inspector_rich

The Turtle who can race

Fri, 01 Sep 2006 21:33:01 GMT

Cute kid saying No 8,780,751,342

The children always get songs sung to them as they go to sleep - child 2 asked for his favourite "the turtle who can race". The lady spouse didn't know that one, but he said she did. She said she didn't, he burst into great pear-shaped tears. The lady spouse invited him to sing the first line. It turned out to be one we know well, often sung by the kids at church, to the tune of The Flintstones:

God's love
Is the best love
That the world has ever ever known,
Deeper than the deep sea
It's a love that only God has shown.
Higher than a rocket up in space
Wider than the total human race
God's love is the best love
That the world has ever ever -
- could ever ever
- will ever ever know!

(Did you spot the turtle?)

Top tips for coping with the heat number 275:

Fri, 21 Jul 2006 21:55:06 GMT

If you have a flat roof above your flat, office etc., paint it brilliant white to reflect the sun's energy. It really does make several degrees difference to the temperature inside. Make sure you put a guard rail around the edge of the roof and around any sky-lights, to protect anyone who goes up on the roof and gets dazzled / totally blinded by the paint job. (This very nearly happened to me today. Don't ask why I was up on someones roof, it really isn't that interesting.)

Top tips for coping with the heat number 274:

Wed, 19 Jul 2006 19:15:16 GMT

If you ar£ a bo$$, go £a$y on th£ $taff if productivity drop$ off a bit. Al$o, b£ pr£par£d to g£t the comput£r k£yboard$ ov£rhaul£d aft£r th£y have b££n $w£ated on. (Thank$ Paul for th£ hint)

Top tips for coping with the heat number 273:

Mon, 17 Jul 2006 20:42:17 GMT

Avoid resting your arms on the page when you are writing - the sweat makes the ink all splodgy.

Thu, 22 Jun 2006 22:42:11 GMT

This bible study was prepared for a group from our church.
Please feel free to post comments as responses to the questions in the study.

ISAIAH 50: 4-11
22/June/2006
In previous bible studies in this series, we have thought a lot about the Servant of the Lord. From the passages in Isaiah 42, 49 and 53 we have learned a lot about this figure. Isaiah saw himself as the servant, though he must have been aware that he could not aspire to the full measure of the servant's greatness, humility, authority and powerlessness.

If you weren't there for the studies on Isaiah 42, 49 and 53, then please be patient, I may get around to posting them one day. Until then read the passages and make your own mind up. Who is the servant? What did he come do? What was he like? (Bible resource here if you need an on-line one.)

4 The Sovereign LORD has given me an instructed tongue,
to know the word that sustains the weary.
He wakens me morning by morning,
wakens my ear to listen like one being taught.

5 The Sovereign LORD has opened my ears,
and I have not been rebellious;
I have not drawn back.

6 I offered my back to those who beat me,
my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard;
I did not hide my face
from mocking and spitting.

There is a progression from the purity and goodness of simply listening to God's word in order to pass it on to the weary, through the first hint that this requires steadfastness and faithfulness, into a description of the harm inflicted on the prophet. A man who does not resist those who pull out the beard, but keeps on speaking out his message, is the kind of non-violent person Martin Luther King might have modeled himself on.

Most of us are weary at least sometimes. What kind of word would sustain us? What kind of person would we go to for this word?

Isaiah would view caving in to violence as actual rebellion. Why is this, and how do we match up to the standard? What do Jesus' words "do not resist an evil person" mean?

[Jesus said] 38 "You have heard that it was said, 'Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.'[g] 39 But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. 40 And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. 41 If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. 42 Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.

7 Because the Sovereign LORD helps me,
I will not be disgraced.
Therefore have I set my face like flint,
and I know I will not be put to shame.

8 He who vindicates me is near.
Who then will bring charges against me?
Let us face each other!
Who is my accuser?
Let him confront me!

9 It is the Sovereign LORD who helps me.
Who is he that will condemn me?
They will all wear out like a garment;
the moths will eat them up.

These verses see the prophet's words turn away from considering the one who needs comfort. Now he speaks of himself against the "adversaries". He, with God's help, will stand firm. They will disappear.

The trials we face are very different from those Isaiah faced. How can these words help us?

10 Who among you fears the LORD
and obeys the word of his servant?
Let him who walks in the dark,
who has no light,
trust in the name of the LORD
and rely on his God.

11 But now, all you who light fires
and provide yourselves with flaming torches,
go, walk in the light of your fires
and of the torches you have set ablaze.
This is what you shall receive from my hand:
You will lie down in torment.

This is a powerful image. The faithless need a torch of their own making; the faithful need no created light; they have the hand of God. Life is an adventure, whether you like it or not. You can make your own way, using your own light, which might sound great but might ultimately be daft if there exist pitfalls which you cannot see and distractions which are bound to mislead. If there is a person who can lead you, then it makes more sense to go with him. Experience says the road will not be dull.

Verse 10: The servant demands obedience. But on what grounds? Why should we follow a man like this?

Verse 11: What is the danger the reader is warned against? How are we prone to this kind of sin?

The Gate of the Year

And I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year:
"Give me a light, that I may tread safely into the unknown!"
And he replied:
"Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the Hand of God.
That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way."

So, I went forth, and finding the Hand of God, trod gladly into the night
And He led me toward the hills and the breaking of day in the lone East.

So, heart, be still!
What need our little life,
Our human life, to know,
If God hath comprehension?
In all the dizzy strife
Of things both high and low
God hideth His intention

The Desert 1908
Marie Louise Haskins 1876 – 1957

Mon, 19 Jun 2006 21:00:46 GMT

Old, but very good. "The Gate of the Year"

The Keys of Life

Wed, 07 Jun 2006 20:14:34 GMT

Is it part of growing up?

In times past, I used to spend ages looking for my keys. I would sometimes be ten minutes late for work purely due to spending eleven minutes looking for car keys. Or I would walk out of the house without the keys and then have to break back into it to get them. (I have only done this once since getting married, and now I have a mobile phone, so phoned Spouse to ask her to come downstairs and open the door for me. Wouldn't have been so bad but I was setting off at 5:30am that day. Not a popular hubby.)

Now, I spend large tranches of my working day looking for other people's keys instead. Go to client site, get given enormous jailer-type bunch of keys which will, I am erroneously assured, get me into everything, and then spend the rest of the day traipsing round various offices looking for the keys which will actually open the doors. ARGGHHH! I want to do work, not look for it!

Close to home

Tue, 06 Jun 2006 20:37:56 GMT

Loads of work close to home just now, great. Had lunch with spouse and offspring, also great.

Got really decadent last week, and washed the car. So as not to waste water, I used the water we had washed the dishes in; environmentally friendly or what? It had the desired effect of reducing the opacity of the windows, but I am sure that the splodge on the back of the car is not the usual bird offering, but a manky cornflake. But who cares, I'm saving the planet.

Engineer, calculate for me how much more fuel I use due to the skin friction of my very dirty car.