Good to know

So the other day I overheard 2 of my adult children arguing. Not unusual, so I tuned it out as I do (unless I hear things breaking). Voices started raising, so I paid some attention. I don't know what the argument was totally about, but I heard this "Let me tell you, Poppa is NOT a butthead..."

It wasn't actually buttHEAD, but the second syllable did start with "H". In the interest of keeping this "G" rated, I'm saying butthead.

Anyway.

I was relieved to know that learning did sink in to at least one of them, and I have been validated as not a butthead.

I am appreciated as a non-butthead.

Hmphhh.

Feeling pretty good about myself.

But...then again....I am wondering what the rest of the conversation was about ....no I'm not.....I don't want to know....well.....maybe....

Weighed down

About to start nother bout of the old lose weight so I can gain it back cycle.

But this time I'll keep it off.

Really.

So, it's back to that special diet that exclude anything delicious, that makes us believe cardboard is better than dark chocolate, and that what we look like after working out is better than how we look peacefully snoring in the couch.

Mega Fathers Day

So there is a reward for having 18 kids...especially with 12 of them being adults and some of them having actual means of their own. I got to experience that this Fathers Day. In fact, I am posting on it right now...my brand new IPad 2. My kids gave me an IPad for Fathers Day!

Oh yeah.

Cool.

Of course, when I got it, there was an immediate inquisition as to what I will do with it.

Play games? No.

Music? Nope

Movies? Uh uh.

TV? Nope

Then what?

You know. Work stuff. Reading. Writing. Information.

...boring Poppa...

So here I sit posting to my blog on this cool little thing, (I wonder if posting to the blog on the IPad has any value in the "cool" department).

Part of the magic is that this thing will work well with my Mac when the ICloud comes to life.

ICloud

Wow.

So now, I'm wondering what "I" thing comes next. IMac, IPod, IPad, then IWhat?

After a little though, I think I know. It's coming true! Steve Jobs is an instrument of God!

God did say He is the "I Am". Yes. The ultimate power in the universe! Infinite gigs, processing power that creates life with a Word....think about it...I AM!

And, yes, He will come back on a (this is the great part) Cloud!

His Cloud!

So I have the latest in "I" stuff, and can't wait for the I Cloud. But the greater thing is what's coming next.....the I Am returning on His Cloud.

Whew.

You did what?

So today the kids had their night at the go cart track. They save all year to go there, plotting how they will win. With 8 of them, they usually dominate the track.

But they also demonstrate why we need to wait a little longer for driver's learner permits.

All of them

Watch out sea creatures....

It is pretty hilarious watching my boys collect the various wildlife that dares show it's face while they are prowling the beach. They dare each other to pick up the crabs, they've learned by one's unfortunate experience that jellyfish are not worth touching. Today they found a school of very unlucky small fish that got caught in a shallow tidal pool. My boys knew the fish should be in a bucket rather than this natural habitat.

To keep balance my wife times the captures so that any animal gets freed after 5 minutes. The boys try hard to stretch the 5 minutes, or to find a place that counts as "freed", but still affords them the fun of playing with the critters.

It's good for the species that we only live at this beach for 2 weeks at a time.

The games continue

Today's score was

children - 17 crabs, 47 sand fleas, 238 clams.


giant jellyfish - 1 child.


Even though the numbers don't show it, the wildlife won.

Can anyone tell me who wrote this and when?

"I have never been able to understand all the fuss some people make about the government wanting to do something to improve and protect the health of the people. I usually find that those who are loudest in protesting against medical help by the federal government are those who do not need help. But the fact is that a large portion of our population cannot afford to pay for proper medical and hospital care."

I'll bet you'll never get the answer!!

Proliferation

One of the stunning results of having a lot of children is that over time, the numbers associated with the family start growing faster than you realize. Finding a restaurant that can seat you becomes a major outing challenge.

This weekend we had 3 children graduate from high school. Two of them were homeschooled, and one was a public schooler (another dozen posts to explain that one). The homeschool graduation was on Saturday and the public school one on Sunday.

I am very aware of the importance of that moment in time, that glory time, that pinnacle of achievement that high school graduation is, but, I need to say, a weekend of them is very trying (to be nice).

I digress.

Back to the family size.

So at the Saturday graduation, a community homeschool ceremony, there were only 12 graduates. We had a local church auditorium to use. Of course, being homeschoolers, there were families galore, and no limits on how many could attend. At a point I looked out at who came to be with my 2 girls, and there were almost 4 full rows of cheer section for them. Grandmom and Grandpop, adult sisters and brothers, inlaws, girlfriends, grandchildren, a virtual family reunion all there to witness the big event (a sort of miracle in fact). It was very sweet and a very big deal. And my girls were thrilled as they basked in the glory of this success.

