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Archive for June, 2022

gps

Posted in Analogy, Blessing, General, God Thoughts, Grace, Guidance, Random thoughts, Sustaining, tagged , , , on June 27, 2022| 1 Comment »

GPS is recognized as the acronym for Global Positioning System, an amazing gridwork of 31 functioning satellites that allow very accurate position and time information for anyone with a receiver.

gps is a new acronym I have been thinking about that orients the user to true evaluation of the source of good. gps stands for gracious providential serendipity. Grace is unmerited favor, or as I like to say, “getting what you don’t deserve”, compared to mercy, which is “not getting what you do deserve.” Providence is divine guidance and provision. Serendipity is “the faculty or phenomenon of finding valuable or agreeable things not sought for” (1) So, unmerited guidance or provision in an area unsought for is gps. God knows our need and desire and frequently graciously provides for us apart from our knowledge.

Several times recently I have been in utter need of knowledge and discernment regarding what I was doing. I prayed for clear answers. In the sense of seeking an answer, the guidance was definitely sought for, but the answer was several times surprising in content, delivery, and source. God is indeed gracious; He is sovereign; He has all knowledge and all power. I am constantly in need of His guidance but especially cognizant at the moment of that fact with significant decisions on the near horizon. I need some good gps signals.

  1. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/serendipity

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Hands On Experience

Posted in Family, General, Grandchildren, Science on June 25, 2022| Leave a Comment »

While working and living in Johnson City recently (see Vacation Villa), our daughter and two grandchildren came to visit and spend several nights. The children enjoyed the swimming pool, of course. We spent one long morning at two different playgrounds. One had adult exercise machines. I was sore the next day.

The day before, Mamaw, Mother, grandchildren, and I went to the Hands On Museum and Gray Fossil Site. It was fun and informative. The Hands On part had many of the exhibits from years ago when we had visited it. They are good exhibits, but some need repairs, and all need educational explanations to make them, well, educational, as opposed to merely fun.

There were two new exhibits that were well done. One was the presentation of fossils found at the Gray site. It had been a sinkhole that had collapsed. I don’t accept the long time scales, and it very likely collapse in the Worldwide Flood of Noah’s day, but the variety of fossils and depictions of flora and fauna of that time were good. There were Mastodon and Tapir bones, the latter being in more profusion that any other fossil site. There was a new species of hickory tree found in the fossilized muds. Types of fossils were well explained along with small samples well exhibited with good convex lens for viewing.

The second good exhibit was one of the best combinations of hands on and technology I had ever seen. So many techy exhibits are glitzy and purely spectatorial. This one taught by doing and interacting with the both the very tactile sand and constantly adjusting video. The exhibit consisted of an approximately 4 1/2′ x 5′ sandbox with a detector/projector above that measured the distance to the sand and projected contour lines and elevation colors onto the sand. As you move the sand into a pile or scoop it out, the system adjusts the contour lines and colors almost immediately. Children and adults alike had trouble pulling their hands out of the sand. With hand above any spot, moving one’s fingers, the projector produced what looked like a lava flow that persisted for 10 seconds or so. I think they could up the game even a bit more by providing a map legend of contour lines and intervals and elevation colors for educational purposes.

We of course enjoyed time with our daughter and the grandchildren. While they were there, my granddaughter and I finished our reading of the Chronicles of Narnia which I had been reading to her over Duo (a video chat format for Android) for about six months. It was quite the enjoyable time. Check out a few pictures at Hands On and Gray Fossils.

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Never Always

Posted in Assurance, Blessing, General, Glorification, Grace, Joy, Poem, Rest, Sanctification, Struggling, tagged , , , , , , on June 8, 2022| Leave a Comment »

Some things that we say and believe are not what we presently experience in full,
but are what is true about us in our new nature, is becoming true about us through
sanctification, and will be totally true in heaven.

Never lonely when He is near
Never overcome by any fear
Always hopeful though life be drear
Always at peace even when not all is clear

Momentarily disturbed, oh sure
Momentarily give in, not pure
Eternally made right, the cure
Eternally held tight, secure

Daily the struggle goes on
Daily His Spirit I must don
Slowly sinful tendencies gone
Slowly His righteous ways in me dawn

Fearfully and wonderfully made
Fearfully work out my salvation I am bade
Joyfully go forth with His aid
Joyfully with His Spirit arrayed

Nevermore sorrow overcomes
Nevermore to sin succumbs
Forever peace until and when He comes
Forever glorious gracious outcomes

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Vacation Villa

Posted in Change, Dependence, General, Guidance, tagged , , , , on June 1, 2022| 1 Comment »

I heard my pastor say to the several young people, whom he was congratulating for being graduated from high school or college, that it is a time for them of transition and need for guidance from God. I thought to myself, ‘You don’t have to be freshly graduated in order to be in that transition period. I taught high school science for 27 years in one school district, but now I am transitioning into a new “career”. As a part of the transition, I need to build a clientele in the new location. Apart from God’s intervention, I fully expect that to initially be a slow process. I am, however, starting off with a big bang. My boss is on a long overdue 5 week vacation, and I am seeing many of his clients. This is good training. How I was going to pull off this 5 week stint two hours from home without a place to stay was a mystery to me. But then my employer and his wife decided to graciously allow us to enjoy the comforts of their home by house sitting for them. Of course, God knew the provision He had for us, and I had to take each fog veiled step forward by His leading. That is what trust is, not knowing where you are going or how you will get there, and taking the next step as each one is revealed. Sometimes God provides a sunny view of many days ahead, but at other times He allows the fog to thicken so that we must step cautiously and confidently in the light He gives. The house we have been living in is a good provision for our needs at this juncture, but it is far from fancy. The house we are house sitting is of another sort. You can click on Vacation Villa, which is what I have decided to call it, to see a few pictures.

A funny side note. We needed to return to the other house this past weekend in order to take care of a few chores. On Friday evening we sat on the front porch overlooking the field and the trees growing off to the horizon. My wife wistfully said, “I like trees.” I replied, “Let me get this straight. You’d rather live in a shack surrounded by trees than a mansion without them.” With a very definite tone she said simply, “Yes.” I added, “Me, too.” That will help us to know what to look for and hope for when we go house hunting.

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Overflows from the Heart

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