This is from Elisabeth Elliot speaking on physical beauty vs. spiritual beauty...
"People's standards, of course, differ. Usually, in things that do not matter, we set them impossibly high and thus guarantee for ourselves a life of discontent. In things that matter we set them too low and are easily pleased with ourselves."
Tuesday, February 06, 2007
Thursday, January 25, 2007
The Path and It's "Problems"
From Elisabeth Elliot
The Road to Shandia
There is a road east of the Andes from the little tea-growing town of Puyo, to an unnamed point in the jungle just beyond the mostly Indian town of Pano. When I lived in Ecuador most of the road was not there at all, and it would have taken you three days to cover that distance. I covered it a few weeks ago in the space of a few hours in a jeep driven by a missionary named Ella Rae. We traveled along the south side of the Ansuc River and crossed, on a suspension bridge, the Atun Yacu, which we once crossed by dugout canoe. The road took us through the towns of Napo and Tena and then straight up the middle of what used to be a mission station airstrip in Pano. When the road ended at the Pano River, Ella Rae bade us good-bye and we set out on foot for Shandia, one of the places where I used to live. I had been over the trail from Tena to Shandia many times, but, although the government has laid logs crosswise to make walking easier, horses and cows have been making use of it and the trail was in the worst condition I'd ever seen.
We were two women and one man--he in shorts and rubber knee boots, we in standard jungle garb of blouses, skirts and tennis shoes. As we plowed our way through the mud some spiritual parallels came to mind.
Every step of faith is a step faith. In some places the logs were submerged in mud. Finding one to put your foot on did not make it easier to find the next one.
Each step was a decision, but to make it a problem would have halted progress altogether. Sometimes the choice was to balance on a three-inch-in-diameter log laid parallel to the path and take the chance of slipping off sideways and falling into the mud, or to step deliberately into mud (which was like peanut butter) up to one's knees, or to try to beat one's way through the tangle at the side of the trail (and of course that tangle could always hold snakes). You had to keep moving. Decisions, therefore, had to be snap decisions. If we had let each step be a problem, to be paused and pondered over, we'd still be there. If a decision turned out to be the wrong one, which it often seemed to be, you simply pulled yourself out and kept on.
The trail--always leading us to our goal--took on varied aspects. We were not always in mud up to our knees, or trying to find a footing on logs which were in some places floating and in some places submerged. For short spaces the trail was of gravel. Sometimes there were hills to climb and rivers to wade through where we got the chance to rinse off a few pounds of accumulated jungle soil. At times we were in sunshine where the forest had been cut back to make pasture, at other times in deep shade.
There was a tiny footprint in front of me. You learn when you travel jungle trails to recognize the differences in footprints. A party of Indians had evidently preceded us not long before. One of them was a child no more than three. As we came to what seemed to me impassable sections, I found myself spurred on by the knowledge that where the trail was firmer I would find the little footprint. Sure enough. That little person had made it through what was for him hip-high mud, across the precarious logs, into the streams, up the hills and down the slick ravines. There is something amazingly heartening in the knowledge that somebody else has been over the course before especially if it's somebody who has had manifestly greater difficulties than ours to overcome. Most of the time there was no evidence at all of his going, and I could lose heart. But here and there again the evidence lay, clear and unmistakable. If he had made it, so could I.
We made it. We reached the house my husband Jim Elliot had built twenty-three years ago. The only reason it still stands is that it was built on a cement slab with poured cement walls up to the level of the window sills, boards from there up to the aluminum roof. An ordinary jungle house would have vanished long since. Mary began sweeping out the bat droppings and the dead cockroaches and spiders, tidying up, lighting candles and cooking a simple supper while Frank and I went to visit the Indians in their houses nearby. Thirteen years lay lightly on most of them, but a generation of children had become unrecognizable.
We pulled out some bedding I had left stored in steel drums and stayed the night in the house. A mouse had to be evicted from one of the mattresses. The sound of the Atun Yacu at the foot of the cliff was the same as it had always been. The shadows cast by the candles seemed to take the shapes familiar to me from the nights when I had risen to feed my baby in this very bedroom. Her toy wicker furniture was still there, its upholstery mildewed and nearly colorless.
Not quite three weeks have passed, and I sit in my green-carpeted study in Massachusetts. The trail--always leading to the goal--does take on different aspects. Soon I will face my seminary students again to remind them that each footstep along the trail matters, not only the goal toward which they aspire. The clean, hard gravel matters, but so does the slough with the floating logs, the hill and the deep ravine. The traveler who makes each decision about where to put his foot is not different from the person who has reached the house and rests at last by the fireplace with a cup of tea and a candle. Are they prospective ministers? Then they must be now, while they are on the journey, true men and women, attending to today's task, living their lives today. They do not see into heaven. They have to live on earth. They must move steadily, putting one foot in front of the other, no matter whether it is the log, the rock or the mire that receives it. They must rightly discharge each small duty, whether it be to a professor, a landlady, a wife or an employer.
I will remind them, too, that the Bible does not speak of problems. As Corrie ten Boom says, "God has no problems, only plans." We ought to think not of problems but of purpose. We encounter the obstacle, we make a choice--always with the goal in mind.
We are conditioned nowadays, however, to define everything as a problem. A little girl on a TV commercial pipes, "I have this terrible problem with my hair! But my mommy bought No More Tangles, and now there's no more tangles!" A group of young wives asked me to speak to them on "The Problems of Widowhood." I declined, explaining in the first place that I did not regard widowhood as a problem, and in the second place that if I did I was not sure I had any warrant for unloading my own problems onto the shoulders of young women who had enough of their own, and in the third place a widow has only one "problem," when it comes right down to it--she has no husband. And that's something nobody can do anything about.
Life is full of things we can't do anything about, but which we are supposed to do something with. "He himself endured a cross and thought nothing of its shame because of the joy." A very different story from the one which would have been written if Jesus had been prompted by the spirit of our own age: "Don't just endure the cross--think about it, talk about it, share it, express your gut-level feelings, get in touch with yourself, find out who you are, define the problem, analyze it, get counseling, get the experts' opinions, discuss solutions, work through it." Jesus endured. He thought nothing of the shame. The freedom, the freshness of that valiant selflessness is like a strong wind. How badly such a wind is needed to sweep away the pollution of our self-preoccupation!
Analysis can make you feel guilty for being human. To be human, of course, means to be sinful, and for our sinfulness we must certainly "feel" the guilt which is rightly ours--but not everything human is sinful. There is a man on the radio every afternoon from California whose consummate arrogance in making an instant analysis of every caller's difficulties is simply breathtaking. A woman called in to talk about her problems with her husband who happens to be an actor. "Oh," said the counselor, "of course the only reason anybody goes into acting is because they need approval." Bang. Husband's problem identified. Next question. I turned off the radio and asked myself, with rising guilt feelings, "Do I need approval?" Answer: yes. Does anybody not need approval? Is there anybody who is content to live his life without so much as a nod from anybody else? Wouldn't he be, of all men, the most devilishly self-centered? Wouldn't his supreme solitude be the most hellish? It's human to want to know that you please somebody.
We visited another place where I lived--Tewaenon-- where the Aucas live. It had been sixteen years since I had seen them, but they remembered me, calling me by the name they had given me, "Gikari," and everybody beginning at once, as was their custom, to tell me what they had done since they saw me. Dabu, with two of his three wives, came walking up the airstrip and began immediately--there are no greetings in Auca--to tell me that when he had heard of the death of my second husband he had cried. This prompted Ipa to remark that she had sat down and written me a letter when she heard of his death, but on rereading the letter said to herself, "It's no good," and threw it away. Sometimes readers of things that I write tell me long afterward that they have thought of writing me a letter, or have written one and discarded it, thinking, "She doesn't need my approval." Well, they're mistaken--for wouldn't it be a lovely thing to know that a footprint you have left on the trail has, just by being there, heartened somebody else?
The Road to Shandia
There is a road east of the Andes from the little tea-growing town of Puyo, to an unnamed point in the jungle just beyond the mostly Indian town of Pano. When I lived in Ecuador most of the road was not there at all, and it would have taken you three days to cover that distance. I covered it a few weeks ago in the space of a few hours in a jeep driven by a missionary named Ella Rae. We traveled along the south side of the Ansuc River and crossed, on a suspension bridge, the Atun Yacu, which we once crossed by dugout canoe. The road took us through the towns of Napo and Tena and then straight up the middle of what used to be a mission station airstrip in Pano. When the road ended at the Pano River, Ella Rae bade us good-bye and we set out on foot for Shandia, one of the places where I used to live. I had been over the trail from Tena to Shandia many times, but, although the government has laid logs crosswise to make walking easier, horses and cows have been making use of it and the trail was in the worst condition I'd ever seen.
We were two women and one man--he in shorts and rubber knee boots, we in standard jungle garb of blouses, skirts and tennis shoes. As we plowed our way through the mud some spiritual parallels came to mind.
Every step of faith is a step faith. In some places the logs were submerged in mud. Finding one to put your foot on did not make it easier to find the next one.
Each step was a decision, but to make it a problem would have halted progress altogether. Sometimes the choice was to balance on a three-inch-in-diameter log laid parallel to the path and take the chance of slipping off sideways and falling into the mud, or to step deliberately into mud (which was like peanut butter) up to one's knees, or to try to beat one's way through the tangle at the side of the trail (and of course that tangle could always hold snakes). You had to keep moving. Decisions, therefore, had to be snap decisions. If we had let each step be a problem, to be paused and pondered over, we'd still be there. If a decision turned out to be the wrong one, which it often seemed to be, you simply pulled yourself out and kept on.
The trail--always leading us to our goal--took on varied aspects. We were not always in mud up to our knees, or trying to find a footing on logs which were in some places floating and in some places submerged. For short spaces the trail was of gravel. Sometimes there were hills to climb and rivers to wade through where we got the chance to rinse off a few pounds of accumulated jungle soil. At times we were in sunshine where the forest had been cut back to make pasture, at other times in deep shade.
