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Showing posts from December, 2009

Perfect Paradoxes

Isn’t it remarkable that… …the Light of the world was identified by a star he named and numbered (Ps. 147:4)? …the Creator of woman came to be born of a virgin (Is. 7:14)? …the shoulders that would bear the government (Is. 9:6) would also bear the beam of a rugged cross? …the Mighty God and Everlasting Father (Is. 9:6) came to earth as a naked, needy infant? ...the Rod and Branch of Jesse (Is. 11:1) became the one crucified on a tree? …the Man of Sorrows who was acquainted with grief (Is. 53:3) brought joy to the world (John 15:11)? …the carpenter (Mark 6:3) would be nailed to a piece of wood? …the Word (John 1:1. 14) came to earth as an infant who could not yet speak? …the Lamb of God (John 1:29) arrived in a stable, slept in a manger where sheep may have eaten, and was worshiped by humble shepherds? ...the Rabbi and Teacher who knew all things (John 1:38), allowed Himself to become an infant needing care and training? …the King of Israel and King of Kings (John 1:...

Advantages of Music (listening or playing)

14,200,000 results. 14,200,000! That’s how many results my computer pulled up when I searched for an answer to the question, “What are the advantages of listening to music?” Needless to say, I didn’t research all of them. Honestly, I got to page three and gave up. Some sites were totally irrelevant to my goal. Others were promoting styles of music with which we disagree (no, I don’t believe there can be Christian rap that is more effective than any other style of music in elevating my heart to worship God). And some sites were beyond my four-year-degree comprehension. But most of the relevant results upheld the theories many of us already have regarding music listening. Let me enumerate just a handful of those theories: 1) Listening to music with a definite beat can sharpen concentration because the brainwave patterns are affected. Any change in the activity level of the brainwaves caused by music also enables the brain to shift speeds more readily. 2) Because of these alternat...

“Gems from Our Kids”

The Christmas shopping season is approaching. I know that because the stores already have displays in place heralding the coming holiday…or encouraging shoppers to buy, Buy, BUY! And I know it’s coming because we’ve been getting our Christmas mail order catalogs by the fistful each week. My little ones (and even a few of the big ones) will sit on the couch and dream together through the latest Danish plastic building block magazine or Vision Forum catalog. Repeatedly we hear, “I want this, and this, and that…oh, and one of those!” We probably couldn’t afford their wish lists even if we didn’t have to pay taxes. In any event, it was one of those wish-list moments that gave us another gem of a memory from my three-year-old son, Jedidiah. He was showing Daddy all the swords, the crossbow, and the grappling hook in the Vision Forum catalog and informed his father that he wanted one of each of them. Kris replied, “Let’s say you could only have one thing from this catalog, what would it be?”...