Lessons from grass, and green

Green* is one of the most common English surnames, and it was used in Scotland, too. People were named Green because they lived near a village green, or because they wore clothes of this color.

Green is the color of emeralds, jade, and growing grass. Green is the color most commonly associated with nature and the environmental movement, Ireland, spring, hope, greed, envy, youth, inexperience, health, sickness, Islam, Saint Patrick's Day, and money. In formal churches, Green symbolizes Ordinary Time (as opposed to Lent, Advent, and other special times), and Christian growth.

The word green comes from the Middle English and Old English word grene, which, like the German word grün, has the same root as the words grass and grow. The first recorded use of the word as a color term in Old English dates to about 14 centuries ago. A word for the color green was apparently invented several times, by different language speakers. In ancient Greek, chloros was the word for yellowish, pale green.

There are over 40 places where the Bible uses the word, green. Most of them are in the sense of "green plant," or related to that use. In some translations, Esther 1:6 uses green as a fabric color. Job 8:16 and 15:32 use green to refer to a favored person. One of the most familiar uses is in Psalm 23, where David says that he has laid down in green pastures. Here’s how Jeremiah described a righteous person, in 17:7 Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord,

and whose confidence is in God.

8 For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters,

who spreads out its roots by the river,

and shall not fear when heat comes,

but its leaf shall be green;

and shall not be careful in the year of drought,

neither shall cease from yielding fruit. So, someone who trusts God is compared to a green tree – growing, alive, and fertile.

Here’s another passage:

Psalm 92:12 The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree.

He will grow like a cedar in Lebanon.

13 They are planted in the Lord’s house.

They will flourish in our God’s courts.

14 They will still produce fruit in old age.

They will be full of sap and green, Lesson 1: We can, and should, still be fruitful for God, and others, for all of our lives, including in our old age. Fruit? Probably two things: winning others to a relationship with Christ; showing the fruits of the Spirit, from Galatians 5:22-3, which are joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

As I said, and as you can see all around us at this time of year, green is the color of plants, and of growth. Did you know that we wouldn't be here without green plants? They make food for us, and for animals. Every item of food on that table out there originated as a mostly green plant, whether it’s lettuce, tomatoes, sweet tea, butter, rolls, chicken, roast beef, ham or red velvet cake. Everything with calories in it, that you can buy at Ingles, Walmart, Bilo, Publix, or wherever you shop, started out as green plant material. Calories have a bad name, because some of us take in more of them than we should, but we need calories. Without green plants, there’d be no calories available in food.

The process that uses light energy to make food is photosynthesis, which is carried out by the chlorophylls in green plants. Remember the Greek word for light green? Chloros.

What makes plants green? Chlorophyll, which is a green pigment, named for chloros. What's a pigment? A pigment is a chemical that absorbs some colors, and reflects others, or just lets them go through. Why are leaves green? Because they absorb some of the sun’s light, and reflect, or transmit, green. Blue and red light, are mostly absorbed by chlorophyll. The plants use the energy in that blue and red light to make food. Lesson 2: We need to be like pigments. We need to absorb the light that God makes available to us, through the Bible, the Holy Spirit, and through other godly people. We also need to reflect that light, so that others can profit from it.

This amazing system of capturing sunlight, and getting food from it, is one of the many things that we don’t thank God enough for.

Grass

Now, I’d like to change my subject a little, from green to grass. If I did a good job, and you were paying attention, you noticed that green and grass are closely related words, and no wonder. Grass is green, usually. A lot of what’s green is grass. There are about 60 references to grass in the Bible, beginning in Genesis 1, where grass is described as part of God’s good creation.

Based on other scripture, such as Psalm 104, God didn’t describe His creation as good just because it was and is good for humans. We’re far from discovering all of the galaxies, stars, and even planets in the universe. The ones yet discovered, and even most of those we know about, don’t seem to do us much good. But they can still be for God’s glory, even though we have never seen them. Has Pluto or Neptune ever helped you? Has a galaxy hundreds of light-years away ever helped you? Yet they are part of God’s good creation. We think that there are many types of living things that we haven’t discovered yet. If most of them disappeared today, it wouldn’t affect our lives. But they are still for God’s glory, too. What God has allowed to exist in the universe is good primarily because of God, not because it is good for humans.