There was a tiny footprint in front of me. You learn when you travel jungle trails to recognize the differences in footprints. A party of Indians had evidently preceded us not long before. One of them was a child no more than three. As we came to what seemed to me impassable sections, I found myself spurred on by the knowledge that where the trail was firmer I would find the little footprint. Sure enough. That little person had made it through what was for him hip-high mud, across the precarious logs, into the streams, up the hills and down the slick ravines. There is something amazingly heartening in the knowledge that somebody else has been over the course before especially if it's somebody who has had manifestly greater difficulties than ours to overcome. Most of the time there was no evidence at all of his going, and I could lose heart. But here and there again the evidence lay, clear and unmistakable. If he had made it, so could I.
We made it. We reached the house my husband Jim Elliot had built twenty-three years ago. The only reason it still stands is that it was built on a cement slab with poured cement walls up to the level of the window sills, boards from there up to the aluminum roof. An ordinary jungle house would have vanished long since. Mary began sweeping out the bat droppings and the dead cockroaches and spiders, tidying up, lighting candles and cooking a simple supper while Frank and I went to visit the Indians in their houses nearby. Thirteen years lay lightly on most of them, but a generation of children had become unrecognizable.
We pulled out some bedding I had left stored in steel drums and stayed the night in the house. A mouse had to be evicted from one of the mattresses. The sound of the Atun Yacu at the foot of the cliff was the same as it had always been. The shadows cast by the candles seemed to take the shapes familiar to me from the nights when I had risen to feed my baby in this very bedroom. Her toy wicker furniture was still there, its upholstery mildewed and nearly colorless.
Not quite three weeks have passed, and I sit in my green-carpeted study in Massachusetts. The trail--always leading to the goal--does take on different aspects. Soon I will face my seminary students again to remind them that each footstep along the trail matters, not only the goal toward which they aspire. The clean, hard gravel matters, but so does the slough with the floating logs, the hill and the deep ravine. The traveler who makes each decision about where to put his foot is not different from the person who has reached the house and rests at last by the fireplace with a cup of tea and a candle. Are they prospective ministers? Then they must be now, while they are on the journey, true men and women, attending to today's task, living their lives today. They do not see into heaven. They have to live on earth. They must move steadily, putting one foot in front of the other, no matter whether it is the log, the rock or the mire that receives it. They must rightly discharge each small duty, whether it be to a professor, a landlady, a wife or an employer.
I will remind them, too, that the Bible does not speak of problems. As Corrie ten Boom says, "God has no problems, only plans." We ought to think not of problems but of purpose. We encounter the obstacle, we make a choice--always with the goal in mind.
We are conditioned nowadays, however, to define everything as a problem. A little girl on a TV commercial pipes, "I have this terrible problem with my hair! But my mommy bought No More Tangles, and now there's no more tangles!" A group of young wives asked me to speak to them on "The Problems of Widowhood." I declined, explaining in the first place that I did not regard widowhood as a problem, and in the second place that if I did I was not sure I had any warrant for unloading my own problems onto the shoulders of young women who had enough of their own, and in the third place a widow has only one "problem," when it comes right down to it--she has no husband. And that's something nobody can do anything about.
Life is full of things we can't do anything about, but which we are supposed to do something with. "He himself endured a cross and thought nothing of its shame because of the joy." A very different story from the one which would have been written if Jesus had been prompted by the spirit of our own age: "Don't just endure the cross--think about it, talk about it, share it, express your gut-level feelings, get in touch with yourself, find out who you are, define the problem, analyze it, get counseling, get the experts' opinions, discuss solutions, work through it." Jesus endured. He thought nothing of the shame. The freedom, the freshness of that valiant selflessness is like a strong wind. How badly such a wind is needed to sweep away the pollution of our self-preoccupation!
Analysis can make you feel guilty for being human. To be human, of course, means to be sinful, and for our sinfulness we must certainly "feel" the guilt which is rightly ours--but not everything human is sinful. There is a man on the radio every afternoon from California whose consummate arrogance in making an instant analysis of every caller's difficulties is simply breathtaking. A woman called in to talk about her problems with her husband who happens to be an actor. "Oh," said the counselor, "of course the only reason anybody goes into acting is because they need approval." Bang. Husband's problem identified. Next question. I turned off the radio and asked myself, with rising guilt feelings, "Do I need approval?" Answer: yes. Does anybody not need approval? Is there anybody who is content to live his life without so much as a nod from anybody else? Wouldn't he be, of all men, the most devilishly self-centered? Wouldn't his supreme solitude be the most hellish? It's human to want to know that you please somebody.
We visited another place where I lived--Tewaenon-- where the Aucas live. It had been sixteen years since I had seen them, but they remembered me, calling me by the name they had given me, "Gikari," and everybody beginning at once, as was their custom, to tell me what they had done since they saw me. Dabu, with two of his three wives, came walking up the airstrip and began immediately--there are no greetings in Auca--to tell me that when he had heard of the death of my second husband he had cried. This prompted Ipa to remark that she had sat down and written me a letter when she heard of his death, but on rereading the letter said to herself, "It's no good," and threw it away. Sometimes readers of things that I write tell me long afterward that they have thought of writing me a letter, or have written one and discarded it, thinking, "She doesn't need my approval." Well, they're mistaken--for wouldn't it be a lovely thing to know that a footprint you have left on the trail has, just by being there, heartened somebody else?
Friday, January 19, 2007
Keep On Keepin' On!
From Streams in the Desert....
"Go to the ant." Tammerlane used to relate to his friends an anecdote of his early life. "I once" he said, "was forced to take shelter from my enemies in a ruined building, where I sat alone many hours. Desiring to divert my mind from my hopeless condition, I fixed my eyes on an ant that was carrying a grain of corn larger than itself up a high wall. I numbered the efforts it made to accomplish this object. The grain fell sixty-nine times to the ground; but the insect persevered, and the seventieth time it reached the top. This sight gave me courage at the moment, and I never forgot the lesson." --The King's Business
Prayer which takes the fact that past prayers have not been answered as a reason for languor, has already ceased to be the prayer of faith. To the prayer of faith the fact that prayers remain unanswered is only evidence that the moment of the answer is so much nearer. From first to last, the lessons and examples of our Lord all tell us that prayer which cannot persevere and urge its plea importunately, and renew, and renew itself again, and gather strength from every past petition, is not the prayer that will prevail. --William Arthur
Rubenstein, the great musician, once said, "If I omit practice one day, I notice it; if two days, my friends notice it; if three days, the public notice it." It is the old doctrine, "Practice makes perfect." We must continue believing, continue praying, continue doing His will. Suppose along any line of art, one should cease practicing, we know what the result would be. If we would only use the same quality of common sense in our religion that we use in our everyday life, we should go on to perfection.
The motto of David Livingstone was in these words, "I determined never to stop until I had come to the end and achieved my purpose." By unfaltering persistence and faith in God he conquered.
"Go to the ant." Tammerlane used to relate to his friends an anecdote of his early life. "I once" he said, "was forced to take shelter from my enemies in a ruined building, where I sat alone many hours. Desiring to divert my mind from my hopeless condition, I fixed my eyes on an ant that was carrying a grain of corn larger than itself up a high wall. I numbered the efforts it made to accomplish this object. The grain fell sixty-nine times to the ground; but the insect persevered, and the seventieth time it reached the top. This sight gave me courage at the moment, and I never forgot the lesson." --The King's Business
Prayer which takes the fact that past prayers have not been answered as a reason for languor, has already ceased to be the prayer of faith. To the prayer of faith the fact that prayers remain unanswered is only evidence that the moment of the answer is so much nearer. From first to last, the lessons and examples of our Lord all tell us that prayer which cannot persevere and urge its plea importunately, and renew, and renew itself again, and gather strength from every past petition, is not the prayer that will prevail. --William Arthur
Rubenstein, the great musician, once said, "If I omit practice one day, I notice it; if two days, my friends notice it; if three days, the public notice it." It is the old doctrine, "Practice makes perfect." We must continue believing, continue praying, continue doing His will. Suppose along any line of art, one should cease practicing, we know what the result would be. If we would only use the same quality of common sense in our religion that we use in our everyday life, we should go on to perfection.
The motto of David Livingstone was in these words, "I determined never to stop until I had come to the end and achieved my purpose." By unfaltering persistence and faith in God he conquered.
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
Attention All Nerds!
Ok, I know this post is going to reveal my true, nerdy English teacher character. I was just online trying to find a good lesson plan to teach analogies and I ran across this list. I think some of these are kind of funny and just wanted to share. Now I need to go pull my pants up really high and tape my glasses back together.... again!
The webpage says they are taken from actual high school essays and collected by English teachers across the country for their own amusement. But please don't be confused as to the type of writing the typical high school teacher receives- I've never seen such wittiness from my students.
1. Her face was a perfect oval, like a circle that had its two sides gently compressed by a ThighMaster.
2. His thoughts tumbled in his head, making and breaking alliances like underpants in a dryer without Cling Free.
3. He spoke with the wisdom that can only come from experience, like a guy who went blind because he looked at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it and now goes around the country speaking at high schools about the dangers of looking at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it.
4. She grew on him like she was a colony of E. Coli, and he was room-temperature Canadian beef.
5. She had a deep, throaty, genuine laugh, like that sound a dog makes just before it throws up.
6. Her vocabulary was as bad as, like, whatever.
7. He was as tall as a six-foot, three-inch tree.
8. The revelation that his marriage of 30 years had disintegrated because of his wife’s infidelity came as a rude shock, like a surcharge at a formerly surcharge-free ATM machine.
9. The little boat gently drifted across the pond exactly the way a bowling ball wouldn’t.
10. McBride fell 12 stories, hitting the pavement like a Hefty bag filled with vegetable soup.
11. From the attic came an unearthly howl. The whole scene had an eerie, surreal quality, like when you’re on vacation in another city and Jeopardy comes on at 7:00 p.m. instead of 7:30.
