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Getting somewhere requires effort, it takes
faith to push on, it's easy to screw up,
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Friday, September 6, 2013
The life cycle of a cell is simply amazing. The life cycle
of a cell is simply amazing. It does work to construct constraints on the release of energy, which does work to construct
more constraints on the release of energy, which does work to construct even more constraints on the release of energy, and
other kinds of work as well.~ Stuart A. Kauffman [11.9.03]
Kauffman makes the point it is stunning that the universe
has brought forth autonomous agents.
By this he means it can reproduce itself and do at least one thermodynamic work cycle.
I
guess this is starting to speak non-common language and so makes our understanding of this
complexity blurred.
This is unfortunately what most of deep science does today. To understand
the deep speak requires a lifetime of focus and study.
Yet, those of us who have other lives can do little to understand these aspects full, and yet we need to
also gain a view of the complexity of our universe we live in.
In this part of the paradox and complexity of life!
To understand
our universe takes many lifetimes of which each person has one and so it is not possible of us to ever
fully understand the universe.
This means that I can say with confidence that I cannot understand the universe, and
neither can any other scientist.
We each have a small perspective of the whole. We each place our own interpretations on it and view it colored
by the events and knowledge of our lives. To the extent that we have common life understanding with others we tend to agree
and to the extent we have different life understanding we struggle with agreement. Wars are evidence of this process.
The
universe is extremely complex and yet is constructed with apparent skill.
The “common
sense” science of the current times seems to suggest that it self-created and there is no God. Yet the direction of
this complexity seems to suggest otherwise.
Now, my perspective, that I hope aligns with many of my common group (which happens to be those who believe
Jesus is God) tends to say otherwise.
We contend that God created the universe!
How does
this align with this very different perspective of many scientists?
Many scientists tend to laugh at Christians beliefs, yet in every scientific
discipline there are leaders who are ALSO Christians. In other words the Christian beliefs ARE congruent with scientific
beliefs in each discipline if viewed from a specific perspective. This means that as a whole, there must be a logical
and common understanding of the scientific universe that includes a creator and does not disagree with the scientific facts.
For example, let’s
go back to Staurt A. Kauffman, and please understand I know nothing of his spiritual beliefs and I am merely using some of
his statements to illustrate my point.
He says,
“The life
cycle of a cell is simply amazing. It does work to construct constraints on the release of energy, which does work to construct
more constraints on the release of energy, which does work to construct even more constraints on the release of energy, and
other kinds of work as well. It builds structure. Cells don't just carry information. They actually build things until something
astonishing happens: a cell completes a closed nexus of work tasks, and builds a copy of itself. Although he didn't know about
cells, Kant spoke about this 230 years ago when he said that an organized being possesses a self-organizing propagating whole
that is able to make more of itself. But although cells can do this, that fact is nowhere in our physics. It's not in our
notion of matter, it's not in our notion of energy, it's not in our notion of information, and it's not in our notion of entropy.
It's something else. It has to do with organization, propagation of organization, work, and constraint construction. All of
this has to be incorporated into some new theory of organization.”
Okay, so that’s
quite a mouthful which I will (probably inadequately) summarise.
He is saying that cells are remarkable because they do more than live and carry information,
they build new structures that can replicate. Furthermore he states that physics to date cannot explain this,
and it needs a new theory of organizations to explain it.
In other words if that organization Kauffman desires, is God establishing
the patterns or molds into which the creativity unfolds, then physics can currently not contend otherwise.
In this area, we
again come back to the fact that God creates!
We must always respect the fact that while God is all knowing and all powerful, he is also a God of truth,
justice and order. He created us as curious beings and so also created a world in which we can fully satisfy this drive that
is innate within us. (Created by God?)
While some scientists may mock Christians, deep science always shows that at the periphery of knowledge
of the unknowns where theories breed, there is always an option that includes God’s control.
I
contend that, for me, this is in itself proof of the glory of God.
God wants us to learn, discover and develop in exciting ways.
God provides us with the structures
and degrees of freedom that we need to do this. Yet, our God is a great God. He also directs our universe and upholds it.
Isn’t that a wonder
thought with which we can enter our days activities with a curiosity and grateful love of what Jesus our saviour has done
for us?
Thursday, September 5, 2013
Time trouble Isn't amazing that we all seem to have too little time to do what we want to do in our lives. We have to rush here, go there, get to
work, find time to feed ourselves, the family and in some cases the baby. We chase ourselves around continually becuase there
is so much to do and so little time to do it.
Did our Lord Jesus do that?
Surely he had the most important agenda this earth ever enabled for any living person to date?
Yes!
Surely he should have moved at a frenetic speed, chasing back and
forth?
Thats what we would do!
Surely he should have had teams of people
organized with schedules, rosters, and checklists of tasks that needed to be done?
