Actually ... I have moved on to something else.

 Feel free to browse this blog as there is a lot of useful information on it. I wish all of you well! 

I am Back!

 

Hello Everyone! I am back! I have decided to resurrect this blog due to the amount of information contained in it. More information will be coming soon! 

The Latest...

Dear All,

Well, I have decided to leave this site after many wonderful years. I will leave it live for the time being. I am currently collaborating with a friend and colleague on a new endeavor. I will post that new information as soon as it becomes reality.

For the few who still wander here at times, thank you. Thank you for allowing me to share with you my pains, joys, disappointments and triumphs. As I read back over the years, I can see how I have grown, and how the Lord has taken each event and used it to shape me.

I tried to be forthcoming without being too overly dramatic. This blog covers some hard years for me. Years which the Lord used to shape and mold me for this next season of life.

I will make one final post with information on where I can be found. There will be another blog and a whole lot more. Stay tuned...



  

Suspending this Blog

Dear All,

To the few that read this, I am regretfully suspending this blog for a time. Life has gotten rather hectic with additional responsibilities at work, dissertation work and the responsibilities of fatherhood and husbandry.

I will provide an update on this blog in March as to the status of this blog and other blogs. I will most likely be starting another blog that is aligned more with me dissertation work, but as as far as this one, I am not sure of its fate at this point.

A BIG thank you to those who have read it. I have tried to share with each of you the ups and downs of my life as I traversed the course of living as a Christian. Each day I awake to the realization that the life we all live is a daily moral dilemma between a belief in God and a belief in self. I use the term traverse because I feel strongly that even as Christians we are always traversing that line between a belief in God and a belief in self.

May God continue to draw you closer to Him. May we continue to live in relationship to each other as Christ sees us. Blessings to all!

Until March...

Annual Christmas Poem

Each year during the Christmas season, I post a Christmas poem. One of my all time favorites is Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem, "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day."

So, without further delay... I bring you one of my all time favorite poems!


I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day!

"I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet
The words repeat
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!


And thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along
The unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!


Till, ringing, singing on its way,
The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime
A chant sublime
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!


Then from each black accursed mouth
The cannon thundered in the South,
And with the sound
The carols drowned
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!


It was as if an earthquake rent
The hearth-stones of a continent,
And made forlorn
The households born
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!


And in despair I bowed my head;
"There is no peace on earth," I said;
"For hate is strong,
And mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!"


Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
"God is not dead; nor doth he sleep!
The Wrong shall fail,
The Right prevail,
With peace on earth, good-will to men!"

This is Just FUN!

A Testimony of Current Culture

Dr. Everett Piper presents a commentary on current culture. He is the president of Oklahoma Wesleyan University. If you would like the read the entire blog post click HERE. After reading the posts below I predict you will want to read the entire blog post. Enjoy!

"This past week, I actually had a student come forward after a university chapel service and complain because he felt “victimized” by a sermon on the topic of 1 Corinthians 13. It appears this young scholar felt offended because a homily on love made him feel bad for not showing love. In his mind, the speaker was wrong for making him, and his peers, feel uncomfortable."

"I have a message for this young man and all others who care to listen. That feeling of discomfort you have after listening to a sermon is called a conscience. An altar call is supposed to make you feel bad. It is supposed to make you feel guilty. The goal of many a good sermon is to get you to confess your sins—not coddle you in your selfishness. The primary objective of the Church and the Christian faith is your confession, not your self-actualization."

"So here’s my advice: If you want the chaplain to tell you you’re a victim rather than tell you that you need virtue, this may not be the university you’re looking for. If you want to complain about a sermon that makes you feel less than loving for not showing love, this might be the wrong place.
If you’re more interested in playing the “hater” card than you are in confessing your own hate; if you want to arrogantly lecture, rather than humbly learn; if you don’t want to feel guilt in your soul when you are guilty of sin; if you want to be enabled rather than confronted, there are many universities across the land (in Missouri and elsewhere) that will give you exactly what you want, but Oklahoma Wesleyan isn’t one of them."

