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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, December 16, 2011
The war in Iraq has ended, at least formally Those dark years! The years of turmoil and strife and people would have us
believe they are over.
The troops may be leaving but what about the hearts of the people. That is where true wars are won and lost.
What about the hearts of the troops and that of those that have lost loved ones. Do they see this as worth the sacrifices?
It is so difficult
to tell what has been won isn’t it?
There are the economic and political wins, but the
real place where winning was necessary is in the people.
I think this is like our lives. We have battles that we fight with ourselves and
sometimes we win and ask whether it was worth the fight. Ultimately in our lives the evaluation of a win or loss only comes
at the time of death.
Today
I heard that Christopher Hitchens an atheist has died. Now he is faced with the truth behind his convictions.
His truth leads him nowhere. Has he won? I cannot see this! Hundreds of debates and at the end of time, no relationship with
God. How sad!
The
lesson of all this is we need to count the cost of winning and know that what we are fighting for is truth according to universal
measures. I’m talking of truth regarding God’s measures.
Succeeding there is ultimate success!
That’s why I wonder if
there was much light of God, the Christian God shone on the Iraq situation. I would like to think love was a motivator, but
more readily believe it was greed. I so hope I am wrong! I hope we have left people behind that cannot but thank us for contributing
and I trust it was seen as a contribution.
Today as other wars loom, let us pray that people will evaluate more than the political and economic
factors but spiritual ones as well.
Have a great day!
Fri, December 16, 2011 | link
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Those days when it’s difficult to get things done. Everyone knows about those days when interruptions
hit us at every turn and it seems impossible to get that critical task complete!
Mom’s can’t get things done because children emergencies
intervene. Being a guy, I think us Dad’s have that one easier thanks to the wonderful woman around us, but we have the
stresses of balancing work, and our family and when we get it sorted out, then something will occur at work to undo the plan.
I am having one of those
days today, interruptions flow in one after another as I try to write this blog. Maybe we don’t mind the interruption,
but it changes how one thinks doesn’t it? Then when we get back to the activity the focus needs to be reset and just
as we get going, the next interruption hits.
It’s easy to allow this to build up tension and aggression. We shouldn’t however!
How many times
do we read of Jesus going along and he is interrupted by an event. The gospels are full of examples of these types of interruptions.
Jesus would be teaching and someone would be brought to him, or he is walking down the road and a guy in a tree interrupts
his day with a change and opportunity.
Jesus took interruptions and turned them into opportunity to teach, to provide a parable, and to build God’s
kingdom.
This is difficult
to accept as we get interrupted.
How often do we look for an opportunity to teach, help others gain from
the time, and give God glory when we get interrupted?
If we did, if we maintained this focus, then our stress would be lower, the
context would be similar, and the interruption less severe.
So, as the next interruption looms in my life, I encourage you, wherever you are
to turn your next interruption into a positive experience with eternal value, whatever the task.
My God bless
you as you achieve this in your busy day!
Thu, December 15, 2011 | link
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Balmy vs. frigid temperatures and the seashore The years are so different aren’t they? Here in Toronto Canada there is almost a spring
fever in December as temperatures are way different to the seasonal averages. We should be cold and wrapped up in coats, and
yet today is a day of mild temperatures and light sweaters, the sun is shining and optimism is in the air!
Yet, last year this same time I was blogging
on how hundreds of people spent a cold night huddled in vehicles awaiting rescue along a snow-clogged stretch of highway in
southwestern Ontario. (See Trapped and nowhere to go?)
Life
changes, and sometimes it’s easy to forget the past isn’t it?
For some of us this is welcome! I guess it is not a good memory
for the 300 people who got trapped in their cars in that blizzard last year.
This got me thinking about what is constant despite these challenges
we face?
I
am sure those that believe in God prayed considerably during their blizzard invoked ordeal. Pleading with God in times of
huge risk to our lives is often something we as humans do.
Well, what about today?
I would hope those same people are thanking God for the wonderful weather so they
can feel safe and secure!
We need to have a focus on what God provides to us, but that focus should deliver us into the arms of the Almighty no
matter what the circumstances.
Our lives are simply bubbles in the ocean of life. Simple, temporary and tossed and churned by life events. Without
God, we cannot even see order to the chaos or purpose to the turbulence.
With God there is little difference to the experience, but somehow God
conveys to us we are on the journey with the current taking us to a wonderful seashore of warmth, love and compassion.
So
today may not seem to be specifically different to yesterday, but it is. We are closer to our destination! God is closer to
providing us our rewards! That is if you love him, you may understand this.
If not, the churn of life may give you a feeling of hopelessness. Even that is a lie, Satan induced.
Everyone is carried by
the current and all will end up on the shore, some on the rocks, some on the beach. Those who choose God are told the beach
is our destination and we thank him for it!
Have a great day and see you at the heavenly seashore!
Wed, December 14, 2011 | link
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Christmas is coming. . . incorrectly...who is at fault?
