...and we think we have it all figured out...

God IS Awesome!

My dad told an interesting story the other day.  It was about the day when he was in Jr. College, back before World War II, when the physics teacher walked into class and told them the world had changed.  The teacher then told the students that the news reported that the atom had just been split out in Berkeley.  That was the first time I had ever heard him tell that story.  The foresightedness of that small town professor was pretty impressive, I thought. 

He told me that about the same time the news was announcing the evidence discovery of the “God particle,” the Higgs Boson particle.  It is all pretty interesting, I think.  The scientists talk about string theory, dark matter, wormholes in space…..so many things not even imagined a few years back.  I find it really fascinating that the Voyager crafts are soon to leave the solar system, and that there are plans to land an exploratory craft on a comet as it circles the sun.  

There was a time scientists announced firmly that they had discovered the smallest particle in the universe:  the atom.  Then they discovered the sub-atomic particles called protons, neutrons and electrons.  Then came neutrinos.  Now there are so many I don’t even have a clue what they call all of them.  The same kind of ongoing discovery is what is experienced in the realm of medical care, as well.  And ocean exploration.  And the way the earth works in terms of volcanoes, storms, earthquakes, etc. 

In fact, pretty much everything ends up being bigger and more complicated than we imagine….even things like mathematics.  Mathematics in the Roman world only advanced to a certain point, because they had no concept of the number zero.  Math had reached its limits until the day Newton came up with calculus.  Newtonian physics dominated until Einstein theorized relativity.  Then quantum mechanics came along, and well, you get the idea. 

I hope you are figuring out the point of this yourself.  God has invested creation with far more than we can comprehend.  And when we comprehend something fresh, we are foolish if we think it is the last word.  God is so much more than we can even begin to imagine.  And so are the plans he has for your life.  He can use you for more, make you become more, and do more for you than you would even be able to dream of….and he will do it in ways you will not even expect.  If you don’t believe me, go read Isaiah 40, or Isaiah 55:8-9, or Ephesians 3:20, or better yet, just go read the whole volume….that old Bible has a lot to teach us.  More than you or I know.

TL:dr  God, as revealed in creation, is more vast than we realize.

Marriage Illusion?

Great Expectations—But Not Dickens

Cinderella, Beauty, Ariel, Sleeping Beauty…they all lived Happily Ever After once they met their handsome prince, who also all lived Happily Ever After with their newfound wives.  While that sounds wonderful, somehow, I don’t think it is actually found in reality.  Reality operates a bit differently. 

Reality goes more like this:  “Honey, the budget is really tight right now, we are going to have to cut back somehow.”  “But we celebrated Thanksgiving at your parents’ home last year!”  “I know you just got home, but I have this huge allergy thing going on….I have to lay down for a while….can you please take the kids to the park for an hour or two?”  “But my mom always said that the socks are supposed to be folded together, not rolled up into balls!”  “Yes, I have to leave again tonight, there is a huge project at the office and it has to be done next week.  We’ll have to find time to get away some other month.”  “What has happened to us?  We never seem to talk anymore.”

I wonder how many divorces occur simply because of unrealistic expectations?  I know a lot of people leave churches because of them.  They go in thinking they’ve found the perfect church, and then discover it has faults just like every other church.  The same is true in marriages, too.  That “perfect” person isn’t perfect after all.  And no individual is going to live up to all your expectations and dreams.  It just is unrealistic.  However, you aren’t going to live up to your spouse’s either, because you aren’t perfect either.  (Hopefully, that isn’t a shock for you to hear!) 

If you’re married, and it isn’t perfect, don’t think it’s merely because you have the wrong partner and the perfect marriage partner awaits you out there somewhere.   At the same time, that dream marriage isn’t going to make you the perfect partner either.  We are all broken one way or another, and sin has left its mark upon our hearts and upon our world.  It is by the grace of God that we are forgiven and grow to what God desires for us.  And it is by the grace of God that we learn how to love and forgive as God takes our imperfections and weaves them together in marriage that we can grow with our partners in God’s plans for our lives.  

Marriage is hard enough, without having entered it based upon fairy tales and illusions.  Marriages work better when THEY aren’t based on fairy tales and illusions, either!  And, if you are dating, it doesn’t hurt to be realistic then, as well.  The truth is, reality can be a pretty good thing.  But not if we refuse to live in it.  Could it be time for a reality check in YOUR life? 

TL:dr  Fantasy thinking helps neither divorce nor marriage.

I believe in God....do you mean it?

What do you mean, when you say; "I believe in God."

So, to follow up on the issue of believing in God.  When going through those extremely tough times, such as a divorce, we all find ourselves having to make choices.  Choices about time, about money, character issues, friends, and how we handle stress….you know, choices!  We make the same choices when things are going well, perhaps in a different way, but still the same kinds of choices.  Whether we are self sufficient, or dependent on God.   Whether we set aside time for worship, or make leisure and work or things a priority instead. 

  Our proof that we believe in God is demonstrated in these kinds of things.  Do we simply mean that we acknowledge God exists?  Pilate was willing to do that much with Jesus….acknowledge that He existed!  Do we mean that we believe that He exists, and that He will take care of us after we die?  Those who came to Jesus with that notion back in those days found that he usually expected more than that, he expected a lifestyle of following Him.  If we say we believe in God, and demonstrate it every Sunday (or Saturday if that’s when you worship) of our lives, but not on weekdays, does that mean we believe that all God cares about is what we do with worship time? 

My wife says that at one church she used to attend, the minister would cut short his messages if there was a noon kickoff time for the local NFL team.  What in your life is so important that you will let it cut short your time worshipping or serving God? I wonder how my wife or your loved one would feel if we told them we couldn’t spend our usual date time with them today, because kickoff is in 10 minutes.  Probably won’t earn us very many points, huh?  So, what do you mean when you say you believe in God?  When the verse in James says that the demons believe and tremble; I suspect the idea is that they believe that God exists and that God is going to hold them accountable for everything they have done.  Is that what you mean when you say you believe in God?

Is there not a difference between a person saying that he believes in marriage and a person BEING married?  Could that be the distinction God desires of us?  I like the old illustration that it is one thing to say that you believe an elevator can carry you to the 99^th floor of the building.  It is another to get on the elevator and trust it to get you there.  My point is this:  are you believing from a distance, in a non-committed observational sort of way, or are you on board for the full experience in a committed relational sort of way?  As near as I can tell, the last one is really the only one the Bible endorses, even if our culture and a lot of our church folks endorse something less. 

For those of you going through a divorce, I just want to urge you NOT to fall prey to those pressures that can cause you to lose track of what is important.  Don’t let yourself end up like those demons, trembling when you realize God is going to expect you to give account for all the choices you are making now.  Just thinking out loud, so to speak.

 

TL:dr  Discussion of the question, “What does believing in God really mean?”

Picture information:

http://bugssite.org/blog/2009/04/14/nasa-photos-show-giant-cosmic-hand/

The actual image is of a nebula surrounding a small pulsar – a stellar remnant, a neutron star – the crushed core of a massive star, spinning and channelling electrons along its magnetic field. Pulsars produce regular radio wave pulses as their polar regions point to us and blast emissions from accelerated electrons in our direction. Radio signals tell us where they are, space telescopes point and check them out in other wavelengths to see what they do. The pulsar doing all this is estimated at a diameter of 12 miles, with the nebula 150 light years across. The entire system is 17,000 light years from us and estimated to be 1,700 years old. The pulsar is called PSR B1509-58, but is known to its friends as B1509.