What about grass?

In Matthew 6:30, Jesus said that grass exists today, but is just thrown into the oven tomorrow, apparently as cheap fuel. Lesson 3: We aren’t special, either. We attendees at this Green reunion are no better than people named Black, or Smith, or whatever.

We aren’t special even if we are rich, or well educated, or talented, or popular, we aren’t anything special:

James 1:11 For the sun arises with the scorching wind, and withers the grass, and the flower in it falls, and the beauty of its appearance perishes. So also will the rich man fade away in his pursuits.

Daniel told Nebuchadnezzar, ruler of the most powerful kingdom of his day, that he wasn’t anything special: Daniel 4:25b you shall be driven from men, and your dwelling shall be with the animals of the field, and you shall be made to eat grass as oxen, and shall be wet with the dew of the sky, and seven times shall pass over you; until you know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomever he will.

Lesson 4: even though we aren’t any more special than anyone else, God cares for us! Matthew 6:30: But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today exists, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, won’t he much more clothe you, you of little faith? The God who clothes the grass in its beautiful green can clothe, and feed, and shelter, and heal us. We should never forget that.

Lesson 5: we are here for a purpose: 1 Kings 18:5 Ahab said to Obadiah, “Go through the land, to all the springs of water, and to all the brooks. Perhaps we may find grass and save the horses and mules alive, that we not lose all the animals.”

Grass does many things. One thing it does is provide food for grazing animals, and us. (You and I can’t really digest grass very well.) Plants of this type have always been important to humans. They have been grown as food for domesticated animals, and for other uses, for about 6,000 years. The most important food crops are the grains of grasses such as wheat, rice and barley. Remember the village green that the Green name may have come from? That was a place for the animals to graze.

We have a purpose, too. It’s not to provide food for animals. It’s a higher purpose. We are to be part of a new creation, begun as Christ’s kingdom. That means that we who believe on Christ as savior are not just given an escape route from hell. We are part of a kingdom that is working worldwide, to bring men and women, boys and girls, to abundant, infectious life in Christ. How well am I carrying out God’s purpose in me? How well are you?

Lesson 6: we need to stay connected. Grass that’s not connected to water dies. Grass that’s not connect to soil can’t get enough minerals. Grass that’s not connected to light stops making food for itself. We must continue to be connected to God, to a good church, to godly people.

Lesson 7: we shouldn’t let being clipped get us down. When Ahab and Obadiah were looking for grass to feed their animals, or when David was lying down in green pastures, they weren’t expecting the animals to eat the grass down to the roots. They expected it to be grazed, or clipped, and grow back.

My wife thinks I’m too old, or too feeble, or not competent enough to mow our grass. So we hire someone to do it. But guess what? He comes every two weeks, and Faye just asked him to come more often. Why? Because grass grows back when cut or clipped. So should we. There are going to be troubles and trials. Perhaps some of you had some just getting here. It’s not God’s plan that we won’t have troubles. But it is God’s plan that we can remain cheerful and obedient and loving when they come. We got an e-mail, last week, from a man whose wife has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. Most of the letter was things he was thankful for, concerning this experience.

Most of you don’t know [Jane Green's] father. He lost his wife to a heart attack, over 25 years ago. He hasn’t been able to hear anything less than a loud yell for years. He has trouble walking. I can’t imagine what any of these problems would be like. No wife, not able to carry on a normal conversation, or listen to the TV or the radio, not able to get around. I suppose his family has seen him grumpy, or even angry or depressed. But I never have. He’s always shown a remarkably good attitude, in spite of his circumstances. He’s stood up to clipping!

Lesson 8: There’s hope, even if we aren’t anything special, even if we have been clipped. There’s God!

Isaiah 40:8 The grass withers,

the flower fades;

but the word of our God stands forever.” And, thank God, we can stand forever, too!

*This post is modified slightly from a devotional talk given to the Green family, which my wife is related to, on April 27, 2013. Thanks for reading!

Memo to self, about current events in the Obama administration

I'm old enough to remember more foul-ups by US Presidents, or their underlings, than I wish I did. Here are three that I remember.

