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.

The 10 Greatest Bible Verses

This morning, I thought I would put together a list that I considered as the 10 Greatest Bible Verses of all-time. Now I know that all the Bible is 'God's Word" and that it is all good stuff. Yet, I love God's Word, and so I wanted to share what is my quick list of the greatest verses in the Bible. If you have any additions, I would enjoy hearing your suggestions. Or if you just want to share a favorite Bible verses, please share it. Without further ado (and you know, I have much dew in my writing), here is my favorites list:

 

Genesis 1:1        In the beginning, God created the heavens and the Earth… If you have this one down, you've won half the battle;

Exodus    3:14        ¹⁴ God said to Moses, "I am who I am… The name of God first revealed to man. An awesome moment in history;

Exodus 34:10-34    The Ten Commandments. What else is there that is written over 4,000 years ago, that we still fight over today? What else but the 10 Commandments, which were originally given by God to Moses. These verses are still so powerful, still so teachable to our children, and still cause fear in our judges. There is nothing like the Commandments to teach us right from wrong, to help us to see we can never be good enough before God, and to also help us to see that we need a Savior to rescue us from our sins. There is nothing more powerful than God's Law, except perhaps the Good News.

Jeremiah 31:31-34    "Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah…For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more." This is the promise of one day a New Covenant coming. The promise of a New Covenant fulfilled in Jesus Christ;

Matthew 1:23    Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel" (which means, God with us). The fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecy in Isaiah 7:14, saying a virgin will give birth to a son and he shall be called Immanuel which means God with us.

Matthew 6:9-13    Lord teach us to pray. The Lord's Prayer is seminal in so many ways. Never before in Judeo-Christian tradition, had God been described as a 'Father'. Let alone as a loving, kind, caring Father (Abba Father is used in this prayer). This prayer also tells us to pray for our daily needs. The prayer describes that God's Kingdom is present, yet still coming. And finally, that there is an evil enemy from whom we need deliverance. The Lord's Prayer is the best way to start a conversation with God.

Matthew 7:12    Do unto others as you would have them do to you. The Golden Rule is influential as a standard of conduct for many generations, even through today.

John 3:16    The Gospel shrunk down to one verse – Jesus died as God's sacrifice for the world's sins. But this sacrifice must be received in order to obtain the gracious gift of eternal life. And those who do not accept this sacrifice will perish. So clear, concise yet powerful.

John 14:6    I've talked a lot about this verse. Jesus is the only way to heaven. Enough said. Period.

Romans 3:23-24 (and 5:1, 6:23, 8:1)    all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, ^24 and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. Yes, all of Romans could be added to this List. But the Romans verses listed here make the Gospel message of our sinfulness, and our only hope we have is to be justified through faith in Jesus and His sacrifice on the Cross in our place.

Ephesians 2:8-9    For it is by grace that you have been saved through faith… The Protestant Reformation's trumpet call – we are saved by God's Grace and not by being a nice person or doing good things.

1 John 1:9    If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and purify us from all our unrighteousness. This is a foundational verse, which teaches us that even though Jesus died for our sins, we still need to confess our sins to be forgiven. And what a great verse to show our wonderful Maker is both faithful and just.

Revelation 20:11-15    Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it… Revelation is so important because we see such a clear picture of Jesus. Right from the start in Revelation, we see Jesus saying He is the Alpha and the Omega (1:8). That His hair is white as wool, His eyes are like a flame of fire (1:14). And of course, in Revelation 20:11-15 we see He is going to return one day to judge the dead. There

 

OK, for those counting, I've already reached 13 verses. But I hope you are feeling the excitement that I have for God's Word. I hope that I Have also glorified the Lord through His Word. My prayer is that you are likewise blessed through God's Word, that you have other verses that have blessed you, and that you would also like to share with others.

Lenski’s E. Coli Experiments

Bacteria Makes "Major" Evolutionary Shift in Dr. Lenski's Lab, is the headline of a recent New Scientist article. An interesting paper has just appeared in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, It is the "inaugural article" of Richard Lenski, who was recently elected to the National Academy. Lenski, is well known for conducting the longest, most detailed "lab evolution" experiment, growing the E. coli bacteria continuously for about twenty years in his Michigan State lab. For the fast-growing bug, that's over 40,000 generations! E. coli you may recall is the bacteria that are often cited as the cause for food poisoning in humans. Here is an article in New Scientist that discusses the Lenski experiments: http://www.newscientist.com/channel/life/dn14094-bacteria-make-major-evolutionary-shift-in-the-lab.html;

 

So does this mean the end for Intelligent Design? If a major evolutionary change can take place described as "the first time evolution has been caught in the act of making such a rare and complex new trait", doesn't this doom any claims that Darwinism is wrong? Well, I don't think this is much of a story for a number of reasons. But let me first describe what the Lenski experiments show, and then I will later explain why this is exactly what was described in Prof. Michael Behe's (pro-ID) 'Edge of Evolution' book.