12. Her hair glistened in the rain like a nose hair after a sneeze.
13. The hailstones leaped from the pavement, just like maggots when you fry them in hot grease.
14. Long separated by cruel fate, the star-crossed lovers raced across the grassy field toward each other like two freight trains, one having left Cleveland at 6:36 p.m. traveling at 55 mph, the other from Topeka at 4:19 p.m. at a speed of 35 mph.
15. They lived in a typical suburban neighborhood with picket fences that resembled Nancy Kerrigan’s teeth.
16. John and Mary had never met. They were like two hummingbirds who had also never met.
17. He fell for her like his heart was a mob informant, and she was the East River.
18. Even in his last years, Granddad had a mind like a steel trap, only one that had been left out so long it had rusted shut.
19. Shots rang out, as shots are wont to do.
20. The plan was simple, like my brother-in-law Phil. But unlike Phil, this plan just might work.
21. The young fighter had a hungry look, the kind you get from not eating for a while.
22. He was as lame as a duck. Not the metaphorical lame duck, either, but a real duck that was actually lame, maybe from stepping on a land mine or something.
23. The ballerina rose gracefully en Pointe and extended one slender leg behind her, like a dog at a fire hydrant.
24. It was an American tradition, like fathers chasing kids around with power tools.
25. He was deeply in love. When she spoke, he thought he heard bells, as if she were a garbage truck backing up.
The webpage says they are taken from actual high school essays and collected by English teachers across the country for their own amusement. But please don't be confused as to the type of writing the typical high school teacher receives- I've never seen such wittiness from my students.
1. Her face was a perfect oval, like a circle that had its two sides gently compressed by a ThighMaster.
2. His thoughts tumbled in his head, making and breaking alliances like underpants in a dryer without Cling Free.
3. He spoke with the wisdom that can only come from experience, like a guy who went blind because he looked at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it and now goes around the country speaking at high schools about the dangers of looking at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it.
4. She grew on him like she was a colony of E. Coli, and he was room-temperature Canadian beef.
5. She had a deep, throaty, genuine laugh, like that sound a dog makes just before it throws up.
6. Her vocabulary was as bad as, like, whatever.
7. He was as tall as a six-foot, three-inch tree.
8. The revelation that his marriage of 30 years had disintegrated because of his wife’s infidelity came as a rude shock, like a surcharge at a formerly surcharge-free ATM machine.
9. The little boat gently drifted across the pond exactly the way a bowling ball wouldn’t.
10. McBride fell 12 stories, hitting the pavement like a Hefty bag filled with vegetable soup.
11. From the attic came an unearthly howl. The whole scene had an eerie, surreal quality, like when you’re on vacation in another city and Jeopardy comes on at 7:00 p.m. instead of 7:30.
12. Her hair glistened in the rain like a nose hair after a sneeze.
13. The hailstones leaped from the pavement, just like maggots when you fry them in hot grease.
14. Long separated by cruel fate, the star-crossed lovers raced across the grassy field toward each other like two freight trains, one having left Cleveland at 6:36 p.m. traveling at 55 mph, the other from Topeka at 4:19 p.m. at a speed of 35 mph.
15. They lived in a typical suburban neighborhood with picket fences that resembled Nancy Kerrigan’s teeth.
16. John and Mary had never met. They were like two hummingbirds who had also never met.
17. He fell for her like his heart was a mob informant, and she was the East River.
18. Even in his last years, Granddad had a mind like a steel trap, only one that had been left out so long it had rusted shut.
19. Shots rang out, as shots are wont to do.
20. The plan was simple, like my brother-in-law Phil. But unlike Phil, this plan just might work.
21. The young fighter had a hungry look, the kind you get from not eating for a while.
22. He was as lame as a duck. Not the metaphorical lame duck, either, but a real duck that was actually lame, maybe from stepping on a land mine or something.
23. The ballerina rose gracefully en Pointe and extended one slender leg behind her, like a dog at a fire hydrant.
24. It was an American tradition, like fathers chasing kids around with power tools.
25. He was deeply in love. When she spoke, he thought he heard bells, as if she were a garbage truck backing up.
Saturday, January 13, 2007
The Holiday Season in Upon Us
Oh wait, I guess the holiday season just ended. I feel like my life has been a blur every since Thanksgiving came around. Here are some things that have been going with me:
For Thanksgiving, my mom, dad, Josh and Amy came out for a week! It was awesome! And for once, it didn't rain while my parents were here. Amazing! We had a fabulous, fabulous time.
Then, a couple of weeks later, my semester ended at school and I flew home. Jeni flew home a few days before me and we got to spend almost three weeks at home with my mom and dad. It was, of course, an amazing time.... but also really busy! Oh, and did I mention COLD?!?! For some reason, the cold affected me more this year than it did last year and I felt like I never really warmed up until I landed back here in Hawaii. And it didn't help things out much when we went up to Tahoe for new Years! I really wanted to take a picture of all the Elson girls (including Amy) with their Ugs on and me with my Converse. Sidenote: Converse are not made for the snow.
I flew back here to Hawaii on January 7 and started school this past Thursday. Only ten weeks until Spring break! :) (thanks Jill for helping me to count my school year in weeks!). As for life here in Hawaii. As you might know, the beginning of this year was really rough on me in a lot of ways. But God is so faithful and I literally just clung to Him for my every breath at times. And He has brought me out of the dark times and into a glorious period of rest. Its amazing to experience God's peace and restoration even in the midst of what should be difficult times. I wish I had exciting news to report, but life is still pretty same ol', same ol' around here... which is ok too. I have learned to appreciate this time that I have to spend with God and learn more about Him. I know it actually is a blessing to have so much time on my hands, even though sometimes it feels like my worst enemy :). I also started going to a new church a while back and have started to go to a Bible study. It's been really cool to start to meet people and fellowship with likeminded believers. Its been a real blessing. I am praying about what ministry God wants me to get involved in. Anyway, that's just a basic rundown!
Here are some random pictures of both Thanksgiving and Christmas.
For Thanksgiving, my mom, dad, Josh and Amy came out for a week! It was awesome! And for once, it didn't rain while my parents were here. Amazing! We had a fabulous, fabulous time.
Then, a couple of weeks later, my semester ended at school and I flew home. Jeni flew home a few days before me and we got to spend almost three weeks at home with my mom and dad. It was, of course, an amazing time.... but also really busy! Oh, and did I mention COLD?!?! For some reason, the cold affected me more this year than it did last year and I felt like I never really warmed up until I landed back here in Hawaii. And it didn't help things out much when we went up to Tahoe for new Years! I really wanted to take a picture of all the Elson girls (including Amy) with their Ugs on and me with my Converse. Sidenote: Converse are not made for the snow.
I flew back here to Hawaii on January 7 and started school this past Thursday. Only ten weeks until Spring break! :) (thanks Jill for helping me to count my school year in weeks!). As for life here in Hawaii. As you might know, the beginning of this year was really rough on me in a lot of ways. But God is so faithful and I literally just clung to Him for my every breath at times. And He has brought me out of the dark times and into a glorious period of rest. Its amazing to experience God's peace and restoration even in the midst of what should be difficult times. I wish I had exciting news to report, but life is still pretty same ol', same ol' around here... which is ok too. I have learned to appreciate this time that I have to spend with God and learn more about Him. I know it actually is a blessing to have so much time on my hands, even though sometimes it feels like my worst enemy :). I also started going to a new church a while back and have started to go to a Bible study. It's been really cool to start to meet people and fellowship with likeminded believers. Its been a real blessing. I am praying about what ministry God wants me to get involved in. Anyway, that's just a basic rundown!
Here are some random pictures of both Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Sunday, December 31, 2006
Podcast Favorites
I love listening to Podcasts. Its like a whole new world has opened up to me. Two of my favorite podcasts are from RZIM called, "Let My People Think" and "Just Thinking". I think I've mentioned them before, but they are fascinating because they are Christian speakers who are very plugged into the culture around us. Their official title is "Apologists", which means they give a defense of our faith. I think as American Christians, we are somewhat ignorant to the culture around us, or we are compromised to it... or we don't care what people in the world are thinking about God. The speakers in these series are constantly answering challenging questions that will truly help us to love the Lord will all my heart, soul and MIND. I highly recommend them. I was listening to one today about Consumerism in America. Here was his parting quote and I couldn't agree more with him!
Looking good and feeling good has replaced doing good and being good and we don't know the difference anymore.
Stuart McAllister
Looking good and feeling good has replaced doing good and being good and we don't know the difference anymore.
Stuart McAllister
Monday, December 11, 2006
RIP Lil' Jeni
Saturday was not a good morning. Not a good morning at all. Remember sweet Lil' Jeni who moved in after the original Jeni moved out? Yeah, well, he's no longer with us. The story is kind of gross so I will spare you all of the details. But the basic run down is this:
My backdoor wouldn't shut completely Saturday morning. Because I am a girl, I just kept trying to slam it harder and harder instead of actually finding out what was stopping it from closing and fixing the problem. In all, I probably slammed the door five times at least. It was at that point that I started to inspect the door to find the problem... ooohhhh... and what I found was half of Jeni's squished body in the door crack. The rest of the story is censored, but it was really upsetting to me.
Later that day I was telling the real Jeni what happened. She was really upset with me and actually said, "You need to stop killing your friends!" (he's not the first gecko I've accidentally killed). I was on the phone with my mom when it happened and she said, "Oh don't worry honey, another one will come along soon". I guess maybe I took the "new roommate" joke too far. But I am sad he died and of course- I didn't do it on purpose.
Lil' Jeni, you'll be missed.
Sunday, December 10, 2006
Is the going getting tough?
Check out chapter 20 of 2 Chronicles. Jehoshaphat was about to get decimated in battle and he knew it. He gathered his people and they cried out to the Lord for deliverance. Then they worshipped our God. Here is God's response:
“Listen, all you of Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem, and you, King Jehoshaphat!
