Friends,
We just had the opportunity to spend two weeks with my folks and it was great. We had to take them back to DFW today; it was hard to see them go, but we look forward to meeting again in the near future, Lord willing. While they were here, we were able to enjoy a number of activities. We had a nice dinner with the Beers' Saturday evening. Also, we traveled down to Giddings to see some family friends about a week ago. Along the way, near Flat (a funny name for a place that is hilly, by the way) we saw an Embarq work truck alongside the road. He was a few hundred yards ahead of us when -- all of the sudden -- he pulled out in front of us and into oncoming traffic. Going 60-70, I didn't have alot of reaction time, but I honked the horn and swerved around him to the left, borrowing the other lane momentarily. Thankfully nothing else was coming; it was a relatively close call. As Mom, Kim and I were gathering ourselves, I asked dad how he was doing. In "dad fashion", he said, "well, for a second there I thought I was going to get to try out your passenger air bag." Ha ha! Dad always seems to have a pithy or funny statement for most things, which is disarming in a situation like we faced; instead of being stressed out, we were able to laugh. This unflappable quality is one of the things that makes him so endearing. I appreciate my dad and mom both for their love and helping me to understand what life really is all about. As I get older, I really try to better follow my dad's example of "don't sweat the small stuff -- and most of it is small stuff." A good lesson for anyone to learn.
Don
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Red Stars and Blue Moons
Friends,
It is one of those special atronomical times that come around once every few years -- the blue moon. It is true that there a only certain things that happen once in a blue moon. This is the month! What is a blue moon? It does not typically mean that the moon will actually turn blue during this event, although the moon has appeared to be blue at certain times. The blue moon occurs when there are two full moons within a one month period of time -- usually at the very beginning and the very end of said month of the blue moon (as in the 1st, and 31st).
In keeping with the patriotic theme, there are some stars in our galaxy that are red hot. Many of these are red giants at the end of their life cycle -- stars such as Antares in Scorpius and Betelgeuse in Orion. The diameters of these giants would incorporate the orbits of Mercury, Venus, Earth and in many cases, Mars. Some of them will ultimately go supernova (see "A Big Bang" blog). One would think that these would be the "hottest" stars in the sky -- they are actually the coolest. Star colors follow what we know as the color spectrum, (beautifully be seen in an intense rainbow). From the coolest to hottest, there are red, orange, yellow (our sun), white, green (presumably, although I am not aware of any in this portion of the color spectrum), blue, and indigo or purple. Blue stars tend to be significantly larger than our yellow sun and are often hundred and even thousands of light years away; because of their size and strength we are able to have a clear view of some of them -- stars such as Rigel in Orion and Spica in Virgo. Because blue stars tend to burn so hot, when they die, they go supernova in a much more powerful way than any other stars on the spectrum. When you look at certain stars through a strong enough small telescope, you can actually discern their color, which is cool -- or is it hot?
Don
It is one of those special atronomical times that come around once every few years -- the blue moon. It is true that there a only certain things that happen once in a blue moon. This is the month! What is a blue moon? It does not typically mean that the moon will actually turn blue during this event, although the moon has appeared to be blue at certain times. The blue moon occurs when there are two full moons within a one month period of time -- usually at the very beginning and the very end of said month of the blue moon (as in the 1st, and 31st).
In keeping with the patriotic theme, there are some stars in our galaxy that are red hot. Many of these are red giants at the end of their life cycle -- stars such as Antares in Scorpius and Betelgeuse in Orion. The diameters of these giants would incorporate the orbits of Mercury, Venus, Earth and in many cases, Mars. Some of them will ultimately go supernova (see "A Big Bang" blog). One would think that these would be the "hottest" stars in the sky -- they are actually the coolest. Star colors follow what we know as the color spectrum, (beautifully be seen in an intense rainbow). From the coolest to hottest, there are red, orange, yellow (our sun), white, green (presumably, although I am not aware of any in this portion of the color spectrum), blue, and indigo or purple. Blue stars tend to be significantly larger than our yellow sun and are often hundred and even thousands of light years away; because of their size and strength we are able to have a clear view of some of them -- stars such as Rigel in Orion and Spica in Virgo. Because blue stars tend to burn so hot, when they die, they go supernova in a much more powerful way than any other stars on the spectrum. When you look at certain stars through a strong enough small telescope, you can actually discern their color, which is cool -- or is it hot?
