disciple, husband, father, college minister
Automatically pulled from Glen’s ever-growing list of sermonic mulch (with which he may or may not agree):
Genesis 30.18: Leah interprets the birth of Issachar as God rewarding her for giving her servant to be Jacob’s wife. This is a great example of basing theology on poorly-understood experience.
Glen, Devotional 9/6/2000 tags: Bible Theology
Genesis 30.18: Leah interprets the birth of Issachar as God rewarding her for giving her servant to be Jacob’s wife. This is a great example of basing theology on poorly-understood experience.
Glen, Devotional 9/6/2000 tags: Bible Theology
Over Spring Break in March of 2006, 30 Chi Alpha students from Bozeman, MT traveled three days by bus to New Orleans to help people recover in the aftermath of Hurrican Katrina: “the most poignant moment came when a student, who is a relatively new Christian, walked into a ruined home and found a Bible still open on the kitchen table — where it has sat adhered by the original (and now dissipated) flood waters for months. ‘The Bible was opened to Psalm 90 where it says you are my dwelling place forever,’ Lant recalls. ‘That moment really changed his life as he came to grips with the fact that earth was just a temporary residence … he now views things from a more spiritual perspective, what’s most lasting in his life and how temporal materialism is.’ ”
AG News #1246: April 19, 2006
Over Spring Break in March of 2006, 30 Chi Alpha students from Bozeman, MT traveled three days by bus to New Orleans to help people recover in the aftermath of Hurrican Katrina: “the most poignant moment came when a student, who is a relatively new Christian, walked into a ruined home and found a Bible still open on the kitchen table — where it has sat adhered by the original (and now dissipated) flood waters for months. ‘The Bible was opened to Psalm 90 where it says you are my dwelling place forever,’ Lant recalls. ‘That moment really changed his life as he came to grips with the fact that earth was just a temporary residence … he now views things from a more spiritual perspective, what’s most lasting in his life and how temporal materialism is.’ ”
AG News #1246: April 19, 2006
It is easier to suppress the first desire than to satisfy all that follow it.
Benjamin Franklin
download back to school It is easier to suppress the first desire than to satisfy all that follow it.
Benjamin Franklin
Since shaving my head, many people have walked up to me and said, “I love the new hairdo!”
After a moment, a hesitant “or lack of a hairdo” creeps out and then, following a brief pause, they utter “or whatever” and finally a genial “whatever it is, it looks great on you!” escapes their lips.
To prevent further confusion, I offer terminological exactitude.
I don’t have a hairdo. I have a look.
So walk up to me and say, “I love the new look!”
See how much easier that is?
So I was pooping the other day and Dana came and started talking to me through the bathroom door. She asked to come in and I explained that Daddy needed his privacy. So she sat down outside the bathroom door and tried to peek through the gap beneath it.
When I flushed the toilet Dana began cheering and clapping.
“Daddy went in the big girl potty! Good job, Daddy”
Oddly enough, it made me feel proud of myself.
I mentioned this to my students last night at Chi Alpha’s weekly meeting and I thought I’d pass it along here as well: there have been a whole series of double-blind studies on prayer, some of which show that prayer is potent and others which fail to demonstrate any benefit. Why such widely varying results? Because prayer studies are ridiculously difficult to construct, as highlighted by this humorous article from Scrappleface.
(2006–03-31) — A team of scientists today ended a 10-year study on the so-called “power of prayer” by concluding that God cannot be manipulated by humans, not even by scientists with a $2.4 million research grant.
The scientists also noted that their work was “sabotaged by religious zealots” secretly praying for study subjects who were supposed to receive no prayer.
There are just too many independent variables. How can you know that the control group is actually receiving no prayer? How can you be sure that the people who are praying are praying with faith? With the right faith? In the right God?
And then, of course, there is THE Independent Variable. What if, as the article suggests, God simply chooses not to be our lab rat?
I’m sure some clever scientists will someday figure out how to isolate the variables more meaningfully, but for now the studies tell us much less than the media would have us believe.
And for the record, it’s the media to blame for the hype. I’m sure the scientists are making appropriately cautious claims. Scientists almost always do.
April 5th 2006 — 1:02:03 04/05/06 (For the record, I had this entry generated automatically. I value sleep over novelty.)
The response to my April Wisdom post was every bit as wonderful as I had hoped.
Only one person commented on the blog, but we got several more “live” communications. My personal favorite: a voicemail message that said, among other things, “I thought we had a deal.”
Anyway, the anwers are:
Glen bald — TRUE
Paula pregant — TRUE
House purchased — HAH
Two of the above statements are true. One is not. Discuss.
I’ve been angry about the Kelo decision for a while. Stories like this make me even angrier.