Thus says the LORD to you: ‘Do not be afraid nor dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but God’s. Tomorrow go down against them. They will surely come up by the Ascent of Ziz, and you will find them at the end of the brook before the Wilderness of Jeruel. You will not need to fight in this battle.
Position yourselves, STAND STILL AND SEE THE SALVATION OF THE LORD, who is with you, O Judah and Jerusalem!’ Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out against them, for the LORD is with you.”
Other versions say "Stand still and see the DELIVERANCE of the Lord". I love this verse. I love that our God fights our battles for us. So, today, instead of worrying, being frustrated, and despairing, I am going to spend the time it would take to do all that to go before God in prayer.... and watch how He moves!!!
“Listen, all you of Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem, and you, King Jehoshaphat!
Thus says the LORD to you: ‘Do not be afraid nor dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but God’s. Tomorrow go down against them. They will surely come up by the Ascent of Ziz, and you will find them at the end of the brook before the Wilderness of Jeruel. You will not need to fight in this battle.
Position yourselves, STAND STILL AND SEE THE SALVATION OF THE LORD, who is with you, O Judah and Jerusalem!’ Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out against them, for the LORD is with you.”
Other versions say "Stand still and see the DELIVERANCE of the Lord". I love this verse. I love that our God fights our battles for us. So, today, instead of worrying, being frustrated, and despairing, I am going to spend the time it would take to do all that to go before God in prayer.... and watch how He moves!!!
Friday, December 08, 2006
ARE YOU KIDDING ME??!!??
What is the worst possible way to start your Friday morning? I'll tell you because it happened to me today. Ok, maybe it's not the WORST way to start a day, but it's pretty bad.
On my way to work, I stopped across the street from my school to get some coffee and ran into another teacher. She says, "Did you hear? They might cancel school!" Me: "WHAT?!?! No way! Why?!?" My heart rate went up and I was getting really excited...
It turns out that the power was off in the town our school was in. The principal made the decision that if the power did not come back on by 8:00 (the time school starts), that school would be cancelled. So I went to my room and waited.... and anxiously watched the clock...... 7:55- no power. 7:56- no power. At 7:57 I was running around giving all the kids high fives and packing up my bags to go back home. As I was making my victory lap outside in front of my room, I heard a collective groan across campus and in slow motion.... I turned to my room.... only to find.... at 7:58.... the lights came back on!!!! AHHHHH!!!!!!
On my way to work, I stopped across the street from my school to get some coffee and ran into another teacher. She says, "Did you hear? They might cancel school!" Me: "WHAT?!?! No way! Why?!?" My heart rate went up and I was getting really excited...
It turns out that the power was off in the town our school was in. The principal made the decision that if the power did not come back on by 8:00 (the time school starts), that school would be cancelled. So I went to my room and waited.... and anxiously watched the clock...... 7:55- no power. 7:56- no power. At 7:57 I was running around giving all the kids high fives and packing up my bags to go back home. As I was making my victory lap outside in front of my room, I heard a collective groan across campus and in slow motion.... I turned to my room.... only to find.... at 7:58.... the lights came back on!!!! AHHHHH!!!!!!
Saturday, December 02, 2006
YOUTUBE
Ok, so somthing is wrong with the video I posted of Sione singing in my clasroom. I was so excited about it! If you are so curious and must see this video, you can go to youtube.com. In the search box, type in "sione" and I think he's the second video to pop up.
Thursday, November 30, 2006
English the Elson Way
English 101
I just thought you'd all like to know what a typical day in my English class looks and sounds like! :) We work hard :). Actually, this class is the wildest bunch I've ever taught and Sione singing is the only way to calm down at the beginning of class. The words don't match up with the movement of his mouth in this video, but this is him singing. He is so talented and he's only 14!
I just thought you'd all like to know what a typical day in my English class looks and sounds like! :) We work hard :). Actually, this class is the wildest bunch I've ever taught and Sione singing is the only way to calm down at the beginning of class. The words don't match up with the movement of his mouth in this video, but this is him singing. He is so talented and he's only 14!
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
Thirty and a half
Ok, it's time I finally talk about something that happened to me this year. Most of you have been kind enough not to mention much about it or ask how it went, but I am sure it is on more than a few people's minds. On April 1, 2006, I turned 30. That's a really big three and a really big zero after.
I realize turning 30 happens to a lot of people everyday and honestly it's not the number itself that bothers me so much. In fact, it's a pretty cool age. You have done a lot of dumb stuff already, gotten it out of the way and learned from it. You are more comfortable with who you are and make less apologies for it. You have been humbled more times than you'd like to admit and you can relate to people better. It's actually a good age.
But what isn't so great about being 30 is being 30 and single. There I said it. It's out in the open. I'm 30. And I'm single.
So, this is what I'm going to talk about for just a minute or two or forty nine. :) Oh, where to start... well, first of all, being 30 and single really crept up on me. When Jeni and I lived together last year, we had decided (on some days) that maybe we never wanted to get married so we could hang out all the time! Well, we have always wanted to get married, but we valued our singleness because we knew we were getting a rare chance to spend so much time together. Because of that, being single wasn't such an outstanding issue in my life. Until... that little rat decided to move to Hungary. (Yeah, Jeni, I called you a rat but only because you left. If you come back, I'll call you something much, much nicer).
Of course, living alone again brings the issue screaming up in my face. Add to that loneliness and it's a recipe for disaster I tell you. But, I have found that God is teaching me patience... perseverance, trust and faith. I really do have a peace that God is going to bring the right guy into my life at just the right moment. And a tremendous excitement about it too. The Bible talks about difficult times refining us, and I can say this time in my life has brought so much growth. I'm even going to go out on a limb here and say I'm glad for this time in my life. I have had time to sit with Jesus and it is amazing.
But I did hear a pretty hilarious thing on the radio the other day. They were talking about "bio-panic". I guess it's when... ahem... older women... such as... ahem... myself... start to panic about getting too old to have kids. They actually gave a name to this condition! Apparently talking about your biological clock has gone out of style. But bio-panic is sweeping across the nation at rampant rates because women are waiting so long to get married. I wanted to call in and share my sentiments... I don't think I necessarily have a case of BIO-panic. I think mine could be called MAN-o-panic... just can't seem to find a good one! :)
So, yes, I am thirty and extremely single. (And living in a land of very tiny men but that's a different subject all together). Just thought I'd throw that out there because pretty soon I won't be thirty and single anymore... because I'm turning 31 in a couple of months :).
I realize turning 30 happens to a lot of people everyday and honestly it's not the number itself that bothers me so much. In fact, it's a pretty cool age. You have done a lot of dumb stuff already, gotten it out of the way and learned from it. You are more comfortable with who you are and make less apologies for it. You have been humbled more times than you'd like to admit and you can relate to people better. It's actually a good age.
But what isn't so great about being 30 is being 30 and single. There I said it. It's out in the open. I'm 30. And I'm single.
So, this is what I'm going to talk about for just a minute or two or forty nine. :) Oh, where to start... well, first of all, being 30 and single really crept up on me. When Jeni and I lived together last year, we had decided (on some days) that maybe we never wanted to get married so we could hang out all the time! Well, we have always wanted to get married, but we valued our singleness because we knew we were getting a rare chance to spend so much time together. Because of that, being single wasn't such an outstanding issue in my life. Until... that little rat decided to move to Hungary. (Yeah, Jeni, I called you a rat but only because you left. If you come back, I'll call you something much, much nicer).
Of course, living alone again brings the issue screaming up in my face. Add to that loneliness and it's a recipe for disaster I tell you. But, I have found that God is teaching me patience... perseverance, trust and faith. I really do have a peace that God is going to bring the right guy into my life at just the right moment. And a tremendous excitement about it too. The Bible talks about difficult times refining us, and I can say this time in my life has brought so much growth. I'm even going to go out on a limb here and say I'm glad for this time in my life. I have had time to sit with Jesus and it is amazing.
But I did hear a pretty hilarious thing on the radio the other day. They were talking about "bio-panic". I guess it's when... ahem... older women... such as... ahem... myself... start to panic about getting too old to have kids. They actually gave a name to this condition! Apparently talking about your biological clock has gone out of style. But bio-panic is sweeping across the nation at rampant rates because women are waiting so long to get married. I wanted to call in and share my sentiments... I don't think I necessarily have a case of BIO-panic. I think mine could be called MAN-o-panic... just can't seem to find a good one! :)
So, yes, I am thirty and extremely single. (And living in a land of very tiny men but that's a different subject all together). Just thought I'd throw that out there because pretty soon I won't be thirty and single anymore... because I'm turning 31 in a couple of months :).
Sunday, November 12, 2006
I'm Almost Ready
I am just about getting ready to get ready to write something... any day now :). No, to be honest, I am not sure what to write. On one hand, nothing really exciting happens now that Jeni is gone. She seemed to have been the main mischief maker- just kidding Jen. It's just hard to get into those crazy situations by yourself.
On the other hand, God has been showing me so much about Himself that I am still processing all of it. It's one of those times in my life where I haven't quite grasped it, so it's really hard to write about. And trust me, you don't want to know what goes on inside my mind while I'm putting all the pieces together! It can be a mess! :)
So, I think I'm going to go back to getting ready to get ready- I'm doing real good at that right now :).
"Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good; Blessed is the man who trusts in Him!" PS 34:8
On the other hand, God has been showing me so much about Himself that I am still processing all of it. It's one of those times in my life where I haven't quite grasped it, so it's really hard to write about. And trust me, you don't want to know what goes on inside my mind while I'm putting all the pieces together! It can be a mess! :)
So, I think I'm going to go back to getting ready to get ready- I'm doing real good at that right now :).
"Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good; Blessed is the man who trusts in Him!" PS 34:8
Saturday, November 04, 2006
A Road in the Wilderness
Guess who! I doubt anyone checks this much anymore since I haven't been writing much... or at all :). But I have had people asking, "Are you alive out there? Are you ok?" So the wonderful answer is YES! I'm alive and ok, but I will admit I have had a rough month or two.
