What a God we have! And how fortunate we are to have him, this Father of our Master Jesus! Because Jesus was raised from the dead, we've been given a brand-new life and have everything to live for, including a future in heaven—and the future starts now! God is keeping careful watch over us and the future. The Day is coming when you'll have it all—life healed and whole.
(From 1 Peter 1 - The Message)
"You can have all kind of 'deep' discussions about God and the past and the future, but I think that it is amazing that we are able to think and discuss these things at all! Isn't it funny that we exist? Many people seem to take this for granted, but I am still amazed and excited about the fact that I am able to breath, walk, enjoy, think, sleep, dream, write, love and live!" (me @ Cori's blog)
Cori had some interesting questions for me about my country, my faith and about myself. She kindly permitted me to fill half her blog with my lengthy answers (sorry, Cori...) so that I have some space left here for this picture of me enjoying my existence. If you want to read this Q&A - have a look here. And please, do leave a comment!
Dutch soul singer Alain Clark and his dad Dane singing "Father and Friend". Turn your speakers on, watch, listen and enjoy!
Go over to John's blog if you want to see something that's really worth checking out. I am talking about his blog, but also about the old lady that ministered to a guy who tried to rob her of her cash... Go and watch the video! (And feel free to come back here - anytime).
Since they didn't bother to acknowledge God, God quit bothering them and let them run loose. And then all hell broke loose: rampant evil, grabbing and grasping, vicious backstabbing. They made life hell on earth with their envy, wanton killing, bickering, and cheating. Look at them: mean-spirited, venomous, fork-tongued God-bashers. Bullies, swaggerers, insufferable windbags! They keep inventing new ways of wrecking lives. They ditch their parents when they get in the way. Stupid, slimy, cruel, cold-blooded. And it's not as if they don't know better. They know perfectly well they're spitting in God's face. And they don't care—worse, they hand out prizes to those who do the worst things best! Source
Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses. (1 Timothy 6:12 )
Dear player,
During the last competition I paid close attention to your activities on and off the playing field. As you know, I’m not the shouting and screaming kind of coach, but at the end of this season I want to give you my honest opinion about your participation in the games.
I just called you 'dear player', but that doesn't mean that I am happy with your performance. All other team members will also receive a personal letter from me, but these letters will be very different in tone.
I noticed that you always left the field without any injuries and with a clean football jersey. That came as no surprise, considering the fact that you barely participated in the game. You were happy just being out there on the pitch, but most of the time you were standing in an offside position or yelling at your fellow team members. But still, every time you left the field you had a confident smile on your face. Sometimes this happened after a victory, but - to my amazement - I noticed the same grin after undecided matches or losses. I don't understand or appreciate your attitude, since your self-absorption was totally misplaced. How many times did you step aside when a fierce battle was needed? How often did I have to call you from the field because you didn't play your part in the match? What have you done with all your talents? Why did you settle for a passive role in the field, and why weren’t you bothered when I substituted you during the game? Why did you ignore my directions? Why did you only play when it was for your own glory? Our team has successfully completed this competition, not because of you, but in spite of you. I am very unhappy with your performance.
The Coach
Dear player,
I have to tell you that you did a good job on the field last season. Of course I’m not the jumping and cheering kind of coach, but now that this season is finally over, I want to give you my opinion about you and your role on our team. I called you ‘dear player’ at the beginning of this letter; please take this very literally. Maybe you will be surprised by these words, but you really deserve my appreciation.
I noticed that you ended every game with bruises and a torn and muddy football jersey. Sometimes you had to miss a match due to injuries, but at the training sessions I noticed that you always want to give 100% to your task. Of course, you did make some faults every now and then, and I even remember you scoring a few own goals, but these mistakes are generously forgiven. Your faults are nothing compared to the attacks from our opponents that you helped to stop, the goals you scored and the useful assists for which you are so well known. Sometimes you came off the field with a face full of pain. But I also saw how you tried to ignore the hurt and how you smiled triumphantly each time we won a difficult game. If you only knew how much pleasure you brought me with these little smiles! And – it may sound a bit odd – I was also proud to watch you leave the pitch after an undecided match or, even, a lost game. I knew what you were thinking. It’s not about just one game; it’s about the whole competition. How often you fought courageously – even against bigger and stronger opponents! How often did I have to substitute or bench you to protect you from your own ambitions? Maybe you didn’t understand all my decisions, but I just wanted to be careful with a player of such quality and skill. Thanks to your willingness to accept leadership and to encourage your fellow team members, our common goal has been achieved. Thank you for your commitment - I am very proud of you!
The Coach
Dear Father,
It is nog because of our efforts, but only because of your son Jesus that the final victory is won. Still, you call us to fight the good fight of the faith and we want to do just that. Please help us to be disciplined and courageous members on your team. When this game is over, we want you to be very proud of us. In Jesus' name, amen!
(Thanks to Carol for editing this text!)
"Perhaps a simple illustration will help convince us that science is limited. Let us imagine that my Aunt Matilda had baked a beautiful cake and we take it along to be analyzed by a group of the world's top scientists. I, as master of ceremonies, ask them for an explanation of the cake and they go to work. The nutrition scientists will tell us about the number of calories in the cake an its nutritional effect; the biochemists will inform us about the structure of the proteins, fats etc. in the cake; the chemists, about the elements involved and their bonding; the physicists will be able to analyze the cake in terms of fundamental particles; and the mathematicians will no doubt offer us a set of elegant equations to describe the behaviour of those particles.
Now that these experts, each in terms of his or her scientific discipline have given us an exhaustive description of the cake, can we say that the cake is completely explained? We have certainly been given a description of how the cake was made and how its various constituent elements relate to each other, but suppose I now ask the assembled group of experts a final question: Why was the cake made? The grin on Aunt Matilda's face shows she knows the answer, for she made the cake, and she made it for a purpose. But all the nutrition scientists, biochemists, chemists, physicists and mathematicians in the world will not be able to answer the question - and it is no insult to their disciplines to state their incapacity to answer it. Their disciplines, which can cope with questions about the nature and structure of the cake, that is, anwering the 'how' questions, cannot answer the 'why' questions connected with the purpose for which the cake was made. In fact, the only way we shall ever get an answer is if Aunt Matilda reveals it to us. But if she does not disclose the answer to us, the plain fact is that no amount of scientific analysis will enlighten us." (From John Lennox, God's Undertaker - Has science burried God? - p. 40,41)
If you have 1 hour and 40 minutes to spare, use this time to watch this debate between Professor Richard Dawkins (best known for his book The God Delusion) and Dr. John C. Lennox (author of the before mentioned book, Reader in Mathematics at the University of Oxford and Fellow in Mathematics Philosophy of Science at Green College.)
John Lennox's book God's Undertaker is not an easy read, but I can highly recommend it to you if you are interested in science and religion.
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