Monday, December 17, 2007
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Quotes!
So I got to thinking about other quotes I like after ending my previous entry with one of my favorites but I realized that I had forgotten how to say them verbatim for the most part. So I looked them up and found some other goodies as well.
William Shakespeare - “As soon go kindle fire with snow, as seek to quench the fire of love with words.”
Unknown - “Don't refuse to go on an occasional wild goose chase. That's what wild geese are for.” ( I know this one ends in a preposition, my apologies.)
Unknown - “Memory is a crazy woman who hoards colored rags and throws away food.”
Unknown - “It is possible for your mind to be so open that your brain falls out.”
Henry David Thoreau - “The language of friendship is not words but meanings.”
Henry David Thoreau - “It is only when we forget all our learning that we begin to know.”
Sir Winston Churchill - “We shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.”
Sir Winston Churchill - “Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that, if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, 'This was their finest hour'.”
Charles Wesley - “And can it be that I should gain an interest in the Savior's blood? Died He for me, who caused His pain-- for me, who Him to death pursued? Amazing love! how can it be that Thou, my God, shouldst die for me? 'Tis mystery all! Th' Immortal dies: Who can ex”
Mahatma Gandhi - “If Christians would really live according to the teachings of Christ, as found in the Bible, all of India would be Christian today.”
William Shakespeare - “As soon go kindle fire with snow, as seek to quench the fire of love with words.”
Unknown - “Don't refuse to go on an occasional wild goose chase. That's what wild geese are for.” ( I know this one ends in a preposition, my apologies.)
Unknown - “Memory is a crazy woman who hoards colored rags and throws away food.”
Unknown - “It is possible for your mind to be so open that your brain falls out.”
Henry David Thoreau - “The language of friendship is not words but meanings.”
Henry David Thoreau - “It is only when we forget all our learning that we begin to know.”
Sir Winston Churchill - “We shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.”
Sir Winston Churchill - “Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that, if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, 'This was their finest hour'.”
Charles Wesley - “And can it be that I should gain an interest in the Savior's blood? Died He for me, who caused His pain-- for me, who Him to death pursued? Amazing love! how can it be that Thou, my God, shouldst die for me? 'Tis mystery all! Th' Immortal dies: Who can ex”
Mahatma Gandhi - “If Christians would really live according to the teachings of Christ, as found in the Bible, all of India would be Christian today.”
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Thoughts
My mind is full right now. Full of thoughts about everything from what I'm going to eat tonight to... well, we won't go there. But to contrast my full mind, I have a fairly empty evening planned with only going out to dinner with my father and brother on the schedule later.
Therefore, I thought I should blog. But what should it be about? I could try to think of something I learned today, or just tell about my week, or try to ensnare a profound idea and bind it behind my faulty words in a short snippet just to discover later that it wasn't so profound after all. Then I thought that the solution to my quagmire would lie in seeking the purpose of what I wanted to do with the entry. Should my blog entries be simply self therapeutic? Or should I entertain the idea that I should try to entertain some audience?
I guess I don't know what I want to do through this blog. I should come up with a mission statement for my blog.
But when it comes down to it, I can't avoid putting a significant portion of my efforts into making any given entry something that I myself wouldn't mind reading. Be it educational, entertaining, or helpful, I try to have a clear purpose when I make an entry. (except for this one, obviously)
To tie off this mangled limb of an entry I'd like to close with a completely unrelated quote from a very troubled man. I've known this quote for quite a long time now and it scratches my nuclear engineering itch.
"If the radiance of a thousand suns were to burst at once into the sky that would be like the splendor of the Mighty One... I am become Death, the Shatterer of Worlds." - J. Robert Oppenheimer quoting The Bhagavad Gita on the topic of developing the first ever nuclear cascade reaction ordinance. These were the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs.
Therefore, I thought I should blog. But what should it be about? I could try to think of something I learned today, or just tell about my week, or try to ensnare a profound idea and bind it behind my faulty words in a short snippet just to discover later that it wasn't so profound after all. Then I thought that the solution to my quagmire would lie in seeking the purpose of what I wanted to do with the entry. Should my blog entries be simply self therapeutic? Or should I entertain the idea that I should try to entertain some audience?
I guess I don't know what I want to do through this blog. I should come up with a mission statement for my blog.
