That night my heart was heavy. I couldn’t sleep. I kept thinking about this family, and then all the other families in need. I know we made a difference for this family. But my heart was crushed at all of the families out there who need more from those who can help. I kept getting up to pray, then trying to sleep, then getting up again. I finally gave up on sleep at 4am and saw you had already given quite a bit. I was happy to see it but I still kept thinking of everyone else that needs help.

But before I go there, I want to share about what we’ve been able to do and what I’ve been hearing others doing.

To date there were over $300 in donations. My wife is going right now, literally as I type this, to take the money to help pay their rent. I talked with them last night and basically they would be on the street today if we didn’t have this money to give. That is why my heart was so heavy, because I wanted to give them a good Christmas, but what is a nice Christmas morning when you get kicked out on the street a few days later.

The day after I wrote the last post, my wife went Christmas shopping for this family. She bought them food, clothes, and some other presents. The young lady didn’t have a winter coat, so we made that happen too. God has really blessed us in this past year and for once we have disposable income. I was thinking about computer upgrades, other nice toys, generally enjoying the money. Turns out I got the opportunity to really enjoy the money.

The family was just beside themselves with gratitude for the presents. We also got a small tree and a few decorations. They called me a few times just to say thanks again. I am telling you all this because I want you to know they are thankful for your help as well. If it weren’t for you we wouldn’t have been able to give them as much, we would have been forced to chose between giving them food, paying for their rent, and giving them that Merry Christmas. Thank you.

This year we exchanged gifts with friends, and for the first time we were buying and receiving some pretty nice gifts. Normally we had to set really low limits, not because our friends couldn’t afford it, but because we couldn’t spend as much on them as they could on us. I talked to someone I work with online and this year their family did a donation gift exchange instead of their traditional one at the extended family party. They raised $500 for a charity when normally they would have played dirty Santa with stupid little gifts.

Based on that it occurred to me that next year my friends and I could do the same thing, instead of giving gifts to each other we can bless families in our community.

How cool would it be if we all did that next year? At the office party, skip the office gift exchange and raise money for a local charity that is helping keep families warm and full. In your church, sponsor families. With your friends, take the spending limits off and see just how much you can do for the people in your community.

What would happen if we took that same attitude and spread it through the year? What if the 99% said “I don’t need what the 1% has to help my fellow man.”

I guess I’ve been kind of all over the place here. Let me close by once again thanking you from the depth of my heart on your gifts to this family. Because of your giving we didn’t have to choose between keeping a roof over their head, food in their stomachs, and a Merry Christmas morning. You helped us do it all for them, more than anything we could do on our own.

Please continue to pray for them and those in need through our world. Specifically, pray that they are able to get a job and get into the apartments they have been trying to get into, there the rent will be better and they’ll even have more space, a kitchen, and a better opportunity for a better life.

What have/are you doing to help others? Does your family have any traditions this time of year or through out the year? Share in the comments so we can all be inspired to more.

On the off chance that you have never heard of the Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, here is a short synopsis.

*****Spoiler Alert*****
Not sure I’m actually required to do that, over 100 years has come and gone since this classic was written, which I believe is well past the statute of limitations on spoilers, but consider yourself warned.

There is a rich man named Scrooge. He hates everyone and most everyone either hates or pities him. He loves money. He has a clerk working for him named Bob Cratchit that has a sick young boy named “Tiny” Tim.

More than anything Scrooge hates Christmas, thinks it’s a waste of time and money. Then one Christmas Eve he is startled by a familiar face. It is his old partner Jacob Marley (in the Muppet version there are two), unfortunately his partner happened to be long dead. This specter warned him of the 3 spirits that would visit him that night.

Through the night he is shown his past, present, and future by the 3 spirits of Christmas. He sees Bob Cratchit’s poor home full of love, and the hope in the sickly young Tiny Tim. Then he sees the empty chair and the pain and loss in the Crachit house, and finally his own lonely death.

He awakes Christmas morning over joyed to find that he has time to make a difference, and buys the Christmas Goose for the Cratchit family as he begins righting many wrongs. It is a truly moving story.