He didn't!
If we had tried to do what God had done it's likely that would have been the picture people would have seen.
What did Jesus do Instead?
One man choses
twelve others who are not pre-qualified with lots of technical and communication skills.
He invests
his life in them and those around him, never travelling that far form his local neighbourhoods.
How does he get the message out?
By listening to Holy Spirit and
doing what God the Father wants.
Was he successful?
YES!
What can we learn from that?
Can we learn that chasing
ourselves around is not as important as listening to Holy Spirit and doing what our Father wants?
Jesus made disciples and told us to!
What are we doing to get this right in our lives
today?
Wednesday, September 4, 2013
Grow that love like a wildfire..10/10/10/eternity rule  When you are
kind to someone in trouble, you hope they'll remember and be kind to someone else. And it'll become like a wildfire. ~ Whoopi
Goldberg
“Control your emotions, let loose your love” are some words of wisdom I have heard and want to pass on.
There is a business writer for publications
(like the Bloomberg news ) called Suzy Welch and who suggests that when we want to make a tough decision we use something
that she calls the 10/10/10 rule.
The concept she put forward is that we need to consider what we would think of our decision 10 minutes from
now, 10 months from now, and 10 years from now.
This is a great way of putting our thoughts into perspective and limiting how much our emotion impacts
our decisions.
I in addition suggest that in many things in life we need to apply the rule, but perhaps with a slightly
differently perspective.
Too many times in life we react in the short term, or we do things in the short term, without considering the long
term impact.
The sacred
writing in our bible says in 2 Timothy 5-8,
5 I remember your honest and true faith. ... And I am certain that it is
now alive in you also.
6 That is why I remind you to help God’s gift grow, just as a small spark grows into a fire.
God put his gift in you when I placed my hands on you.
7 God didn’t give us a spirit that makes us weak and fearful.
He gave us a spirit that gives us power and love. It helps us control ourselves.
8 So don’t be ashamed to give witness about
our Lord. And don’t be ashamed of me, his prisoner. Instead, join with me as I suffer for the good news.
God’s
power will help us do that.
This writing is where Paul that great man of the past writes to a junior disciple to encourage him. We see that Paul
wants faith and the power of Holy Spirit to grow from a spark into a fire.
Let’s consider that!
A spark needs some excellent tinder and fibrous wood
chips if it is to grow into a flame.
Faith needs us to nurture it when it starts, if it is to grow. When we first come to Jesus
our faith is small and easily upset or troubled. We need to talk to other Christians and read our bible to guide our faith
and grow it. We need to step out in that small faith and do things that God wants us to do. Then, as we allow Holy Spirit
to work through us, this faith becomes more and more certain.
After a while, having seen and experienced Holy Spirit working through us many times
with great effect, and sometimes seeing the result of failing to let Holy Spirit work through us, we move past the point of
little faith to just knowing with certainty that God is with us, in us and guiding us
This is rather like the type of faith we often have as
we text a friend. We send them a message and may not receive the answer for a number of hours, but we know they are
there and will respond. Our relationship with God is often much like that. We chat to God and ask him for guidance, strength,
hope, love and ways to overcome our failings. Sometimes we may need to wait a while until we get that answer. Sometimes
the answer is not quite as expected either. yet God is there an like a very good friend always answers in a way which is best
for us, independent of whether we full agree or not. God's love and will to have the best for us into eternity outweighs our
limited vision and knowledge.
Then, following Holy Spirit, we learn to love in what
are sometimes unloving circumstances.
When faced with a situation that needs
us to actively love , and sometimes forgive in tough circumstances, we can apply the “10/10/10/eternity”
rule from God’s perspective.
Here the question is...
what will this do to further God’s
kingdom in 10 minutes from now, 10 months from now, 10 years from now and into eternity?
Are we building eternal structures of life,
or just trying to appease the moments in our life?
Let’s consider that as we address the times and decisions we face
today!
Let’s build a wildfire of faith and God’s love in our time! A fire no fireman would ever
want to put out. A fire that does great good rather than harm!
Wed, September 4, 2013 | link
Tuesday, September 3, 2013
Jesus is no Angel "May God grant you always...A sunbeam to warm you, a moonbeam to charm you, a sheltering Angel so nothing can harm you.
Laughter to cheer you. Faithful friends near you. And whenever you pray, Heaven to hear you." ~ Irish proverb
Sometimes people seem
to equate Jesus with an angel and in the Christian writings of the Old Testament, it seems he often appears to be
one.
The New Testament
writings do however clearly point out this is not the case. The book of Hebrews opens on this subject and the writer goes
to great lengths to explain Jesus is not an angel.
The writer explains “All angels are spirits who serve. God sends them
to serve those who will receive salvation.”
