Monthly Archives: April 2008

a neat guy spoke in chapel today… he got his PhD in microbiology last December… big deal you say, lots of PhDs in this and that in the ‘ville… this guy has cerebral palsy…

he told us that God had given us gifts and free will and that each of us should make the most of what He has given us… he said we should stop limiting ourselves and making excuses… amen.

presumption drives me crazy! does it drive you crazy? of course that which we are, often drives us crazy when we see in someone else, doesn’t it? the dictionary that is over on ceokids.org says that presumption is: “1. the act of presuming. 2. assumption of something as true. … 7. an assumption, often not fully established, that is taken for granted in some piece of reasoning.  8. unwarrantable, unbecoming, or impertinent boldness.” check out that last one: “impertinent boldness”

Matthew’s Gospel tells a story which drips of presumption, click here to read. Mrs. Zebedee, like all mothers wanted the best for her boys and sought to attain it for them. Today we call them “helicopter parents”. I’ve never met a parent who thought they were “hovering over their children doing too much for them” (get it? helicopters hover), but I do interact with a LOT of helicopter parents. I could tell you stories…  So anyway, what is our everyday presumption?

Thanklessness.

Think about it.  Jesus healed 10 lepers, how many thanked Him? [read here if you don’t know]  not enough!

Today… have we thanked him for the ability to read? for electricity? for the image of Him we have that gives us the creativity for such as blogging? for the breath we just took? for the finger movements that make keyboards sing? for family? for our church? for that meal we had earlier? how thankful are we? my guess is… not very. So what should we do? be more thankful, serve as he did, sacrificially… serving and thankfulness come out of humility… presumption comes out of pride… Oh God, help us to be thankful and not presumptuous.

so im back from NYC with the 9th grade and 30 other chaperones from my school… I had two awesome duties which gave me time for contemplation… one was at the MET where I always hang out in the Greek and Roman rooms most of the time… then I took the elevator up to a different gallery and found THIS PAINTING of seekers of deity… did you click and go??? This pic on your computer does not enable you to study the depth of this painting… but you can get a glimpse… I was struck by the people… I really sensed that they were seeking truth… I thought of Sarajevo and Istanbul where I have seen this in real life and I wrote in my journal that they would meet the real God of Grace through his Son who brings Peace. may we all find Peace through Grace

click here to learn more…

The Economist has a new blog about travelin which looks to be pretty helpful. The link is on the right, the name is Gulliver

we are getting lots of rain in the ‘ville and I am SOOO thankful… I remember ’02 when we couldn’t use water in the sinks at school and they gave us hand sanitizer… that stuff is SO GROSS, you just de-bug the dirt on your hands – yuk. I remember that the FIRST thing I’d do when I went home was wash my hands to get the gunk off… thanks be to God for this wonderful rain that is filling the ponds, lakes and water tables!