"Instead of some sort of penance, we're called to confess our sin as best we can (though it will always be lousy) and appeal to God's mercy on the basis of what Christ did for us, not on the basis of "I really mean it", or "I really promise to", or "I vow this or vow that". That's all out the window.  You're utterly without excuse and without the energy to promise anything. You appeal to nothing but God's mercy in Jesus. That's it. That's the only thing you can plead. It's like the old seminary professor once said, "adverbs are the great enemy of the gospel". We hear things like "I deeply repent" or "I am heartily sorry".  Bah! We repent in a half-assed way at best. We're only sort of sorry. Even our confession sucks. And yet the gracious God in Jesus Christ says to us, "Be of good cheer son, your sins are forgiven."    - Rod Rosenbladt

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chances are

A friend of mine announced today they had four of the winning Powerball numbers from the 320 Million Jackpot this week. One more right number and they would have won a million dollars. As it was, they only won a  hundred dollars. I guess you could say the odds were against them, since the odds of having all the numbers in a winning Powerball ticket are 1 in 175 million. So it goes with the lottery.

This got me thinking (which is always a dangerous proposition) about odds, chances, and other statistical probabilities.

What do you think the odds are that we're all here merely by random chance? That the universe is some kind of cosmic accident that just sort of happened? Well, let's start small - let's take a simple protein molecule. Consider what you would need for a protein molecule to form by chance.  Dr. Stephen Meyer of the Discovery Institute explains ... 

"First, you would need the right bonds between 75 or so amino acids. Second, these amino acids come in right and left handed versions, so you'd need to get only left-handed ones. Third, the amino acids must link up together in a specified sequence, kind of like letters in a sentence. When you run the odds of all these things falling into place on their own,  you find that the probabilities of forming a rather short functional protein at random would be one chance in a hundred thousand trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion. That's a ten with 125 zeroes behind it!"

And that's only one protein molecule! Think of the amazingly complex and precise design of all the different elements of God's creation. It's staggering to consider the odds of all life as we know it coming into being with no creative designer behind it all. It's simply unimaginable. 

Kind of makes those odds at winning the lottery seem pretty inconsequential, eh?  

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earth from mars

14er lessons

a few lessons learned from climbing a 14,000 foot mountain... 

- no matter how hard or how long the journey, don't go at it alone - slow and steady wins the race - do hard things, it's painful but worth it - the heavens declare the glory of god - don't wait to pray until praying is your last option - while almighty and powerful, god is also tender and loving -     you only have one life, spend as much of it with your family as you can - people need jesus - the word of god is living and active and always accomplishes what it sets out to do - water is the lifeblood of creation - trees really do clap their hands like it says in the psalms - if you aren't always prepared, travel with someone who is - it always helps to unload excess baggage - no matter what happens, just keep going

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peak challenge pics

 

on top of the world in colorado




mountain stream





glorious landscape at sunset

If you think back on your life, regardless of how old or young you are, you may recall a spiritual experience that cannot be explained or a moment in which you felt the special presence of the sacred or divine. But to experience a “mountaintop experience” on a mountaintop – literally – is something very special.

The Celtics called such locations ”thin places” - described as “places where the veil between this world and the ‘other world” meet. There is a Celtic saying that “heaven and earth are only three feet apart, but in the thin places that distance is even smaller.”

Exodus 34 describes the journey that Moses took to Mt Sinai. After leading the children of Israel out of Egyptian bondage, Moses felt called to climb Sinai, a mountain associated with God’s presence; seen as a “thin place”. “The glory of the Lord,” scripture says, “rested on Mount Sinai”. It was there that Moses received the Ten Commandments. When Moses came down from the mountain, his face was shining from being in the divine presence. Moses was a changed man. It was turning point in his life and in the lives of many.

In Luke 9, Jesus takes Peter, James and John up a mountain where he is ‘transfigured’ before them. That time together on the mountain with his inner circle was a special event that changed their perspective on Jesus and who he was to them.

We will soon travel to Colorado where we will (God willing) reach the summit of a 14,000 foot peak and have a real “mountaintop experience”. In that journey, we may just have an experience that changes our life forever – a spiritual “mountaintop experience” that can be taken back into the valleys of life to shape, mold, encourage, lead and disciple others into the presence of the Sacred and Divine.

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