From the minute Jeni decided to go to Hungary, I knew this year would be rough- I think God really prepared my heart by at least giving me a heads up. And I also knew that the hard times would be a stronger character in me and bring me closer to the Lord. So before it all began, I was all for it. And then "it" started. "It" was loneliness and it's no friend of mine, let me tell you. I knew that I don't like to be lonely, but I didn't know I was going to freak out so much. But even in the hardest of days, I knew for a fact that God was showing me that He can be my everything. I have such a tendency to run to people for support and although that's not bad, I should be running to God first. And through this time I have found that He is faithful. He is loving and kind and merciful and I've never felt for a second abandoned by Him. This is a huge, huge lesson for me.
God gave me this chapter in Isaiah and the part I have clung to is the verse about God showing me a new thing. He has grown my faith and prayer life so much! And also the part about making a road in the wilderness and rivers in a desert. Hard times in our lives feel like wildernesses and deserts, seeming to have no end in sight. But its at these times, God meets us and makes that road and river. For me, my circumstances are still the same. I'm still pretty lonely, but God has refreshed me with His living waters and given me a sense of hope that surpasses this difficult time.
So I am doing well! Living each day by God's grace and learning more about Him. I do not like this fiery time, but I am rejoicing that I know my God will bring me through it and is with me every step along the way.
Isaiah 43
But now, thus says the LORD, who created you, O Jacob,
And He who formed you, O Israel:
Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by your name;
You are Mine.
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you.
When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned,
Nor shall the flame scorch you.
For I am the LORD your God,
The Holy One of Israel, your Savior;
I gave Egypt for your ransom,
Ethiopia and Seba in your place.
Since you were precious in My sight,
You have been honored,
And I have loved you;
Therefore I will give men for you,
And people for your life.
Fear not, for I am with you;
I will bring your descendants from the east,
And gather you from the west;
I will say to the north, Give them up!
And to the south, Do not keep them back!’
Bring My sons from afar,
And My daughters from the ends of the earth—
Everyone who is called by My name,
Whom I have created for My glory;
I have formed him, yes, I have made him.
Bring out the blind people who have eyes,
And the deaf who have ears.
Let all the nations be gathered together,
And let the people be assembled.
Who among them can declare this,
And show us former things?
Let them bring out their witnesses, that they may be justified;
Or let them hear and say, “It is truth.
You are My witnesses, says the LORD,
And My servant whom I have chosen,
That you may know and believe Me,
And understand that I am He.
Before Me there was no God formed,
Nor shall there be after Me.
I, even I, am the LORD,
And besides Me there is no savior.
I have declared and saved,
I have proclaimed,
And there was no foreign god among you;
Therefore you are My witnesses,”
Says the LORD, that I am God.
Indeed before the day was, I am He;
And there is no one who can deliver out of My hand;
I work, and who will reverse it?”
Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer,
The Holy One of Israel:
“ For your sake I will send to Babylon,
And bring them all down as fugitives
The Chaldeans, who rejoice in their ships.
I am the LORD, your Holy One,
The Creator of Israel, your King.”
Thus says the LORD, who makes a way in the sea
And a path through the mighty waters,
Who brings forth the chariot and horse,
The army and the power
(They shall lie down together, they shall not rise;
They are extinguished, they are quenched like a wick):
Do not remember the former things,
Nor consider the things of old.
Behold, I will do a new thing,
Now it shall spring forth;
Shall you not know it?
I will even make a road in the wilderness
And rivers in the desert.
The beast of the field will honor Me,
The jackals and the ostriches,
Because I give waters in the wilderness
And rivers in the desert,
To give drink to My people, My chosen.
This people I have formed for Myself;
They shall declare My praise.
From the minute Jeni decided to go to Hungary, I knew this year would be rough- I think God really prepared my heart by at least giving me a heads up. And I also knew that the hard times would be a stronger character in me and bring me closer to the Lord. So before it all began, I was all for it. And then "it" started. "It" was loneliness and it's no friend of mine, let me tell you. I knew that I don't like to be lonely, but I didn't know I was going to freak out so much. But even in the hardest of days, I knew for a fact that God was showing me that He can be my everything. I have such a tendency to run to people for support and although that's not bad, I should be running to God first. And through this time I have found that He is faithful. He is loving and kind and merciful and I've never felt for a second abandoned by Him. This is a huge, huge lesson for me.
God gave me this chapter in Isaiah and the part I have clung to is the verse about God showing me a new thing. He has grown my faith and prayer life so much! And also the part about making a road in the wilderness and rivers in a desert. Hard times in our lives feel like wildernesses and deserts, seeming to have no end in sight. But its at these times, God meets us and makes that road and river. For me, my circumstances are still the same. I'm still pretty lonely, but God has refreshed me with His living waters and given me a sense of hope that surpasses this difficult time.
So I am doing well! Living each day by God's grace and learning more about Him. I do not like this fiery time, but I am rejoicing that I know my God will bring me through it and is with me every step along the way.
Isaiah 43
But now, thus says the LORD, who created you, O Jacob,
And He who formed you, O Israel:
Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by your name;
You are Mine.
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you.
When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned,
Nor shall the flame scorch you.
For I am the LORD your God,
The Holy One of Israel, your Savior;
I gave Egypt for your ransom,
Ethiopia and Seba in your place.
Since you were precious in My sight,
You have been honored,
And I have loved you;
Therefore I will give men for you,
And people for your life.
Fear not, for I am with you;
I will bring your descendants from the east,
And gather you from the west;
I will say to the north, Give them up!
And to the south, Do not keep them back!’
Bring My sons from afar,
And My daughters from the ends of the earth—
Everyone who is called by My name,
Whom I have created for My glory;
I have formed him, yes, I have made him.
Bring out the blind people who have eyes,
And the deaf who have ears.
Let all the nations be gathered together,
And let the people be assembled.
Who among them can declare this,
And show us former things?
Let them bring out their witnesses, that they may be justified;
Or let them hear and say, “It is truth.
You are My witnesses, says the LORD,
And My servant whom I have chosen,
That you may know and believe Me,
And understand that I am He.
Before Me there was no God formed,
Nor shall there be after Me.
I, even I, am the LORD,
And besides Me there is no savior.
I have declared and saved,
I have proclaimed,
And there was no foreign god among you;
Therefore you are My witnesses,”
Says the LORD, that I am God.
Indeed before the day was, I am He;
And there is no one who can deliver out of My hand;
I work, and who will reverse it?”
Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer,
The Holy One of Israel:
“ For your sake I will send to Babylon,
And bring them all down as fugitives
The Chaldeans, who rejoice in their ships.
I am the LORD, your Holy One,
The Creator of Israel, your King.”
Thus says the LORD, who makes a way in the sea
And a path through the mighty waters,
Who brings forth the chariot and horse,
The army and the power
(They shall lie down together, they shall not rise;
They are extinguished, they are quenched like a wick):
Do not remember the former things,
Nor consider the things of old.
Behold, I will do a new thing,
Now it shall spring forth;
Shall you not know it?
I will even make a road in the wilderness
And rivers in the desert.
The beast of the field will honor Me,
The jackals and the ostriches,
Because I give waters in the wilderness
And rivers in the desert,
To give drink to My people, My chosen.
This people I have formed for Myself;
They shall declare My praise.
Monday, October 16, 2006
Shake What Your Mama Gave Ya
Just a quick update (I'm running late for work)... a lot of people have heard about our earthquake... 6.3 for about 30 seconds yesterday morning at seven. What a way to wake up! But I am totally fine! The worst of it was the power in the entire state went out. So all stores, gas stations, banks, resteraunts.... everything was closed. And I didn't have phone service for about 5 hours- that was kind of eerie. But at eleven last night the power came on and for all our troubles, they didn't even have the courtesy to cancel school today! :) I will write more later, just wanted to let everyone know I'm ok! :)
Monday, October 02, 2006
AND HERE THEY ARE!
Well, I promised you new bloggers... and here they are! I realized that I haven't been very good about keeping everyone updated about Jeni... well now you can keep up with her straight from her! (If you want a quick update... she LOVES Hungary!!! L-O-V-E-S it!!!) http://sissyinhungary.blogspot.com
And the surprise blog.... Josh! Woo-hoo! http://lodismallgroup.blogspot.com
Enjoy!
And the surprise blog.... Josh! Woo-hoo! http://lodismallgroup.blogspot.com
Enjoy!
Friday, September 22, 2006
Digital Scrapbooking Information
What is digital scrapbooking anyway? Actually, its just scrapbooking, but its done digitally! :) (ingenious name, really). With the advent of digital cameras and photos, moms have begun to keep their memories digitally instead of literally cutting and pasting things into place. In the world of digital scrapbooking, you buy "papers", "elements" and "fonts" the same way you buy real paper. Then you use Photoshop or InDesign or some other graphic design program to put your page together. When you buy paper or fonts or whatever, you download it directly from the site and it is yours to use whenever you'd like. So, although you have to purchase it, it basically lasts a lot longer than a "real" piece of paper because you can use it over and over again.
I found this wonderful world by accident on Scrapartist.com. They have a wonderful gallery and tons of "How-To's". Also, on digital scrapbooking sites, they offer "FREEBIES", which are free downloads to get you started. They have beautiful papers and elements for sale, but I have always stuck with the free stuff because otherwise I would probably spend a LOT of money! :)
If you know how to use Photoshop... you can digitally alter the free stuff into different colors or shapes and create more items for your scrapbook collection! The terms of use are basically that you can't sell your creations if its free... and I'm not sure if you buy it because I never have :). But I think if its for personal use, you can do whatever you want with it! :)
Once you download the elements, you just open a document in Photoshop or InDesign and start layering them together until you get your desired page. The final step would be printing or saving in multiple places so you don't lose your work! :)
There is also a medium of art out there called digital collages. I think these are SUPER fun! Its just like a basic collage where you would cut and put together using actual paper, scissors and glue, but it's done digitally. Check out Robyn England's site for more information on this.