But when it comes down to it, I can't avoid putting a significant portion of my efforts into making any given entry something that I myself wouldn't mind reading. Be it educational, entertaining, or helpful, I try to have a clear purpose when I make an entry. (except for this one, obviously)
To tie off this mangled limb of an entry I'd like to close with a completely unrelated quote from a very troubled man. I've known this quote for quite a long time now and it scratches my nuclear engineering itch.
"If the radiance of a thousand suns were to burst at once into the sky that would be like the splendor of the Mighty One... I am become Death, the Shatterer of Worlds." - J. Robert Oppenheimer quoting The Bhagavad Gita on the topic of developing the first ever nuclear cascade reaction ordinance. These were the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs.
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
What If...
Our salvation doesn't depend on the salvation of others. If you have accepted Jesus Christ then you are going to heaven because of the awesome grace of God. Sure, there are other things that we are supposed to do; get baptized, spread the Gospel, be kind to others, etc. But those aren't necessarily requirements to getting to spend eternity with God. But I think we as Christians take this for granted.
What if our salvation did depend on the salvation of others? (I'm not suggesting it does; I just want to use the thought as an illustration.) What if we had to share the Gospel with a minimum of 10 people per day? What if half of those were required to accept Jesus per day in order for your salvation to be finalized? (these requirements are just made up off the top of my head of course) If this was the case, our behavior would be much different as Christians. We would be desperate for others salvation; it would be imperative.
But we should already be viewing the things Christians should be doing as requirements to get into heaven!
Now while I understand that truly investigating every facet of the concept of converting the "should's" of Christianity into "must's" would turn up a plethora of inconsistencies, I think when it is considered in the sole facet of how it would change our priorities, it reveals that many of us take the "should's" less seriously that we ought. Now you seem like a canny lad/lassie, so I don't suppose that any of this should cause you to fret over my cryptic explanation of a concept that seemed so clear and profound in my head just minutes before. (I hope!)
Moral of the story: Getting saved wasn't the finish line, it was signing up for the race.
What if our salvation did depend on the salvation of others? (I'm not suggesting it does; I just want to use the thought as an illustration.) What if we had to share the Gospel with a minimum of 10 people per day? What if half of those were required to accept Jesus per day in order for your salvation to be finalized? (these requirements are just made up off the top of my head of course) If this was the case, our behavior would be much different as Christians. We would be desperate for others salvation; it would be imperative.
But we should already be viewing the things Christians should be doing as requirements to get into heaven!
Now while I understand that truly investigating every facet of the concept of converting the "should's" of Christianity into "must's" would turn up a plethora of inconsistencies, I think when it is considered in the sole facet of how it would change our priorities, it reveals that many of us take the "should's" less seriously that we ought. Now you seem like a canny lad/lassie, so I don't suppose that any of this should cause you to fret over my cryptic explanation of a concept that seemed so clear and profound in my head just minutes before. (I hope!)
Moral of the story: Getting saved wasn't the finish line, it was signing up for the race.
Friday, November 2, 2007
Connections!
Many of us Elevators have become supremely familiar with Isiah 54:2-4:
Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtain wide, Do not hold back; lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes. For you will stretch out to the right and to the left; your descendants will disposes nations and settle in their desolate cities. Do not be afraid; you will not suffer shame. Do not fear disgrace; you will not be humiliated.
But while doing some reading today I noticed that another one of my favorite verses is in the same chapter! This happens all too often to me. I know the gestalt of a lot of verses, but I need to make a big push to remember where to find them other than using bible gateway all the time. What we think we remember God saying doesn't hold a candle to what God says. And until I can afford a PDA to search phrases I kinda remember, I need to make more of an effort to store in my brain where I'm reading when I find something that piques my interest.
The other verse that I love in Isiah 54 is verse 17.
"No weapon forged against you will prevail, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and this is their vindication from me," declares the LORD.
Now I'm not gonna go and interpret what this means to me right now. Among the reasons why include that I just finished Revelation yesterday and went into Isiah today and I may very well go end times on you because I think it would just be so freaking awesome to see Jesus riding a white stallion.
Also some other Isiah goodies. (there are a ton and this is a weird one to pick I know) Isiah 13:6-13
Wail, for the day of the LORD is near; it will come like destruction from the Almighty. Because of this, all hands will go limp, every man's heart will melt. Terror will seize them, pain and anguish will grip them; they will writhe like a woman in labor. They will look aghast at each other, their faces aflame. See, the day of the LORD is coming —a cruel day, with wrath and fierce anger— to make the land desolate and destroy the sinners within it. The stars of heaven and their constellations will not show their light. The rising sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light. I will punish the world for its evil, the wicked for their sins. I will put an end to the arrogance of the haughty and will humble the pride of the ruthless. I will make man scarcer than pure gold, more rare than the gold of Ophir. Therefore I will make the heavens tremble; and the earth will shake from its place at the wrath of the LORD Almighty, in the day of his burning anger.