Richard Nixon's re-election campaign committee ordered a robbery of the Democratic National Headquarters. That was bad. Most likely Nixon didn't know about this, but he soon did, and conspired to have the matter covered up. That was really bad. The Watergate scandal led to Nixon's resignation, under threat of his removal from office by Congress. The lesson? Nixon should have taken responsibility, and encouraged investigation of the crime, and punishment for the criminals, including those who ordered the break-in, those who tried to cover it up, and the actual burglars. One irony about this affair is that Nixon was never in any danger of not being re-elected -- his opponent was a weak candidate without enough support.

Democratic President Bill Clinton was sexually involved with a White House intern, Monica Lewinsky. Clinton denied it, both to the public, and in legal proceedings, and Congress considered removing him from office, not on the grounds that he had committed an adulterous act, or acts, but because he lied about it under oath. The Congressional proceedings were largely along party lines, and Clinton finished his term in office. The lesson? Clinton should have confessed, and asked for forgiveness. I can not be certain of the consequences, if he had done so, but would guess that Congress wouldn't have gone as far as it did.

The Iran-Contra scandal occurred during the tenure of Republican President Ronald Reagan. Arms were sold, or transferred, to Iran, in an attempt to persuade some Iranians to release US hostages, and some of the money was transferred to a particular political faction in Nicaragua. It is unclear as to whether Reagan knew about this, but it is clear that, at first, he denied that the US was paying for the release of hostages, and, as a Congressional investigation put it, "If the president did not know what his national security advisers were doing, he should have." The lesson? As President Harry Truman put it "The buck stops here," meaning that the President bears responsibility for whatever his appointees do. It is possible, of course, that Reagan did know about the attempt to pay for the release of hostages, and to divert funds to backing a particular faction in another country. If that happened, the lesson would have been the same as the one in the other two paragraphs, namely that Reagan should have confessed, and asked for forgiveness. If he didn't know, he should have confessed to being disengaged, or to allowing undue freedom to underlings.

The Obama administration is currently involved in at least three affairs that are, or could develop into, major scandals, namely the attack on Benghazi, leading to the death of a US Ambassador, the seizure of massive documentation from the Associated Press, without the usual attempts to obtain cooperation from the AP before the seizure, and the apparent over-reaching of the IRS, in their treatment of right-wing interest groups.

It is unclear how much the President knew about any of these things beforehand, at least to me. It does seem clear that the White House, and possibly the President, was involved in a serious attempt to distort the facts about the attack on Benghazi. I doubt that the President knew about the other matters before they were made public. If the President was involved, he should have confessed, and asked for forgiveness. He also should have made clear that he took responsibility, and really wanted to investigate, punish, and, perhaps, have restitution made, in all three affairs. The President seems to have done about all he could do in relation to the IRS matter, unless, of course, he ordered such behavior, or knew about it before it became public. On the other issues, the record doesn't seem to be so positive.

What's the moral of all this, the lesson?

It seems to me that there are three, and that I should take them seriously.

First, things like this are going to happen, no matter who becomes the next President. Human nature is the same, whether the President is Hilary Clinton, some Tea Party favorite, or someone else. I should pray for whoever is elected, that they won't do, or allow, such things, and I should expect them to happen, no matter whether I voted for the current officeholder or not.

Second, as Moses said, in Numbers 32:23 "But if you will not do so, behold, you have sinned against Yahweh; and be sure your sin will find you out." (World English Bible, public domain.) I know -- that verse is way out of context. It was directed toward two and a half tribes of Israelites, and referred to a specific matter. However, the principle applies. I can't hide most sins, or mistakes, from others, and I can't hide any sins or mistakes from God.

Third, as Lord Acton put it, "Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely." That's true of Presidents, and their appointees. It's also true of parents, teachers, pastors, bosses, newspeople, public officials of all kinds, and anyone who has power of any kind over others. But the main person I need to watch out for is me. I tend to think, as, apparently, the Committee to Re-elect President Nixon did, that whatever I do is proper, because it's me who is doing it. Satan wants me to think that. I shouldn't.

Thanks for reading. I try not to write about politics very much, because when you mix religion and politics, you get politics. Two of my most readable posts about that subject are here and here.

Concerted Prayer, Part 3

The work of the Church is not alone to seek members but it is to watch over and guard them after they have entered the Church. And if any are overtaken by sin; they must be sought out, and if they cannot be cured of their faults, then excision must take place. This is the doctrine our Lord lays down.