Here are some more sites:
scrapartist.com
twopeasinabucket.com (go to 'digital scrapbooking')
robynengland.com
Hope that helps those of you who are curious! :)
I found this wonderful world by accident on Scrapartist.com. They have a wonderful gallery and tons of "How-To's". Also, on digital scrapbooking sites, they offer "FREEBIES", which are free downloads to get you started. They have beautiful papers and elements for sale, but I have always stuck with the free stuff because otherwise I would probably spend a LOT of money! :)
If you know how to use Photoshop... you can digitally alter the free stuff into different colors or shapes and create more items for your scrapbook collection! The terms of use are basically that you can't sell your creations if its free... and I'm not sure if you buy it because I never have :). But I think if its for personal use, you can do whatever you want with it! :)
Once you download the elements, you just open a document in Photoshop or InDesign and start layering them together until you get your desired page. The final step would be printing or saving in multiple places so you don't lose your work! :)
There is also a medium of art out there called digital collages. I think these are SUPER fun! Its just like a basic collage where you would cut and put together using actual paper, scissors and glue, but it's done digitally. Check out Robyn England's site for more information on this.
Here are some more sites:
scrapartist.com
twopeasinabucket.com (go to 'digital scrapbooking')
robynengland.com
Hope that helps those of you who are curious! :)
Thursday, September 21, 2006
Apologetics Part 6: Scientific Facts About EVOLUTION
continued from Apologetics Part 5....
Every week, I learn so much that I think each lesson is my favorite until I hear the next week's topic. But I was especially thrilled to find out we were covering Evolution and Darwinism. I have never really understood either and because of that, I have shied away from any conversation concerning either topic. Why isn't evolution true? "Because God created the earth, that's why!" That has always been my response... until now! The last couple of posts, I talked about using science to prove the existence of God, and this one is the same. In fact, I think science is God's best creation yet... this information is so clear and so overwhelmingly in support of an intentionally created universe, it blows my mind! There is so much information, but I promise if you can get through it all, it will be worth it. Remember that this is taken from an hour long sermon, so that's why there is so much to read. I am going to do one long post so that the train of thought doesn't get interrupted. Here we go....
There are two kinds of science... Empirical Science (testing of regularities of every day happenings) and Forensic Science (looking at past occurrences to figure out what happened... think CSI). The basic tool of Forensic Science is the Principle of Uniformity. It says that causes in the past were like the causes we observe today. In other words, by the Principle of Uniformity, we assume that the world worked in the past just like it works today; especially when it comes to causes. If Natural Law can do the job today, then the perishable of Uniformity would lead us to conclude that Natural Laws do the job in the past. However, if intelligence can do the job today, and only intelligence.... then the same holds true for the past.
In A.E. Wilder-Smith's book, He Who Thinks Must Believe, he shares an story. It isn't written in my notes, so I will just write the bottom line of his analogy. Basically, he says that canned food is a contrary to evolution. A sealed can of food is void of life. Basically, there is nothing in it that will grow (hopefully). So, if you let that can sit for a long time unopened, it will not grow into something new. It will stay as it is unless someone comes along and adds life to it. Life cannot spring from non-life. That is common sense.
But our 'common sense' is actually the Principle of Uniformity. Thus, in accordance with the last two postings, Evolutionists must answer three questions:
1. How does something come from nothing?
2. How does complexity come from non-complexity?
3. How does life come from non-life?
There are no answers to these questions. So, there are three basic categories that the Darwin Model must deal with:
1. The Origin of the Universe
2. The Origin of Life
3. The Origin of New Life Forms
Before we look at these questions, lets look at one quote from a Darwinist (Richard Dawkins) on how they explain away complex design:
"The information content of the human brain expressed in bits is probably comparable to the total number of connections among the neurons- about a hundred trillion bits. If written out in English, say, that information would fill some twenty million volumes, as many as in the world's largest libraries. The equivalent of twenty million books in inside the heads of every one of us. The brain is a very big place in a very small space.... The neurochemistry of the brain is astonishingly busy. The circuitry of a machine more wonderful than any devised by humans." He then goes on to simply say no one designed it.
He states elsewhere, "Biology is the study of complicated things that give the appearance of having been designed for a purpose."
Francis Crick, co-discoverer of DNA, another Darwinist, sees the appearance of design so clearly that he warns that "biologists must constantly keep in mind that what they see was not designed, but rather evolved." They have to be careful that they don't turn into Creationists!
And how do they respond to the question of life coming from non-life? The argument is this, "Either there is an intelligent cause or a non-intelligent cause." Concerning a non-intelligent cause, Michael Denton, a Microbiologist and an atheist says, "The complexity of the simplest known type of cell is so great that this is impossible to accept that such an object could have been thrown together suddenly by some kind of freakish, vastly improbable event. Such occurrence would be indistinguishable from a miracle."!!! That is from an atheist! Life on planet earth, according to Fred Hoyle, had to be created by an intelligent creator- aliens. Why? Because he calculated the probability of life arising by spontaneous generation was effectively zero. Yet, he refuses to point to the existence of God. Why? Well, that will be in next week's study.
Michael Behe, a Microbiologist, has said that the probability of getting one protein molecule from nothing is like sending a blind man into the Sahara Desert and asking him to find one grain of sand... three times!
So how do they respond, "It's just so." That is not science, that is faith. And their faith is contrary to proven scientific evidence.
Moving to the next question... that of new life forms or Macroevolution. Naturalistic Evolutionists claim that this one-celled amoeba (or something like it) came together by spontaneous generation (i.e. without intelligent intervention) in a warm little pond somewhere on the very early earth. According to their theory, all biological life has evolved from that first amoeba without any intelligent guidance at all. This, of course, is the theory of Macroevolution: from the infantile, to the reptile, to the crocodile, to the Gentile. Or, from the goo to you via the zoo. So let's take a look and see if that theory has any scientific merit.
Defining EVOLUTION is perhaps the greatest point of confusion in the creation vs. evolution controversy.
MICROEVOLUTION: Changes or variation within a species. It happens, science proves it. Example: Darwin's finches and bacteria mutation.
MACROEVOLUTION: Small successive changes over a long amount of time that lead to a new species. This has never been observed. Never has any species CHANGED FROM ONE SPECIES TO ANOTHER. Example: A cow to a whale, reptile to a bird, monkey to a man.
Evolutionists claim the mechanism by which a creature changes from one animal to another is through "Natural Selection". This is not the proper word to label this process, why? Since, in their words, the process is evolution is, by definition, without intelligence, there is no "selection" at all going on. It's a blind process. The term "natural selection" simply means the fittest creature survives.
Natural selection has never been observed to produce new life forms. Bacteria, even though it changed quite a bit, has always remained bacteria. The finches that Darwin observed always remained finches. They use microevolution to prove macroevolution.
The problem: Macroevolution is exactly what Darwinists claim from the data. They say that observable micro changes can be extrapolated to prove that unobservable microevolution has occurred. They make no distinction between microevolution and macroevolution, and thus use the evidence from micro to prove macro. By failing to make this critical distinction, Darwinists can dupe the general public into thinking that any observable change in any organism proves all life has evolved from the first one-celled creature. No matter how much something changes within its own species, it has never changed into a completely different species.
There are four reasons for this:
1. Genetic Limits: Artificial Selection vs. Natural Selection
Artificial Selection has an end in view, has an intelligent process, and has intelligent choices.
Natural Selection has no end, it is a blind process and has non-intelligent choices. Basically this means that nothing is done by a creator- its just chance. But the interesting thing is even when scientists intelligently manipulate creatures with an end in mind- which is the antithesis of blind Darwin process- macroevolution still doesn't work!
2. Clinical change: The changes in microevolution go in a cycle. It never turns into something completely new. For example, Darwin's finches' beaks got longer during a certain time of year and shorter during other times of the year- but they never changed into something besides beaks.
3. Irreducible Complexity: In 1859, Charles Darwin wrote, "If it could be demonstrated that any complex organ existed, which could not possibly have formed by numerous, successive, slight modifications, my theory would absolutely break down." We now know that there are many organs, systems and processes in life that fit that description. He could not see what we see now... this saying contradicts evolution and we now have proof of this. An irreducibly complex system is "composed of several well-matched, interacting parts that contribute to the basic function, wherein the removal of any one of these parts causes the system to effectively break down."
An example of this is blood clotting. If our blood did not clot in the precise way that it does, our blood would actually crystallize. So it could not have had an 'in between' stage while we were 'evolving' because this system is so complex. Irreducibly complex biochemical systems include: blood clotting, cilia (cell propulsion organism), and vision. This means that new life can't come into existence by the Darwin method of slight, successive changes over a long period of time.
Michael Behe, a leading authority on the subject says, "There is currently no experimental evidence to show that natural selection can get around irreducible complexity."
4. Non-viability of transitional forms: Since natural selection is slight, successive changes over a long period of time, there would be these transitional repti-birds, or cowhales, or mankeys. These guys would be useless while they are in that transitional phase.... a cow with a whale body? They would be weak... and natural selection eliminates things that aren't fit- so how did they survive? Its contradictory to the theory of survival of the fittest.
Some extra questions that come up regarding Evolution
What about the fossil record?
Darwin, although oblivious to the complexity of the cell, still faced a problem in facing the fossil record. He says concerning the lack of transitional fossils, "Why then is not every geological formation and every stratum full of such intermediate links? Geology assuredly does not reveal any such finely graduated organic chain, and this, perhaps is the most obvious and grave objection which can be argued against my theory." Those are Darwin's words. He is admitting there is no evidence of transitional forms, but he thought that with time, archaeologists would surely find some. They have never found even one.
Stephen J. Gould (an Evolutionist), the late Harvard Paleontologist states: "The history of most fossil species include two features particularly inconsistent with gradualism: 1. Stasis. Most species exhibit no directional change during their tenure on earth. The appear in the fossil record looking much the same as when they disappear; morphological change is usually limited and directionless. 2. Sudden Appearance. In any local area, a species does not arise gradually by the steady transformation of its ancestors; it appears all at once and fully formed." Therefore, there is no evidence for gradual transformation. So, he's saying that since it could not have happened gradually, it must've happened all at once! To him, the lack of evidence equals a new theory that doesn't need evidence.
