So, this video from GE is about trains. And brakes. And saving energy. So, I get how regenerative braking works and I know about potential and kinetic energy, but I’m not exactly sure how all that specifically connects to dropping stuff.
It’s fun to watch, though.
(If you want to see a bigger version, go to the GE website.)
Category: God and Church
Hallelujah!
I mentioned how impressed I was at our recent art gallery during our church Christmas party. While the entire show was impacting, one piece, shown above, impressed both my wife and I beyond the rest. We couldn’t stop admiring it and talking about it. In fact, it we liked it so much, we did something we had never done before.
We bought it.
We decided that this would be our Christmas present to each other. Never mind that we normally don’t buy each other anything (and that I had already violated that rule in buying something for Maria), we were both moved my it and felt that it would look great in our home. It does. I think it’s the most extravagant and frivolous gift we’ve ever done.
It’s an oild on canvas painting, 36″ square, painted by Said Oladejo-lawal, who is relatively new to our church. He’s from Nigeria and has been painting for a long time, having sold many works back home. Here’s what Said placed next to the painting in the gallery.
These images evolved from the scripture “out of the mouth of children and babes you have ordained praise”, this is a piece that thrives on linear abstraction with some element of surreality which is accounted for by the appearance of some elements in it such as wings and so on. It is all about praise that expresses the awe of God.
Said Oladejo-lawal
We feel blessed to have this on our home. It seems that each time we look at it we see something new.
The Gospel In Glass and Grout
last week our church had our annual Christmas party and for the first time our arts ministry had a small gallery of pieces on the one word theme “Hallelujah”. It was simply amazing. Not just because we have talented people in our church (we do), but because of how those pieces communicated what God has done for us and for them personally.
One of the most moving pieces was this simple plate made by Paige Dietrich, one of our campus students. Here’s what she said about it:
“Gods Glory is Man Fully Alive”
When thinking about the word Hallelujah the first thing that came to mind was Gods glory in Adam and Eve when they were first created perfectly in His image. I put the mirror in the middle of the piece to show how we too can be like Adam and Eve in all the glory God intended. When you first see the mirror you see it as broken but with the death of Jesus (the seven black pieces around the mirror) and his blood (the red pieces) it brings them together like the top half of the mirror and we can see ourselves as God sees us as holy and fully alive. The redwood trees and the sky line represent a few things where personally I see Gods glory.
We are broken, but through Jesus we are made whole and God that’s how He sees us (though we still do not). What an amazingly succinct presentation of the gospel in a small circle.
Why Most Don’t Appreciate the Gospel
Ever had a discussion of religion or Jesus with folks and find that you just can’t break through their misconceptions? They are opposed to Christianity and Jesus, but posses an inaccurate picture of who He is, why He came, what He was about and what we should do about it. In large part, the blame can be laid at the feet of many ‘christians’ who have made following Jesus nothing more than living out of a playbook, following the rules and being good. Moralism under the guise of Christianity has no more power than it does when named ‘Islam’, ‘Buddhism’ or a ’10 Steps to a Better You!’
Funny thing is, usually trying to explain to these folks a more accurate picture of Jesus and the Gospel usually falls on deaf ears, and I’ve often wondered how to break through to produce a more clear understanding,. If only people understood, they’d follow, why can’t they understand?
Today I came across this excellent description of the Gospel on the Middletown Springs Community Church website (the Vermont church where Jared Wilson is the pastor) which reminded me of the answer (my emphasis):
All of us without exception are broken people because of sin, but God loved us so much that he sent Jesus to experience the broken world in the weakness of full humanity, to live an obedient life to redeem our disobedience, to die a sacrificial death to atone for our sins, and to rise from the dead to conquer the death our sin deserves.
The reason most fail to grasp the gospel is they refuse to see that they are broken. To the unbroken, no savior is needed. To the healthy, a doctor is not required. Rescue is not necessary of you are not in danger. Thing is, the reality of one’s broken nature is overwhelming if there is no way out, so humans have mastered the art of self deception. We convince ourselves that we are OK. to anyone who has eyes, we clearly are not.
But until you see your brokenness, until you grasp your own utter failure and own that you cannot fix yourself, Jesus will not make sense. Surrender all? Submit your will to His? Repent? No thanks, I’m doing fine.
No, you’re not, and seeing that is key to seeing Jesus for who He is and why you need Him. That’s why He said “He who has ears, let him hear.” It’s also why I take every opportunity to teach my daughters that they are broken people. Not to tear them down, not to convince them that they are worthless, on the contrary, to point them to the one who has declared their worth in unequivocal terms with His very life. Embracing and understanding their shortcomings is crucial to their embracing God. We, all of us, prove every day that we “without exception are broken people because of sin”, but we must be willing to be honest with ourselves to see it. The world wants to tell us that we are just fine, but Jesus knows that we aren’t and nothing in this world will make us so, but he has already provided for us a way out of our brokenness.
Most folks never get to admitting their brokenness, and until they do, Jesus is of no value to them and no amount of explaining Him will ever make sense.
No, Brant Hansen, I Win at Christmas
Poor Brant Hansen.
Today, only 2 days after Thanksgiving he prematurely declares that he’s won Christmas with his fancy CHRIST-mas tree:
I win by demonstrating that your tree is just — you know — an Xmas tree. Your tree is a hollow reminder of paganism’s triumph. Your tree, which has exactly zero giant crosses in it, is an affront to the very reason we started cutting down pine trees and putting them in our living rooms and decorating them with popcorn in the first place: Jesus.