I’ve been thinking about it because I am truly blessed but don’t always realize it. Sometimes it takes something bigger than me to show me just how blessed I am.

Recently I met a family that was in need. They were asking if the church could help them, and quite frankly I don’t have access to church funds, but I did have some money in my wallet from a wedding I had done a couple months ago. They are nearly homeless, trying to get into some apartments that work with the government assistance programs. They started coming to church, and their daughter came to my youth program. My wife picked her up and found she hadn’t eaten since breakfast. My wife asked if she was hungry and was told, “I try not to think about it so I’m not so hungry.” We got pizza for everyone and made it into a party. My wife also asked if she was looking forward to Christmas, but she isn’t. How can she be when they won’t have anything for Christmas? No decorations, no presents, no visits to family, just staying in a low cost week to week motel, with maybe one meal a day till school starts back in a couple of weeks when she’ll be able to eat breakfast and lunch at school.

My wife wants to give them Christmas and we’ll be able to do that, but honestly I want to do so much more.

I know I don’t have the huge reader base SCL has. Heck I’ve really sucked at writing updated and doing all the things that I’m supposed to do to build a solid base, but I want to help this family and I can’t do it all by myself. I’m not really good at asking for money, but I know if I get others to help we can make a bigger difference.

Thanks to everyone that helped in the donations. I’ve taken the donate button down so I could wrap up the donations and help this family out. I’ll be posting a follow up post.

These experiences don’t seem to happen like that any more. Yes, God moved powerfully at ATF this year, but honestly it was just a small taste of what I have experienced in the past, and I can’t think of the last time we experienced anything like that in church, but I know when I was a teen it happened with some regularity.

I was talking with my pastor after out hike last week and he was expressing similar concerns, God has been speaking to us both about this, and so we are going to be changing the Sunday PM service to allow more time to wait on God.

I’m praying that when we wait on God instead of expecting Him to move on our time frame, then wew ill see the power of God flow in our church again.

Have you ever experienced God’s Spirit moving? Does it seem to be “less” today than it use to be? Why?

Jimmy Needham was the concert on Friday Night at ATF. All the students liked this concert better than the other two. When he covered Stand By Me I have to say, well I immediately went and bought all his CDs.

I can, however, add my personal notes on the event. Friday night Ron Luce spoke. This is the first time I’ve heard him speak. He related our relationship to God to an experience he had with his son rebuilding an old wreck. The car was in really bad shape, barely a frame to speak of, so they had to do a lot to it, it took time, and it was not a painless process, but in the end they had a gorgeous ’67 Mustang convertible.

The next day they had the main drama broken into 3 parts, it conveyed the story of a young man that pressured his best friend (a young lady who had lost her father) into a sexual relationship. Of course things spiral down hill. The young man ends up seeing parts of his near future with the help of a cinemaphile angel. The videos and dramatic scenes were pretty well done, but I think last year’s was better. If you are wondering, the young man rejects what he has been shown at first, refusing to take responsibility, but in the end he does the right thing and all is well.

The sessions were great though, the morning session was on the “Great Sex Guarantee.” The “sex talk” and I think they did a really good job dealing with some difficult topics including pornography and “friends with benefits.” I went to a short session for Youth Pastors and missed the same sex discussion. I asked some of my students about it later and they said it was really pretty short, basically affirming the Biblical perspective but also encouraging love and respect over hate, callousness, and judgement as the means to reaching out to friends dealing with same sex attraction.

The afternoon session was about dealing with failure, I loved that they included this session because it is really difficult for students who have these great “mountain top” experiences at conventions or camps, but then have to live their lives in between. Learning to keep getting gup after failing is huge. The big quote was:

The godly may trip seven times, but they will get up again.
But one disaster is enough to overthrow the wicked.

New Living Translation

Basically, the idea is that a godly (or righteous) man isn’t credited on being perfect, it is about not giving up. That’s pretty powerful.

The last session was cut a bit short (more on that tomorrow). It was about living a “He” life, not focusing on me. Mike (the speaker) talked about how much impact some young men and women had when they decided to follow God and put their own concerns aside. Around teh turn of the previous century a movement of missionaries without modern transportation or communication began reaching out to the world at large, bringing all of their belongings with them in a casket knowing they likely would never return home. He then challenged teh students to realize they have so much more, and to know they could do exponentially more if they let God take complete control.