This makes me a little excited; a little VERY excited! Because my God can do this, it's easy to trust that He can do all less than this. That is pretty powerful stuff.
Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtain wide, Do not hold back; lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes. For you will stretch out to the right and to the left; your descendants will disposes nations and settle in their desolate cities. Do not be afraid; you will not suffer shame. Do not fear disgrace; you will not be humiliated.
But while doing some reading today I noticed that another one of my favorite verses is in the same chapter! This happens all too often to me. I know the gestalt of a lot of verses, but I need to make a big push to remember where to find them other than using bible gateway all the time. What we think we remember God saying doesn't hold a candle to what God says. And until I can afford a PDA to search phrases I kinda remember, I need to make more of an effort to store in my brain where I'm reading when I find something that piques my interest.
The other verse that I love in Isiah 54 is verse 17.
"No weapon forged against you will prevail, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and this is their vindication from me," declares the LORD.
Now I'm not gonna go and interpret what this means to me right now. Among the reasons why include that I just finished Revelation yesterday and went into Isiah today and I may very well go end times on you because I think it would just be so freaking awesome to see Jesus riding a white stallion.
Also some other Isiah goodies. (there are a ton and this is a weird one to pick I know) Isiah 13:6-13
Wail, for the day of the LORD is near; it will come like destruction from the Almighty. Because of this, all hands will go limp, every man's heart will melt. Terror will seize them, pain and anguish will grip them; they will writhe like a woman in labor. They will look aghast at each other, their faces aflame. See, the day of the LORD is coming —a cruel day, with wrath and fierce anger— to make the land desolate and destroy the sinners within it. The stars of heaven and their constellations will not show their light. The rising sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light. I will punish the world for its evil, the wicked for their sins. I will put an end to the arrogance of the haughty and will humble the pride of the ruthless. I will make man scarcer than pure gold, more rare than the gold of Ophir. Therefore I will make the heavens tremble; and the earth will shake from its place at the wrath of the LORD Almighty, in the day of his burning anger.
This makes me a little excited; a little VERY excited! Because my God can do this, it's easy to trust that He can do all less than this. That is pretty powerful stuff.
Thursday, November 1, 2007
Hallelujah!
I'm sitting here giggling to myself because I just found out how much the Elevation leadership has pledged to Dominate. If you want to know the total, show up Sunday!
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
The Marathon Weekend
I stayed up all Saturday night after going to a haunted corn maze and getting back late and being scheduled for the 3-4am block for the 24 hours of prayer at the Elevation office. (run on sentences are fun!) So after the prayer was over some guys went to waffle house and I ordered way too much food. I then went on over to church with my maiden voyage in the yellow truck. (I normally drive the white one, and I've found it's way cooler.) Setup went super fast because we had most of the guys from the prayer experience come on over to help. While barely being able to hold my eyes open, I had to sit through all 3 services and go up on stage with some other people for a sermon illustration where pastor basically sealed the fate of a ton of "my" money. After 3rd service, we had a Dominate lunch where pastor basically explains some concerns people may have about Dominate. After this, I pretty much died as I drove the truck back to the storage unit to get my car because I realized I had the leadership commitment thing to go to at 6. YAY! I get to stay up for a few more hours! So I did what any self respecting person in my situation would do.... I went to Barns & Noble and read Shel Silversteen books in the children's section with some friends in a state of twilight consciousness. Around 5:45 I left to go to the leadership thing and they fed us Qdoba. (This was supposed to be the end of a 24 hour fast, but I shifted my fast 24 hours ahead to Monday.) The commitment event was amazing. I felt I could stay up another 3 days after being there. We went to get some ice cream and then I went home to sleep for 6 hours before work.
I'm still tired on Tuesday evening!
P.S. - I have kinda slacked off on blogging my opinions about what I consider "profound" things after reading this recently.
James 3:1 - Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.
I still plan to do it from time to time, but I'm gonna view it a little differently.
I'm still tired on Tuesday evening!
P.S. - I have kinda slacked off on blogging my opinions about what I consider "profound" things after reading this recently.
James 3:1 - Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.
I still plan to do it from time to time, but I'm gonna view it a little differently.
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