Surprise Me, God

Last weekend at our home church (Hosanna in Lakeville) we had a guest speaker named Terry Esau (www.surprisemegod.com). He gave a talk entitled 'Surprise Me, God', and suggested those hearing the talk try this 30 day experiment: Start out each day by praying the simple prayer – Surprise me, God. And then not try and give God your agenda for the day. Instead, be more intentional about listening for God's Voice, especially in your dealings with others. The goal is to look for and understand what God is doing around you, and hopefully through you, each day.

 

It's an interesting experiment, and so I am willing to put on hold my normal Christian agenda of writing on my blog about Christian stuff. And I have stopped emailing an atheist friend that I have in my not-so-effective attempts at evangelism. This friend I have is over 75 years old, and is a hardcore member of the Minnesota Atheists group. The one result from this – he is having problems with macular degeneration of his eyes, and as he lives in a small town about 2 hours from town, the only doctor that comes to his town won't be there until mid-September. And he had no inexpensive way of seeing a doctor any earlier, and so I offered to pick him up, and take him to a doctor's appointment in town. His reaction was one of shock! Why would someone come and drive 2 hours four ways (go to pick him up, take him to his doctor, take him back home, and then drive myself home). So he refused saying it was too big of a favor to ask. But I insisted, saying that his eyesight was more important than anything else I would be doing that day. He may have found another driver service for older people, but we will see how this works out. It's fun showing God's Grace to others!

 

So because of this 30 day experiment, I likely will not be posting much on my blog during the next month. But I will let you know what I learned and saw at the end of this 'Surprise me, God' experiment.

Drugs, Testing, and the Olympics

I received a really cool article from Popular Science magazine on how drugs improve an athlete’s performance, and the chances of it being discovered. The article can be found at: http://www.popsci.com/scitech/gallery/2008-07/juicing-30, and is entitled ‘Juicing 3.0’. It’s a quick read, and very informative. Here is my quick summary:

Five different Drug Enhancements were discussed. I thought the most interesting of the 5 was the Mental Improvement drugs like Modafinil. This was used at the 2003 World Track and Field Championships by sprinter Kelli White. And with this chemical help, she cut a whopping second and a half off of her 100 and 200 meter races, sweeping both the races. Modafinil is one of the FDA approved ‘neural enhancers’, used in the treatment of Parkinson’s Disease and depression. Drugs like these can boost a bodies’ dopamine, norepinephrine and serotonin levels. These can help an athlete’s mental outlook, as well as their motor control and muscle reaction time—an edge in any sport. But drugs like Modafinil can be detected in blood and urine tests, which was how Kelli White was caught.

Another really weird Genetic enhancement was discovered by Genetist doctors who learned that turning off the protein Myostatin can double the muscle size in mice. Yes, this picture below is a picture of a whippet dog (the normal size of a whippet is below)! Yes, with this sort of muscle increase, you have to think that athletes will try and abuse it. Right now, tests can detect the use of antibodies to turn off the protein. But scientists can be tricky, and they may find out a way to use other delivery systems, like RNA interference, which would be undetectable.

I hope you enjoy the Popular Science article. Oh, the China Summer Olympics are going to be fun, won’t they?

Music I’m Listening to.

Music I'm Listening to. I've been enjoying going through all of my old CD's and trying to organize my music on my Zune to see what CD's I've forgotten. I now have 344 albums, 3,498 songs, which takes up just slightly over 22 gigabytes of my Zune. I'm impressed by how much my music player can hold.

 

Here are a few of my favorite songs / albums that I'm enjoying:

 

• Party Starter – 80's Mix. I picked up this little gem at Target. It has a couple of songs from such 80's stalwarts as Katrina and the Waves, the Knack, and Culture Club; But it also has fun party songs like Whip It (from Devo), 867-5309 (Tommy Tutone), and the original Go Go's version of We've the Beat. It also has such classic party stalwarts as Walk Like an Egyptian (Bangles), Everybody Have Fun Tonight (Wang Chung), and Take on Me (Ah-Ha). If you wanted to start with one 80's party CD, a great place to start is this little gem;
  

 

• RCA Records – 1^st Note in Black Music. Wow, only by going through all of my CD's did I realize that I had this great collection. My favorite is the 3^rd CD which starts with Harry Belafonte's 'Day-O', the Isley Brothers' 'Shout!' (now I see why Otis Day and the Knights did their song in Animal House like they did), Nina Simone's 'To Be Young, Gifted and Black', all the way through The Fresh Prince's 'Parents Just Don't Understand'. I love this one!;
  

 

• Anything by Chris Isaak. I picked up 'Heart Shaped World' at Half Price Bookstore for $4. I only had it on cassette before, and having it on CD is like having a new album. But this has caused me to listen to his other great stuff too – love him!;
  

 

• Favorite Song – 'American Storm' by Bob Seger. I also picked up 'Live Bullet', which gave me fond memories of playing cosom hockey in Beanie's basement. But 'American Storm' is something special. Mr. Seger getting socially relevant singing about the California drug culture in the 70's and 80's. Can you beat these lyrics?:
  

 

…You face a wall of mirrors.