It is somewhat striking that the Church at Ephesus, (Rev. 2) though it had left its first love, and had sadly declined in vital godliness and in those things which make up spiritual life, yet it receives credit for this good quality: “Thou canst not bear them that are evil.” While the Church at Pergamos was admonished because it had there among its membership those who taught such hurtful doctrines that were a stumbling-block to others. And not so much that such characters were in the Church, but that they were tolerated. The impression is that the Church leaders were blind to the presence of such hurtful characters, and hence were indisposed to administer discipline. This indisposition was an unfailing sign of prayerlessness in the membership. There was no union of prayer effort looking to cleansing the Church and keeping it clean.

This disciplinary idea stands out prominently in the Apostle Paul’s writings to the Churches. The Church at Corinth had a notorious case of fornication where a man had married his step-mother, and this Church had been careless about this iniquity. Paul rather sharply reproved this Church and gave explicit command to this effect:

“Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person” Here was concert of action on the part of praying people demanded by Paul.

- From The Essentials of Prayer, by E. M. Bounds.

Although E. M. Bounds died in 1913, this book was first published in 1925, by an admirer of the author's life. Bounds was known for praying from four until seven each morning.

This post is one of a series, taken from The Essentials of Prayer, by Bounds. Found through the Christian Classics Ethereal Library, here. The Essentials of Prayer is in the public domain. The previous post in the entire series on the book is here. Thanks for reading. Read this book, and, more importantly, practice, prayer.

Sunspots 418

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to someone else:

Christianity: Christianity Today has published a graphic, with accompanying text, on "The Sex Lives of Unmarried Evangelicals." Conclusion: Evangelicals are not having sex outside of marriage as often as some people have said that they are.

Computing: (and maybe politics) It is now possible to make a handgun with a 3-D printer, according to National Public Radio and the BBC.
 
Science: National Public Radio on some of the structures of the tongues of animals, especially bats, and how those tongues are used.
NPR reports on recent research which created cloned human embryos, for the purpose of producing embryonic stem cells for therapeutic purposes. This is in the earliest stages -- no therapeutic treatments have been attempted yet. The NPR article indicates the obvious, namely that there are lots of serious ethical questions raised by this research.




Note: If anyone cares, I have published this part of my blog on Wednesdays, without fail, for years. The previous Wednesday, and surrounding days, were unusually busy. So I'm publishing on Friday.

Image source (public domain)

Concerted Prayer, Part 2

All this means that the main, the concluding and the all powerful agency in the Church is prayer, whether it be, as we have seen in Matthew 9, to thrust out labourers into God’s earthly harvest fields, or to exclude from the Church a violator of unity, law and order, who will neither listen to his brethren nor repent and confess his fault.
It means that Church discipline, now a lost art in the modern Church, must go hand in hand with prayer, and that the Church which has no disposition to separate wrong doers from the Church, and which has no excommunication spirit for incorrigible offenders against law and order, will have no communication with God. Church purity must precede the Church’s prayers. The unity of discipline in the Church precedes the unity of prayers by the Church.
Let it be noted with emphasis that a Church which is careless of discipline will be careless in praying. A Church which tolerates evil doers in its communion, will cease to pray, will cease to pray with agreement, and will cease to be a Church gathered together in prayer in Christ’s name.
This matter of Church discipline is an important one in the Scriptures. The need of watchfulness over the lives of its members belongs to the Church of God. The Church is an organization for mutual help, and it is charged with the watch care of all of its members.
Disorderly conduct cannot be passed by unnoticed. The course of procedure in such cases is clearly given in the eighteenth chapter of Matthew, which has been heretofore referred to. Furthermore, Paul, in Galatians 6:1, gives explicit directions as to those who fall into sin in the Church:
“Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual restore such a one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself lest thou also be tempted.”

- From The Essentials of Prayer, by E. M. Bounds.

Although E. M. Bounds died in 1913, this book was first published in 1925, by an admirer of the author's life. Bounds was known for praying from four until seven each morning.

