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| By FaithBasic of Life is that everyone has to accept something on faith. This is necessary since there is nothing that is able to be proven totally.
Science is based on observation and inference. A process referred to as the scientific method:
# 1. Observe some aspect of the universe.
# 2. Invent a tentative description, called a hypothesis, that is consistent with what you have observed.
# 3. Use the hypothesis to make predictions.
# 4. Test those predictions by experiments or further observations and modify the hypothesis in the light of your results.
# 5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 until there are no discrepancies between theory and experiment and/or observation.
This method allows us to expand the limits of our understanding by demonstrating the consistency of nature. Notice that this is a forward looking process since we are unable to test the past. Any statements made about the past that were not eye witnessed and recorded are simple extrapolations form from current data and not proven. That is why presented explanations for orgins are theories and not laws.
Questions whose answers must be decided on faith:
# 1. Is there a God?
# 2. If there is a God, what type is He?
# 3. Is there a written document by God for us?
Obviously, if you accept by faith that there is no God, then the rest of the question don’t require answering.
Here is the way I answer these questions:
# 1. Yes, there is a God. This world and universe are too complex not to have been designed.
# 2. God is personal and caring.
# 3. For me the Bible is the Word of God.
These answers are a big surprise coming from a pastor, right. Accepting the Bible as the Word of God by faith provides the base from which I am able to develop understanding about God and build a relationship with Him.
What have you accepted by faith?
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| PrioritiesThis blog has run for some time now. Many have read the thoughts shared. Most of the entries have targeted the concept I chose for a title. Life is complicated with all kinds of details and we are so easily swept up in the details that we lose sight of the basics. There seems to be one basic of life that keeps coming up: PRIORITIES.
It is often a compliment to be considered a "detail oriented person" implying that the person covers all the bases. I have seem when a person gets wrapped up in the details and the avalanche of demands that caring for all the details creates, that the basics get lost. I observed first hand in our educational system, during a time when the rallying cry is "no child left behind," that an entire class of fifth grade student didn't know the parts of speech or how words functioned were required to move on with the curriculum with 80% unable to write or recognize complete sentences. Also observed junior high students left unchallenged, simply because some in their class were uninterested in learning. Education has in many cases lost sight of basics like: reading, writing, mathematics, and history. As a pastor, I have observed that a large portion of our congregations are not able to read aloud. Some basics of life have been missed.
Learning to set priorities and limits has many benefits for a person's life. Ever feel so busy that you wonder if sleeping is wasting time? My reading reveals that most of the "successful" people interviewed say, "I should have spent more time with my family" not more time working. Most people spend more time in front of the television a week than they do in restful sleep. As usual, I am speaking about myself as well. I get spread thin and stressed. I also say "I wish I had spent more real time with my family." Priorities and limits allow us to make decisions and say “no” to people and projects. You might not like to think this way, but when company inventories grow production cutbacks are needed to bring things back into line. These are hard decisions to make, but need to be made. When our lives become cluttered with excess inventory, we also need to make hard decisions to cutback.
Basic of Life is that if we don’t set priorities, we will be consumed by life. Priorities provide us the ability to choose the life we live.
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| Just ThinkingSomething new occurred for me. For the first time since I started to pastor, I have not been able to preach for three weeks. God provided able substitutes for me and everyone understood why I was unable to preach. May 7 in my battle with cancer, my surgeon removed just over half of my liver. The first two weeks, I was either in the hospital or housebound, but the third week I was able to attend the service. This was a treat for me because my older brother was filling in for me and I was privileged to hear him preach.
As you might guess, I am not very good at sitting through a sermon, especially in my church. This was a treat for me as he reinforced the teachings that I have been stressing for the past three months. God often chooses to align the lessons to open the eyes and ears of His people to His priorities.
Everyone sets priorities. Are you listening to God to make His priorities yours? Are you intentional about your priorities? What do your priorities say about your values?
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| DecisionsWe often think that the big decisions are what change the course of our life. You know the ones that we have to think about. What car to buy, what career, where to live, etc. But, I believe the daily decisions we make move the course of our lives more. With whom we spend time, exercise we do or don't, what we eat, read, listen. These decisions most reflect the values of our lives.
I believe that our theology (what we believe about God) informs our philosophy (what we believes about how life works) which in turn drives our motivations (what moves us to act) and thus our decisions. So our daily decisions reflect back on what we believe about God. If we are making decisions that violate the teachings of Scripture, we are saying that God isn't concerned about our behavior.
I hear on a regular basis that "as you leave the church you are entering the mission field," my mother's church has a plaque above the door indicating this. Recently as I consider the lives of the church people I have known in my life, I am beginning to think that even the pews are a mission field. There is a story of a church that hired a pastor, after hearing him preach a great sermon. He then preached the same sermon each week for the next month. At the board meeting the chairman ask the pastor why he keeps preaching the same sermon. The pastor responded, "As soon as you behave according to the principles in this sermon, I can move to the next step." Are you listening, if your behavior isn't affected by the message?
The Basic of Life here is that we are constantly speaking to what we believe by our actions. My mom would say, "Actions speak louder than words." It is my prayer that we would truly live according to what we say we believe.
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| ContradictionsIf you are looking for some fundamental life lesson, stop now. This post is simply a ramble about my current situation.
When the company closed the plant I worked at my employment was transferred to Chester, SC. Today, my work was cut short and my coworkers and I were sent home early due to snow making the roads hazardous with more on the way. Just because my employment is through SC doesn't mean my location is there. I am still here in northeast OH watching snow pile up - melt away - pile up - melt away - pile up ----- you hopefully get the idea.
I have been thrilled to finally be driving to work in the daylight. Just in time for the earlier than usual clock change. Driving in the dark for awhile once again.
I enjoy writing in this blog, but until work is cut short I haven't had the time.
God bless.
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