You charge them at full speed.

You cover up, you hear the shattering glass,

But you never bleed…

 

• I've also picked up some of the most recent (2007 releases) Christian heavy-weights' albums – Casting Crowns ('Altar and the Door'), Mercy Me ('All That I Am'), and Steven Curtis Chapman ('This Moment'). I love Mercy Me's 'God With Us', but the whole album is so God-glorifying, I give it an unqualified recommendation to anyone. But it was SCC's album that surprised me the most. It is very easy to listen to, catchy, fun. And yes, his Cinderella song makes me get a little misty every time I listen to it. I haven't heard anything on Casting Crowns' album that has struck me yet. Which surprises me, as this was the CD I was most looking forward to when I bought it.
  

 

Anyone else enjoying some good music? I'd enjoy hearing from you.

QTrax is Working!

You may remember a few months ago I posted about a new music site that allows the FREE downloading of music. Well, it looks like Qtrax is starting to roll now. The website for the download is at: http://www.qtrax.com/.

 

They have some interesting artists that you can download for free: Elvis Costello, Elton John, The Police, Amy Winehouse, Janet Jackson and more. Check it out, but be forewarned, the website is not easy to use. You have to sign in first, before you can download or play music. And you can only play music from your 'Library'. They have set up a Playlist but I had trouble actually using it. But anyways, you can't beat the price.

10 More Great Verses of the Bible.

Happy Independence Day to everyone out there. The Fourth of July reminds me of what the Apostle Peter wrote in 1 Peter 2:17 – "Honor everyone. Love your brothers and sisters in the faith. Fear God. Honor the emperor." I think America has lost an important aspect of its heritage because of the disrespect shown to our elected officials.

 

I appreciate all of the comments everyone left with your favorite Bible verses from my last post dealing with the '10 Greatest Bible Verses'. As I thought more about the great verses in the Bible, I discovered my list was woefully incomplete. And so, with today's post I am going to add 10 more great verses that belong on the "10 Greatest Bible Verses List." Here are the additional verses I have from God's Word:

 

Genesis 12:1-3 – The Abrahamic Covenant. "I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. ³ I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." The covenant of God promising Abraham innumerable offspring, a country (the Promised Land), and the ultimate fulfillment of the blessing from a Descendant of Abraham to all nations of the Earth, which is fulfilled through God's Gift of His Son, Jesus Christ.

 

Psalm 23 – "The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want…" Great writing, great poetry, and a wonderful picture of God as our Provider, Protector, and as SomeOne Who is always alongside us even though we may walk through "the valley of the shadow of death." (v. 4). And it's exciting to see Jesus showing Himself as the Great Shepherd of Psalm 23, when in John 10:14, Jesus says that 'I Am the Good Shepherd.' Our Lord is amazing!

 

Proverbs 3:5 – "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight." God wants us to live godly, righteous lives. And He is willing to help us to do this, if we only trust in Him. A great verse of what faith means.

 

Micah 6:8 – This is Grandma Kay's favorite verse on what is expected of Christians in our walk with God. The verse says: "He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God." Please pray for God's healing of Kay as she recovers in a hospital this morning, after two surgeries in the past three days. My Praise to God Who hears and answers our prayers.

 

Matthew 28:16-20 – The Great Commission. "Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit". More on our marching Orders as Christians: love and help others enough to snatch them from death and the judgment of hell.

 

John 1:1, :14 – "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God… The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us." I am kicking myself for missing this great verse in my first list. The first chapter of the Gospel of John is perhaps the most powerful chapter in the Bible. It so clearly shows the divinity of Christ. It shows the eternal plan of God, and that the Son of God was there with God the Father from the beginning.

 

John 6:35 – "I am the Bread of Life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger..." We see the picture that the Apostle paints in Chapter 6. First, Jesus feeds 5,000 with 5 loaves and 2 fish, showing His care for us in meeting our daily physical needs. But then Jesus goes on to make this remarkable claim – He is the Bread of Life. And teaches that we are not to labor for food that perishes but for the food that endures to eternal life (v. 27). An astonishing picture by Jesus of equating Himself with the most fundamental part of life – food.

 

John 10:10 – "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly." The picture of Satan as a murderous thief is scary. But Jesus' promise here is what we rest upon in this verse – He came to give us life, and that we may have it more abundantly. Who doesn't want a more abundant life? And can you tell, I love the Gospel of John.

 

Luke 19:10 – "For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost." Jesus' description of His mission statement is short and sweet. He came to seek and save those who are lost from God.

 

Acts 2:1-4 – Pentecost and the Coming of the Holy Spirit. "When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. ^2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. ^3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. ^4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them." The Third Person of God came on Pentecost. And from this day on, the Holy Spirit comes to dwell in the followers of Christ.

 

Hey, I actually hit 10 verses this time (mock surprise). My hope is that these short lists inspire you to read more of God's Word this day and this upcoming week. My prayer is that God's blessing of a growing Spirit of wisdom and revelation is given to you as you are in the Bible this next week.