This post is one of a series, taken from The Essentials of Prayer, by Bounds. Found through the Christian Classics Ethereal Library, here. The Essentials of Prayer is in the public domain. The previous post in the entire series on the book is here. Thanks for reading. Read this book, and, more importantly, practice, prayer.

Sunspots 417

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to someone else:

Christianity: The latest issue of Answers Research Journal features three responses to a previous paper, which argued that the dominion mandate of Genesis 1 no longer applies. The responders disagree. The author of the original paper responds.

Computing: PC Image editor, a free photo editor for Windows machines.

Science: Considering its importance to us, you'd think we would know more about the genetics of coffee than we do.

National Public Radio reports on an organization that is studying the biology of coffee, and why it's important.

This isn't exactly science, but I'll put it here. NPR (which had a coffee week) also reports on the influence of coffee on history.

NPR also reports on tiny, really tiny, devices that can be placed in the body, and grab little bits of tissue for assessing, say, whether there's a cancer. Really tiny devices.

A study of cliff swallows, which seems to show a change in wing shape, over about thirty years, as a response to selection imposed by automobiles.


Image source (public domain)

Concerted Prayer, Part 1

Our Lord deals with this question of the concert of prayer in the eighteenth chapter of Matthew. He deals with the benefit and energy resulting from the aggregation of prayer forces. The prayer principle and the prayer promise will be best understood in the connection in which it was made by our Lord:

“Moreover, if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses, every word may be established.
“And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church; but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen and a publican.
“Verily I say unto you, whatsoever ye shall bind on earth, shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth, shall be loosed in heaven. Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.”

This represents the Church in prayer to enforce discipline in order that its members who have been overtaken by faults, may yield readily to the disciplinary process. In addition, it is the Church called together in a concert of prayer in order to repair the waste and friction ensuing upon the cutting off of a Church offender. This last direction as to a concert of prayer is that the whole matter may be referred to Almighty God for His approval and ratification.

- From The Essentials of Prayer, by E. M. Bounds.

Although E. M. Bounds died in 1913, this book was first published in 1925, by an admirer of the author's life. Bounds was known for praying from four until seven each morning.

This post is one of a series, taken from The Essentials of Prayer, by Bounds. Found through the Christian Classics Ethereal Library, here. The Essentials of Prayer is in the public domain. The previous post in the entire series on the book is here. Thanks for reading. Read this book, and, more importantly, practice, prayer.

Sunspots 416

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to someone else:  

 

Computing: PC Image editor, a free photo editor for Windows machines.

Science: Considering its importance to some of us, you'd think we would know more about the genetics of coffee than we do. National Public Radio reports on an organization that is studying the biology of coffee, and why it's important.
This isn't exactly science, but I'll put it here. NPR (which had a coffee week) also reports on the influence of coffee on history.
NPR also reports on tiny, really tiny, devices that can be placed in the body, and grab little bits of tissue for assessing, say, whether there's a cancer. Really tiny devices.
A study of cliff swallows, which seems to show a change in wing shape, over about thirty years, as a response to selection imposed by automobile traffic.
Image source (public domain)

Prayer Born of Compassion, part 8

Jesus Christ was altogether man. While He was the Divine Son of God yet at the same time, He was the human Son of God. Christ had a pre-eminently human side, and, here, compassion reigned. He was tempted in all points as we are, yet without sin. At one time how the flesh seems to have weakened under the fearful strain upon Him, and how He must have inwardly shrunk under the pain and pull! Looking up to heaven, He prays, “Father, save me from this hour.” How the spirit nerves and holds—“but for this cause came I to this hour.” Only he can solve this mystery who has followed His Lord in straits and gloom and pain, and realised that the “spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.”

All this but fitted our Lord to be a compassionate Saviour. It is no sin to feel the pain and realise the darkness on the path into which God leads. It is only human to cry out against the pain, the terror, and desolation of that hour. It is Divine to cry out to God in that hour, even while shrinking and sinking down, “For this cause came I unto this hour.” Shall I fail through the weakness of the flesh? No. “Father, glorify thy name.” How strong it makes us, and how true, to have one pole star to guide us to the glory of God!

- From The Essentials of Prayer, by E. M. Bounds.

Although E. M. Bounds died in 1913, this book was first published in 1925, by an admirer of the author's life. Bounds was known for praying from four until seven each morning.

