Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Elizabeth Smart - A Little Perspective On Life
Last week I read in the news that Elizabeth Smart is now engaged to be married. This struck me as wonderful and encouraging news. Often times people tend to dwell on their problems and blow them out of proportion. I've known many people who can't forgive other Christians over some slight they perceived, or perhaps they can't move on from some wrong which was done to them. They dwell on what happened to them until it starts to define who they are and greatly influence their future. We should all have a little perspective and look at Elizabeth Smart who has gone on with her life and even become engaged after she went through some of the most despicable and evil actions that can happen to a young woman. I can guarantee you, no matter how difficult your life seems to be, it will not be anywhere near as bad as what happened to her. We should think on how difficult it must be for her to go through such a traumatic experience, on the most public stage, and yet move on with her life, not falling into self-pity but looking to help others. It's encouraging to see this example of strength and resilience.
Monday, January 23, 2012
Religion Vs. Jesus - A False Dichotomy
A young guy named Jeff Bethke recently made a youtube video which has had over 16 million hits. The topic of this video is Why I Hate Religion, But Love Jesus. Below is the video, then Kevin DeYoung's response to the video, a follow up post by DeYoung after corresponding with Bethke, and the final video is of Dennis Tuuri touching on this topic of religion vs Jesus in a sermon preached in 2010.
Kevin DeYoung's response.
Follow up post by DeYoung.
Christianity is a religion. from Reformation Covenant Church on Vimeo.
Kevin DeYoung's response.
Follow up post by DeYoung.
Christianity is a religion. from Reformation Covenant Church on Vimeo.
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Radiolab - Musical Language
Monday, January 16, 2012
Signs Vs. Stochasticity - What Type Of A Person Are You?
Today I was listening to an episode of Radiolab on Stochasticity. Here is their description of the episode:
"Stochasticity (a wonderfully slippery and smarty-pants word for randomness), may be at the very foundation of our lives. To understand how big a role it plays, we look at chance and patterns in sports, lottery tickets, and even the cells in our own body. Along the way, we talk to a woman suddenly consumed by a frenzied gambling addiction, meet two friends whose meeting seems to defy pure chance, and take a close look at some very noisy bacteria."
The big take away from the episode is that things which most people would look at as a miracle, or as amazing, are nothing more than inevitable random events aligning to form a particularly odd, but explainable, outcome. Their most extravagant tale is that of the two Laura Buxtons which you can read at the end of this post. The statisticians in the RadioLab episode attempt to explain away all the possibility of a divine purpose, but the reaction of the two Lauras is wonderful. They both say that while it might all be explainable, it is still a miracle of sorts, and both still feel that they were destined to meet.
Below are two clips from two different movies. The first clip is from Signs and is the last scene in the movie. So if you haven't seen the movie, sorry, this is a big spoiler. Mel Gibson's character is a former priest who lost his faith when his wife was killed in a seemingly senseless and awful way. As a result of her death, his daughter develops a phobia of drinking "stale water" which leads to the house being littered with glasses of water. His son struggles with asthma, another trial Mel Gibson blames on God. His brother moves in with him to help raise Gibson's two children. His brother is a former minor league baseball player who holds most of the home-run records in the minors but also holds the strikeout record. He was never disciplined enough to make it to the major leagues because it always felt wrong not to "swing away". Their lives in short are disappointing, hard, full of nothing but unfulfilled dreams. Mel Gibson has given up, he hates God for taking his wife and his faith. He no longer believes that God is in control and has given up looking for signs from God.
The second clip is from O Brother Where Art Thou. Immediately prior to this scene, George Clooney's character is praying that God will spare him and his friends from being killed. He promises devotion to God if only he will be saved. At that moment, a flood comes rushing out of nowhere through the woods, wiping out those that wanted him dead. His reaction to being saved is telling, rather opposite from Mel Gibson.
The last five years or so have been largely a struggle. I've faced many trials, difficulties, and disappointments. I questioned God when he brought pain and suffering to family members the past few years. I was arrogant and couldn't understand why God would do things His particular way. I attempted to use my reasoning, instead of faith, to grasp His creation, and became lost in the labyrinth of my own self-delusion. I knew the verses of God working all things for good, but really, when you are going through trials you don't understand, those verses are easy to dismiss. It has only been in the last year, and particularly the last few months, that God revealed to me a bit of the reasons for the trials. It is only now that I can see His grace and personal love in my life. If it was up to me I wouldn't have done it the way He has, but His ways are not mine, they are infinitely better. He is a personal God that loves us more than we can fathom.
