I hear people say now and again that we (Christians) must be delirious to think that we talk to some invisible immaterial God and that He actually talks back to us. Has anyone ever taped a single conversation? How can we prove that what we hear isn’t just a figment of our imagination? Granted, it is rather difficult to describe something that another person hasn’t experienced. For example, I would have the same trouble describing my feelings standing at the top of the Grand Canyon to someone who hasn’t had a similar experience. Does that invalidate what I say? No at all. I sometimes wonder why people are quick to accept my description of the Grand Canyon (which is just as personal as a message from God) but who conclude that I have a couple of screws loose when I start talking about Heavenly things. Well, let me say here that if you are one of the people who aren’t willing to give me the benefit of doubt then the rest of this post will bring you nothing of value. Please stop reading. However, if you are like me, who consider other people’s experiences to be genuine and think you can learn something from other people then read on.

(As a side note, I think it is actually ridiculous not to trust other people’s experiences. I wonder what people think when they create their online profiles and put down things like: “I am someone who is up for trying anything once.” Maybe then skydiving without a parachute is for them. I will certainly rather stay on the ground and learn from their experiences, having never experienced that myself. Yes, that’s a silly example but it drives my point home. I believe I can learn from the experiences of those who have gone through drug addictions to never try drugs myself; I think I can learn from people who’ve been treated unfairly by their peers or their supervisors and never deal with those people… you get the point).

What’s it like?

Have you ever had one too many coincidences in your life? If not, then this is going to be difficult to imagine, but I am assuming that I am not the one lucky person on this Earth to have seen improbable things happen in succession. You may have heard the same phrase uttered by several unrelated people on the same day. Or maybe you are working on a project and you know you won’t meet the deadline but then something strangely fortunate comes along and you’re done just in time. You get that big break just when you need one. What if I told you that not all coincidences are just coincidences? Would you believe me if I said that when you stop and think about life-changing events in your life, you may notice a thread? This has been my experience in life. Right things happen just at the right time that take my life in a direction I never imagined (and more importantly, better than I have imagined).

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I‘m reading an interesting book called “I don’t have enough faith to be an atheist” by Norman Geisler and Frank Turek.  What I really like about it is that the authors do a good job pointing out some of the absurdities of our “post-modern” thinking.  One of these absurdities has to deal with how we look at truth.  Here is a small excerpt:

“On one hand, we demand truth in virtually every area of our lives.  For example; we demand truth from:

• loved ones (no one wants lies from a spouse or a child)
• doctors (we want the right medicine prescribed and the right operations performed)
• stock brokers (we demand that they tell us the truth about companies they recommend)
• courts (we want them to convict only the truly guilty)
• employers (we want them to tell us the truth and pay us fairly)
• airlines (we demand truly safe planes and truly sober pilots)

We also expect to be told the truth when we pick up a reference book, read an article, or watch a news story; we want the truth from advertisers, teachers and politicians; we assume road signs, medicine bottles, and food labels reveal the truth. In fact, we demand the truth for almost every facet of life that affects our money, relationships, safety, or health.

On the other hand, despite our unwavering demands for truth in those areas, many of us say we aren’t interested in truth when it comes to morality or religion.  In fact, many downright reject the idea that any religion can be true.

As we’re sure you’ve noticed, there’s a huge contradiction here.  Why do we demand truth in everything but morality and religion?  Why do we say, “That’s true for you but not for me,” when we’re talking about morality or religion, but we never even think of such nonsense when we’re talking to a stock broker about our money or a doctor about our health?

Although few would admit it, our rejection of religious and moral truth is often on volitional rather than intellectual grounds – we just don’t want to be held accountable to any moral standards or religious doctrine.  So we blindly accept the self-defeating truth claims of politically correct intellectuals… More »« Less

More and more frequently I hear that America’s education is falling behind other nations. Now, generally I am not an alarmist. I won’t beat the drum and say this country is going downhill fast (people have been saying this for decades). But when people who are actually in charge of improving the educational system are telling me that it is broken, I I tend to pay attention. I recall attending a great lecture at University of Illinois on this subject. At least from the statistics that we have collected over the years it does seem that America’s edge is eroding. Sure, we have some of the most famous universities in the world but more and more frequently the elite that is graduating from these universities are people of foreign descent. Historically, this foreign-born talent was drawn to America by the great personal rights and freedoms. Once graduated, the people tended to settle here and adopt the American way of life. Yet this is no longer the case. Many graduates are drawn back to their respective countries by increasing benefits and rising economies. This means that an increasing amount of scientists and engineers must be raised from the native population. But when articles like the one below surface, I tend to wonder if we are capable of doing so.

“Fifty years ago this October, Americans were jolted by the news that Moscow, one year after drowning the Hungarian Revolution in blood, had put an 80-kilo satellite into Earth orbit.

In December, the U.S. Navy tried to replicate the feat. Vanguard got four feet off the ground and exploded, incinerating its three-pound payload. America was humiliated. Khrushchev was Man of the Year. Some of us yet recall the Vanguard newsreels and the humiliating laughter.

Stunned, America went to work to improve education in math and science, and succeeded. The Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) scores of high school seniors began to rise, reaching a high in 1964.

However, test scores for high school students have been falling now for 40 years. In 1984, the Reagan administration issued A Nation at Risk, documenting the deterioration of American public education.”

Read the rest of the article here.

Congratulations, you’ve made it! You have finally seen the light and you are on fire. The first thing you want to do is tell everyone about your faith and how much you love Jesus Christ. Of course, there is nothing wrong with that. I think everyone who has truly experienced that highly personal relationship with Jesus will agree with you. It is an awesome state of mind and soul.

But hold your horses just for a minute friend. Let us talk about you before we go on to convert those millions of “lost” souls out there. Let me ask you a question. What do you expect out of Christianity? No doubt your motives are pure for you have given up quite a bit to change your lifestyle and begin its alignment with the Word of God. No doubt you feel that you can move mountains with our Lord behind you. But have you stopped for a moment to catch a breath and consider what is it you have really signed up for? What are your expectations? Do you have a plan for when that fire goes out and you suddenly find yourself in the middle of life with something called God but still very little foundation? Have you taken the time to understand that very important distinction between religion and relationship fully?

These questions are important ones to ask yourself especially if you are a new Christian or perhaps a “reborn” one. Have you wondered why it is that you had to be “reborn” more than once? It is not from the lack of faith or from the inadequacy of religion. It is from our own misaligned expectations that we fall away and come back to the tree of life more than once. Let us talk about these questions then.

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Here are a couple of funny parody videos of those Mac vs. PC commercials. Except in this case we’re dealing with Christ vs. Christ Follower. Now personally, I’m not convinced that this distinction is really true or even necessary. At the same time, I think the videos make a good point. What is important in a Christian life? Too often we get so caught up in displaying our ‘Christianity’ that we miss the real point. Follow Christ, let your Christian life be visible not through your bumper stickers or a Christian mp3 collection but through your deeds and morals! Enjoy (click on the numbers above the video frame to watch the next video)

Welcome to my corner of the internet. I am glad you found me and I hope you take some time to browse through the various topics and pages that this blog contains. I have decided to make something special out of my first post. Here’s what I have in mind…

Just like you, I learn about this world through experience. Most experiences are good, some are bad but in either case there is a lesson to learn. What I learned I want to retain and share with all of you through this page. This will be my neverending post as our learning experiences are also neverending. With every word comes a story and with every story comes an experience that has influenced my way of life. Please feel free to share your stories and experiences as I share mine. And by all means, keep coming back to this page because this page will never cease to grow in content.

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