admire and enjoy, then focusing on
these pleasures can help us to be gradually conformed to his likeness.
In other words, we will be most satisfied in God when we know why God
is most satisfied in God. This version includes the same content as the
revised and expanded edition published in 2000.
FUTURE GRACE: THE PURIFYING POWER OF LIVING BY FAITH IN FUTURE GRACE
What is future grace? It is all that God promises to be for us fromthis second on. Saving faith means being confident and satisfied in
this ever- arriving future grace. This is why saving faith is also
sanctifying faith. The power of sin’s promise is broken by the power of
a superior satisfaction; namely, faith in future grace. Gratitude for
past grace was never meant to empower future obedience. Tomorrow’s
crisis demands tomorrow’s grace. And faith that future grace will be
there is the victory that overcomes the world. Future Grace contains 31
chapters - one for each day of the month - including practical chapters
on how faith in future grace defeats anxiety, pride, shame, lust,
despondency and more.
Blogged with the Flock Browser
Tags: JohnPiper, Desiring God, The Pleasures of God, Future Grace, Christian Hedonism
RealClearPolitics has a rundown on what the Electoral College map looks like at this point in the election season.
AMAZING GRACE AT AMAZON: Amazon.com has put the 2007 theatrical release of “Amazing Grace” on sale. It was a great movie and a definitely worth checking out.
WHY STUDY CHURCH HISTORY? Tim Challies, author of The Discipline of Spiritual Discernment and one of the most disciplined bloggers out there, has come up with seven reasons why you should study church history.
WHAT BIBLICAL MANLINESS LOOKS LIKE: Phil Johnson over at Pyromaniacs lays it on the line when it comes to being a man:
Biblical manliness is about authentic character. It’s not about bravado, and it’s not about boyishness. Going out into the woods with a bunch of other men, putting on war paint, making animal noises, telling scary stories around a campfire, and then working up a good cry might be good, visceral fun and all, but that has nothing to do with the biblical idea of manliness.
Read the rest here.
WORSHIPING SUMMER: John Piper offers some good counsel about how not to let the pleasures of summer turn you from worshiping God instead:
Don’t let summer make your soul shrivel. God made summer as a foretaste of heaven, not a substitute. If the mailman brings you a love letter from your fiancé, don’t fall in love with the mailman. That’s what summer is: God’s messenger with a sun-soaked, tree-green, flower-blooming, lake-glistening letter of love to show us what he is planning for us in the age to come—“things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and which have not entered into the heart of man, God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Corinthians 2:9). Don’t fall in love with the video preview, and find yourself unable to love the coming reality.
From an ad in Salvo magazine:
Does your son act too much like a little boy?
Is he fidgety and rambunctious?
Does he have trouble listening or have a puerile sense of humor?
Is he easily distracted?
Does he have a propensity to get dirty?
Does he enjoy playing with violent toys?
If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, then it might be time to medicate your son. Even if he doesn’t have ADD or ADHD, you’ll most certainly agree that he’s annoying.
Well, now you can curb the boyish tendencies in your son and make him almost comatose in the process. E-MASQL8 Plus has been clinically proven to remove in boys all signs of unwanted boyishness. You’ll never have to deal with snips, snails, or puppy-dog tails again.
E-MASQ8 Plus: A Cure for the Common Boy
Also see, in that same issue, this article entitled “Girly Men: The Media’s Attack on Masculinity.”
HT: Between Two Worlds and Wittingshire
As if the book wasn’t good enough, Alex and Brett Harris are now providing a study guide (for free!):
If you’re like us, talking with others about what you’re reading helps you decide what you think and how to respond to what a book is saying. This chapter-by-chapter study guide is intended to help you do just that.
Use it for personal study, if you wish, but we think it works best in a group. And the best group is one where you’re surrounded by others who care about the same things you do and are ready to put truth into action.
Don’t feel you have to process every question. It’s not a test, and as often as not, there’s no one right answer. Also, don’t let our questions limit what you ask or where you go. Ask God to direct your thoughts and decisions. And ask Him for courage — lots of it. Because big ideas are weak ideas if we’re not willing to let them shape how we think and live.
So use this study guide to zero in on the ideas, choices, and actions that seem most promising and helpful to you and your friends. Then expect great things to happen in your lives as you do hard things for the glory of God!
Your Fellow Rebelutionaries,
Alex and Brett
Both my son and daughter are reading through it and I look forward to going through the study guide with them. Thanks, Alex and Brett, for a great book and resource. Keep the mission!