Once I started to get a glimpse of how God was preparing me for my life ahead, it brought to mind a conversation I had witnessed many years ago. A man who was extremely gifted in music was attempting to teach guitar theory to another adult man who just wasn't grasping the concepts. The pupil at one point stopped trying to play in a particular mode and said "I just don't understand the pattern". To which the musically gifted man replied by tapping him on the head with his finger and saying, "It is right in front of you, hitting you in the face, just stop thinking so hard and see it." God's love, and the signs that He loves us and is working for our good, are usually right in front of us. But more often than not we just simply do not want to go with what he has deigned for us. It is not the way we wanted things to happen, it is not the life we had envisioned. We dig our heels in, stick our fingers in our ears, close our eyes, and say that we haven't been touched by His love. We say that we haven't been moved by Him, we are stubborn and refuse. All along He has been pushing us down a path for our good. Too often, though, we grow bitter and reject Him, His providence, and His grace. We doubt His love. If only we would open our eyes and trust him, the world would sing to us of His Love. The signs are all around us.
"In June 2001, Laura Buxton (almost 10) released a red balloon into the air over her hometown of Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire, England. On one side of the balloon, she had written “Please return to Laura Buxton” and on the other side, her home address. A few weeks later, a man 140 miles away in Milton Lilbourne found the balloon stuck in the hedge that separated his farm from the next-door neighbors. He noticed Laura Buxton’s name and address and immediately took the balloon to the neighbors’ house, showing it to the 10-year-old girl who lived there…whose name was also Laura Buxton.
Laura Buxton from Milton Lilbourne wrote Laura Buxton from Stoke-on-Trent to let her know that she’d found the balloon. Thinking this coincidence was simply too amazing to be true, they decided they had to meet in person. And that’s when things got really weird.
On the day of the meeting, the two girls wore essentially the same outfit – a pink sweater and jeans. The girls were the same height, which was unusual because they were both tall for their age. They both had brown hair and wore it in the same style. They both had three-year-old black Labrador Retrievers at home, as well as gray pet rabbits. They both brought their guinea pigs, which were the same color and even had the same orange markings on their hindquarters. It was almost as though these two Laura Buxtons were the same person.
The strange events surrounding their meeting helped the girls form a strong bond. Both felt the circumstances that brought them together were too significant to write off as mere coincidence. For more on the Lauras, listen to this 2009 Radiolab interview."
by Rob Lammle
"Stochasticity (a wonderfully slippery and smarty-pants word for randomness), may be at the very foundation of our lives. To understand how big a role it plays, we look at chance and patterns in sports, lottery tickets, and even the cells in our own body. Along the way, we talk to a woman suddenly consumed by a frenzied gambling addiction, meet two friends whose meeting seems to defy pure chance, and take a close look at some very noisy bacteria."
The big take away from the episode is that things which most people would look at as a miracle, or as amazing, are nothing more than inevitable random events aligning to form a particularly odd, but explainable, outcome. Their most extravagant tale is that of the two Laura Buxtons which you can read at the end of this post. The statisticians in the RadioLab episode attempt to explain away all the possibility of a divine purpose, but the reaction of the two Lauras is wonderful. They both say that while it might all be explainable, it is still a miracle of sorts, and both still feel that they were destined to meet.
Below are two clips from two different movies. The first clip is from Signs and is the last scene in the movie. So if you haven't seen the movie, sorry, this is a big spoiler. Mel Gibson's character is a former priest who lost his faith when his wife was killed in a seemingly senseless and awful way. As a result of her death, his daughter develops a phobia of drinking "stale water" which leads to the house being littered with glasses of water. His son struggles with asthma, another trial Mel Gibson blames on God. His brother moves in with him to help raise Gibson's two children. His brother is a former minor league baseball player who holds most of the home-run records in the minors but also holds the strikeout record. He was never disciplined enough to make it to the major leagues because it always felt wrong not to "swing away". Their lives in short are disappointing, hard, full of nothing but unfulfilled dreams. Mel Gibson has given up, he hates God for taking his wife and his faith. He no longer believes that God is in control and has given up looking for signs from God.
The second clip is from O Brother Where Art Thou. Immediately prior to this scene, George Clooney's character is praying that God will spare him and his friends from being killed. He promises devotion to God if only he will be saved. At that moment, a flood comes rushing out of nowhere through the woods, wiping out those that wanted him dead. His reaction to being saved is telling, rather opposite from Mel Gibson.
