Beauty in the Shadows

 

          Sometime last year in the late summer or early fall, we had a burst of major storms. There's so much beauty, yet so much fear when it comes to adverse weather. Today, I am sharing some Bible verses with you that demonstrate how mighty God is by the description of His voice and how thunder may be an example of His anger with the people that do not believe in Him and the people who keep sinning even after they have received His grace and mercy.

 

 

"The adversaries of the LORD shall be broken to pieces; out of heaven shall he thunder upon them:..."

I. Samuel 2:10

 

"And Moses stretched forth his rod toward heaven: and the LORD sent thunder and hail,..."

Exodus 9:23

 

"...The LORD shall roar from on high, and utter his voice from his holy habitation; he shall mightily roar upon his habitation; he shall give a shout, as they that tread the grapes, against all the inhabitants of the earth."

Jeremiah 25:30

 

"The LORD also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the LORD will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel."

Joel 3:16

 

"And James the son of Zebedee, and John the brother of James; and he surnamed them Boanerges, which is, The sons of thunder:"

Mark 3:17

 

 

          This final verse makes reference, not to God, but to the powerful speaking voices of the disciples, James and John - the sons of Zebedee.

This Christmas ...

         

          I was reminded and had my eyes opened this last Christmas - as we read through the Bible story of Jesus' birth and circumcision - how Mary was always wondering and mulling over the instances of Jesus' birth being published and spread to poor, humble folk and those who were far away from the place.

 

Every aspect of Mary's character was taken into account when she was selected to be the mother of Jesus, so I believe that this is an important idea to point out.

 

"But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart."

Luke 2:19

(when the shepherds had explained their knowledge and went their way)

 

"And Joseph and his mother marvelled at those things which were spoken of him."

Luke 2:33

(when Mary and Joseph met Simeon in the temple for Mary's purification and Simeon had spoken to them about Jesus)

 

"...but his mother kept all these  things in her heart."

Luke 2:51

(when Mary and Joseph "lost" Jesus and found him speaking to the elders in the temple)

 

How many things have we learned from meditating on God's Word?

How many amazing things have been created due to the ideas that others have thought about? 

 

How many things have we discovered in the created things around us, because we were curious?

How must we question every aspect of the world's thinking in order to prepare ourselves with strength for Christian battles?

 

 

These instances - recorded in the Bible - are an important reminder that we must not be blinded by a certain way of thinking and that we should not become stagnant in the faith.

 

Instead, we should remember that there is always more and more to discover and put out for others and remember that God gave us the ability to think and to appreciate the natural world around us much more.

   

A Time for War and A Time for Peace (Bible Verse Reference)

          This is a very controversial subject among Christians, and it appears I opened a can of worms with my last post, "We Are the Dead."

          Please take note of my words here at the beginning: I don't believe in starting war; I believe in peace and promoting peace above all things. Peace pacts are just a paper, however, and no matter what you say, evil will still come to those seeking revenge, power, etc. (Modern examples, e.g. Russia over Ukraine, ISIS).

          As I said in an earlier comment, Jesus does not condone war, but neither does he condemn it; which is why, by the way, that we have to go to war when the government calls us - we are to obey the authority, so long as it doesn't interfere with God's commands (Romans 13:1-2, Acts 5: 29), which war and fighting is not a part of.

          If he would be completely against war, surely he would not have praised the centurion for such great faith (Matthew 8:10), surely he would not have used war as a metaphor when speaking about the Christian life (I. Timothy 6:12, Ephesians 6:13, II. Corinthians 10:4). What about the battle of Armageddon (Revelations 16:16)? - surely, if God condemns war so much, then there would be no last battle. To say the least, Jesus is constantly warring with Satan so that we do not come to harm (Deuteronomy 20:4, Psalm 138:7, Isaiah 42:13) - what is this called; sparring?

          If someone curses in my presence, I will tell them that I do not wish to hear them; if I find someone being beaten to death, I will definitely try and intervene - would you say that I shouldn't be defending this person? Or wickedness? Or evil? How are we to stop it if we tolerate it?

       
          Finally last, but not least, anyone who says that Jesus never resorted to violence should take a look at Matthew 21:12 again. 

Yellow, to Orange, to Green, to Blue, to...

Brown!

Judo Girl and Chemistry

Cute sister. :)

In this experiment, we added some drops of food colouring to the milk. Then we added a bit of dish soap. Because milk is both polar (the water part) and nonpolar (the fat part), the dye showed how the milk was both attracted and repelled by the soap.

This picture and above: October 12, 2016



My 12-year-old sister arranged these mums.

They're lovely, aren't they?

This picture and above: September 30, 2016

This picture and above: September 28, 2016

This picture and above: September 26, 2016

This picture: September 24, 2016

Acting silly

This picture and above: September 23, 2016

Something spooked her.

This picture and above: September 22, 2016

Blog "Birthday"

     Now, I am not much into this thing called "blog birthday," but I came across this verse on the 4th Sunday after Epiphany: "But the men marvelled saying, What manner of a man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him" (Matthew 8: 27). 

     I am curious to see who reads this blog, and I would love to read what you think Jesus is (feel free to type as much as you think)

 

. Please don't be shy about typing your first name, either.

 I'll start it off:

Jessica

Jesus is the highest, yet the humblest.