the Sun...

This is fascinating to me. Check out this article...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20070419/sc_space/sunsatmospheresings

(for whatever reason the link tool wouldn't work)

After I read the article, I just kept thinking even the Sun sings praises to God the Creator. Amazing...

15 It was you who opened up springs and streams;
you dried up the ever flowing rivers.

16 The day is yours, and yours also the night;
you established the sun and moon.

17 It was you who set all the boundaries of the earth;
you made both summer and winter.

Psalm 74:15-17

ode to a cell phone?

Wow...I was convicted pretty hard core by the Holy Spirit this morning. I was driving to work and I realized that one of the most exciting things I had on my mind this week was the anticipation of a new cell phone coming in the mail (a free upgrade, I might add for humility's sake). I started thinking, what is this crazy material world that we live in that I could be completlely consumed over a freakin cell phone?! It got me thinking about the Psalms and how most of the psalmists pour out their heart in devotion to God whether in misery or jubilation. How unfortunate is it that our senses and awareness of God is numbed out by our misguided lust over material objects. Not only that, but I listened to a message today by a pastor who spoke about our devotion to sports teams and how we get more excited about whether they win or lose than our experiences with God.

Not much more I can say on this one...convicted...I thank the Holy Spirit for opening my eyes to it...

May we chase after God with this same obsession and love so that all we see and encounter we may use to bring glory to His name...

Oh and for those of you who run into me and notice my new phone, feel free to rip into me...HA

Easter?

So, I got to thinking earlier this week about "Easter". What does the word "Easter" actually mean? This became more interesting to me the more I heard people use "Resurrection Day" in lieu of "Easter". Ok, I'm done with the quotes, that was annoying...So, according to Wikipedia, "the origin of the term Easter comes from the Germanic name for the month in which the Christian feast usually fell, and so, just as the American civic holiday of the Fourth of July has nothing to do with Julius Caesar for whom July was named, neither does Easter have anything to do with the pagan goddess Eostre, the namesake of the month in which Pascha fell. This potential difficulty only exists for speakers of Germanic languages, however. Most languages in the world use a cognate form of the Greek term Pascha and so are free of any pagan connotations for the name of the feast."

So, we use some term for the resurrection of Jesus that has absolutely nothing to do with Him or what He did. Nice. Fortunately in most other languages, the word used for the celebration of Jesus' resurrection is derived from the Hebrew Pesach, meaning Passover, as Jesus is the true Passover lamb. This got me thinking about how many words we use regularly having no idea what they mean or what they are deriven from. It has made me think more intentionally about the words I use.

So, next year I guess I'll be wishing people a Happy Resurrection Day or Happy Pascha...

My next research project: why do we feel the need to bless people after they sneeze...