 

The Lenski experiment is fascinating. He examined trillions of E. coli bacteria cells, over 20 years time, resulting in over 44,000 generations. What he did was set up 12 different groups all descended from the Adam E. coli parent. All of the groups developed along similar lines in the ideal lab: they all evolved larger cells; and all developed faster growth rates on the glucose that they were fed. But one of the 12 test groups developed a unique trait – the ability to metabolize citrate, which was a second nutrient (besides the glucose) in all of the cultures. And when the "evolved" E. coli developed the ability to metabolize citrate, it was a beneficial new trait that allowed this group an advantage over the other 11 groups because of its growth in population size.

 

So was this really a "major" evolutionary shift? Was it the development of a new leg, or a proto-eye? What was the "complex new trait" that the E. coli bacteria developed after 40,000 generations? Yes, this "profound change" meant that it could "metabolize" citrate. The article makes it sound like it is a big deal. But consider that E. coli is normally capable of utilizing citrate as an energy source under anaerobic (without oxygen) conditions, with a whole suite of genes involved in its fermentation. In addition, the Krebs cycle (or citric acid cycle, where chemical reactions create energy for the cell to use) for E. coli already generates and utilizes citrate in its normal metabolism of glucose and other carbohydrates. Now is this really a big deal? It doesn't seem like it's a major new step – instead, it appears to be just the re-tooling of machinery inside the E. coli that is already there. Here is the way Prof. Behe describes it: "the wild bacterium lacks an enzyme called a "citrate permease" which can transport citrate from outside the cell through the cell's membrane into its interior. So all the bacterium needed to do to use citrate was to find a way to get it into the cell. The rest of the machinery for its metabolism was already there."

 

So there you have it – The E. coli's major evolutionary shift is to allow citrate to be transported inside the cell membrane so that it can be used. All of the machinery to use citrate was already inside the cell. Yawn, excuse me while I go to sleep…

 

The real question is why are the Darwinists making such a big deal about this? It's obviously because Prof. Behe's pro-ID book "Edge of Evolution' has drawn blood on the dying, critically wounded Theory of Evolution. Louisiana just this past week passed a bill to teach Darwinism critically (like Texas before it), and this seems like it is a growing trend. And the Darwinists will use anything to try and show that observed major evolutionary changes really do take place. That's all well and good, but we still haven't seen any major changes, and the Lenski E. coli experiments certainly are not Darwinism's savior.

 

Instead, this looks like it is exactly along the lines of what is described in Prof. Behe's 'Edge of Evolution' book, where he describes malaria's resistance to drugs used against it, as well as HIV's evolving resistance. In fact, chapter 7 of EoE Prof. Behe actually describes and uses the Lenski experiments in support of his position. He placed the Edge of Evolution at three successive mutations. And the way it is described in the New Scientist article, this appears to be exactly what took place in the Lenski E. coli experiment – one change took place in one of the 12 groups after 20,000 generations. And the new trait was discovered after 30,000 generations. Although there are no details learned of what genetic changes took place, it sounds like these are successive, single point mutations building upon each other, perhaps up to three mutations working together. Professor Behe's full Response is posted in his Amazon blog, which can be found at: http://www.amazon.com/gp/blog/post/PLNK3U696N278Z93O; Thus, it seems just like the other genetic studies reviewed in Prof. Behe's book – no new major evolutionary changes. Instead, just minor mutations that eventually provide a small benefit.

 

So, those of you who distrust the Darwinist fairy tale description of how life developed on Earth, commonly known as Evolution, you have nothing to fear from what is contained in the Lenski E. coli experiments. And it looks much more supportive of Intelligent Design than it does of Darwinism. Here are a few of the reasons why I say this:

 

• Trillions of cells evolving over 30,000 generations? Look at the math! For humans to evolve anything during this same period (30,000 generations), would be the equivalent of 600,000 years (30,000 generations averaged over 20 years time, a rough estimate of an adult generation). And the ability to metabolize citrate is all that was developed? Darwinism is not at all an effective explanation for how life developed on Earth. Too little change and not enough time. As one blogger writes – "Presumably, the same mechanism that gave E. Coli citrate capability turned a primitive simian ancestor into Beethoven, with orders of magnitude fewer probabilistic resources." This problem of Darwinism sounds very persuasive to me;
  
• It looks like mutations that hurt the cell are much more numerous than any possible benefits. Prof. Behe claims that all of the E. coli mutations in the Lenski study are "degradative" (see Behe link, above), making the cells less active. This makes for the exponentially more difficult problem of Darwinism to make for a beneficial mutation;
  
• The straightforward ID prediction is that any experimentally demonstrated change in the genome of E. coli will be limited to two, or at the most 3 separate steps, unless the steps can be demonstrated to be sequentially more fit. That's a scientific prediction, if you will, which would seem to make ID a scientific theory. Where are the Darwinists to show that this prediction is wrong?
  

 

Keep the faith! Happy birthday to my child no. 3, and to me, Jeanne, and Boy George. Enjoy Father's Day tomorrow, all you fathers out there.