Wesley J. Smith at Secondhand Smoke points to another case of arrogance in the media:
The Orlando Sentinel continually describes Terri Schiavo’s medical condition as “brain dead.” This is clearly wrong. Brain dead is a popular term for death by neurological criteria and it means that the whole brain and every constituent part has ceased to function as a brain. Thus, there are no reflexes, the body can’t breathe without support, etc.
Terri Schiavo was clearly not brain dead. She breathed on her own. She swallowed her own saliva. She had sleep and wake cycles, she moved her body–none of which can be done by a brain dead body.
But the Orlando Sentinel doesn’t care. When Bobby Schindler complained that their description of his sister was factually inaccurate, they told him to go eat a fig.
This was the letter the Orlando Sentinel sent to Bobby Schindler in response:
Dear Mr. Schindler:
I reviewed your complaint with our state editor, Bob Shaw. We’ve considered the arguments you made in our phone conversation, but we’ve consistently used the term “brain-dead” in connection with the Terry Schiavo case, and we see it as a valid brief description. I appreciate your calling us about it and letting us know your point of view.
Best regards,
Dana Eagles
Orlando Sentinel
But this wasn’t a “point of view” issue, it was about what is fact and what the paper was reporting. That kind of response — “point of view” — is media speak for “you can write to us all you want but we don’t care what you think and it won’t change anything we do.” It was only after a letter from Florida Attorney General David Gibbs requesting a correction that the paper admitted its mistake and printed a correction:
Correction: Because of an editing error, an article about the resignation of Florida Supreme Court Justice Kenneth B. Bell misstated the medical condition of Terri Schiavo, a Pinellas County woman who died in 2005 after the removal of her feeding tube. Schiavo, whose case was considered by the court, was severely brain-damaged but was not brain-dead.
That correction covers the particular story it was attached to, but it doesn’t go anywhere near addressing what was expressed in the letter from the Sentinel to Schindler that “we’ve consistently used “brain-dead” in connection with the Terry Schiavo case.” That’s a weak correction.
The media likes to throw out opinion polls to show how much our country hates the current president. Those are low numbers. But do you know the media is even lower in the public’s opinion than the much-criticized president and even Congress?
The point is not that we should trust all public opinion polls. After all, public opinion is fickle and there are a lot of opinions floating around out there. Rather, the point is is that we need to be discerning and critical-thinking about what is being reported. Major news organizations can do good work, but not just because they are “major news organizations.” That is just lazy thinking, and not worth putting our trust in.
Hip hop artist Trip Lee explains how he uses the Bible to write his rhymes for his compositions:
OK, maybe they’re not real, but then there was this, reported by the Associated Press:
ROME (AP) — A deer with a single horn in the center of its head - much like the fabled, mythical unicorn - has been spotted in a nature preserve in Italy, park officials said Wednesday.
“This is fantasy becoming reality,” Gilberto Tozzi, director of the Center of Natural Sciences in Prato, told The Associated Press. “The unicorn has always been a mythological animal.”
The 1-year-old Roe Deer - nicknamed “Unicorn” - was born in captivity in the research center’s park in the Tuscan town of Prato, near Florence, Tozzi said.
He is believed to have been born with a genetic flaw; his twin has two horns.
Calling it the first time he has seen such a case, Tozzi said such anomalies among deer may have inspired the myth of the unicorn.
The unicorn, a horse-like creature with magical healing powers, has appeared in legends and stories throughout history, from ancient and medieval texts to the adventures of Harry Potter.
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One of the favorite bands in this house, Remedy Drive, has just recently released a new single from their upcoming album, which is coming out in August. It sounds awesome. Below is the iTunes link where you can download it. (Folks over 40, find a teenager and have them explain that to you).
http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?id=281620167&s=143441
A lot about what it means to have a tender heart for God. Consider David in Psalm 51:
Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin! For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have broken rejoice. Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit. “Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you. Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, O God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness. O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise. For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. Do good to Zion in your good pleasure; build up the walls of Jerusalem; then will you delight in right sacrifices, in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings; then bulls will be offered on your altar.
What has led David to this lowly state of remorse? Turn back to 2 Samuel 11:2-5 to see where it started:
It happened, late one afternoon, when David arose from his couch and was walking on the roof of the king’s house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful. And David sent and inquired about the woman. And one said, “Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?” So David sent messengers and took her, and she came to him, and he lay with her. . . . Then she returned to her house. And the woman conceived, and she sent and told David, “I am pregnant.”