Don
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Deal...Please!
Friends,
I have an aversion to alot of the "reality tv" shows that are on -- for good reasons :-). Yet, one show that I do tend to watch, occasionally, is "Deal or No Deal". This is such a simple show -- a new "Let's Make a Deal" of sorts. What has been amazing to me is that this show is a psychologist's (not to mention a banker's) dream come true -- I will explain. The producers of this show know that they are going into it to give away mucho $. Yet, how could they have envisioned the millions of dollars that they would save based upon one simple fact -- human greed! It is equally painful and hilarious to see contestant after contestant waste huge amounts of money because they cannot distance themselves from the 1,000,000 dollar signs in their eyes. So many of these goofball contestants listen to their even more nutty, "supportive" relatives and friends (who have nothing and everything to lose) when they say to "go for the gusto, you came here with nothing" when the contestants have $200,000 to $400,000 in their hands. How many have gone home with $100 (or so)? It is a crazy example of human nature run amok. I will keep watching this show, if nothing else, to continue to see how many people succumb to greed and walk away with practically nothing ;-).
Don
P.S. -- Kim plans to get on this show at some point in the future (if she ever gets her video done), and I will be going along as THE VOICE OF REASON, ha ha :-0
I have an aversion to alot of the "reality tv" shows that are on -- for good reasons :-). Yet, one show that I do tend to watch, occasionally, is "Deal or No Deal". This is such a simple show -- a new "Let's Make a Deal" of sorts. What has been amazing to me is that this show is a psychologist's (not to mention a banker's) dream come true -- I will explain. The producers of this show know that they are going into it to give away mucho $. Yet, how could they have envisioned the millions of dollars that they would save based upon one simple fact -- human greed! It is equally painful and hilarious to see contestant after contestant waste huge amounts of money because they cannot distance themselves from the 1,000,000 dollar signs in their eyes. So many of these goofball contestants listen to their even more nutty, "supportive" relatives and friends (who have nothing and everything to lose) when they say to "go for the gusto, you came here with nothing" when the contestants have $200,000 to $400,000 in their hands. How many have gone home with $100 (or so)? It is a crazy example of human nature run amok. I will keep watching this show, if nothing else, to continue to see how many people succumb to greed and walk away with practically nothing ;-).
Don
P.S. -- Kim plans to get on this show at some point in the future (if she ever gets her video done), and I will be going along as THE VOICE OF REASON, ha ha :-0
Sunday, May 20, 2007
Breaking Bread
Friends,
Only because it has randomly come up three times in the past week or so, (the last time being this evening with a pastor friend of mine) do I feel like I need to say anything about this particular subject. It must be the providence of God, no? When the early church came together to partake of the Lord's Supper, on what days did this take place? I offer this: A Discussion of Acts 2:42-47
(Did the early Christians partake of the Lord’s Supper daily or only on Sunday?)
Acts 2:42 PP4
[And fellowship] The word rendered "fellowship," koinonia is often rendered "communion." It properly denotes "having things in common, or participation, society, friendship." It may apply to anything which may be possessed in common, or in which all may partake. Thus, all Christians have the same hope of heaven; the same joys; the same hatred of sin; the same enemies to contend with. Thus, they have the same subjects of conversation, of feeling, and of prayer; or they have communion in these things. And thus the early Christians had their property in common. The word here may apply to either or to all of these things to their conversation, their prayers, their dangers, or their property; and means that they were united to the apostles, and participated with them in whatever befell them. It may be added that the effect of a revival of religion is to unite Christians more and more, and to bring those who were before separated to union and love. Christians feel that they are a band of brethren, and that, however much they were separated before they became Christians, now they have great and important interests in common; they are united in feelings, in interests, in dangers, in conflicts, in opinions, and in the hopes of a blessed immortality.
[Breaking of bread] The Syriac renders this "the eucharist" or the Lord's Supper. It cannot, however, be determined whether this refers to their partaking of their ordinary food together, or to feasts of charity, or to the Lord's Supper. The bread of the Hebrews was made commonly into cakes, thin, hard, and brittle, so that it was broken instead of being cut. Hence, to denote "intimacy or friendship," the phrase "to break bread together" would be very expressive in the same way as the Greeks denoted it by drinking TOGETHER, [sumposion] (grk 4849). From the expression used in, compare with , that they had all things common, it would rather seem to be implied that this referred to the participation of their ordinary meals. The action of breaking bread was commonly performed by the master or head of a family immediately after asking a blessing (Lightfoot).