As this batch grows up, the exponential growth of family size will only only get worse, or better, depending on whether we're talking restaurant or Christmas. The idea of "go forth and multiply"becomes as mathematical as it is biological.

Its very fun to watch, and amazing to see the seats fill up with a writhing mass that is my family.

When I was at the graduation I realized that the cause of this crowd actually happened almost 40 years ago, when I was in high school and I met this girl I knew I would marry.

I did.

Get back

I'm really hoping that the President's declaration that Israel should retreat to the pre 1967 borders isn't an indication of his willingness to retreat in America, After all, what if he decides the US should retreat to pre 1850 borders...or pre 1776...crazy?

I'll bet the Israelis think pre 1967 is as well.

Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean people AREN'T out to get you

The crazy prediction that on this Saturday at 6PM the rapture will occur flies in the face of what we know from scripture - that Jesus Himself said only the Father knows the when. He said to just be prepared, and it really won't matter when it happens.

There is plenty written on how this latest prediction, which follows hundreds over the century, feeds into the naysayers who believe CHristians are crazy. I suppose we are - to believe this will happen at all. Nonetheless, we do. And it will. There is nothing to say it will happen on the 21st at 6PM, but, the truth is, there is also nothing to say it won't.

The important thing is to be ready...to not be fooled by the foolish predictions, but to look hard into the face of reality; let the Holy Spirit affect your heart - take the invitation and surrender to the most gracious power in the universe - the God who saves those who ask.

It is simple, and then the "when" won't matter.

Be ready.

And have your church clothes ready for Sunday.

Prophesy before us

As expected, the individual who commented on my post (2 posts back) about Stephen Hawking fulfills what was predicted in the scripture he mocks:

"in the last days scoffers will come, mocking the truth and following their own desires." (read 2 Peter chapter 3)

Thank you sir. You join the millions of scoffers and prove the point.

To inform you, not to convince you (I don't imagine you want to be convinced), faith has to be exercised before it can be proven. Only the faithful get the privilege, that is the essence of faith. The issue is not a contest between intellect and faith. Intellect tries to prove in advance, faith is the conscious choice to believe in advance. Neither is a higher order than the other...they are completely different from each other. Highly intellectual people are also highly faithful. Proof comes to the faithful.

You can mock that if you choose. When you do, you prove your own limits that prevent you from experiencing the power of faith. The billions who have understood that for thousands of years experience that fact, they do not argue, they live.

Faith in intellect is like other empty faith. Wooden and stone idols, images in the sky, chants, and rituals all distract us from faith in the truth that has been seen throughout the history of mankind. Don't think it is unintentional. Again, mock if you like, and understand that you are playing directly into the hand of God's enemy who mocks you in your intellectual denial of the truth.

Still, there will always be those who scoff. I suggest they are afraid of finding the truth that will make them accountable. Instead of trusting these words, they trust the waivering "intellect", the intellect that said "the world is flat...oh, no, it is round.....it is the center of the universe, see?... oh, no, it is not,...ok, well, life began in a primordial soup...oh, no, it must have come from inside volcanoes,....oh, no, it must have been seeded from comets, or asteroids, or meteors....there are 3 elements, oh no, there are more...the universe is expanding....shrinking....must be life on Mars...little green men? How about just a microbe...well, maybe not, how about Europa? Lunar dust is many feet deep by our calculations....well.....ok, maybe some of it fell off..." Wasn't it early scientific intellectuals that insisted that flies spontaneously appeared alive and that lead can be made into gold? And do you, sir, really understand what Steven Hawking is saying other than he isn't afraid of the dark? You choose to believe him, perhaps mostly because he denies the truth you can't bring yourself to look at. OK. Dr Hawkins invites you into his long line of scoffers, and according to the prophesy you fulfill in doing so, has a lot of company.

From the front page of FoxNews this morning

These are for among the 15 "Latest News" headlines

- Texas Teacher Allegedly Had Sex With 5 Students
- Family Barricaded in Home by Angry Landlord
- Boy Grilled by Secret Service Over Facebook Post
- New Jersey Child Dies in Vat of Cooking Oil
- Police Probe eBay Posting to Sell Toddler

It would be hard to make this up.

Stephen Hawking is a fool

Heaven is 'a fairy story,' scientist Stephen Hawking says
By Dan Gilgoff, CNN.com Religion Editor

The concept of heaven or any kind of afterlife is a "fairy story," famed British scientist Stephen Hawking said in a newspaper interview this week.