I have read no greater commentary on current culture to date. This is where we are, like it or not! Blessings!

Happy Thanksgiving to All!

C.S. Lewis

Praying for Paris

Thank You!!

Langston Hughes

The New American Religion

This story regarding football and prayer should make Christians and non-Christians alike furious.

The Freedom from Religion Foundation sent a letter asking Chancellor Roger Brown of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UTC) about what group Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor described as "unlawful university sponsorship of Christian prayer." UTC ended up moving away from prayer and to a moment of silence, bowing to the pressure of the Freedom from Religion Foundation, but was this necessary?

A visit to the Freedom from Religion Foundation website will introduce you to the religion of atheism, with its own monuments and marquees. The website openly promotes the religion of atheism in all its glory.

A religion, by definition, is a system of organized collection of beliefs, cultural systems and worldviews that relate humanity to an order of existence. Atheism is, by all accounts, a religion, and the proof is right there on the Freedom of Religion Foundation's own website. Atheism is a systematic organized collection of beliefs that related to an ordered existence. There are churches forming and monuments being built celebrating Atheists, and organizations like the Freedom form Religion Foundation are actively requiting converts to their cause.

If there is to be a true separation of church and state then is not that separation from all forms of organized religion? Or, are the Freedom from Religion Foundation and other groups like them merely discriminating against Christians? Either they have special considerations or atheism has become the new American religion.

Martin Luther King Jr.

Pluto

Is Pluto a planet or not?

I am voting an enthusiastic yes!

As a matter of fact, what I am reading leads me to believe it is a beautiful planet complete with blue skies.

God never ceases to amaze me!

Reactionary Science

We are a reactionary people living in a complex time, and scientists are no different.

The vacuum catastrophe and the response to it point to how our tendencies to react have become even part of science.

Mario Livio, a prominent scientist, refers to the vacuum catastrophe as embarrassing to science because of the  discrepancy between measured results and calculated results.

The story elaborates, " The embarrassment Livio referred to is sometimes known as the vacuum catastrophe. Truly empty space, sucked dry of any air or particles, still has an inherent energy to it, according to observations, Livio said. But when scientists use theories of quantum mechanics to try and calculate this vacuum energy, their results differ from the measured results by about 120 orders of magnitude, or the number 1 followed by 120 zeros."

So, what is science's response to this mistake in calculations? Is it to admit the mistake and examine calculation methodology? Well, not exactly. Read for yourself...

"With three other prominent astrophysicists on the panel, Livio delved into one of the most confounding (and embarrassing) problems in modern astrophysics, which led to a discussion of whether or not our universe might be just one of - an infinite number of multiverses - and whether a theory of the multiverse is good or bad for science."

And the explanation of multiverses is even more reactionary...

"The reason a multiverse might solve this problem is that it could suggest the vacuum energy is "a random variable," Livio said. Meaning, it isn't derived from a physical principle that scientists can figure out, but rather it was determined randomly. If there are many, many other universes in existence (perhaps an infinite number), then with the creation of so many universes, the variables could change a little for each one."

To suggest that vacuum energy is a random variable is, in essence, allowing anything and everything, reducing science to a mystical religion with no consistency or foundation. 

In essence, a theory of multiverses admits no mistake at all and creates a theory that offers a plausible explanation of why their calculations were wrong. This is the perfect snapshot of modern science and why it is as reactionary as everything else.

I encourage you to read the entire story HERE. It is fascinating! 

The Genius of Bill Watterson

The Reality of Reality

Are you tired of the many asserting a reality that is not real?

They push evolution when there is no real evidence, and then they turn around and tell us that God is not real when there is an abundance of evidence.

Why do we listen to the dribble?

We listen to the dribble because that is all that we have been educated to hear. It is the dribble... that which is irrational, dull and void of the full array of sensory perceptions that has anesthetized our minds into craving nothing of substance.