(from Barnes' Notes)
Acts 2:42-47 PP6
3. They frequently joined in the ordinance of the Lord's supper. They continued in the breaking of bread, in celebrating that memorial of their Master's death, as those that were not ashamed to own their relation to, and their dependence upon, Christ and him crucified. They could not forget the death of Christ, yet they kept up this memorial of it, and made it their constant practice, because it was an institution of Christ, to be transmitted to the succeeding ages of the church. They broke bread from house to house;
kat' oikon-- house by house; they did not think fit to celebrate the eucharist in the temple, for that was peculiar to the Christian institutes, and therefore they administered that ordinance in private houses, choosing such houses of the converted Christians as were convenient, to which the neighbors resorted; and they went from one to another of these little synagogues or domestic chapels, houses that had churches in them, and there celebrated the eucharist with those that usually met there to worship God.
(from Matthew Henry's Commentary)
From certain passages in the Word of God, we understand that the early Christians did, indeed, partake of the Lord’s Supper (as well as their agape feast; today -- it's potluck) as they would assemble together for the Lord’s Day – Sunday (See 1 Corinthians 11:23-34, Acts 20:7, for example). According to this passage (Acts 2:42-47), they were breaking bread together daily, which could mean agape feasts, or agape feasts and the Lord's Supper. (They were also praying, sharing belongings, etc.) There are varying opinions concerning the subject – as seen in the above discussion on the subject by Barnes and Henry (a couple of respected commentators), just as an example. Concerning whether Christians could or should partake of the Lord's Supper on any other day, I believe that the jury is out. Therefore, I would be very wary about being dogmatic either way concerning this subject. I think that we can back ourselves into a corner very quickly, theologically, by affirming positions too strongly where the evidence simply does not indicate that such a strong stance should be taken.
Don
Only because it has randomly come up three times in the past week or so, (the last time being this evening with a pastor friend of mine) do I feel like I need to say anything about this particular subject. It must be the providence of God, no? When the early church came together to partake of the Lord's Supper, on what days did this take place? I offer this: A Discussion of Acts 2:42-47
(Did the early Christians partake of the Lord’s Supper daily or only on Sunday?)
Acts 2:42 PP4
[And fellowship] The word rendered "fellowship," koinonia is often rendered "communion." It properly denotes "having things in common, or participation, society, friendship." It may apply to anything which may be possessed in common, or in which all may partake. Thus, all Christians have the same hope of heaven; the same joys; the same hatred of sin; the same enemies to contend with. Thus, they have the same subjects of conversation, of feeling, and of prayer; or they have communion in these things. And thus the early Christians had their property in common. The word here may apply to either or to all of these things to their conversation, their prayers, their dangers, or their property; and means that they were united to the apostles, and participated with them in whatever befell them. It may be added that the effect of a revival of religion is to unite Christians more and more, and to bring those who were before separated to union and love. Christians feel that they are a band of brethren, and that, however much they were separated before they became Christians, now they have great and important interests in common; they are united in feelings, in interests, in dangers, in conflicts, in opinions, and in the hopes of a blessed immortality.
[Breaking of bread] The Syriac renders this "the eucharist" or the Lord's Supper. It cannot, however, be determined whether this refers to their partaking of their ordinary food together, or to feasts of charity, or to the Lord's Supper. The bread of the Hebrews was made commonly into cakes, thin, hard, and brittle, so that it was broken instead of being cut. Hence, to denote "intimacy or friendship," the phrase "to break bread together" would be very expressive in the same way as the Greeks denoted it by drinking TOGETHER, [sumposion] (grk 4849). From the expression used in
(from Barnes' Notes)
Acts 2:42-47 PP6
3. They frequently joined in the ordinance of the Lord's supper. They continued in the breaking of bread, in celebrating that memorial of their Master's death, as those that were not ashamed to own their relation to, and their dependence upon, Christ and him crucified. They could not forget the death of Christ, yet they kept up this memorial of it, and made it their constant practice, because it was an institution of Christ, to be transmitted to the succeeding ages of the church. They broke bread from house to house;
kat' oikon-- house by house; they did not think fit to celebrate the eucharist in the temple, for that was peculiar to the Christian institutes, and therefore they administered that ordinance in private houses, choosing such houses of the converted Christians as were convenient, to which the neighbors resorted; and they went from one to another of these little synagogues or domestic chapels, houses that had churches in them, and there celebrated the eucharist with those that usually met there to worship God.