I felt the main lacking point was reaching to those around you now while you prepare for what God is moving your toward. “He who is faithful over the small things I will make ruler over the great.” I believe that this is why Jesus sent his followers to their local population first, to prepare them for the “uttermost parts of the Earth.”

A lot more happened, and I’ll be writing about the worship and my own Youth Pastor sessions along with my experiences and student reactions this week.

Have you ever been to ATF or another similar youth event? What experiences did you have?

Anyways, I want to talk about prayer for a bit. My kids learned to pray pretty early. They fight over who gets to pray over the meal, so we have a schedule and it is very important to keep teh schedule. Even the 2 year old has his turn. His prayer is something like “Tay u Jus, Fud, MAN!!!!” If you don’t speak 2 year old this translates to “Thank you Jesus for this food. Amen.”

I learned to pray when I was very young too. I don’t remember when I learned to pray, I only remember always knowing how to pray. I think in some way kids are great at the idea. Asking for something is natural to kids, they have to ask for everything to start with, it takes time before they can start helping themselves.

I think that is kind of how prayer goes for us, we start out asking God for everything, but then we start doing a lot more for ourselves till we only ask Him when we can’t. We want to rely on our own abilities, but I think God wants us to rely on Him. A lot of folks seem to think that God doesn’t want us asking for stuff all the time, but that doesn’t seem to fit with the Bible if you ask me. Jesus says “if a son asks his father for a bit of bread, would the father give his son a stone? How much more does the Heavenly father delight in giving good gifts to His children?” The point isn’t that God wants us to stop asking for stuff, He wants to give us great and amazing things, not a bag of rocks. The point is that God wants to give us good gifts, so that is what we should ask for. Here Jesus is talking about the Holy Spirit, but in other places it speaks of seeking the fruit of the Spirit, and other such things.

Maybe that is why we find it so hard to attain the fruit of the Spirit, we try to build that in our lives, when God really wants to gift us with it.

Have you prayed today? What did you ask for? Have you asked for the fruit of the Spirit before? Have you received? How did it go?

I can watch Star Wars followed by Lord of the Rings and Star Trek and not feel bad in any way. I don’t own any Star Wars toys, but if I did I’d probably be happy playing with them isntead of leaving them sealed in their containers. I’d have epic fights with ThunderCats, GI Joes, and Transformers. Imagine Vader, StarScream (I never had MegaTron because he just turned into a gun and that was kinda lame compared to a jet), Mumm-Ra, and Cobra Commander lined up on one side, and Han Solo (Luke was such a whiner), Optimus Prime, Lion-O, and Duke on the other plus all the lesser characters and green and tan army men (the green are the good guys).

It would start out with the baddies winning, but then they would start fighting each other and Optimus Prime would try to sacrifice himself (he really enjoys doing that), but then Han would fly in with the Millennium Falcon to save him as Chewie yells. Some of the Joes would lose their arms or legs (they are detachable after all), C3-PO probably wouldn’t make it and Jar Jar dies very early, probably in the first attack, but in the end the good guys would win the day.

Now pardon me while I go check ebay for some cool new toys, I have a battle to plan.

Today I want to focus on the Origin of Life. Of course this whole discussion is a bit of a moot point given the evidence for a Creator, but it is interesting to note the blind faith of atheistic scientists in excluding the possibility of a Creator.

First lets look at what science has believed in the past and has proven.

Spontaneous Generation

You might remember this concept from a High School Biology lab. The short version is, scientist believed that life which they could not document the origin of must have come out of inanimate matter spontaneously when the conditions are right. For example, when meat begins to decay maggots will grow out of the rotting meat, or when mud hits the right saturation, frogs will spring forth. Don’t remember this? Here is the introduction from the Wikipedia Article on teh subject

Spontaneous generation or Equivocal generation is an obsolete principle[citation needed] regarding the origin of life from inanimate matter, which held that this process was a commonplace and everyday occurrence, as distinguished from univocal generation, or reproduction from parent(s). The theory was synthesized by Aristotle,[1] who compiled and expanded the work of prior natural philosophers and the various ancient explanations of the appearance of organisms; it held sway for two millennia. It is generally accepted to have been ultimately disproven in the 19th Century by the experiments of Louis Pasteur, expanding upon the experiments of other scientists before him (such as Francesco Redi who had performed similar experiments in the 17th century). Ultimately, it was succeeded by germ theory and cell theory.