“When he had called together all the people’s
chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. “In Bethlehem in Judea,”
they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written: “‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are
by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’””
Matthew 2:4-6 NIV
So many people think this was part of the
first Christmas because of the question asked about where the Messiah was born. The reality is their journey was a long one
and the bible points out in the previous chapter that Jesus had already been born.
Then, we find out Herod sends out soldiers to kill children two
years and younger!
When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all
the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the
Magi.
So these Magi
were looking for a child two years or under.
So this means that by the time the wise men were arriving in Bethlehem, they had
probably been following the star for about two years.
It is highly unlikely that they arrived the night of Jesus birth at all.
So our combination of wise men into the nativity scene we display at every opportunity is not really true. Maybe they should
be displayed separately or to one side away from the main scene? Surely the church should seek truth shouldn’t it?
Unfortunately
although I point this out to church leaders, they smile, indicate they know about it and carry on doing exactly the same thing.
Why?
They would rather lie than face the wrath of their members who believe the lie and would
not be told differently!
Is our religion that cheap? Is our relationship with God that easily offered up on the altar of popularity?
It
is so sad the church no longer chases truth with all it’s heart!
For example, those Christmas trees everyone is getting bent out
of shape about because the Canadian cities are only willing to call them holiday trees.
Who cares!
They are not even a true part of Christmas having being brought into the celebrations, probably from pagan sources!
(Apparently the first tree was established by Brotherhood of Blackheads, a military type group of unmarried men who took it
into a town square and danced around it together with the local girls) So they want to rename Christmas tree to Holiday tree!
So what!
Truth is important and if we
all tried to be true to Jesus and Christmas we would be taking soup, food and blankets to the town squares and not trees.
Who cares?
I hope we do! I hope we care
to find and follow truth and do what jesus would want!
I do!
I hope you do!
Do you?
Tue, December 13, 2011 | link
Monday, December 12, 2011
Higgs boson (so called “God” particle) may exist!!!! It’s not official, but Paul Rincon the BBC Science editor reports
Asked
where a Higgs discovery would rank among scientific milestones of the last 100 years, Dr Shears said: "I don't think
that I could compare it to any other scientific advance... it is quite different.
"This is a prediction that stems from a very
mathematical approach to understanding the Universe, which is guided by the idea that it is simple at heart.
"If the Universe really
is like that, I find it really quite breathtaking and humbling that we can understand it."
Great men are humbled when faced with God’s
creative elegance!
According to Paul Rincon “For more than a week, rumours have been circulating on
physics blogs that Atlas and CMS see a Higgs signal at 125 GeV, between the 2.5 and 3.5 sigma level of certainty.”
So what is this Higgs Boson, why the controversy and excitement?
Most of us know an atom is a nucleus of protons and neutrons
surrounded by electrons that buzz around it at a crazy speed.
Now protons and neutrons are made of simpler particles called quarks.
Quarks have
direction.
A proton is
two up and a down quark.
A neutron is two down and an up quark.
Quarks are held together by what is known as the strong nuclear
force and the gluon is part of this structure holding the protons and neutrons together. It is called a vector
boson and has spin and color. (Most of us around now get lost trying to understand it all so I will try to stop going
deeper for now).
Bosons with the same energy can occupy the same place in space and the same quantum state(I know this is also a
bit complex if you are getting lost and want to skip, drop down in the blog to "So enough for the science discussion
of this!" below, otherwise read on!).
There are six standard bosons
·
4 gauge
bosons (carriers of
the fundamental forces of nature; types of these are photons, W & Z bosons, and gluons. )
·
The Higgs
boson (Holds sub-particles
together)
· The graviton (deals with gravity)
The Higgs particle is therefore also a boson. It is
important because it holds other sub-particles together and stops them speeding off away from the place they should be.
Think of it as unseen glue that holds everything together. Everything Higgs interacts with gets a mass. The
Higgs field is everywhere, but the particle that interacts with it is the Higgs boson.
IN Geneva they have build a machine that smashes particles together at speeds close to the speed of light. Then they
watch the fallout. They think they may be seeing the Higgs boson!
So enough for the science discussion of this!
Isn’t
it just amazing that God set all this in motion billions of years ago so that we can not only exist, but also so that when
we discover the immense simplicity of this incredible design that makes us up!
We can only say . . .
"If the Universe really
is like that, I find it really quite breathtaking and humbling that we can understand it."
God is great, men who discover
God’s greatness cannot ignore this fact!
It’s the popular half educated people (like me) that often get it wrong and think man
is greater than God. We aren’t great when compared with God! Our problem is that to understand God’s forefront
of revelation to man is becoming so muc more complex that it takes years of study. So we simpler folk are hidden from
God’s forefront of revelation to man.
So instead, let’s enjoy these glimpses of God’s creation we see through other great men and women!
Have a great day!
Mon, December 12, 2011 | 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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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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