(from Matthew Henry's Commentary)
From certain passages in the Word of God, we understand that the early Christians did, indeed, partake of the Lord’s Supper (as well as their agape feast; today -- it's potluck) as they would assemble together for the Lord’s Day – Sunday (See 1 Corinthians 11:23-34, Acts 20:7, for example). According to this passage (Acts 2:42-47), they were breaking bread together daily, which could mean agape feasts, or agape feasts and the Lord's Supper. (They were also praying, sharing belongings, etc.) There are varying opinions concerning the subject – as seen in the above discussion on the subject by Barnes and Henry (a couple of respected commentators), just as an example. Concerning whether Christians could or should partake of the Lord's Supper on any other day, I believe that the jury is out. Therefore, I would be very wary about being dogmatic either way concerning this subject. I think that we can back ourselves into a corner very quickly, theologically, by affirming positions too strongly where the evidence simply does not indicate that such a strong stance should be taken.
Don
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
An Ode to Anonymous
Anonymous -- Who are you? You are anyone and no one. You have been me and you have been many. You live to be secretive. (You could work for a detective agency or the FBI :-). What you are is something altogether different. You are unaccountable. You can be painfully honest. You may very well be guilty. You say things that make people think. Why do you say what you say? You have an opinion or a conviction. Everyone does, but you believe that your opinion or conviction simply must be heard; it cannot be contained -- it must be expressed! When does anonymous speak? At the most opportune times, for certain. At times, when it is most appropriate, but also when it can be least appropriate. I find you fascinating, anonymous. I find you annoying, anonymous. I would like to get to know you better, but rarely is this possible. As much fun as it is to be you, the best thing that you could do, anonymous, is not to be...you.
A Concerned Friend of Anonymous
A Concerned Friend of Anonymous
Monday, May 14, 2007
A Splendid Event
Friends,
Our family attended the annual spring band concert, as performed by the 5th grade, 6th grade, Jr High and High School bands. I really do not have enough exclamations in my vocabulary to describe it -- amazing, terrific, sensationsal, to offer a few. We were particularly inspired the "Inchon" piece by the High School band. Kim and agreed that it was a masterpiece that you would hear from a professional symphony somewhere. To those who participated in the concert, thank you for an enjoyable evening.
Don
Our family attended the annual spring band concert, as performed by the 5th grade, 6th grade, Jr High and High School bands. I really do not have enough exclamations in my vocabulary to describe it -- amazing, terrific, sensationsal, to offer a few. We were particularly inspired the "Inchon" piece by the High School band. Kim and agreed that it was a masterpiece that you would hear from a professional symphony somewhere. To those who participated in the concert, thank you for an enjoyable evening.
Don
Friday, May 11, 2007
A Big Bang
Friends,
Amazing! This week scientists revealed that they have detected a super, supernova that is 100 times more powerful than "normal" supernovas (as if "normal" supernovas are not amazing enough). A supernova is the massive, destructive explosion which occurs when a star's energy runs it course and collapses in on itself. It is not unusual for stars go out with such a bang. This king of all exploding stars, SN2006gy, that blew itself to bits was an extremely rare giant in a galaxy 240 MILLION light years away. At its peak, it emitted more than 50 BILLION suns worth of light which shined 10 times brighter than even its own host galaxy for a period of time. If you love astronomy, this is so cool! It is truly remarkable that we can actually "see" these events at this point in time -- praise God for such technology. As I shared in my earlier blog on "light years" this baby blew up a long time ago -- and just during the past year people are getting to see the results. Most supernovas happen with stars several times the mass of our own sun; this one was about 150 times the mass of our sun. Scientists say that there are about a dozen of these type of super, massive stars in our own Milky Way galaxy -- which is not very many when you consider that there may be as many as 400 billion stars in our galaxy! The possibility of one of these stars exploding in our galaxy is extremely rare and it would be very unlikely that it would have an effect on us. Once again, this all helps us to realize the smallness of our existence in God's grand scheme of things and just how big is the universe. To close with an illustration, our planet, Earth, could be characterized by a grain of sand, whereas the known universe would be all of the sand on all of the beaches of the world. Mind boggling -- but perhaps just a small way (no pun intended) for us to appreciate the enormity of God's creation.