Those words are really interesting for everyone aren’t they. Let’s pull them apart a little.
Who
sent angels?
God.
Why?
To serve.
To Serve whom?
Those who have not yet accepted Jesus as God!
From those words we get to understand angels
actually serve sinners! Wow! Doesn’t that seem like a curved ball?
Okay, so these spiritual beings are probably around us all the time. We rarely
catch a glimpse of them or their work but they are there.
But Jesus was no angel.
The writer explains...
God never said to any of the angels,
“You are my Son.
Today I have
become your Father.” (Psalm 2:7)
Or,
“I will
be his Father.
And he will be my Son.” (2 Samuel 7:14; 1 Chronicles 17:13)
Jesus is
God’s son.
He is far more important that the angels. The writer points out he was present when God created the world.
“Lord,
in the beginning you made the earth secure. You placed it on its foundations.
The heavens are
the work of your hands.
11 They will pass away. But you remain.
They
will all wear out like a piece of clothing.
12 You will roll them up like a robe.
They
will be changed as a person changes clothes.
But you remain the same.
Your years will
never end.” (Psalm 102:25–27)
Jesus is
God!
But here is what he says about the Son.
“You are God. Your throne will last for ever and ever.
Your
kingdom will be ruled by what is right.
9 You have loved what is right and hated what is evil.
So your God has placed you above your companions.
He has filled you
with joy by pouring the sacred oil on your head.” (Psalm 45:6,7)
God is worshipped
by angels
God’s first and only Son is over all things. When God brings him into the world, he says,
“Let all of God’s
angels worship him.” (Deuteronomy 32:43)
We can see that
while angels are cool creatures.
And the bible says “God makes his angels
to be like winds.He makes those who serve him to be like flashes of lightning.” (Psalm 104:4)
We also know
that Jesus is more than any angel. He is God himself and our hope in the future rests on God himself. The sinners may have
angels with them. We as Christian’s have Holy Spirit within us.
I know that sounds weird.
The God who creates and upholds the universe decides in some
small way to live within our lives.
You know what’s really weird?
It’s that so many people reject this or that some accept Jesus and never allow god to really change
them form the inside out giving them his power and love.
I never quite get why people reject and push God away.
I hope toady we will the opposite and ask god to empower our lives
as we appreciate his presence.
Have a wonderful God blessed day.
Monday, September 2, 2013
Christian growing pains  "My child, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, or lose heart when you
are punished by him; for the Lord disciplines those whom he loves, and chastises every child whom he accepts." Hebrews
12
Discipline is not a word we really
want to hear any more in the western and perhaps many European world environments.
I do think in many less “advanced” countries it is still valued and
considered important,
but I think that perhaps the “sophisticated nations” (and I am not sure they are that sophisticated) have fallen
by not focusing on it as they used to.
The great drive for self-pleasure has combated the need to submit to stresses and strains that discipline
uses to build us.
We no longer chose what is right, despite it being of immediate discomfort.
We seem to rather want to sit in our armchairs watching our media and perhaps play our games,
being content to see hero’s with discipline and goals strive against all odds to achieve. Yet if possible, we have someone
hand us our crisps, drinks and candies, and enjoy the show, not even being disciplined in our own health.
Many of us also do not look after our bodies
with discipline. How
many of us do regular exercise and look after the body our Lord provided for us?
These are physical aspects of discipline. Then we
have the mental aspects!
Those mental aspects
we still get asked to exercise for the good of work and schooling. These aspects are better organized and dealt with.
We are more disciplined
here as our intellectual abilities are often of greater value than our physical in many professions in this new world of technology and science.
The strong man has given way to the “clever” man, although this is not complete and we still need physical
strength in many important careers. Think of firemen without which we would all be in deep trouble.
Yet spiritual discipline seems
to be the least favoured.
If we want
to see how far we have sunk we only need look at those tried and true ten commandments or Decalogue as it is known. These are found in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy
5 . I plan to paraphrase them and ask simple question as to whether some people ignore these...
1.
Have no other
gods except the one God.
(What is more important than God in many of our lives?)
2. Make no images to worship in place of worshiping God. (Rock star posters and memorabilia? )
3. Don't use God’s name in a disrespectful way (How many times to you hear Jesus name taken in vain, God’s name linked
to putrid substances and statements?)
4. Remember the Sabbath (How may of us keep a day holy each week? How many even try?
One service on a day does not make the day holy does it?)
5. Honor your father and mother. (How many people argue that their parents
are not worthy of honor, how many speak badly of parents, how many verbally abuse parents to their face, how many dump parents
in homes because it's more convenient?)