The disproof of ongoing spontaneous generation is no longer controversial, now that the life cycles of various life forms have been well documented. However, the question of abiogenesis, how living things originally arose from non-living material, remains relevant today.

More on Spontaneous Generation

I know Wik isn’t exactly a scholastic journal, but it is convenient and if you consult an average Biology text book you will get something very similar.

Spontaneous Generation Disputed

This theory had held on for well over a thousand years and shaped the scientific minds through the Renaissance. Eventually science reached a point where some key parts of the theory could be tested, and initial results were not well received by the scientific community. Many scientists were removed until the weight of evidence overwhelmed the bias towards this long held belief.

The key experiments that essentially laid this theory to rest were conducted by Louis Pasture, the same guy that helped create pasteurized milk. Since I like bacteria free milk, I’m a pretty big fan of this guy.

Basically he conducted a series of experiments that showed key life forms did not come from matter, but instead came from other life. One of the most notable experiments was his work with bacteria. This extremely small and seemingly simple form of life must appear on its own from the matter it is found in. Science, at the time, simply could think of any other explanation. Pasture eventually created a series of custom flasks with varying inlets. He was able to show that bacteria actually reproduced from existing cultures coming from a wide variety of sources. This is why we wash our hands before and after handling food or when going into and out of hospital rooms, and hopefully after using a restroom. Seriously people, please wash your hands. I’m not a germophobe but it’s just gross if you are gonna shake my hand after going to the bathroom but haven’t washed your hands.

Spontaneous Generation Revisited

While Pasture was conducting his experiments that essentially disproved Spontaneous Generation, another man of Science was doing research that would lead science back to this belief. In fact, 1859 was the year of Pasture’s famous broth experiment and Darwin’s release of On the Origin of Species. This book was both praised and reviled, certainly the impact has been building ever since. Generally it deals with evolution of species, which will be addressed in another post, but it sets the stage for Spontaneous Generation of Life.

The problem with proving that Spontaneous Generation is a false theory is that it ultimately required a Creator, much like the origin of the Universe. So Science like to hold that this can actually happen, with simple enough life, on very rare instances, when conditions are right.

Essentially the Atheistic Scientist is saying, “we can accept that spontaneous generation may have been a one time event in our history which we cannot replicate, but we accept this despite the evidence against it because we refuse to believe in Creation.” I know it sounds like I have over simplified things, but that is the basic premise behind the theory that life came out of the primordial soup. In fact there have been many failed experiments to create life from non life, and the results very closely match what Pasture proved, so far life has never come from non life.

Now the Atheistic Scientist will say, “but that doesn’t prove this to be a false theory, since time, chance, and the right conditions haven’t been met, so we will keep trying till this has been proven because we know it must be fact.” I find that to be interesting, and a position that would be generally unacceptable in science without valid rationale behind it. If the reasoning is a simple refusal to accept another theory which seems to fit the data more readily, then I wouldn’t consider that valid rationale.

What if Science Makes Life

This is the question that begs an answer. What if a scientist is able to create the right conditions, with the right essential elements for life, and constructs a simple organism? Well, that hasn’t happened, but let’s say it happens later today, will that change anything? Not really, because what that has proven is an intelligent mind can create life from non-life. That is the basic premise of the Creation theory. A Creator, God, made life. If a scientist can create life from non life, then I have to believe an infinite being would find that to be a trivial task.

If science were to make life, it still wouldn’t prove Spontaneous Generation, as this wouldn’t be spontaneous, nor would it disprove the Creation theory.

Pan Sperma and other Theories

There is a growing number of scientists that realize that the odds are not in their favor. In fact mathematicians have estimated the odds of life happening by chance is so astronomical it is what we can call an essential impossibility. You have a better chance of winning the lottery without a ticket.