And not only does David do this, he compounds his sin by bring Bathsheba’s husband, Uriah, back from battle so he can sleep with his wife and thus cover up David’s sin. It doesn’t work and so David has Uriah killed in battle. It is only when the prophet Nathan confronts him that David repents.
And what is God’s response? “The Lord has taken away your sin; you shall not die.” (2 Kings 12:13). From here, John Piper picks up the story and why it matters that we should care why God answers in this way:
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And, Piper goes on to show that David’s response to his sin is a good example for us to follow. Piper lays out four ways in his sermon, “A Broken and Contrite Heart God Will Not Despise.”
This is news that my daughter will applaud:
OAK BROOK, Ill. (AP) — McDonald’s said Monday it has stopped serving sliced tomatoes in its U.S. restaurants over concerns about salmonella food poisoning linked to some uncooked varieties.
This could be bad news for BLT lovers out there:
Restaurants, fast-food chains and supermarkets across Southern California removed fresh red Roma, plum and red round tomatoes from their shelves and took them off their menus this weekend as the U.S. government warned of a widening outbreak of salmonella.
The Food and Drug Administration said consumers should avoid raw red plum, red Roma or round red tomatoes, which have been tied to 145 infections reported since mid-April.
Consumers may continue to eat cherry tomatoes, grape tomatoes, tomatoes sold with the vine still attached and tomatoes grown at home, the FDA statement said.
Major supermarket chains including Ralphs, Vons and Albertsons have stopped selling the three kinds on the FDA list. Other types of tomatoes remained for sale, said Brian Dowling, a vice president of public affairs for Vons owner Safeway, based in Pleasanton, Calif. “It’s a precaution.”
“Get ready for the ride of your life.”
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OK, I’ve been waiting for this since I saw the trailer played in a movie theater before “Prince Caspian” in May. If space travel doesn’t give you you goosebumps, then I think you should check this out for sure. If it does already, then you don’t need me to tell you this looks like it’s going to be awesome.
Here is how the mini-series is described on the Discovery Channel site:
When We Left Earth is the story of mankind’s greatest adventure, leaving the earth and living in space. For the first time this series has digitally re-mastered the original film and audio recordings from NASA’s vault, including and all the key on-board footage filmed by the astronauts themselves. From John Glenn’s Mercury mission to orbit the earth, to Neil Armstrong’s first historic steps on the moon, to the unprecedented spacewalks required to repair the Hubble telescope, these epic stories are shown in stunning clarity and told by the astronauts and engineers who were there.
This week’s episode:
ORDINARY SUPERMAN
Premieres Sunday, June 8 at 9:00 p.m. E/P
NASA selects seven men to become the first astronauts. They’re all test pilots, prepared to risk their lives. No one has ever survived a vertical launch on top of a rocket, but it’s the only way they know to put an astronaut into earth orbit. The Mercury astronauts and engineers need to figure out how to launch a man into space on top of a converted intercontinental ballistic missile.
FRIENDS AND RIVALS
Premieres Sunday, June 8 at 10:00 p.m. E/P
For Project Gemini, a new generation of astronauts arrive at NASA — their mission, to test all the procedures required to land men on the moon and bring them safely back to earth. Each Gemini mission launches two men into space, leading to some of NASA’s greatest moments — Ed White’s spacewalk, the first orbital rendezvous of Gemini 6 and 7.
I know my friend Scott has been waiting for this, and I know he didn’t need anyone to tell him it was the Rolling Stones’ “Gimme Shelter” playing in the background of the trailer, either.
Who? Gianna Jessen for one. Why? Daniel Allott explains:
Miss Jessen is an exquisite example of what antiabortion advocates call a “survivor.” Well into her third trimester of pregnancy, Gianna’s biological mother was injected with a saline solution intended to induce a chemical abortion at a Los Angeles County abortion center. Eighteen hours later, and precious minutes before the abortionist’s arrival, Gianna emerged. Premature and with severe injuries that resulted in cerebral palsy. But alive.
Had the abortionist been present at her birth, Gianna would have been killed, perhaps by suffocation. As it was, a startled nurse called an ambulance, and Gianna was rushed to a nearby hospital, where, weighing just two pounds, she was placed in an incubator, then, months later, in foster care.
