Hindu Shrine

You never know what you will find in a Gabs neighborhood.  I dropped Brenda off for Navigator's Bible study in a very nice neighbor on the Northwest side of Gabs.  As I drove over to the mall to pass some time, here is what I saw,

From a distance it looked like a huge, elaborate wedding cake or something like that.  Close up it is still pretty impressive.  Some well-intentioned people spent a lot of money to build a beautiful shrine.  Not sure to whom the shrine is dedicated, but this is just an obvious example of what many of us do as well.

We erect an enormous shrines to:

• Personal wealth
• Fame
• Ecological awareness
• Power
• Knowledge

We are told, "Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; ²⁰ you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies."  I Corinth 6:19-20
   
Pair that with this concept from Luke 20:24-26, "“Show me a coin. Whose image and name are on it?”
They said, “Caesar’s.”²⁵ Jesus said to them, “Then give to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and give to God the things that are God’s.”

So sounds like someone has invested in us, so where should we invest ourselves?

That's SOME Bread!

One of the things we have enjoyed in Bots has been a type of bread.  It is delicious, and must be good for us.  Here's a picture.


We really think this bread would be a big hit in the USA.  It is nutty, great with a little butter, and goes with anything.

You probably recall that Jesus quoted Scirpture on bread, " He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD."  Deut 8:3.


As good as this bread might be, it will not sustain real life, the life of the spirit.

Recently in quiet time, I was struck by Romans 8:6-7.  I was  impressed to memorize these two verses, and they have proven handy already.

"Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me."  Rom 8:6. 

Rom 8:7 might disturb some of my Evangelical friends because of its reference to the Law of G^d, so turn away if you must.
"Because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so." 

Bread is necessary for the flesh, but The Bread of Life, feeds the spirit. L^rd capture our minds.

We Won! Oops!

Brenda and I just returned from a Navigator's Marriage Seminar.  I am proud to say that we won?  Our prize was this book:

I hate to tell you how we won it.  At the very end of the seminar, they gave a book to the couple most recently married.  And then we got a book too.  I am betting you can guess how we won it.

Time certainly flies.  It seems that we were newlyweds just the other day.  It is hard to imagine that all of my children are older than most of my students, and I don't mean undergrads, but older than my graduate students.

Just last week we were living in Clear Lake, TX.  It seems like yesterday that we were living in NY State, but it was 16 years ago we moved up there.

As I have blogged before, as James said it, "How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog--it's here a little while, then it's gone."  Ja 4:14.

The Scots say, "Ye be a lang time ded."  Wouldn't it be foolish to put all our attention into this bit of fog that is soon gone without a trace.  It would be kinda like spending most of your life working on a sand castle built below the tide line.  Yep, kinda like building your house upon the sand.

"... And every one who hears these my teachings and does not act upon them will
be found to resemble a fool who builds his house upon sand. ..."  Matt:7:26.

Yep we had been married the longest!

Writing a Book Manuscript, Investment or Folly?

I am not totally sure why I want to write another book.  I write a lot anyway, more than enough to satisfy any normal desire.  I write for a magazine.  I write for Campus Crusade. I write lots of journal articles.  I write this blog.  And, I once wrote a text book.

I am happy to have written that text.  I wrote it out of sheer desperation.  From my perspective, there wasn’t a good alternative text.  The book is about the mathematics and statistics of measuring and evaluating.  Math is not a popular topic and many are psyched out before they even begin.  Most people who write text books are deeply in love with their subject matter;  so, they don’t see any need to make an inherently lovable topic lovable to the poor student.

Now a friend, Walt Larimore, MD, and I are writing a book on exercise and fat control.  In a lot of ways it is fun.  I have been teaching this stuff since about 1983, so most of it I can write off the top of my head.  It is still a lot of work though.  We are just at the stage of writing where we are looking for a publisher.  Typically you don’t even write a magazine article without assurance that the publisher will buy it.  And, in this case I had written only four chapters to send out with the query to potential publishers.  But, I have time, and the second-level option is that we self-publish it , but I have been reluctant to pursue that course of action.

So I guess it is a faith effort we are undertaking. 

Christianity seems to be the ultimate long-term investment.  We are looking forward to a  New Jerusalem, “…the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.”  Rev 21:2

I have no doubt that that investment will pay a BIGGER dividend than any thing we could invest in a pyramid scheme (or anyway else).

What kind of Cop?

A Hammerkop.

We saw our first hammerkop up close in the Okovango.  It was flying alongside our boat only about 12 meters away at a matching speed.

What you see above is a hammerkop nest.  It was huge and probably weighed well over 100 lbs, maybe close to 200, or even more.  The nest obviously is used over and over, and not just by the hammerkop, but by other critters as well.

But how does a bird that weighs a few ounces build such a big, heavy nest?

He does it bit by bit.  A lot of things can be done that way.  We earn degrees, accumulate savings, make our bodies fit, little by little.  Most things cannot be done at once.

One may become a Christian in an instant, but GROWING in the CHRIST is done bit by bit.

I want to be more like a hammerkop.

Rob’s Inheritance

Rob’s family has a well-developed sense of humor.  Robert was a Ph.D. student of mine several years ago.  He grew up in Fish Hoek , a suburb of Cape Town, South Africa.  His pop is a retired veterinarian, and his mom a clever woman in her own right.  We had a chance to visit them in RSA, so we took it.  We were NOT disappointed.

They were rightfully proud of their 600-hectare farm and we made a hike  around the core of the land.  One of the places we visited, was Rob's peak, the highest hill on the land.  Here's Rob's Peak.

But that's not Rob's inheritance, and that's what I am supposed to be describing.  Rob's inheritance is part of the farm that is designated for him, when that unhappy hour arrives.  It is a peaceful place, a place of serenity and possibility.  It is a special place, and a vital place.  It is the kind of place that really fulfills an important role in life.

Don't know about you, but I am looking forward to an inheritance from G^d himself.

Stones that Bloom

We took a marvelous hike in the karoo with Dr. Tim P.  He showed us the hammerkop nest, the evidence of over-grazing, the best forage for cattle and antelope.  He showed us the edible berries, and the old exploratory diamond mine that abide on his 600 hectares of karoo (neat word, eh?).

At one particular spot he exclaimed with great glee, “stoneflowers”.  And sure enough, in groups of twos and threes were these delightful little succulents (fat leaves like aloe) with little blooms on the very top.  This particular species, we later learned, was a “conus” because the fat little leaves were bunched tightly like a pine cone with the bloom at the very top.

 (Yes, this photo is upside down).

In books and in the SA Museum, we saw many other types of stone flowers.  These little flowers look like greenish or gray stones that are really plants.

G^d is creative indeed.  Being able to see such a variety of birds, animals, trees, shrubs, plants, topographies, and people is a great blessing indeed.

Even the “rocks cry out”, as Scripture tells us.  Maybe the Writer was thinking of stone flowers at the time.

37 When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen:
38 “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the
Lord!”“Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”
39 Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!”
40 “I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”    Lk 19