"I regard the brain as a computer which will stop working when its components fail," the physicist said in an interview published Sunday in Britain's Guardian newspaper. "There is no heaven or afterlife for broken down computers; that is a fairy story for people afraid of the dark."

This man is a fool who thinks he can imagine reality rather that participate in it. It is OK for him to remain a fool, but it is unconscionable that he is taking so many people down with him.

Shame on him. Shame his computer is so limited.

"Fools base their thoughts on foolish assumptions" (Ecclesiastes 10:13)

"Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools" (Romans 1:22)

On the Rock

Yesterday was pretty awesome. Two sons, one son-in-law, and a very generous friend joined me as we mixed concrete one shovel at a time to pour an 8 1/2 yard floor in a building that is not accessible to a ready-mix truck. We worked from 8 AM to 5PM and got about 6 yards down, around 20ft by 23 feet. We had to admit defeat when one of team's back began to give problems that said "you're done".

We formed it off and planned the next day of adventure. Fifty years ago this was the way things were done. Yesterday it was as well. What great blessings to have such generosity.

A little rusty

I do enjoy the History Channel, though I am in the minority in my house. Some of the shows are "think pieces", others are entertaining. Some claim to present "fact", but are really just well presented guesses.

One last night was such a show. It explained how we got deposits of iron ore spread throughout the earth's crust. As it presented the facts, the show proposed that "iron is virtually under our feet wherever we stand on earth". That seemed easy enough to accept, it ought to be evident. As the show progressed, it demonstrated how iron is mixed in various concentrations in formations and is fairly well know.

Here's where it got a little off the "fact" track. As the writers explained how the iron got there, they came up with a beaut of a story. You see, the earth was once populated by a large number of solid iron mountains. That was a stage we went through. During that time, the earth had torrential rains that had high acid concentrations. This rain was so torrrential that it filled the oceans, and with the dissolved iron, the water contained high levels of iron. Remember, the iron mountains were melted into the oceans...

THEN, as many moons went by, the iron began to settle out of the water, and it settled onto the bottom and formed these layers and deposits we now know as our iron ore deposits. That probably took more time than we will take paying off our national debt.

I'm not convinced these guys cleared this whole story with the one about the oceans being formed by the icy comets bombarding the earth...and I'm surely not sure where the melting of the iron mountains fits into the movement of the continents from Pangea.

And, having owned cars built in the 80's, I'm not sure how we use acid to dissolve iron into water and then get it to settle out into iron ore...I've seen Chevy Vegas go through the melting part, but the powder that was the result would be very unlikely to recompose into iron...

Just sayin...

For the birds?

I have a bird feeding station just outside my office window. I have regular visitors, who, when I fail to refill according to their needs, sit on the feeders staring pitifully at me. Or so it seems.

There is a pair of cardinals, male and female, who are regulars. The female sits in a tree a few yards from the feeders while the male collects seed and delivers it to her in the tree. There has been a small black bird visiting recently who sits on the feeder staring at the window. Every now and then he darts to the window, crashes into it, and then goes back to the feeder to stare some more. I assume he is picking bugs off the house, which taste good enough to tolerate the headache from crashing.

When we are told that God's care for birds is an example of what we can expect from him for ourselves, it deserves some real detailed thinking. To observe the cardinals, and how He has provided the food through my desire to see them, the loving care of a mate for each, and the protection of the male bringing her breakfaat-in-the-tree, I can see He gives them much more than simply available food. God cares enough for the birds to have provided a whole chain of capability to make sure these little wonders do more than just survive, He provides so that they flourish.

How much more must He do for me?

Its almost time for the beach

Every year we go to the same place on the Outer Banks for a 2 week break from the rat race. We take most of the rats with us, so what actually happens is the race is relocated. The good news is we are mostly free of schedules and "must do's", so we enjoy the time together, basking in the sun and splashing in the rushing waters. We casually walk the race instead of running it.

I think the crabs are the ones who like it hte least.

We are now within the 3 week window of leaving. Naturally, the schedule at home increases and the "must do's" pile on. It doesn't matter though. On the appointed day we will pack the kids and stuff into 2 vehicles and a trailer, haul it all to the house we know and love on the sands of Nags Head and pretend we are bums for 15 glorious days. Thanks God!

You can't always get what you want.

Stopped raining long enough for me to mow. Funny how that works, and probably funny how it must look to the Lord - we need the rain, we pray for it, and when it comes we whine about having it.

As kids we want more than anything to grow older. We grow older and remember the good ole days as kids. We can't wait to get out of school and get a job, then wish we had the same schedule as high school.