The last five years or so have been largely a struggle. I've faced many trials, difficulties, and disappointments. I questioned God when he brought pain and suffering to family members the past few years. I was arrogant and couldn't understand why God would do things His particular way. I attempted to use my reasoning, instead of faith, to grasp His creation, and became lost in the labyrinth of my own self-delusion. I knew the verses of God working all things for good, but really, when you are going through trials you don't understand, those verses are easy to dismiss. It has only been in the last year, and particularly the last few months, that God revealed to me a bit of the reasons for the trials. It is only now that I can see His grace and personal love in my life. If it was up to me I wouldn't have done it the way He has, but His ways are not mine, they are infinitely better. He is a personal God that loves us more than we can fathom.
Once I started to get a glimpse of how God was preparing me for my life ahead, it brought to mind a conversation I had witnessed many years ago. A man who was extremely gifted in music was attempting to teach guitar theory to another adult man who just wasn't grasping the concepts. The pupil at one point stopped trying to play in a particular mode and said "I just don't understand the pattern". To which the musically gifted man replied by tapping him on the head with his finger and saying, "It is right in front of you, hitting you in the face, just stop thinking so hard and see it." God's love, and the signs that He loves us and is working for our good, are usually right in front of us. But more often than not we just simply do not want to go with what he has deigned for us. It is not the way we wanted things to happen, it is not the life we had envisioned. We dig our heels in, stick our fingers in our ears, close our eyes, and say that we haven't been touched by His love. We say that we haven't been moved by Him, we are stubborn and refuse. All along He has been pushing us down a path for our good. Too often, though, we grow bitter and reject Him, His providence, and His grace. We doubt His love. If only we would open our eyes and trust him, the world would sing to us of His Love. The signs are all around us.
"In June 2001, Laura Buxton (almost 10) released a red balloon into the air over her hometown of Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire, England. On one side of the balloon, she had written “Please return to Laura Buxton” and on the other side, her home address. A few weeks later, a man 140 miles away in Milton Lilbourne found the balloon stuck in the hedge that separated his farm from the next-door neighbors. He noticed Laura Buxton’s name and address and immediately took the balloon to the neighbors’ house, showing it to the 10-year-old girl who lived there…whose name was also Laura Buxton.
Laura Buxton from Milton Lilbourne wrote Laura Buxton from Stoke-on-Trent to let her know that she’d found the balloon. Thinking this coincidence was simply too amazing to be true, they decided they had to meet in person. And that’s when things got really weird.
On the day of the meeting, the two girls wore essentially the same outfit – a pink sweater and jeans. The girls were the same height, which was unusual because they were both tall for their age. They both had brown hair and wore it in the same style. They both had three-year-old black Labrador Retrievers at home, as well as gray pet rabbits. They both brought their guinea pigs, which were the same color and even had the same orange markings on their hindquarters. It was almost as though these two Laura Buxtons were the same person.
The strange events surrounding their meeting helped the girls form a strong bond. Both felt the circumstances that brought them together were too significant to write off as mere coincidence. For more on the Lauras, listen to this 2009 Radiolab interview."
by Rob Lammle
Thursday, January 12, 2012
RadioLab - Mirror, Mirror
A big thank you to Ana Dau for turning me to RadioLab. The first episode I heard is an exciting and stupefyingly interesting episode. Click HERE for an episode on Mirrors! Mirrors? How is that exciting? Well, below is their synopsis of the episode. Trust me and listen to the episode.
"The mathematician Charles Lutwidge Dodgson posed a big question about mirrors in one of his best-known books: Through the Looking-Glass (yup, Dodgson's pen name was Lewis Carroll). Natasha Gostwick of Storynory reads an excerpt that gets at the heart of the trouble: is mirror milk any good to drink? Neil deGrasse Tyson explains why this is a serious question, and introduces us to chirality, or the handedness of molecules. In fact, as Neil and Marcelo Gleiser of Dartmouth point out, all living molecules are left-handed. Which brings us to Marcus du Sautoy, who tells us the story of thalidomide...a cautionary tale about right-handed mirror molecules.
Up next, we meet a man named John Walter who swapped places with his mirror self. Kind of. He explains how changing his hair part changed his life, and how the experience convinced him that mirrors (and the reversed images they reflect) lie to us. We run John's theory by Mike Nicholls of the University of Melbourne, who admits John might be on to something about the way we perceive faces."
