Heroes Who Made Science Fun For Me

Do you remember Bill Nye (the Science Guy)? He made science fun. He made Saturday Mornings entertaining and educational. He's the reason I'm studying science at uni now.

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Prayer

I've been plugging through Prayer by Phillip Yancey recently (about 1/2 way through it now). I tried reading What's so Amazing About Grace a while ago but gave up on it because I felt it was just waffle (at least the first chapter that I read). But putting that aside I picked up Prayer and haven't looked back. He tackles the issue of prayer in a humble way and doesn't make any claims to be an expert on it. This book is kind of a 'thinking out loud' kind of a book and quite an easy read.
It's been great to reflect upon prayer and why do we do it? So far I have really been put in my place in my attitude to prayer. Prayer seems to be something that we do that reflects who we are before God...dependent. Prayer isn't just a duty or something you do when you need something but it is relational, talking to God.
It's amazing to reflect on just how much Jesus prays, what he prays for and what he doesn't. Although he doesn't seem to answer the big theological questions, it does raise the bar for me in the way I view God and just how mysterious and big, huge and awesome he is.
It's also interesting just how often some people pray in that they remind God of his promises and demand he fulfill them. "God look at the injustice, you hate evildoers and those who prey on the weak and you promise you will bring an end to this. FIX IT!"

Some quotable quotes:

• 'Nothing lies beyond the reach of prayer except that which lies outside the will of God' p. 97
• 'Prayer is keeping company with God' unknown
• 'To pray is to make the most of our moments of perception' A. Ecclestone
• 'There are no atheists in foxholes [pits for those of us in the Australian Army], everyone prays' Ernie Pyle
  

The War Against Work

Words are coming soon. Just a bit busy at the moment. I have heaps to tell...promise!

Teenage Affluenza

KYLC08

Katoomba Youth Leadership Convention 2008 was AWESOME!
Great Preaching.

Great People.
Even More Great People
Great Food.
Great Views.
Great Times
Reflection on the past week still coming. So stay tuned...

11 Points Towards Mental Health

I've been listening to a series of talks by John Piper. In it I ran across this bloke called Clyde Kilby who explains to us that we need to 'stop seeking mental health in the mirror of self-analysis, but instead to drink in the remedies of God in nature.'
Psalm 19:1 reflects this:

"The sky is telling the glory of God"

He outlines 10 Resolutions Towards Mental Health which I have found particularly helpful. It has since led me to reflect on God revealing and comforting us through His creation which is absolutely awesome!

• 1. At least once every day I shall look steadily up at the sky and remember that I, a consciousness with a conscience, am on a planet traveling in space with wonderfully mysterious things above and about me.
• 2. Instead of the accustomed idea of a mindless and endless evolutionary change to which we can neither add nor subtract, I shall suppose the universe guided by an Intelligence which, as Aristotle said of Greek drama, requires a beginning, a middle, and an end. I think this will save me from the cynicism expressed by Bertrand Russell before his death when he said: "There is darkness without, and when I die there will be darkness within. There is no splendor, no vastness anywhere, only triviality for a moment, and then nothing."
• 3. I shall not fall into the falsehood that this day, or any day, is merely another ambiguous and plodding twenty-four hours, but rather a unique event, filled, if I so wish, with worthy potentialities. I shall not be fool enough to suppose that trouble and pain are wholly evil parentheses in my existence, but just as likely ladders to be climbed toward moral and spiritual manhood.
• 4. I shall not turn my life into a thin, straight line which prefers abstractions to reality. I shall know what I am doing when I abstract, which of course I shall often have to do.
• 5. I shall not demean my own uniqueness by envy of others. I shall stop boring into myself to discover what psychological or social categories I might belong to. Mostly I shall simply forget about myself and do my work.
• 6. I shall open my eyes and ears. Once every day I shall simply stare at a tree, a flower, a cloud, or a person. I shall not then be concerned at all to ask what they are but simply be glad that they are. I shall joyfully allow them the mystery of what Lewis calls their "divine, magical, terrifying and ecstatic" existence.
• 7. I shall sometimes look back at the freshness of vision I had in childhood and try, at least for a little while, to be, in the words of Lewis Carroll, the "child of the pure unclouded brow, and dreaming eyes of wonder."
• 8. I shall follow Darwin's advice and turn frequently to imaginative things such as good literature and good music, preferably, as Lewis suggests, an old book and timeless music.
• 9. I shall not allow the devilish onrush of this century to usurp all my energies but will instead, as Charles Williams suggested, "fulfill the moment as the moment." I shall try to live well just now because the only time that exists is now.
• 10. Even if I turn out to be wrong, I shall bet my life on the assumption that this world is not idiotic, neither run by an absentee landlord, but that today, this very day, some stroke is being added to the cosmic canvas that in due course I shall understand with joy as a stroke made by the architect who calls himself Alpha and Omega.