Just for Fun

Here are a couple of videos of a prototype of a robotic mule and a robotic biped being developed for military applications.

The Choice of a Lifetime

Last evening I was privileged to attend a fund raising banquet for the Women’s Center of Northwest Indiana. What a blessed evening. There were over 800 people in attendance. That is a tremendous army of supporters for a very God honoring, Christ exalting organization.

The featured speaker was Janet Parshall. Her address was very positive and encouraging. The thesis of her remarks was that there has been a hopeful shift toward life in the national discussion on abortion. [in no way did she say the fight was over, but she did say that it is appearing that the tide is beginning to turn.] Her remarks were similar in tone and reasons to Trevin Wax’s recent post on the same topic.

While Parshall’s remarks were encouraging and helpful, the highlight of the evening actually occurred before she spoke. Two women, clients of the Center, gave testimony on the decision to choose life that they had reached because of the gentle work of those that volunteer at the Women’s Center. The first client will be having her child next month, the second to speak carried her two month old daughter up on the stage with her. Listening to these two women and realizing that they represent so many others was a blessing.

I had tears on my cheeks as I listened to these two women describe the care and compassion that they received. I praise God for his moving in their hearts. Their choice to bring these children into the world is profound. It is a choice that has eternal implications.

Pray for this ministry and others like it that exhibit the light of the gospel in the very darkest of areas.

Coincidence or Providence

I was doing some sermon work this morning. In the middle of my thinking through the passage I am working on, a friend started a chat with me. Since he generally has some good thoughts on the topic I was working on, I asked him for some input. He sent me a link to an article that speaks to the topic, then we chatted about it for a few more minutes. About that time I checked my feed reader and was surprised to see an article, not only on the topic I was researching, but on the very same passage of Scripture I was preaching from.

Coincidence or providence?

Memories

Five years ago today a good friend of mine went home to be with the Lord. I miss him.

I am praying for his wife and children, for the grandson he never met, for the other good friends who also miss him.

I am also looking forward to joining him. The prospect of heaven is so sweet. The presence of the Lord awakens a longing in my heart for that day.

Yet today, God has left me here to do his mission; to be faithful in serving him. May I be faithful to the end.

Cranes and Hope

This morning I took my daily walk and was pleasantly surprised to hear some unusual bird sounds over head. I look up and watch flock after flock of Sandhill Cranes winging their way north. The majesty of the birds was wonderful to see, and the promise of spring that they herald is wonderful to contemplate.

I have watched over fifty winters come and go and have matured [somewhat] in my view of winter. I often tell people that I don’t complain about the weather, I determine to enjoy it. And I do enjoy it. But there is something about the change of seasons, particularly about the coming of spring that is refreshing to the soul.

The change of seasons reminds us that God is still God; he is sovereign over the march of time. It is he that decrees the weather, the cycles of climate, the day-to-day elements. No matter what investment of money and effort man has made, we cannot significantly impact these things.

The change of seasons also reminds us of the orderliness of God. He set the stars and the planets in place. He set up the laws of physics which govern the interaction of matter in this universe. This orderliness allows us to plan for the different seasons, to be prepared for what is coming.

The change of seasons, particularly the coming of spring, brings hope. One of the lines from The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe that captures this the complaint that ‘…it is always winter, and never Christmas.’ When the hope for the change of seasons is denied, the inhabitants of Narnia despair. But with the coming of spring their hearts are lifted and hope is reborn. So too, we are reminded of the loving-kindness of God as we see the newness and freshness of spring coming.

Now you will have to excuse me while I go outside and enjoy the sunshine quickly before the weather changes again.