"The mathematician Charles Lutwidge Dodgson posed a big question about mirrors in one of his best-known books: Through the Looking-Glass (yup, Dodgson's pen name was Lewis Carroll). Natasha Gostwick of Storynory reads an excerpt that gets at the heart of the trouble: is mirror milk any good to drink? Neil deGrasse Tyson explains why this is a serious question, and introduces us to chirality, or the handedness of molecules. In fact, as Neil and Marcelo Gleiser of Dartmouth point out, all living molecules are left-handed. Which brings us to Marcus du Sautoy, who tells us the story of thalidomide...a cautionary tale about right-handed mirror molecules.
Up next, we meet a man named John Walter who swapped places with his mirror self. Kind of. He explains how changing his hair part changed his life, and how the experience convinced him that mirrors (and the reversed images they reflect) lie to us. We run John's theory by Mike Nicholls of the University of Melbourne, who admits John might be on to something about the way we perceive faces."
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Creation - Tree of Life
"Where were you when I laid the foundations of the Earth?….When the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?"
--Job 38: 4,7
SHORTER HD VERSION WITH BETTER SOUND
The creation scene from Tree of Life.
Saturday, December 24, 2011
Poetry - Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night
Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night
by
Dylan Thomas
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rage at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Saturday, November 5, 2011
The Greatest College Commercial Ever Made
Here is the greatest university/college commercial ever made.
BTW the song is Welcome Home by Radical Face. Enjoy!
BTW the song is Welcome Home by Radical Face. Enjoy!
Monday, October 10, 2011
Poetry - Love Thanked
Love Thanked
By CC
I bid your patience as I try to express how much it means to me.
I struggle with thoughts of control "Why did I come?"
"I don't belong."
It is so hard to forget 'myself'.
I habitually bring 'myself' along.
Why does it seem easier to control thoughts when distracted from them?
"My sin,
my own sin,
my own most grievous sin."
How am I made holy?
How do I separate …
My:self,
My own self,
My:self-centered self?
What are my reasons for going?
'foregoing'
------ my self preservation ?
or choosing to 'make' myself
go
against my better (human) judgment?
I had a youth pastor tell me that self-centeredness is at the root of both pride
and shyness (mislabeled "humility" by the ignorant).
I battle
both fronts.
I am
an affront.
I must battle myself
for Christ's sake.
"Why is this so hard?"
For heavens sake
I Grasp God's words from my cupid's bag.
I place them in the bow that I must turn upon my heart
as a means of, grace-full, salvation from myself.
Then the words for a time become an experienced part of who I am.
I am……. lifted above the pit, as self dies
trusting God's Word.
I can be still and know that He is God.
For God's sake
stop!
I must stop battling the truth with my feelings.
Without real love
I am nothing.
Love defined for us Corinthians
is only action.
Actions toward my enemies and friends within and without.
Thank you for reaching out to me. Your kindness helps me not to fall.
Monday, October 3, 2011
Autumn - The Perfect Season
Leonard Cohen sang in I Can't Forget, "Summer's almost gone, the winter's tuning up." I suppose that's how most view autumn, a tuneup or interlude between the two great movements of the symphony of the sun.
What season is your favorite time of year? I've always been a summer man. Tennis, volleyball, hiking, swimming, fishing, cicadas singing at dusk, summer parties, musicians playing at a winery, basking in the sun, church softball. Summer was my time.
While summer always has the potential to be better than any other time of the year, it always disappoints, it always comes up short of our expectations. The hiking and sports are few and far between, the parties don't last as long as you remembered, encounters never go as you hoped they would, conversations are always shorter than you want. Summer, full of possibilities, full of potential, full of disappointments. Its not that summer is that bad, its that when you are given the possibility of touching the sun, bathing in the light of the moon just doesn't measure up.
Fall on the other hand doesn't carry expectations with it. Fall has no ties to the past mooring you to disappointment. You float through autumn like a dream, losing track of time. You feel autumn long before you see it. It comes as a whip of wind through the trees carrying with it a smell or sense of the coming days. And then a day comes when the sun feels brighter on your skin as it is contrasted against a crisp blue sky that no longer holds the warmth of days gone by. The smell of smoke on the air, pumpkins on the porch, candles burning in the night, leaves traveling over the landscape, spontaneous parties, reading a book at night, or during the day without feeling guilty you aren't outdoors, tea, hot chocolate, inky black skies bedecked with stars cutting through the dark wave of the firmament. Autumn, the perfect season.
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