May 2008
Monthly Archive
Mon 26 May 2008
Moses said to [Yahweh], “O [Adonay], I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.” [Yahweh] said to him, “Who gave man his mouth? Who makes him deaf or mute? Who gives him sight or makes him blind? Is it not I, [Yahweh]? Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.” But Moses said, “O [Adonay], please send someone else to do it.”
Exodus 4:10-13 - New International Version (NIV)
As I am proceeding in my study of the names of God, I was struck by the first usage of the name Adonay. Moses addressed God as his Lord & Master (Adonay) and in the same breath he told God how inadequate he was for the task. How could he call Him Lord and yet say no? It’s no wonder that the Lord’s anger was “kindled against Moses.”
Moses was going though a process that Henry Blackaby calls a “crisis of belief.” That defining moment where Moses understood that God was speaking, what he was saying and what was required of him. Moses would have to adjust his life in a major way if he were to truly make God his Lord & Master. The story ends with Moses going forth and allowing God to show His power through Moses.
May I find my Adonay in that crisis of belief.
Wed 21 May 2008
If one were to say “I am serving God,” he would mean that he is doing what God would have for him to do. When we ask God what He wants us to do, we sincerely want to hear Him. But what do we do when we feel confirmed in our heart of hearts that he has revealed His will to us?
If you have any of the same tendencies I do, your first reaction is to hop up and get to it. (Well, maybe after a little foot dragging, I get up and get to it.) But is that what He really wants from us?
If anyone serves Me, he must continue to follow Me [to cleave steadfastly to Me, conform wholly to My example in living and, if need be, in dying] and wherever I am, there will My servant be also. If anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him.
John 12:26 - Amplified Version (AMP)
Do notice that when we are serving God we are were He is? He is the leader not us. He doesn’t ask us to do something and expect us to head off on our own to accomplish the task. Where He is there we are. He is the one performing the task. If we are obedient, he is the one directing our each and every step. It’s His task not ours. Oh, how we so often want to take ownership of what He has asked us to do.
Mon 19 May 2008
A WOW moment hit me this morning during my devotion time. It doesn’t matter what I do, what I plan, who I rely upon, where I go, how carefully thought out it is, how smart it seems - there is only one way and it not any of the above, it’s in a person.
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
John 14:6a - English Standard Version (ESV)
There is indeed no other way. Not just to heaven but for my day to day actions this and every day, moment by moment.
Sun 18 May 2008
And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
Hebrews 11:6 - New International Version (NIV)
What does earnestly seeking Him look like? Is it something that we can quantify? Does it look like what the pious guy next door is doing? What is earnestly seeking Him?
Earnest has that idea of passion or zeal. Do I seek God with intense desire?
Sun 11 May 2008
I have completed leg one of four legs in my trek to Mayaguez, Puerto Rico. The total time for my journey will be about 14 hours.
To see a peek at where I’m headed click here.
If you look at the map on the web page you will see that Mayaguez is at one end of Puerto Rico. I will arrive at the San Juan airport at the other end of the island and take a hop to Mayaguez. This should give me a great view of the island - my first taste of the Caribbean.
Fri 9 May 2008
Making Hash Browns
Over the years I have come up with ideas for several viable inventions. A few were later patented and marketed by others, most died the way of “too much work to develop the idea.”
I recieved an email with a super thought provoking, futuristic invention. I could not confirm the validity of the images I saw, but if it is true it opens the door for an exciting future.
What does all this have to do with this blog? Don’t know. Just thoughts pinging in my head.
Tue 6 May 2008
And Abraham gave that place the name Yahweh-yireh: as it is said to this day, In the mountain the Lord is seen.
Genesis 22:14 - Basic Bible in English (BBE)
Yahweh-yireh can be translated as the “Lord Provider.” It has the meaning of seeing a need and providing for that need. But more than that it means to see the need beforehand. He is the Lord who sees our need beforehand and thus provides for every situation. He doesn’t react to situations; He knew before the creation of the world that a need would arise. It’s in this provisional knowledge that He can say he’s provided a way to navigate life’s difficulties.
You have been put to no test but such as is common to man: and God is true, who will not let any test come on you which you are not able to undergo; but he will make with the test a way out of it, so that you may be able to go through it.
1 Corinthians 10:13 - Basic Bible in English (BBE)
Mon 5 May 2008
Funny how things come around. I was in the submarine force during the Cold war era and my number one foe was under the sea in the Soviet Navy. Today submarine vets around the world are planning their next convention in San Diego. The last convention took place in Moscow and photos can be seen if you click here. Staunch enemies shake hands as comrades.
A quick primer on the Cold War…
The Cold War was the period of conflict, tension and competition between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies from the mid-1940s until the early 1990s. Throughout this period, the rivalry between the two superpowers unfolded in multiple arenas: military coalitions; ideology, psychology, and espionage; sports; military, industrial, and technological developments, including the space race; costly defence spending; a massive conventional and nuclear arms race; and many proxy wars.
There was never a direct military engagement between the US and the Soviet Union, but there was half a century of military buildup as well as political battles for support around the world, including significant involvement of allied and satellite nations in proxy wars. Although the US and the Soviet Union had been allied against Nazi Germany, the two sides differed on how to reconstruct the postwar world even before the end of World War II.
This last week I received official recognition for being a 12 year participant in this war. As different as the “War on Terror” is from a conventional war against a nation, the Cold War was different in that it was fought in a non-traditional manner against a traditional enemy.
Mon 5 May 2008
A big task can be broken down into a lot of small tasks, some of which can be conducted concurrently, others that require serial execution.
In order to consider how to tackle a huge task and properly break it into subtasks that are executed in the correct order one must have a mental grasp of the big picture. But what if that’s the problem? What if I can’t quite see the view from 30,000 feet? I find that when this happens I have to go back re-do work. This can be very time consuming.
I have such a project at work, sandwiched between other tasks that come up. A deadline can be quite stressful if I am using my time inefficiently.
Thu 1 May 2008
366 days ago I heralded in the first anniversary of this blog. It is now time to mark another notch in the tree.
The year saw a total of 173 new posts, 6 comments, approx. 2,115 visitors and attempts to spam a whopping 8,096 times.
My reading slowed down a bit with 8 new titles read and 8 currently being read.
I had some troubles with my visitor counter a few months back, so I can only approximate that number, but RSS feed subscribers seems to be increasing. Thank you for your support!
Time to develop topics seemed to be a problem in the last year. My hope is that I can work through these difficulties in the coming year and improve the quality of putting what’s in my head into an articulate article.
Happy Birthday to me!