Gianna survived then, and thrives now, because, as she told me recently with a laugh, “I guess I don’t die easy.” Which is what the abortionist might have thought as he signed his victim’s birth certificate. Gianna’s medical records state that she was “born during saline abortion.”
Allott goes on to explain that, as an Illinois state senator, Barack Obama twice opposed legislation that would have defined as “persons” babies who survive late-term abortions. According to Allott, “Mr. Obama said in a speech on the Illinois Senate floor that he could not accept that babies wholly emerged from their mother’s wombs are “persons,” and thus deserving of equal protection under the Constitution’s 14th Amendment.”
By contrast, a federal version of the same legislation passed unanimously through the Senate and with the support of all but 15 members of the House. When President Bush signed the Born Alive Infants Protection Act into law in 2002, Gianna was present.
The link above is to the article. Read the whole thing and consider the man who wants to unite America and ask yourself, “United behind what?”
OK, so this is not the new iPhone that is supposedly supposed to be released next week. Rather, this is a new iPhone at the Ridgedale Mall Apple Store in Minnetonka, Minn. It was still cool, and my son, Andrew, and I enjoyed killing some time at the store while the rest of our family shopped.
I think Apple stores are the adult equivalent of those playgrounds that are in the center of malls for parents to bring bored children during shopping trips.
Today marks the 64th anniversary of D-Day, the turning point in World War II when the Allied forces stormed the beaches of Normandy, France. Here is how the AP originally reported the mission:
SUPREME HEADQUARTERS, ALLIED EXPEDITIONARY FORCE, TUESDAY (AP) - American, British and Canadian troops landed in northern France this morning, launching the greatest overseas military operation in history with word from their supreme commander, Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, that “we will accept nothing except full victory” over the German masters of the continent.
Go here to read the whole story.
What an incredible effort and great sacrifice was made for the sake of freedom. We owe much to brave men who much gave much.
Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, the great preacher of the 20th Century, wrote “Spiritual Depression: Its Causes and Its Cure,” a collection of 21 sermons he originally delivered at Westminster Chapel in London. “Christian people.” writes Lloyd-Jones, “too often seem to be perpetually in the doldrums and too often give this appearance of unhappiness and of lack of freedom and absence of joy. There is no question at all but that this is the main reason why large numbers of people have ceased to be interested in Christianity.”
Believing that Christian joy was one of the most potent factors in the spread of Christianity in the early centuries. Lloyd-Jones not only lays bare the causes that have robbed many Christians of spiritual vitality but also points the way to the cure that is found through the mind and spirit of Christ.
This summer, John Piper is going through the Psalms in a sermon series at Bethlethem Baptist Church in Minneapolis. Last week’s sermon, “Spiritual Depression in the Psalms,” leans on Lloyd-Jones’ work and looks at how Psalm 42 is an antidote for depression. Below is an excerpt, go here for the whole sermon.
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This story has outraged many people because it shows the utter indifference of our society:
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — A 78-year-old man is tossed like a rag doll by a hit-and-run driver and lies motionless on a busy city street as car after car goes by. Pedestrians gawk but do nothing. One driver stops briefly but then pulls back into traffic. A man on a scooter slowly circles the victim before zipping away.
The chilling scene - captured on video by a streetlight surveillance camera - has touched off a round of soul-searching in Hartford, with the capital city’s biggest newspaper blaring “SO INHUMANE” on the front page and the police chief lamenting: “We no longer have a moral compass.”
But is this really something so new? Have we maybe heard this story somewhere before? The point is, none of us is immune to acting this way so we shoudn’t point fingers. Instead, we should open our eyes.
Today is my birthday! To celebrate my family took me to one of my favorite places to eat in Grand Island, Sutter Deli. I had a delicious bowl of chicken noodle soup while Ruth Anne had the oriental chicken salad, Andrew the simple pepperoni pizza and Liz the Sutter Deli club. Four stars all.
On this milestone day I am thankful that in the past year God has mercifully loved me and guided me. I have failed him often, but I know that God has stretched me to hopefully be the man he wants me to be, or at least closer to that man.
I also am thankful for the many people God has put in my life to serve his purposes both to serve and be served by. God is good, and I am hopeful at the start of another year of getting closer to Him for his sake and my happiness.
And, in another dog-bites-man story from The Associated Press (emphasis mine):
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Police say an elderly couple, aged 100 and 99, who drove the wrong way along a highway for more than a mile in New Zealand before crashing will probably be asked to surrender their driver’s licenses.