I think I like it the way it is. Right now the sun is shining on my pretty green, freshly mowed grass, I don't have to tolerate teachers' dirty looks. And the Lord is blessing my family with His care and grace, giving us work to do for His kingdom.

Don't mix up the round stuff and the square stuff

I have many children, and as a result, see many solutions to common problems. If, for example, you asked a random child to clean out the refrigerator, you should expect random choices as to how the stuff get's rearranged back into the clean fridge. The scheme I find most entertaining is putting things back in by SHAPE.

Yes. SHAPE.

For example, square stuff in one place, large round stuff in another, etc. We recently had our spice cabinet done this way. It's great if you know what shape whatever you are looking for is.

This seems innocent enough. The trouble is, those people grow up, and I think they get jobs arranging goods in a grocery store. For example, when sent to a store to get "Hawaiian Punch", I head for the aisle marked "Juice". Nope (confirming what we all suspected). How about "Drinks". Nope, that's for what I would label "Soda". Not with "Water and Flavored drinks".

Its with "Snacks". Oh.

How about "White VInegar"? With "Baking goods?" Nope, even though all of the vegetable oil is there. Near the aisle with Olive Oil? Nope (that was with the "International Foods)?!. The Vinegar was on an aisle with canned goods. But it comes in a bottle...

It is so random it CAN'T be an accident. I think it is an effort to sort the experienced grocery-getters from the occasional errand runners like myself. We are easy to spot; staring in wonder at the signs, looking lost, mouth hanging open, looking in the same aisle 4 times hoping it'll be different than it was the last 3 times I looked.

Is it changing us?

Once it was a new thing to have a blog. That "once" was maybe 2 years ago. Now, us oldsters have blogs, seems the "social networks" have taken over, where you can say in 140 characters what you used to craft for an hour or so, and publish as a short paragraph.

I like the freedom of a blog, for some reason it seems a little more thoughtful and exists in a calmer environment. Who cares if nobody reads it?

Nobody?

Are you reading this?

Anyone?

Easter

Thirty-eight years ago I made the choice to believe that God created the heavens and the earth. I listened to the schools that deny God and listened to Him and made my choice.

On the other hand, the Smithsonian will only listen to the one unbelievable story and not listen to anyone else. In fact, they will only criticize anyone who challenges the theory they morph to fit the conditions. It is worthy of pointing out that the comet story I discussed in my last post is a recent addition to the fairy tale since science figured out that it is mathematically impossible for life to spontaneously erupt...so they needed it to come from SOMEWHERE not on the earth, so the comets seemed like a good place since they have ice and everyone knows how much life likes to live in ice (like the things living in your freezer). Of course, this all begs the question...how did it get on the comets?

For thousands of years is was foreseen that a messiah would appear in Israel, provided by God Himself to solve the manmade problem of sin separating us from Him. It was also foreseen He would be killed as He was, and that He would come back to life on the 3rd day following His death. He himself told of that miracle, and it happened just like He said. Just the same, He promises an intimate involvement in the lives of those who CHOOSE to believe Him.

Rather than back into a "plausible" explanation of what MIGHT have been, like oceans-of-ice striking to cover 71% of the earth with water miles deep, I chose in advance to believe what God has said. The result has not been a belief morphing to fit a changing story, but fulfilled promises of blessings and daily guidance that proves my faith consistently, the same today as yesterday and tomorrow. The Smithsonian answers evolve as much as the theory portends the universe does, but the Word of God is forever.

It is sad as the sincerest institutions, like the Smithsonian, close themselves off from the truth in the name of a need to know more than God. It's an old story first told in Eden. Even so like the miracles in my own life, this story is one whose results are foretold...over and over and over.

Faith

We went to the Smithsonian during a visit to DC with the kids the other day. I was apprehensive about taking my children there because of their dishonest and close-minded approach to education. While there we listened to the beginning of a presentation of earth history. "Four billion years ago, the earth was covered in volcanoes. As the volcanoes erupted, they released water. Also, many icy comets crashed into the earth. These 2 conditions filled the oceans." You know the oceans - the ones that now cover 71% of the earth.

That's 343,423,668,428,484,681,262 gallons of water. That's how much water there is in the oceans.

From comets and volcanoes?!.

Do the math...if it covers 71% of the earth, in some places many miles deep, how much could have been INSIDE (to come out in volcanoes)(remembering the inside is SMALLER than the outside), and how many comets must have bombarded the earth to put the rest of it in the oceans.

Really? Volcanoes and comets?

Why did the comets stop? (I know...I know..we RAN OUT of them...)

Sure takes a lot of FAITH to believe THAT. Another new story to explain the unbelievable.