Jonathan Wells writes, "The fossil record is so strong, and the event so dramatic, that it has become known as 'The Cambrian explosion', or Biology's Big Bang." This theory doesn't support evolution, it actually supports creationism. There was a big bang... we just happen to know that God was the one who created it.
Another question: What about the apparent progression of skulls from monkey to man?
Did you know that 99% of the biology of an organism in its soft anatomy? Which is inaccessible in a fossil? So, in a fossil, we only have 1% of the information that can be found about it.
Also, we have all seen the artistic renderings of skulls from monkey to man. But just because you line something up, doesn't mean that they progressed. For example, we can line up a teaspoon, tablespoon, cup and kettle, but it doesn't mean that they all evolved from a teaspoon. In fact, on the those posters, if you read the fine print, you will see the disclaimer that it is actually an artistic rendering rather than fact. The same with drawing the different stages of monkeys turning into men.
Furthermore, the fossil record is irrelevant to the question. Michael Behe writes, "Anatomy is, quite simply, irrelevant to the question of whether evolution could take place on the molecular level. So is fossil record. It no longer matters whether there are huge gaps in the fossil record or whether the record is continuous as that of U/S Presidents. And if there are gaps, it does no matter whether they can be explained plausibly. The fossil record has nothing to tell us about whether the interaction of 11 cts-retinal with with rhodopsin, transducin, and phosphodieterase [irreducibly complex systems] could have developed step by step." Basically, he's saying the fossils can't tell us anything about micobiological data.
So what about the Dating Methods that they use to carbon date fossils? It's faulty. Its only accurate to about 1000 years. They date the bones by which layer they are found in. But in Canada, they actually found more complex items in 'older' layers and more simple items in 'newer' layers.
What about dinosaurs? They definitely lived. Actually, they have found man's steps next to dinosaur steps. And in the book of Job, it talks about dinosaurs.
And what about the age of the Earth? I have one friend in particular who gets really upset about the age of the earth. He wants to know exactly how old it is and he can't accept that it is new. Even among Christians, there is a debate. But the point isn't necessarily how old it is, but the fact that a Creator created it rather than evolution. Getting caught up in the age is a side factor that distracts away from Creation vs. Evolution. We don't know how old it is and that's that. But we do know that GOD created it. But here's a trippy question that a friend of mine asked when I asked him about this... what if the earth was created with age built into it? Like how Adam was created as a full blown adult. Hmmm... interesting thought, isn't it?
So, if you have made it this far, you will be happy to know I am done! :) Like I said, this was a long post, but I think such a vital one! I found out last week that the fourth quarter curriculum for tenth grade science is Evolution! It's a theory, but it's taught as fact. And we need to know the real, scientific facts. Besides just being astounding, they are proof that Evolution could not possibly be true. And the proof is scientific, not based on our feelings or hopes. Science refutes Evolution, that's all there is to it.
At the end of the night, our pastor reminded us of two verses.
1 Corinthians 13:2 "And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing." Knowing scientific fact is good and interesting and profitable, but if we do not have love for others in our hearts, it does no good. We must start with loving others and from that a desire will grow to share the truth with them. God does not desire for us to smack people around with His Word or with the truth. He desires that we love people just as He loves us.
2 Timothy 4:2 "Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching." When Paul wrote this book, he was at the end of his life- a life that he would lose because he was a follower and preacher of Christ. Yet, even though his time was coming to end, he encourages us to preach the Word. Preach the Word because we know it is sharper than a two edged sword, able to convince and convict even the hardest of hearts. And let us pray that it would be our earnest desire to redeem the time in these last days- that we would share hope to a dying and lost world. That we would not be content with our own salvation, but that we would love others more than our own time and desires. And let us pray for each other too that we would remain diligent in seeking after our Father and knowing what great and mighty things He has done and will do.
Every week, I learn so much that I think each lesson is my favorite until I hear the next week's topic. But I was especially thrilled to find out we were covering Evolution and Darwinism. I have never really understood either and because of that, I have shied away from any conversation concerning either topic. Why isn't evolution true? "Because God created the earth, that's why!" That has always been my response... until now! The last couple of posts, I talked about using science to prove the existence of God, and this one is the same. In fact, I think science is God's best creation yet... this information is so clear and so overwhelmingly in support of an intentionally created universe, it blows my mind! There is so much information, but I promise if you can get through it all, it will be worth it. Remember that this is taken from an hour long sermon, so that's why there is so much to read. I am going to do one long post so that the train of thought doesn't get interrupted. Here we go....
There are two kinds of science... Empirical Science (testing of regularities of every day happenings) and Forensic Science (looking at past occurrences to figure out what happened... think CSI). The basic tool of Forensic Science is the Principle of Uniformity. It says that causes in the past were like the causes we observe today. In other words, by the Principle of Uniformity, we assume that the world worked in the past just like it works today; especially when it comes to causes. If Natural Law can do the job today, then the perishable of Uniformity would lead us to conclude that Natural Laws do the job in the past. However, if intelligence can do the job today, and only intelligence.... then the same holds true for the past.
In A.E. Wilder-Smith's book, He Who Thinks Must Believe, he shares an story. It isn't written in my notes, so I will just write the bottom line of his analogy. Basically, he says that canned food is a contrary to evolution. A sealed can of food is void of life. Basically, there is nothing in it that will grow (hopefully). So, if you let that can sit for a long time unopened, it will not grow into something new. It will stay as it is unless someone comes along and adds life to it. Life cannot spring from non-life. That is common sense.
But our 'common sense' is actually the Principle of Uniformity. Thus, in accordance with the last two postings, Evolutionists must answer three questions:
1. How does something come from nothing?
2. How does complexity come from non-complexity?
3. How does life come from non-life?
There are no answers to these questions. So, there are three basic categories that the Darwin Model must deal with:
1. The Origin of the Universe
2. The Origin of Life
3. The Origin of New Life Forms
Before we look at these questions, lets look at one quote from a Darwinist (Richard Dawkins) on how they explain away complex design:
"The information content of the human brain expressed in bits is probably comparable to the total number of connections among the neurons- about a hundred trillion bits. If written out in English, say, that information would fill some twenty million volumes, as many as in the world's largest libraries. The equivalent of twenty million books in inside the heads of every one of us. The brain is a very big place in a very small space.... The neurochemistry of the brain is astonishingly busy. The circuitry of a machine more wonderful than any devised by humans." He then goes on to simply say no one designed it.
He states elsewhere, "Biology is the study of complicated things that give the appearance of having been designed for a purpose."
Francis Crick, co-discoverer of DNA, another Darwinist, sees the appearance of design so clearly that he warns that "biologists must constantly keep in mind that what they see was not designed, but rather evolved." They have to be careful that they don't turn into Creationists!
And how do they respond to the question of life coming from non-life? The argument is this, "Either there is an intelligent cause or a non-intelligent cause." Concerning a non-intelligent cause, Michael Denton, a Microbiologist and an atheist says, "The complexity of the simplest known type of cell is so great that this is impossible to accept that such an object could have been thrown together suddenly by some kind of freakish, vastly improbable event. Such occurrence would be indistinguishable from a miracle."!!! That is from an atheist! Life on planet earth, according to Fred Hoyle, had to be created by an intelligent creator- aliens. Why? Because he calculated the probability of life arising by spontaneous generation was effectively zero. Yet, he refuses to point to the existence of God. Why? Well, that will be in next week's study.
Michael Behe, a Microbiologist, has said that the probability of getting one protein molecule from nothing is like sending a blind man into the Sahara Desert and asking him to find one grain of sand... three times!
So how do they respond, "It's just so." That is not science, that is faith. And their faith is contrary to proven scientific evidence.
Moving to the next question... that of new life forms or Macroevolution. Naturalistic Evolutionists claim that this one-celled amoeba (or something like it) came together by spontaneous generation (i.e. without intelligent intervention) in a warm little pond somewhere on the very early earth. According to their theory, all biological life has evolved from that first amoeba without any intelligent guidance at all. This, of course, is the theory of Macroevolution: from the infantile, to the reptile, to the crocodile, to the Gentile. Or, from the goo to you via the zoo. So let's take a look and see if that theory has any scientific merit.
Defining EVOLUTION is perhaps the greatest point of confusion in the creation vs. evolution controversy.
MICROEVOLUTION: Changes or variation within a species. It happens, science proves it. Example: Darwin's finches and bacteria mutation.
MACROEVOLUTION: Small successive changes over a long amount of time that lead to a new species. This has never been observed. Never has any species CHANGED FROM ONE SPECIES TO ANOTHER. Example: A cow to a whale, reptile to a bird, monkey to a man.
Evolutionists claim the mechanism by which a creature changes from one animal to another is through "Natural Selection". This is not the proper word to label this process, why? Since, in their words, the process is evolution is, by definition, without intelligence, there is no "selection" at all going on. It's a blind process. The term "natural selection" simply means the fittest creature survives.
Natural selection has never been observed to produce new life forms. Bacteria, even though it changed quite a bit, has always remained bacteria. The finches that Darwin observed always remained finches. They use microevolution to prove macroevolution.
The problem: Macroevolution is exactly what Darwinists claim from the data. They say that observable micro changes can be extrapolated to prove that unobservable microevolution has occurred. They make no distinction between microevolution and macroevolution, and thus use the evidence from micro to prove macro. By failing to make this critical distinction, Darwinists can dupe the general public into thinking that any observable change in any organism proves all life has evolved from the first one-celled creature. No matter how much something changes within its own species, it has never changed into a completely different species.
There are four reasons for this:
1. Genetic Limits: Artificial Selection vs. Natural Selection
Artificial Selection has an end in view, has an intelligent process, and has intelligent choices.