This post is one of a series, taken from The Essentials of Prayer, by Bounds. Found through the Christian Classics Ethereal Library, here. The Essentials of Prayer is in the public domain. The previous post in the entire series on the book is here. Thanks for reading. Read this book, and, more importantly, practice, prayer.

C. S. Lewis on the goodness of creation

C. S. Lewis, in his Reflections on the Psalms, notes that the goodness of God's creation should not be understood solely for what it does for the good of humans. He writes, about Psalm 104, one of the finest nature poems ever written:

[This Jewish poem, and the Jews that used it in worship,] embraces things that are no use to man. In the great Psalm especially devoted to Nature, from which I have just quoted . . . we have not only the useful cattle, the cheering vine, and the nourishing corn. We have springs where the wild asses quench their thirst (11), fir trees for the storks (17), hill country for the wild goats and “conies” (perhaps marmots, 18), finally even the lions (21); and even with a glance far out to sea, where no Jew willingly went, the great whales playing, enjoying themselves (26). (The parentheses are references to the verses in Psalm 104.) 

The Kindle citation is: Lewis, C. S. (1964-10-07). Reflections on the Psalms (Harvest Book) (pp. 83-84). Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Kindle Edition.

Lewis said it well. Psalm 104 describes not only living things that were of great importance to the ancient Jews, but it also praises the diversity of God's creation, specifically mentioning aspects of that creation that advanced the interests of non-human animals, including some that the Jews would rarely or never be associated with.


Lewis didn't refer to it, but I'll quote part of that Psalm: 

24 Yahweh, how many are your works!

In wisdom have you made them all.

The earth is full of your riches.

25 There is the sea, great and wide,

in which are innumerable living things,

both small and large animals. (World English Bible, public domain)

Lewis, nor the Psalmist, knew about some of the remarkable discoveries in astronomy, over the last couple of decades. Surely galaxies, stars, and planets that humans have yet to discover, even from long range, also show forth the goodness and glory of God's creation! But they aren't useful to us now, and won't be for the forseeable future. Did Eris, a dwarf planet in our own solar system, which was not even discovered until 2005, ever do anything good for you? How about the Horologium Supercluster, which is about 700 million light years away? But they, too, are part of the good creation that God brought into being.

Thanks for reading!

Were religious beliefs/was Islam responsible for the bombings in Boston?

In case you didn't realize it, some people would answer both of the questions above with a resounding "yes!" They would claim that militant intolerance, even violence, are the inevitable consequence of deeply held religious belief.

The Panda's Thumb blog, not exactly a friend of conservative Christian beliefs, at least beliefs on origins, has blasted biologist Jerry Coyne, who, in addition to being an important scientist, is a militant atheist, for his "yes!" responses, and given evidence to show that Coyne, and other people who want to make religious belief the root of all of violence, and other problems, are wrong. There are some pertinent links in the Panda's Thumb post.

Good for the Panda's Thumb!

The Panda's Thumb also posted a reaction to a believer in Intelligent Design, who claimed that "Darwinists" are incapable of showing proper compassion.

Most any tragedy can be used to reinforce our prejudices, and often gets used as such by people with a wide variety of such prejudices. Sigh. 

Sunspots 415

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to someone else:

Christianity: A most interesting description of what a church, based on the New Testament pattern, should be like. (Not much like most of the churches I am familiar with.)
J. I. Packer gave a brief, but important discussion of the question, "Won't heaven's joy be spoiled by our awareness of unsaved loved ones in hell?" in 2002. Christianity Today has re-posted it.
Ken Schenck's series on Practical Theology continues with a post on "God as Eternal." Readable and thought-provoking. 

Computing: Gizmo's freeware has found a Firefox add-in that can extract and save the audio from a YouTube video, and also has found an on-line tool that can remove unwanted beginnings and ends from MP3 files.

Science: A demonstration of how a wet washcloth behaves when you wring it out, on the space station.
Image source (public domain)

Prayer Born of Compassion, part 7

What a comfort and what hope there is to fill our breasts when we think of one in Heaven who ever liveth to intercede for us, because “His compassion fails not!” Above everything else, we have a compassionate Saviour, one “who can have compassion on the ignorant, and on them who are out of the way, for that he himself is compassed about with infirmity.” The compassion of our Lord well fits Him for being the Great High Priest of Adam’s fallen, lost and helpless race.