Your tree is lame. Your tree is a foot-soldier in the War on Christmas. Your tree hopes people have a happy holiday. Your tree watches MSNBC.
However, he clearly is over confident and declaring victory much too soon, for I am one upping his lowly tree with my new ‘The Christian Nation CHRIST-mas tree‘ adorned not with some low tech, old world wood cross but a glorious electrified illuminated cross. Not only do I pull ahead in the race to win Christmas, but I get a significant head start in winning the 4th of July because, as you can see, my tree is red white and blue!
Brant’s tree can only display it’s cross-ness during the daylight, while mine can all night long and even in a severe thunderstorm (as long as the power stays on). My tree is a tree that the founding fathers would have displayed if they had access to plastic red, white and blue pine needles.
Brant, your tree only makes a statement about Jesus, mine shouts JESUS! and AMERICA! therefore, I win.
Your move, Mr. Hansen.
Christmas Flash Mob
Flash Mobs are a pretty cool thing made possible, or at least much easier, by the internet. If you’re not familiar with the idea of a flash mob, it’s basically a bunch of people who plan a performance of some time in a public place and spring it on the unsuspecting folks who happen to be there. For a couple other neat examples, check out the Grand Central Freeze, the Sound of Music Dance or this one at OSU featuring Brutus Buckeye and Gordon Gee.
I think it might be fun to be a part of one someday, but this one looks like it would be lots of fun. I love the Hallelujah chorus simply as a piece of music, but seeing the message of Christ and his supremacy proclaimed in this mall food court is awesome.
Enjoy.
RIP Real Live Preacher
My friend Soup mentioned on Facebook that Real Live Preacher (aka Gordon) is hanging up his blog. I’ve been blogging for about 6 years and back in those heady days of blogging, his blog was one of the big ones every Christian blogger seemed to know about.
His writings were always frank and honest, sometimes brutally so, and quite deep. He was not afraid to talk about his very real doubts and reservations swirling in his mind. When he started, he was a preacher, but resigned from that position some time ago.
I wasn’t a regular reader, but when I did stop by I was drawn into his writings, especially the fiction. In fact, his fictional re-tellings of Biblical stories inspired me to write one of my own, though it pales compared to his.. Here’s a taste, hopefully it will inspire you to go and have a read:
Jesus had stopped for a moment and was conferring with his disciples when he suddenly and purposefully made his way toward us. It was as if he was deliberately walking in our direction, almost as if he needed something from us. I would have sworn he briefly looked me right in the eye. As he grew nearer, I could hear him talking with his guys, they were discussing dinner plans, actually, about feeding the whole crowd. They were quite near and had stopped just a stone’s throw away. It seems Jesus expected his men to feed the crowd and they had nothing. Silly fools, caught unprepared. Of course with a crowd this size, as one of them pointed out, it would take a lot of food.
It was then that I noticed Joshua, my oldest at 11. He had our basket in his hand, looking up at me. He had heard the teacher talking. “Daddy,” he said to me, “we could share our lunch.”
Thinking of RLP reminds me of those early blogging days, before the expedients of Facebook and Twitter, when a blog was the easiest way to share your thoughts with the world. I miss those days. The end of RLP is one more reminder that they are gone. But, as he points out in his closing post, everything has a season. The season of ‘blogs’ seems to be passed, but that’s OK.
Have Gospel, Will Travel
Jared Wilson points out a fundamental difference between Christianity and other religions:
There are no compulsory pilgrimages in Christianity, no far-flung hoops to jump through. The pilgrimage has been made; God incarnated in man. He comes to us in Spirit.
Every religion beside the true one bids travel for power. In Christianity, power travels to us.
The kingdom is not “out there.” It is “in here.”
The temple is not “there.” It’s “here.”
Christ tabernacles with us.
The gospel that goes into the world and grows and bears fruit goes into the world when we do.
We are on a constant pilgrimage, taking Christ to those who don’t know him. That’s by God’s design. How should that change your daily life?
Go read the whole thing, it’s not long, and if you trust in Jesus, it’ll warm your heart. Oh, and if Jared isn’t in your web routine, your feed reader or your Twitter follow list, repent now in sack cloth and ashes. 😀
Swagger Wagon
I’m an unabashed fan of the minivan. If you need to haul a significant number of people or a significant amount of stuff or both on a regular basis, there is no better vehicle. I’d bet that my Odyssey minivan does more things well than whatever else your driving.
I’m a Honda guy, but the new Toyota Sienna looks like a very nice van. Regardless, this rap video for the Sienna is just plain awesome.
(Ironically, our next vehicle will likely not be a minivan because we want better towing for a possible camper upgrade in a couple of years. We’ll likely end up with a Chevy Traverse crossover, sacrificing some interior space and an MPG or two for 1,700 lbs of towing capacity. Most folks would be glad to get out of the minivan, but I’ll miss our Swagger Wagon.)
HT: Byrne at Majodojo
Mt. St. Helens
From NPR’s picture show blog:
The destroyed site around Mount St. Helens was declared a monument and virtually closed to the public for the past three decades. And some interesting ecological developments came of it: life not only returned but also exploded, new forms of flora and fauna flourished, and rainbow trout somehow returned to waters — and grew in size.
Today marks 30 years since the eruption of Mt. St. Helens. Since that time, the area has mostly been closed off to man, yet the creation has returned. (see the entire amazing slide show here)
How do men claim that there is no creator?
1 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.
3 There is no speech or language
where their voice is not heard.Psalm 19:1-3For 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.
Romans 1:20
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