Natural Selection has no end, it is a blind process and has non-intelligent choices. Basically this means that nothing is done by a creator- its just chance. But the interesting thing is even when scientists intelligently manipulate creatures with an end in mind- which is the antithesis of blind Darwin process- macroevolution still doesn't work!
2. Clinical change: The changes in microevolution go in a cycle. It never turns into something completely new. For example, Darwin's finches' beaks got longer during a certain time of year and shorter during other times of the year- but they never changed into something besides beaks.
3. Irreducible Complexity: In 1859, Charles Darwin wrote, "If it could be demonstrated that any complex organ existed, which could not possibly have formed by numerous, successive, slight modifications, my theory would absolutely break down." We now know that there are many organs, systems and processes in life that fit that description. He could not see what we see now... this saying contradicts evolution and we now have proof of this. An irreducibly complex system is "composed of several well-matched, interacting parts that contribute to the basic function, wherein the removal of any one of these parts causes the system to effectively break down."
An example of this is blood clotting. If our blood did not clot in the precise way that it does, our blood would actually crystallize. So it could not have had an 'in between' stage while we were 'evolving' because this system is so complex. Irreducibly complex biochemical systems include: blood clotting, cilia (cell propulsion organism), and vision. This means that new life can't come into existence by the Darwin method of slight, successive changes over a long period of time.
Michael Behe, a leading authority on the subject says, "There is currently no experimental evidence to show that natural selection can get around irreducible complexity."
4. Non-viability of transitional forms: Since natural selection is slight, successive changes over a long period of time, there would be these transitional repti-birds, or cowhales, or mankeys. These guys would be useless while they are in that transitional phase.... a cow with a whale body? They would be weak... and natural selection eliminates things that aren't fit- so how did they survive? Its contradictory to the theory of survival of the fittest.
Some extra questions that come up regarding Evolution
What about the fossil record?
Darwin, although oblivious to the complexity of the cell, still faced a problem in facing the fossil record. He says concerning the lack of transitional fossils, "Why then is not every geological formation and every stratum full of such intermediate links? Geology assuredly does not reveal any such finely graduated organic chain, and this, perhaps is the most obvious and grave objection which can be argued against my theory." Those are Darwin's words. He is admitting there is no evidence of transitional forms, but he thought that with time, archaeologists would surely find some. They have never found even one.
Stephen J. Gould (an Evolutionist), the late Harvard Paleontologist states: "The history of most fossil species include two features particularly inconsistent with gradualism: 1. Stasis. Most species exhibit no directional change during their tenure on earth. The appear in the fossil record looking much the same as when they disappear; morphological change is usually limited and directionless. 2. Sudden Appearance. In any local area, a species does not arise gradually by the steady transformation of its ancestors; it appears all at once and fully formed." Therefore, there is no evidence for gradual transformation. So, he's saying that since it could not have happened gradually, it must've happened all at once! To him, the lack of evidence equals a new theory that doesn't need evidence.
Jonathan Wells writes, "The fossil record is so strong, and the event so dramatic, that it has become known as 'The Cambrian explosion', or Biology's Big Bang." This theory doesn't support evolution, it actually supports creationism. There was a big bang... we just happen to know that God was the one who created it.
Another question: What about the apparent progression of skulls from monkey to man?
Did you know that 99% of the biology of an organism in its soft anatomy? Which is inaccessible in a fossil? So, in a fossil, we only have 1% of the information that can be found about it.
Also, we have all seen the artistic renderings of skulls from monkey to man. But just because you line something up, doesn't mean that they progressed. For example, we can line up a teaspoon, tablespoon, cup and kettle, but it doesn't mean that they all evolved from a teaspoon. In fact, on the those posters, if you read the fine print, you will see the disclaimer that it is actually an artistic rendering rather than fact. The same with drawing the different stages of monkeys turning into men.
Furthermore, the fossil record is irrelevant to the question. Michael Behe writes, "Anatomy is, quite simply, irrelevant to the question of whether evolution could take place on the molecular level. So is fossil record. It no longer matters whether there are huge gaps in the fossil record or whether the record is continuous as that of U/S Presidents. And if there are gaps, it does no matter whether they can be explained plausibly. The fossil record has nothing to tell us about whether the interaction of 11 cts-retinal with with rhodopsin, transducin, and phosphodieterase [irreducibly complex systems] could have developed step by step." Basically, he's saying the fossils can't tell us anything about micobiological data.
So what about the Dating Methods that they use to carbon date fossils? It's faulty. Its only accurate to about 1000 years. They date the bones by which layer they are found in. But in Canada, they actually found more complex items in 'older' layers and more simple items in 'newer' layers.
What about dinosaurs? They definitely lived. Actually, they have found man's steps next to dinosaur steps. And in the book of Job, it talks about dinosaurs.
And what about the age of the Earth? I have one friend in particular who gets really upset about the age of the earth. He wants to know exactly how old it is and he can't accept that it is new. Even among Christians, there is a debate. But the point isn't necessarily how old it is, but the fact that a Creator created it rather than evolution. Getting caught up in the age is a side factor that distracts away from Creation vs. Evolution. We don't know how old it is and that's that. But we do know that GOD created it. But here's a trippy question that a friend of mine asked when I asked him about this... what if the earth was created with age built into it? Like how Adam was created as a full blown adult. Hmmm... interesting thought, isn't it?
So, if you have made it this far, you will be happy to know I am done! :) Like I said, this was a long post, but I think such a vital one! I found out last week that the fourth quarter curriculum for tenth grade science is Evolution! It's a theory, but it's taught as fact. And we need to know the real, scientific facts. Besides just being astounding, they are proof that Evolution could not possibly be true. And the proof is scientific, not based on our feelings or hopes. Science refutes Evolution, that's all there is to it.
At the end of the night, our pastor reminded us of two verses.
1 Corinthians 13:2 "And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing." Knowing scientific fact is good and interesting and profitable, but if we do not have love for others in our hearts, it does no good. We must start with loving others and from that a desire will grow to share the truth with them. God does not desire for us to smack people around with His Word or with the truth. He desires that we love people just as He loves us.
2 Timothy 4:2 "Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching." When Paul wrote this book, he was at the end of his life- a life that he would lose because he was a follower and preacher of Christ. Yet, even though his time was coming to end, he encourages us to preach the Word. Preach the Word because we know it is sharper than a two edged sword, able to convince and convict even the hardest of hearts. And let us pray that it would be our earnest desire to redeem the time in these last days- that we would share hope to a dying and lost world. That we would not be content with our own salvation, but that we would love others more than our own time and desires. And let us pray for each other too that we would remain diligent in seeking after our Father and knowing what great and mighty things He has done and will do.
For Those of You Who Are Being Pruned Like Me!
from Streams in the Desert, September 19
My Father is the gardener. John 15:1
It is a comforting thought that trouble, in whatever form it comes to us, is a heavenly messenger that brings us something from God. Outwardly it may appear painful or even destructive, but inwardly its spiritual work produces blessings. Many of the richest blessings we inherited are the fruit of sorrow or pain. We should never forget that redemption, the world's greatest blessing, is the fruit of the world's greatest sorrow. And whenever a time of deep pruning comes and the knife cuts deeply and the pain is severe, what an inexpressible comfort it is to know: "My Father is the gardener."
John Vincent, a Methodist Episcopal bishop of the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries and a leader of the Sunday school movement in America, once told of being in a large greenhouse where clusters of luscious grapes were hanging on each side. The owner of the greenhouse told him, "When the new gardener came here, he said he would not work with the vines unless he could cut them completely down to the stalk. I allowed him to do so, and we had no grapes for two years, but this is now the result."
There is rich symbolism in this account of the pruning process when applied to the Christian life. Pruning seems to be destroying the vine, and the gardener appears to be cutting everything away. Yet he sees the future and knows that the final result will be the enrichment of the life of the vine, and a greater abundance of fruit.
There are many blessings we will never receive until we are ready to pay the price of pain, for the pain of suffering is the only way to reach them. J.R. Miller
I walked a mile with Pleasure,
She chattered all the way;
But left me none the wiser
For all she had to say.
I walked a mile with Sorrow,
And ne'er a word said she;
But oh, the things I learned from her
When Sorrow walked with me.
My Father is the gardener. John 15:1
It is a comforting thought that trouble, in whatever form it comes to us, is a heavenly messenger that brings us something from God. Outwardly it may appear painful or even destructive, but inwardly its spiritual work produces blessings. Many of the richest blessings we inherited are the fruit of sorrow or pain. We should never forget that redemption, the world's greatest blessing, is the fruit of the world's greatest sorrow. And whenever a time of deep pruning comes and the knife cuts deeply and the pain is severe, what an inexpressible comfort it is to know: "My Father is the gardener."
John Vincent, a Methodist Episcopal bishop of the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries and a leader of the Sunday school movement in America, once told of being in a large greenhouse where clusters of luscious grapes were hanging on each side. The owner of the greenhouse told him, "When the new gardener came here, he said he would not work with the vines unless he could cut them completely down to the stalk. I allowed him to do so, and we had no grapes for two years, but this is now the result."
There is rich symbolism in this account of the pruning process when applied to the Christian life. Pruning seems to be destroying the vine, and the gardener appears to be cutting everything away. Yet he sees the future and knows that the final result will be the enrichment of the life of the vine, and a greater abundance of fruit.
There are many blessings we will never receive until we are ready to pay the price of pain, for the pain of suffering is the only way to reach them. J.R. Miller
I walked a mile with Pleasure,
She chattered all the way;
But left me none the wiser
For all she had to say.
I walked a mile with Sorrow,
And ne'er a word said she;
But oh, the things I learned from her
When Sorrow walked with me.
Wednesday, September 20, 2006
Holla at yo' girls!
This past week, my mom and Kelly came to visit me. It was so awesome! We had a total girls week complete with shopping, laying on the beach, going out to eat, getting lost, and of course, laughing til we cried. It was good for my soul.
And my mom totally spoiled me. It's amazing how being taken care of by your mother isn't something you grow out of! My mom is my HERO!
Thanks for coming out girls! I had a blast!!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
