6.15.2007

Saranac Lake, Here I Come!

Well, I'm off to camp... I'll be checking this (and writing, perhaps) rather intermittently in the near future, so be forewarned:)


Excelsior

6.06.2007

Thoughts on Friends and Non-Conformity

This past weekend my family and I journeyed down to Shenandoah Valley Academy in New Market, VA to attend graduation. It was a lot of fun to see friends that I haven't seen for a while and just reconnect.

I don't know why, but I always feel slightly bewildered by the realization that things aren't the same as when I saw them last. I guess one facet of this feeling is the security mechanism that we put up to filter out small changes that happen around us; a built-in continuity generator that keeps us safe, until a significant aberration intrudes into our consciousness, forcing us to recalibrate our concept of "normal." Another component is the fact that I'm looking at things through a different lens than I was last time. Perhaps the view hasn't changed as much as the viewer. . .

Anyway, I came away with two impressions that I wanted to jot down. First, godly friends are truly priceless! I'm amazingly blessed to merely know so many remarkable people, let alone to be able to consider them friends! In high school there were a few people who were really special and God used them to impact my life in a huge way. But then going to college, specifically Southern, has opened up a whole new treasure chest. I can't wait until Heaven!

Second, I was struck by the ubiquitous blending of the common and sacred. I guess this is more a commentary on modern culture than anything else. Everywhere I looked, I saw people trying to grasp the World in one hand and Heaven in the other. The clothes worn, the music played, some of the speeches; a common sentiment seemed to be "How can I have a secular lifestyle and still enjoy the benefits of spirituality?"

Perhaps the reason this stood out to me was because of what I've been reading in my devotions, and I've been noticing a recurring concept of "set-apartness." Many times God will say something like "I am the Lord your God, who has set you apart from the nations." In fact, I started researching this theme and it's all through the whole Bible. In case you're interested in checking this out, here are a few references: Ex. 19:6, 23:2, Lev. 20:23-24, 26, Num. 23:9, Deut. 4:6-7, 7:6, 14:2, 21, 18:9, 26:19, 28:9-10, Ezra 6:21, 9:1, 10:11, Neh. 10:28, Ps. 4:3, Jer. 1:5, Eze. 11:12, John 17:14-16, Titus 2:14, 1 Peter 2:9,... You get the idea. Over and over again in the Bible resounds the cry, "Be different!" "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind!"

“The single greatest cause of atheism in the world today is Christians, who acknowledge Jesus with their lips, then walk out the door, and deny Him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable."
~Brennan Manning

Enough wavering! Enough 'lukewarmness' It's time we as Seventh-day Adventist Christian youth start really following the Lamb wherever He goes, start being the light of the world, start being the salt of the earth! That's what being a follower of Jesus is all about; being in, yet not of. . .

Anyway, those are some of the things that have been rattling around in my head. What do you think?

Excelsior

6.04.2007

Profundities

A picture of Einstein playing his violin.
I found an Einstein quote on Lorrie's blog that I hadn't heard before, and it made me laugh! :D That inspired me to list a few of my favorite Einstein quotes. Enjoy!


Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one. (Very!)

The grand aim of all science is to cover the greatest number of empirical facts by logical deduction from the smallest number of hypotheses or axioms.
(The goal of science summed up in one sentence!)


Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.

The environment is everything that isn't me.

The faster you go, the shorter you are.
(It helps if you understand this equation: l=l_0*sqrt(1-(u^2/c^2)), wh
ere l_0 is the length in the frame of reference at rest, l is the length to the observer, u is the velocity of the object, and c is the speed of light.) :)

A sad kitty. You see, wire telegraph is a kind of a very, very long cat. You pull his tail in New York and his head is meowing in Los Angeles. Do you understand this? And radio operates exactly the same way: you send signals here, they receive them there. The only difference is that there is no cat. (Sheer genius, you must admit:)

Fond of animals, Einstein kept a housecat which tended to get depressed whenever it rained. Ernst Straus recalls him saying to the melancholy cat: "I know what's wrong, dear fellow, but I don't know how to turn it off." (Chestnut shares a similar malady.)

As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not certain, and as far as they are certain, they do not refer to reality. (For example, the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle)

The more success the quantum theory has, the sillier it looks. (Very true!)

The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once.

When you sit with a nice girl for two hours, it seems like two minutes. When you sit on a hot stove for two minutes, it seems like two hours-- that's relativity.
(Well, that's one kind of relativity!)


There are two ways to live: you can live as if nothing is a miracle; you can live as if everything is a miracle.

Excelsior!