We believe what we are told and never check facts. The lies mean nothing to us. The false truths, the insults, the mockery... none of it affects us because we are comfortable with the nothing, as long as we have company. We crave the nothing as long as there is a crowd.

Computers, smart phones, Ipads and the like all push our minds into this hibernative state. We are a sleep, but we are not. And, it is acceptable to us because it is what everyone else is doing. At least we think that is what everyone else is doing, but if truth be told, we are not real sure because we are so engulfed in our own personal being.

We believe what the mirror shows us and never read the fine print: things are always larger than they appear in a mirror. And, we crave what we see, and when our line of sight is only a mirror, well... you get the idea.

We would rather listen than read. We would rather believe than research. We would rather company than truth because listening, believing and the crowd allow me to slip back into who I am. This is reality, and it is not real.

So, what is real? What is reality? The reality of reality is that which is real without prompts, manipulation, lies or deceit. Reality is that which is true the first time, the seventh time and the hundredth time, and it is the same every time. It is that which does not need adjustment, an excuse or a lie. It is true all the time... every time.

And, there is only one who never changes... who is always the right way, the absolute truth and life. And, the only one I know who fits that definition perfectly is Jesus Christ.

There will be those of you who immediately discount this reality, but PLEASE, read just one more sentence.

Those of you who dismiss Jesus but then embrace evolution, Karma, reincarnation, atheism, humanism and the many other beliefs answer this question: have you really examined Christianity with any seriousness?

I encourage you to ask hard questions of what you believe and Christianity, and see which one has the answers. Be careful. You just might discover the reality of reality!








 

Normal

What is normal? We use the word all the time, and we use it to define ourselves and our world.

We use the word as a way to calibrate ourselves, but do we really know what it is? We think we do, but do we?

"That is not normal."

"Can't you just act normal."

But, what is normal?

Well, defining normal is not as easy as one might think. It is that which is "according with, constituting, or not deviating from a norm, rule, or principle."

It is also "conforming to a type, standard, or regular pattern." It is also to be considered sane or that which occurs naturally. Definitions depend on the discipline. Normal is, for the most part, defined by a norm used as a standard, which implies that normal can change as the norm or standard changes.  We only need to examine standard deviation to make this point.

For our purposes today, normal is defined as normal distribution as graphed in your typical bell curve above. We define normal according to the bell curves for the following reasons:
                                        1. there is symmetry at the center
                                        2. 50% of the values are less and more than the mean  
                                        3. mean = mode = median

Through a bell curve, one can find the standard deviation. When standard deviation is calculated in accord with the bell curve one can expect the following situations:
                                        1. 68% of the values will fall within one standard deviations of the norm
                                        2. 95% of the values will fall within two standard deviations of the norm 
                                        3. 99.7% of the values will fall within three standard deviations of the norm

The number of standard deviations from the mean is called the standard score or the z score. To calculate a z score you must first subtract your value from the mean then divide by the standard deviation. This will give you a value that can then predicted outcome. 

For example, if you get a variable of .057 for your z score you can go to the standard deviation table, which has an x and y axis and chart your variable by looking up the .05 on the x axis then find .07 on the y axis. This will give you a value of 0.2157. This is converted to 21.57%, which is the expected outcome of success. 

Back to the idea of normal, normal depends on your predetermined standards. As an educator, I like to see the distribution of grades in accordance with the standard deviations of the bell curves. I like to see 68% of the grades within one standard deviation of the norm, 95% within two standard deviations of the norm and 98% within three standard deviations of the norm. But, the norm changes with each test because each test declares a new norm. 

Normal is not a fixed standard that is always tried and true. That which is normal today was not normal yesterday and will not be normal tomorrow. So, the next time someone says, "That's not normal." Ask them what there standard for normal is.

Thomas Sowell

Another great quote from Thomas Sowell on one of the most pressing issues in current culture.

"To believe in personal responsibility would be to destroy the whole special role of the anointed, whose vision casts them in the role of rescuers of people treated unfairly by “society”."