6. Don’t murder (Seems easily kept until we remember Jesus said... “You
have heard what was said to people who lived long ago. They were told, ‘Do not commit murder. (Exodus 20:13) Anyone who murders will be judged for it.’ 22 But here is what I tell you. Do not be angry with your
brother. Anyone who is angry with his brother will be judged. Again, anyone who says to his brother, ‘Raca,’ must
stand trial in the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire in hell.” When last did we become angry?)
7. Don’t commit adultery (Adultery seem to be promoted everywhere in western culture. I think those of Eastern and Asian cultures
still try to keep this commandment. Yet, if we listen to Jesus, he has an even higher standard...” You
have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.’ (Exodus 20:14) 28 But here is what I tell you. Do not even look at a woman in the wrong way. Anyone who does has already
committed adultery with her in his heart.” Given this standard, do anyone of us believe we have
kept this commandment under Jesus conditions?
8. You shall not steal ( This is apparently less difficult, but I would believe
we have all succumbed to this at one point or another. Perhaps a siblings toy, or a piece of information out of someone else’s
work, or cheating on taxes?)
9. Don’t say people have done things they haven’t (How careful are we to speak exact truth?)
10. Don’t be envious of your neighbours
belongings (how many
want that car, boat or house or other items they have? Even our media works up these desires in us to a fever pitch
and then call it “marketing”). Don’t be envious of his wife (Keep to the joy of our own
wife, instead of think about another’s).
Discipline is lacking isn’t it?
Why does our bible say about this?
“7 Endure trials for the sake
of discipline. God is treating you as children; for what child is there whom a parent does not discipline?
8 If you do not have that discipline in which all children share, then you are illegitimate and not his children.
9 Moreover, we had human parents to discipline us, and we respected them. Should we not be even more willing
to be subject to the Father of spirits and live? 10 For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best
to them, but he disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share his holiness. 11 Now,
discipline always seems painful rather than pleasant at the time, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness
to those who have been trained by it.
12 Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, 13 and
make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed.” Hebrews 12
We are being built up, not broken down by
these guidelines and the instruction God gives us.
If we are wise we admit our failures and throw
ourselves on the love of God, to be forgiven totally. Then we ask him to help us do what is best for ourselves. That best
we can do is listening to God’s advice and following it, even when it is difficult.
We are not perfect! We all fail along the way, but it’s
not the failures, but the fact that as we go forward, and as we do we get better and better, and experience more and more
of God’s power and gracious intervention in our lives.
God loves us! If we accept his discipline, we are actually also learning to love ourselves.
Let’s think about
that today!
Mon, September 2, 2013 | link
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If you want to see a short blog describing a perspective on what I believe click here
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Rift in Evil
By Ken
X Briggs - Published: September, 2010
- Format: Perfect Bound Softcover(B/W)
- Pages: 208
Size:
6x9 - ISBN: 9781450250894
Available from Barnes and Noble, Amazon, iUniverse. |
Credit cards are acceptable on sites having Ken's books: 
:)
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Click
on XML Click here =>  to be told of new blogs
| Ken's book covers are displayed below. . . | |  This
suspense thriller centers on Kiara, a beautiful young woman pursued by a murderous group of people, who relentlessly and ruthlessly
hunt her and her sisters. Kiara has no idea why she is being targeted! When Kiara and her family turn to the law for help,
this fails. Her pursuers’ powers reach deeply into the political and law enforcement world. Family support for her dwindles
when they too have to flee her pursuers. Can Kiara escape the clutches of both the law and dishonest big business? With the
media broadcasting that Kiara and friends are dangerous and subversive, can Kiara clear her name and bring her pursuers to
justice?
| | | | | To purchase Kiara's Pursuer ebook
@ $1.99 kindle version click here, To contact the author contact Author@KenXBriggs.com | | | | | | | | The town of Zinaville is dropped into a spiral of evil causing a young man and a beautiful but abused woman
to launch into an investigation that unveils an evil conspiracy. A horrific mining accident results in Joshua
Robyn's father being killed. Joshua struggles both with himself and his townsfolk as he tries to make sense of an incomprehensible
situation. Is it an accident or a murder? Why is there a seeming link to evil? Why is his work environment suddenly threatening?
What is the conspiracy about and what are they trying to do? As action moves dramatically from exotic African grasslands to
the heart of North America's cities, the plot unfolds and the pace quickens. Will there be time? Why is a beautiful abused
young woman in the center of this plot? Evil tendrils tighten on their lives and the interplay between the visible
and invisible world shows opposing forces at work. Will there be a rift in evil? Will they be able to stop the
evil in time? | | - Published: September, 2010
- Format: Perfect
Bound Softcover(B/W)
- Pages: 208
Size: 6x9 - ISBN: 9781450250894
Available
from Barnes and Noble, Amazon, iUniverse. Chapters | | | | |
| Frugal Eating Advice |
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| Good advice for students living on limited $'s. Click on the image! |
May you be blessed today!
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