New Eyes

I got new glasses last week. I like them a lot, but I'm not sure if they are the reason I'm seeing the world more clearly.  On Monday I walked and prayed for an hour and the sky was a deep blue, the clouds a brilliant white.  The leaves seemed greener too. All the beauty had me thinking about our Creator and what we lose by being insulated from this world, inside all the time.  Stuck looking at concrete and brick.  We are becoming an increasingly atheistic people, especially in large cities.  Scripture often speaks of how creation demonstrates who God is.
Ps 19: The heavens declare the glory of God;
       the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
 ² Day after day they pour forth speech;
       night after night they display knowledge.

Romans 1:20
. ²⁰For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.

When I was younger I would go hiking, escape to the woods and let God's creative power work in me. I was reconnected with his immensity as I saw myself as a speck once again.  One of my favorite illustrations of his hugeness is:


Imagine a grapefruit.  Ok That grapefruit is the Sun, now imagine a grain of sand 35 feet away. that is the earth, the moon a speck of sand would be a half inch from the first grain of sand.  Now Imagine another grapefruit 2000 miles away. that's alpha centauri the nest closest star.  Now recognize that there are at least 100 billion stars (maybe 400 billion?) in the Milky way all about 1600 miles from each other using this same scale.  And at least 100 Billion galaxies in the Universe maybe 500 billion.  Think about how huge the universe is and that somehow it is always expanding.  Now you are one of 6 billion particles on that tiny grain of sand, and for some reason you think everything revolves around you.


 Psalm 8: ⁴ what is man that you are mindful of him,
       the son of man that you care for him?


yet he does...

Transformation

God has given me more time, desire and passion for His Word recently.  I've been doing devotions with my wife, reading The Pursuit of God by Tozer and reconnecting with a couple of spiritual mentors.  My faith is being refreshed and I'm being transformed, at least my passion for God is returning and as I am faithful and responsive to God's will and call to empty ourselves for those around us I will be transformed continually.


This is one passage that cut deep.


It (The veil of self that blinds us to God) is woven of the fine threads of the self-life, the hyphenated sins of the human spirit. They are
not something we do, they are something we are, and therein lies both their subtlety and their power.
To be specific, the self-sins are these: self-righteousness, self-pity, self-confidence, self-sufficiency,
self-admiration, self-love and a host of others like them. They dwell too deep within us and
are too much a part of our natures to come to our attention till the light of God is focused upon them.
The grosser manifestations of these sins, egotism, exhibitionism, self-promotion, are strangely
tolerated in Christian leaders even in circles of impeccable orthodoxy. They are so much in evidence
as actually, for many people, to become identified with the gospel. I trust it is not a cynical observation
to say that they appear these days to be a requisite for popularity in some sections of the Church
visible. Promoting self under the guise of promoting Christ is currently so common as to excite little
notice.


I am self focused (so are you), but seek to have them mind of Christ. (so should you)


 ⁵Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
 ⁶Who, being in very nature God,
      did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
 ⁷but made himself nothing,
      taking the very nature of a servant,
      being made in human likeness.
 ⁸And being found in appearance as a man,
      he humbled himself
      and became obedient to death—
         even death on a cross!
 ⁹Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
      and gave him the name that is above every name,
 ¹⁰that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
      in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
 ¹¹and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
      to the glory of God the Father.


Pray with me Tozer's prayer



Lord, how excellent are Thy ways, and how devious and dark are the ways of man. Show us how to die, that we may
rise again to newness of life. Rend the veil of our self-life from the top down as Thou didst rend the veil of the Temple. We
would draw near in full assurance of faith. We would dwell with Thee in daily experience here on this earth so that we
may be accustomed to the glory when we enter Thy heaven to dwell with Thee there. In Jesus’ name, Amen.


My hope is I can have more of God changing me in the blog and less focus on correcting the incorrect thinking of culture

Ah, Statistics

It's funny how everyone has research to defend their position.  Today there was an article in Time on Lesbian parents and their high performing kids.

This was my response to the article

It's easy to see the variables in the study that are problematic.  1) self reporting being the most obvious  "the parents agreed to answer questions about their children's social skills, academic performance and behavior at five follow-up times over the 17-year study period. "

2. The study should be compared not to all hetero couples but those who chose artificial insemination due to fertility issues for consistency and as a control.  Obviously choosing this path is intentional parenting and has a great financial investment, therefore better schools opportunity etc.   

3. The finding concerning whether a separation happens is interesting in that it produced no discernible difference.  

 We need to be discerning readers. I know I spend a lot of time reading things other than Scripture. But I find that the more time I spend reading books other that God's Word, even Christian books, especially church books I begin to focus on what I can do and get all these ideas about how to manipulate God's World...for his own good.  So to have hearts and minds aligned with Christ to be able to "give an answer for our hope" we must make the Bible the plumb line, the starting point for all things. Only then will we have  insight into fallen perspectives around us whether they be the lies of evil intent and errors of good intent.  

Right Again

I mentioned these flawed arguments for lowering the drinking age a while ago. It seems we have confirmation that despite all the talk about maturity with regards to alcohol the Europeans aren't really any better than what we profess to be.

No inconveniences please

The CEO BP the other day said he just wanted his life back. Please everyone who will forever be affected by the negligence and errors of my company, but all of your criticism is not good for my day to day well being.  

Sadly, I think this is how all of us operate. Maybe most of us if I'm being generous.  We really don't care what else is happening in the world as long as I get to do my thing.  We don't get out of our comfort zones because it would be too tough. We don't serve others because it would take too much time.  We don't like people cutting in front of us in traffic, or even traffic because it impinges on my desires right now.  

It's easy to point our fingers at the entitled and uber wealthy. I just need to keep looking back at my own life and remember. I'm not really any better. Christ is.