Don
Amazing! This week scientists revealed that they have detected a super, supernova that is 100 times more powerful than "normal" supernovas (as if "normal" supernovas are not amazing enough). A supernova is the massive, destructive explosion which occurs when a star's energy runs it course and collapses in on itself. It is not unusual for stars go out with such a bang. This king of all exploding stars, SN2006gy, that blew itself to bits was an extremely rare giant in a galaxy 240 MILLION light years away. At its peak, it emitted more than 50 BILLION suns worth of light which shined 10 times brighter than even its own host galaxy for a period of time. If you love astronomy, this is so cool! It is truly remarkable that we can actually "see" these events at this point in time -- praise God for such technology. As I shared in my earlier blog on "light years" this baby blew up a long time ago -- and just during the past year people are getting to see the results. Most supernovas happen with stars several times the mass of our own sun; this one was about 150 times the mass of our sun. Scientists say that there are about a dozen of these type of super, massive stars in our own Milky Way galaxy -- which is not very many when you consider that there may be as many as 400 billion stars in our galaxy! The possibility of one of these stars exploding in our galaxy is extremely rare and it would be very unlikely that it would have an effect on us. Once again, this all helps us to realize the smallness of our existence in God's grand scheme of things and just how big is the universe. To close with an illustration, our planet, Earth, could be characterized by a grain of sand, whereas the known universe would be all of the sand on all of the beaches of the world. Mind boggling -- but perhaps just a small way (no pun intended) for us to appreciate the enormity of God's creation.
Don
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Jr. Leaves
Say it ain't so Jr.? Dale Earnhardt Jr. is leaving the team that his daddy made famous. But, who can blame him? He is only the face of Nascar, and his step-mother, who owns the company, is playing hardball. Dale wanted 51% ownership. Was this unreasonable? He wasn't asking for 91%. He should be the leader of his father's company. He wasn't trying to brush off step-mom, just seeking a reasonable way to move forward with his life and business. Jr. is going to start a bidding war for his services that the sport has never seen. He will come out a big winner. But
step-mom? She has just lost the face of Nascar, and, in essence, has cut off her nose to spite her own face. DEI is going to struggle mightily without Jr. Although Nascar's popularity has sagged a little this year, the result of all of this is that it is only going to boost Nascar to new heights.
Don
step-mom? She has just lost the face of Nascar, and, in essence, has cut off her nose to spite her own face. DEI is going to struggle mightily without Jr. Although Nascar's popularity has sagged a little this year, the result of all of this is that it is only going to boost Nascar to new heights.
Don
Thursday, May 3, 2007
NBA
Friends,
If you like basketball.........and you are a follower of the NBA.........and you're from Texas -- how could you not be in basketball heaven? All three of the Texas teams -- the Mavericks, Spurs and Rockets are alive and well in the playoffs. Well, at least the latter two, but here's hoping that the Mavs can win the next two games against the Warriors and move on. If they can do this, they are going to be hard to beat. However, it is equally hard to discount the Spurs and Rockets who are both on a roll right now. Tracy McGrady is playing the best basketball of his life for Houston and the Spurs always seem to be there as a steady team. Whatever the outcome, it has been an exciting time for NBA Texas.
Don
If you like basketball.........and you are a follower of the NBA.........and you're from Texas -- how could you not be in basketball heaven? All three of the Texas teams -- the Mavericks, Spurs and Rockets are alive and well in the playoffs. Well, at least the latter two, but here's hoping that the Mavs can win the next two games against the Warriors and move on. If they can do this, they are going to be hard to beat. However, it is equally hard to discount the Spurs and Rockets who are both on a roll right now. Tracy McGrady is playing the best basketball of his life for Houston and the Spurs always seem to be there as a steady team. Whatever the outcome, it has been an exciting time for NBA Texas.
Don
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