Now, one would think that a rational person, when faced with a mountain of evidence against the prevailing theory would at least look at a competing theory which seems to address the inherent problems of the prevailing theory. Instead, blind faith causes Creation Theory to be rejected out of hand, so other theories must be created.

Among the more popular is that life on Earth came from life outside Earth. Some believe aliens seeded the planet with life, other believe that the most basic life exists in the Universe along side matter and just waits for a habitable planet. Still others believe that the Universe itself created life, while others believe life willed itself to be.

Each of these theories fail the science and logic from the previous two parts if this series. First, the alien theory must assume an infinite regression of life, where did the aliens come from? If they came from Spontaneous Generation we have just moved the impossibility off by one life form. There for they must have come from life alien to them, so and and so forth until the Atheistic Scientist rejects the impossibility of Spontaneous Generation and says “and the life came from nothing” or for infinity. Both of which are unreasonable.

To believe that life simply exists still begs the question, where did it come from? Was it created alongside the Universe or is the Universe eternal? To believe it was created along with the Universe is to simply agree in the Creation theory, just a question of the timing, to believe it is eternal is to fail to grasp why the Universe, nor life as we know it can be eternal.

The last two are countered in the previous part in the series where I discuss why the Universe cannot be a part of God (Pantheism).

In fact, every theory offered by the Atheistic Scientist fails the test of logic and reason or only serve to postpone the question to the actual origin of life. It grasps at that which has been proven by science to be wrong and all this to avoid belief in a Creator who loves us.

It is pride at its worst. This is essentially the same as a man who was given everything by his wealthy parents rising to great heights and then rejecting his family saying “all that I am I have done on my own.”

In the time from the Crucifixion to the day of Pentecost there were a great many changes in the followers of Christ. In this sermon I read from 1 Corinthians 15 and follow 3 key changes in life that brought the early church out of fear and into a bold proclamation of the Gospel, including changes in Paul’s life after Christ ascended. Find out why you must know Christ, be given Grace, and receive the Holy Spirit for this change to be worked in your life.

Some months, well actually years, ago we began a quest for a new to us vehicle. We had certain requirements of this vehicle. It must have room for the family, which limited us to vans, minivans, and certain SUVs with a third row. It also much have better than 25mpg fuel economy, which basically narrowed it down to just tow vehicles. The Mazda 5 and the Toyota Highlander Hybrid. We looked into the Mazda 5 first, since it cost less. For a while we felt this would have to be the car, but God blessed us with some extra money, so we began looking for a Highlander Hybrid within our budget. Seeking a very nice car costing less than $25k in an economy where everyone wants the best fuel mileage is a difficult task. We found several prospects in the past few months, but they were sold before we could even call about them.

We also found several that were black, and I really didn’t want a black vehicle after the last one. I really didn’t like the fact that you could wash and wax the car and have it looking dirty in minutes. There were some around that were great deals, but priced closer to $30k, which we could afford but I just didn’t want to spend that much on a car at this point in my life.

A few days ago I had all but given up hope. I did the math on the fuel savings and just couldn’t justify the cost we would have to pay for the hybrid, so I began a search for the regular highlander, figuring I’d start researching fuel economy again and wanted to use that as a base comparison. Then I saw 3 vehicles returned with the hybrid engine on the regular Highlander search. All 3 were in the price range, one was white, not the worst but not the best, one was black, which I skipped automatically, and one was blue. The exact color I really wanted. I know that color is the least determining factor, but the mileage was well under my max (52k) and the price was great ($21k) so I contacted the dealer to verify it had the third row (once before I though I found the perfect vehicle, but it didn’t have the third row as advertized). Oh Happy Day! It had the seating we needed. Teh car fax was available and all maintenance was done at the dealership and recorded. This vehicle sounded perfect, so we drove over 2 hours just to look.

Fortunately we found everything to be exactly as we required, maybe not every bell or whistle, but everything we needed. It took forever to get the paper work done, with drive time it took nearly 12 hours to complete the purchase and return home, but we have a new to us vehicle. Here are a few pics I took this morning when the sun came mostly out of the clouds.