And if He is filled with such compassion that it moves Him at the Father’s right hand to intercede for us, then by every token we should have the same compassion on the ignorant and those out of the way, exposed to Divine wrath, as would move us to pray for them. Just in so far as we are compassionate will we be prayerful for others. Compassion does not expend its force in simply saying, “Be ye warmed; be ye clothed,” but drives us to our knees in prayer for those who need Christ and His grace.

- From The Essentials of Prayer, by E. M. Bounds.

Although E. M. Bounds died in 1913, this book was first published in 1925, by an admirer of the author's life. Bounds was known for praying from four until seven each morning.

This post is one of a series, taken from The Essentials of Prayer, by Bounds. Found through the Christian Classics Ethereal Library, here. The Essentials of Prayer is in the public domain. The previous post in the entire series on the book is here. Thanks for reading. Read this book, and, more importantly, practice, prayer.

Sunspots 414

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to someone else:

Christianity: Ken Schenck continues his readable and concise series on practical theology with thoughts on "God as All-Powerful."

(and Sports) An opinion piece in USA Today says that Jackie Robinson and Branch Rickey were both men of deep faith.

Computing: Gizmo's Freeware has an extensive, annotated, up-to-date (almost) list of the best free Android Apps, for phone and tablet.

Gizmo also has eight tips on how to make your smartphone battery last longer.

Science: (and politics) National Public Radio reports on the issues involved in a Supreme Court case, on whether two human genes, involved in breast cancer, are patentable. NPR also reported on what the Supreme Court justices, and advocates, had to say before the Court.


Image source (public domain)

Prayer Born of Compassion, part 6

The ingathering of the harvests of earth for the granaries of heaven is dependent on the prayers of God’s people. Prayer secures the labourers sufficient in quantity and in quality for all the needs of the harvest. God’s chosen labourers, God’s endowed labourers, and God’s thrust-forth labourers, are the only ones who will truly go, filled with Christly compassion and endued with Christly power, whose going will avail, and these are secured by prayer. Christ’s people on their knees with Christ’s compassion in their hearts for dying men and for needy souls, exposed to eternal peril, is the pledge of labourers in numbers and character to meet the wants of earth and the purposes of heaven.

God is sovereign of the earth and of heaven, and the choice of labourers in His harvest He delegates to no one else. Prayer honours Him as sovereign and moves Him to His wise and holy selection. We will have to put prayer to the front ere the fields of paganism will be successfully tilled for Christ. God knows His men, and He likewise knows full well His work. Prayer gets God to send forth the best men and the most fit men and the men best qualified to work in the harvest. Moving the missionary cause by forces this side of God has been its bane, its weakness and its failure. Compassion for the world of sinners, fallen in Adam, but redeemed in Christ will move the Church to pray for them and stir the Church to pray the Lord of the harvest to send forth labourers into the harvest.

- From The Essentials of Prayer, by E. M. Bounds.

Although E. M. Bounds died in 1913, this book was first published in 1925, by an admirer of the author's life. Bounds was known for praying from four until seven each morning.

This post is one of a series, taken from The Essentials of Prayer, by Bounds. Found through the Christian Classics Ethereal Library, here. The Essentials of Prayer is in the public domain. The previous post in the entire series on the book is here. Thanks for reading. Read this book, and, more importantly, practice, prayer. 

Sunspots 413

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to someone else:

Christianity: ". . . if we think we have truly understood God, even if we think so because we can quote a bunch of Bible verses, we are most likely making a fool of ourselves without knowing it. We know what God is like.  We know how God has chosen to act in this universe. Anything more requires poetry and quotation marks." Ken Schenck, "Practical Theology 3: God as Other."

Computing: I don't have an iPhone, but, for those who do, and there are a lot of you, check out Gizmo's Freeware's list of the best free iPhone Apps.

Humor: (Not really, but I don't have a category for this!) Fox News has an article, with photos, on 7 record-breaking tunnels, all used for transportation. Interesting, indeed.

Science: A solid piece of writing, at the BioLogos Forum, on the question of whether scientists are biased by their worldviews. It can happen, of course.

Image source (public domain)