OK, where to begin? Granted, there were consequences involved, but I can relate to being a little confused at times on the road. I don’t know how many times I’ve lectured my kids on the importance of wisely choosing who they hang out with; now I have a concrete example. Not only does the driver in this case face losing his license, but so does the passenger.
It’s all fun and games until somebody gets hurt (or crashes the car). The story continues:
Calder said Tuesday the pair are unlikely to face charges and that police are still trying to determine who was driving the car at the time of the incident and how they ended up going the wrong way.
OK, here are a few guesses: The man was driving. He was lost and his wife was asking if he knew where he was going. He couldn’t hear her. Despite the onslaught of oncoming traffic and the pleas of his panicked wife, he plowed ahead. Chaos ensues.
In my previous post, I linked to research about how our eye sees things a split second ahead of our brains and then our brains, predicting the future, act accordingly. I think I’ve just seem my future about 60 years ahead. Unless my wife takes the keys.
According to new research, humans can see into the future ever so briefly, which explains why we are tricked by optical illusions.
Researcher Mark Changizi of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York says it starts with a neural lag that most everyone experiences while awake. When light hits your retina, about one-tenth of a second goes by before the brain translates the signal into a visual perception of the world.
Scientists already knew about the lag, yet they have debated over exactly how we compensate, with one school of thought proposing our motor system somehow modifies our movements to offset the delay.
Changizi now says it’s our visual system that has evolved to compensate for neural delays, generating images of what will occur one-tenth of a second into the future. That foresight keeps our view of the world in the present. It gives you enough heads up to catch a fly ball (instead of getting socked in the face) and maneuver smoothly through a crowd. His research on this topic is detailed in the May/June issue of the journal Cognitive Science.
The article goes on to explain that illusions occur because our brains try to perceive the future but reality doesn’t match our perceptions. The question that comes to my mind: Is this something that has evolved or is it one more way we are “fearfully and wonderfully made.” ?
HT: Centurion
Christianaudio.com is offering an audiobook of John Bunyan’s “Pilgrim’s Progress” for free as a download with the code JUN2008 when you checkout. From the site:
John Bunyan was a simple maker and mender of pots and kettles who received very little education. In spite of that, he penned the most successful allegory ever written. He lost his first wife and was imprisoned for twelve years for his compelling—but unlicensed—preaching. Nevertheless, his preaching about the gravity of sin, salvation by grace, the cost of discipleship, perseverance, and the glory of eternal life lives on in the signs and symbols of The Pilgrim’s Progress. Embark on a perilous journey with Christian, the lead character, from the City of Destruction to the luminous safe haven of the Celestial City. The journey will encourage you to “set your hope fully on the grace to be given you” amidst the obstacles of life.
And, for more free audio, go here to hear a great biography of the man who wrote “Pilgrim’s Progress.”
Every day, each one of faces pain in our life. There is emotional and spiritual pain, for sure, but there is also physical pain. In my case, the pain is a sore back and joints that bark at me more or less each day, reminding me that my body is aging more each day and that my hope lies in more than this earthly body.
Among the people I know, I see people who I know love and trust God deal with varying degrees of pain. My struggles with my back pale in comparison and I am almost embarrassed to mention my own complaints. It is one thing to live a joyful life in God when you are feeling terrific, but what does it say about God when we are hurting?
Do we hurt because of the Fall? Does God use pain for a reason in our lives? In his review of Pain and Its Transformations, Phillip Yancey explores the wonder of pain in our bodies:
Every square millimeter of the body has a different sensitivity to pain, so that a speck of dirt may cause excruciating pain in the vulnerable eye whereas it would go unreported on the tough extremities. Internal organs such as the bowels and kidneys have no receptors that warn against cutting or burning—dangers they normally do not face—but show exquisite sensitivity to distention.
When organs such as the heart detect danger but lack receptors, they borrow other pain cells (”referred pain”), which is why heart attack victims often report pain in the shoulder or arm. The pain system automatically ramps up hypersensitivity to protect an injured part (explaining why a sore thumb always seems in the way) and turns down the volume in the face of emergencies (soldiers often report no pain from a wound in the course of battle, only afterwards).
Pain serves us subliminally as well: sensors make us blink several times a minute to lubricate our eyes and shift our legs and buttocks to prevent pressure sores. Pain is the most effective language the body can use to draw attention to something important.
