So Much Sadness

Again violence has struck innocent people in America. Two senseless shootings within a week is beyond comprehension. First the shootings in a mall in Omaha, NE and then the shootings in Colorado at a YWAM base and at a church. My heart goes out to the people directly affected by these heinous acts. May the Lord turn what was meant for evil into good. Only He can do that.

Feast of Dedication

Tonight is the beginning of Hanukkah, which is an 8-day festival also known as the "Feast of Dedication" or the "Festival of Lights." Up until a few years ago, I was very ignorant about this holiday. I had the perception that it had little meaning and was somehow a Jewish imitation of Christmas. You can imagine that I was pretty shocked to find out that Jesus (Yeshua) observed this holiday as is recorded in John 10:22-23 ("Then came the Feast of Dedication at Jerusalem. It was winter, and Jesus was in the temple area walking in Solomon's Colonnade."-NIV). Hmm...was there a reason why he was at the temple at the time of this feast? If He recognized this festival, then maybe I should find out what this holiday means.

The word Hanukkah means "dedication" or "consecration" in Hebrew. It marks the re-dedication of the Temple in Jerusalem after its desecration by Antiochus Epiphanes, and the miraculous supply of oil occurring at that time. According to what was recorded, there was only enough consecrated oil to burn in the Temple for one day, but miraculously the oil burned for eight days. This was just enough time to press, prepare, and consecrate fresh olive oil for the Temple Menorah. God supplied the oil for the dedicated temple.

This is a good time to examine ourselves and rededicate ourselves to His service. We need to receive fresh oil, so we may burn as lights in this dark world. The best part is God freely gives the oil of the Holy Spirit to those who ask. All He needs is a dedicated vessel that is ready to receive this precious oil. It truly is a miracle. It reminds me of the parable of the 10 virgins (Matthew 25), and how we need to be ready with our lamps burning brightly when the Son of Man appears.

"Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body. (1 Cor 6:19-20 NIV)."

Thanksgiving

I am guessing that most Thanksgiving dinners included a time where everyone stated something for which he/she was thankful. It is a good exercise to do. I know many people might be tempted to say, "I am thankful for everything." However, when we stop and think about it, how much are we REALLY thankful? The opposite of being thankful is grumbling and complaining (unfortunately, I am guilty of that). I may say that I am thankful for my job, but how often do I find myself complaining about it? When we recognize and appreciate the seemingly little things (like running water), I believe we will be less apt to complain about other things in our lives. I tend to complain about traffic, but the truth is that I am very fortunate to have a car to drive and that we have paved thoroughfares on which to drive. It seems like it is so easy to grumble and complain, and much more difficult to be truly thankful. Thanksgiving Day should be celebrated everyday to remind us to maintain an "attitude of gratitude."

Fun with Pumpkins

This past weekend I along with 3 other women coordinated a pumpkin cook-off at our congregation. It turned out even better than I was expecting. We had about 30 entries that covered a wide variety of things including, pumpkin pie (of course), pumpkin curry, pumpkin doughnuts, pumpkin cheesecake, pumpkin stirfry, pumpkin fruit salad, pumpkin milkshakes, pumpkin pancakes, pumpkin custard, and pumpkin alfredo, to name a few. The creativity displayed was really remarkable. Everyone who came got to sample the dishes and vote on their favorites in 4 categories. No one went away hungry.

The comment I kept hearing from attendees was, "This was really a lot of fun!" People seemed even a little surprised at how much fun the event was. I don't think it was so much about the food as it was about the excitement generated when people are able to be creative and are able to share their creativity with others. The excitement was definitely contagious. I think I have almost had my fill of pumpkin for a while, but then again...maybe I should make some pumpkin soup.

Pride

Some people say that the hardest words to say are "Will you forgive me?" I agree that those are difficult words, but I think equally difficult to express are these words, "I really need your help." This is not just in the way of "Help me carry this heavy object," but a deeper admission that we need other people around us to support us in all areas of life. The difficulty in both of the above situations is pride, and I am sure we all struggle with this to some degree. I think about the many times that I have been humbled, and what a lasting impression those times of forced humility have had on me. It is a good reminder for me to remember that we cannot be an island. Not only do we need to fully depend on the Lord "when I am weak, He is strong," but we also need to humble ourselves by letting others help us. Think of how humbled the disciples were when Jesus washed their feet.

Light: A particle or a wave?

I am sure much has been said relating light to the nature of God, but I had a new thought yesterday (I am sure others thought of this before). I was thinking about how God is both a God of mercy and a God of justice, and the Scriptures say that Jesus is the lion and the lamb. At initial glance, we think "How could He be both of these seemingly opposing characteristics?" It is something of a mystery to us, but we know it is true. Similarly, we know that light is both a wave and a particle. How can this be? The properties of light baffled physicists for a long time until Einstein came along and showed how light has both aspects. From a physics perspective, particle and wave characteristics are very different. Wave characteristics include refraction, diffraction, interference, reflection, while particle properties are evidenced in different ways through "bits" or "photons" which are sent like impulses as demonstrated in x-rays and other ways . Everything has both a particle nature and a wave nature, and depending on the frequency, one will be more dominant than the other. Each serves a different purpose, and both are necessary. When Yeshua (Jesus) said He is the Light of the world, why should we wonder how he can be both the Lion and the Lamb?

God's Word: The invisible super glue

I have been discussing creation with different groups of friends lately, and I shared the following with some of them, and they suggested I write it on my blog.

The Bible tells how God performed His creative acts by speaking it into existence. His Word caused something to be created out of nothing. I believe that even still today it is the reverberation of His voice that is holding our universe together. Atoms in a molecule are under constant vibration, which helps to hold the molecules together and determines the energy level of the molecule. Sound is created by pressure waves that cause vibration. It is my opinion that the reverberations caused by God speaking things into existence is what is still holding things together & keeping chaos in check (although the enemy is doing his best to try to break things apart).

I think of how much impact what we speak can make. Proverbs tells us that the power of life and death is in the tongue. I am reminded of how important it is to speak words of life to other people.

Options

Do you ever get overwhelmed by all of the options available to us? There are days where I think about several different jobs that I would like to try and the myriad of travel destinations. It is hard sometimes to focus on what is before me because of all of the distracting possibilities. I had a friend who said she cried in the grocery store when she came back from living several years in a primitive village--there were too many choices in the grocery aisle. Another friend of mine said she would have breakdowns going to the grocery store when she first moved to the US from Russia. It is exciting to be living in a place where there are so many possibilities & choices, but sometimes it can be downright overwhelming. Have you ever looked at all the number of different toilet paper brands available at the grocery store? Who would have thought?