Self-assembly

John Patrick, MD and thinker from Canada:   He was lecturing/debating at a secular university and wrote on the board: “This message assembled itself." He asked the audience (made up largely of professors) if they believed the sentence. They said no. Then he crossed out “message” and replaced it with “DNA” since DNA is essentially the message/code for protein and life. The debate was over. 

He recommends the book "Professors Who Believe-the Spiritual Journeys of Christian Faculty" (IVP) by Paul Anderson.

Tackett Talk

Del Tackett, primary mover behind the "Truth Project" at Focus:  "We are approaching the “perfect storm" noted by multiple social/cultural trends converging, threatening to sweep Christianity away. “Truth” is THE focus of the battle. John 18:37. 1 John 4:6 The issues/trends: aggressive naturalism/atheism, spiritual naturalism, gender confusion, hedonism, individualism, relativism, tolerance/apathy (“whateverism).

The Trouble with Truth

Starting with Del Tackett at Focus on the Family discussing the fact that "truth" is the crucial issue today and continuing with an NPR piece about the fact that it is very hard for any one person to really know much about many things, I've been pondering the fact that knowledge of the "truth" is hard to come by.

Take global warming for example. It would take quite a bit of time for me to really research whether this (global warming) is a true concept or not, even though I have a bit of scientific background. So, I (and most others) are left with choosing to believe what others are saying. We trust the people we think have similar values or interests to ours. Using this methodology, we choose to adopt certain beliefs.

If I were to really investigate, say, evolution vs. creation, it would take me literally several years to look at all the evidence. I'd need (even greater) background in basic biology, genetics, natural selection, looking at the historical record, fossils, archeology, etc. Even then there would be a time when I'd have to say, "OK. I've looked at (for example) 3-5 years of data. What percentage is that of the whole? Have I looked at 5% of the whole amount of data there is? Have I looked at 50%? 99%?" When have I looked at enough of the data to make an informed decision?

I say all this to indicate not a hopelessness nor despair in coming to a knowledge of the truth. Rather, I say this to indicate that we all need to remain quite humble and to choose the people/books/documents, etc. very carefully that we listen to. Ultimately, I choose to look at God's amazing Word, the Bible, to inform me. After all, He came up with the whole thing in the first place. He is the One who really does know the answers!

So, in conclusion, it seems to me that it's not so much what you know. It's Who you know.

Golden Festival Day

That yearly tradition, the Golden Belt Vocal Festival (our tenth in Salina) has once again come and gone. Frankly, the one yesterday was among the best -- in being God-focused, excellent instruction, attentive students, good music and a good, solid concert. The special event this year - Glenn introduced "the love of my life" Dr. Sheila Schmitt. She is a wonderful lady, associate professor of music at Tabor College. She is Distinguished Faculty of the 2007-08 school year. We're thrilled for both of the them! The wedding is July 19. 

Critical time

Henry Blackabee ("Experiencing God") gave devotions every morning  at Focus's Physicians Conference. He reports the following interaction (speaking to Fortune 500 executive about personal devotional time): One executive said, “But you don't understand, Dr. Blackabee, I’m so busy, I don’t have time to have a devotional time.” Blackabee said, “If you don't think you have time, then you don’t know Whom you are meeting with.” 

Another quote: “There is no substitute for the spiritual leadership of the father in the home. As my spiritual life goes, so goes the family.” 

Finally, "God has a word from His heart, through my heart to other’s hearts.” Help others see where God is at work in their lives. 

That's my prayer today.  

Thursday's Snowstorm

After extracting ourselves from responsibilities at home and work, Karla and I left for Colorado Springs on April 10. What a beautiful day the Lord gave us -- here in Kansas! We got to Colby, ate a quick lunch and visited with some folks there. They said, "Yep, the storm has made it to Goodland." What storm? I had checked the weather but didn't see anything about a storm. Sure enough, when we approached Goodland it started to mist, then rain, then sleet and ... eventually snow. I-70 remained open and we actually did fine until we were about 15 miles from Limon, CO. Then it really got bad -- high winds, blowing snow, near "white out" conditions. Then it let us a bit as we approached Limon. I about froze putting gasoline in the car. The wind had really picked up. A driver who had just come from Colorado Springs said it took him 2 hours to get to Limon from Springs. I thought, hmmm, should we or shouldn't we? It looked like it was letting up a bit. 

Well, off we went, south to Colorado Springs. The weather worsened. The wind increased even more. It was truly "white out" (and white knuckle) conditions! Numerous times we slowed to a crawl of 20 mph. On one occasion we did indeed lose control, as the car in front slowed way down and I was trying to slow and stop. We weaved back and forth, back and forth and nearly went in the ditch. 

Karla called Michelle and another friend and asked for prayer. Again, miraculously, in about 10-15 minutes, it let up and we had clear sailing into Colorado Springs! 

More about the speakers and some quotes in the next post.

 

Focus on the Savior

Wow. What an amazing conference. We attended our 7th physician's conference at Focus on the Family. This, to me, was the most meaningful, worshipful conference they've done. Henry Blackabee (Experiencing God), John Patrick, Gene Rudd, Rev. Ken Hutcherson, HB London, Dr. Dobson and many other workshop speakers were fantastic mouthpieces for what the Lord wanted to teach us. The fellowship with other Christ-following doctors from across America and Canada (over 500 attended) and just getting to know really neat folks was very encouraging. I'll post a couple of pictures and later some other comments. Thank you, Lord, for a wonderful time with You!