We Are Like A Sine Function

In an earlier post I talked about one of Josh Wilson's songs. Today, same artist, different song. His song "Linear" was a bonus track on the CD I bought of his. Below I provided a video of this song. Enjoy!

He talks about MATH and GOD!!!!!! He says that God's love is linear! (that is the major concept that he talks about in the song if you didn't listen to it). That means it stays the same! It never changes! Hummmm...that sounds about right. So....if God's love is linear...we must be like a sine function (I provided an example of it below, just in-case it has been eons since geometry class):

If we are (Sin x) than God's love would be (x=0). In the picture above you can see how the sine curve fluxuates from 1 above zero and 1 below zero, while zero never moves. We are human and I know I struggle focusing on anything. I also have a hard time being consistent. The sine function represents how we are close to God and then something happens and we distance ourselves from God. Read that again. WE distance OURSELVES from God. It is not God who is distancing us from Him. It is not God distancing Himself from Us. It is US doing the retreat. God is always there for us, wherever we decide is a better place than safe in His arms. Knowing our tendency to drift from God can help us try to defeat that pattern. They say that those unaware of history are destined to repeat it. Now we know the history, let's prevent it! Your love relationship with God doesn't have to be defined by a sine curve!!!! Straighten that thing out! 

See how these three sine curves have different amplitudes? The blue line goes from +3 all the way down to -3. The green line +1 to -1 and then the red line +0.5 to -0.5. We can decrease our amplitudes so that we stay close to God's linear love.

The "I'm not good enough" Falsity

This little thought is going to be Part One of a two part series haha. This thought came into mind during small group this past Sunday. We are doing a study about prayer and the importance of Worship-based prayer!! (which is my favorite). This 'brand' of prayer is one that a lot of Christian's or even just people in general have little experience with. The concept of prayer and what prayer is comes at a young age. All of the Bible stories and Christian literature have people praying depicted as head bowed, hands folded, eyes shut etc. These 'restrictions' are really placed on small children so that they have less distractions while praying in a group of very distracted children. Also, another thought is that the purpose of prayer is to talk to God (which it is) but to talk to Him about our struggles and issues and what we need help with day to day (which it also is) BUT the heart of our prayers need to be giving God the praise that He deserves!

Well, there are books and books written about this so I am not going to continue with that but what was brought up in small group is that some times we feel like we are 'to bad' to come to God in prayer. That we are ashamed of what we have done and that we are just not worthy of that personal interaction with the MOST HIGH GOD.

Well, in a way that is true. When we sin (which I do on a daily basis) we separate ourselves for God. That instantly makes us not worthy of having the relationship that our soul longs for with Him.

BUT......WE CAN STILL COME TO HIS PRESENCE! Jesus died to cover ALL of our sins! That means that we can still pray to God, even when we are sinners. When we tell ourselves (or when Satan tells us) that we are not worthy or are 'to evil' to pray to God we are also implying that Jesus' death on the cross was not enough. That His death was in vein and that we still have to cover our own butts for the sin we have committed (which is absolutely not the case. JESUS IS ENOUGH FOR ALL OUR SINS).

So, next time THAT is your excuse for why you have not worshiped or prayed....THINK AGAIN!

The Land of Perfect

This was a short little thought I had while talking with my Mum the other day. I had never thought of it before but it was interesting.

God tells us that Heaven is perfect. Why wouldn't it be, when God makes something He doesn't just make it and be done with it. God takes 'time' and pays attention to details and of course goes above and beyond what we would ever do. I try not to think about Heaven too often because I just get too excited, for more reasons than one.

Anyway, in the Bible it says in Revelation 21:4 that the inhabitants of Heaven will no longer experience pain, sorrow, sadness, tears, or death. I can't help but wonder if the people in Heaven are able to see what is happening down on earth while they are up there. That thought is normally followed by the idea that: Well, of course not. If there is no sorrow or sadness than God wouldn't allow them to watch what was happening to their loved ones on earth because earth is filled with evil, sadness, pain etc. How could they watch their loved ones go through pain and suffering or even just hard times without feeling sadness for them?

While I was talking with Mum about this an idea came into my head. What if God allows people in Heaven to see the big picture? His big picture. His plan. The reason we go through all the crud on earth that we go through is because God is making us and moving us in His plan. So would our loved ones in Heaven feel sadness if they are able to see the whole picture? They could see the entire beautiful painting that God is creating with everyone's lives intertwined.

This was just an interesting thought that I had had and wanted to write it down. Of course I have no further insight into what Heaven is going to be like other than what God has reveled to us in the Bible. This is me just thinking out loud.

Science Sundays (kind of): God's Spoken Words

This little post is directly inspired from Sunday school this morning! I can't seem to get this thought out of my head. So buckle your seat belts and make sure to put on a helmet so that when your mind is blown....it doesn't get on the wall. (sorry about that, remember, I am a forensic scientist).

If you read Genesis chapter 1 there is a repeating common theme through the whole chapter. (If you are not familiar with this chapter, than I would strongly encourage you to stop reading this post right now and go read it....wait....I'll just put it below)

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.
And God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” And God made the expanse and separated the waters that were under the expanse from the waters that were above the expanse. And it was so. And God called the expanse Heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day.
And God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so. God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good.
And God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth.” And it was so. The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning, the third day.
And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth.” And it was so. And God made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night—and the stars. And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.
And God said, “Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens.” So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day.
And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds—livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds.” And it was so. And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.
And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
(Genesis 1 ESV)

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I know that was long but....hopefully you pick up on a few things. The first thing being that God existed before anything that we know of existed. He has no beginning middle or end, which could alone blow your mind. But what I really want you to focus on is the fact that God simply spoke and created. He said, "let there be light" and poof, waves of light were created. God said, "let there be ground" and wha-la, there was dirt, and grime, and sand, and silt, and clay, and rock. One of Newton's Laws is that matter is neither created nor destroyed. Well, God blew that one out of the water. Maybe God collected the matter that was surrounding Him and just by saying what He wanted to make it organized it into what He wanted. Even that is astounding! If you have read any of the other posts, I have mentioned just how awesome water is. I am sure I have talked about cells before and I have written about the wonders of a leaf on a tree. Take all of this information....and God made each of those ridiculously complicated systems by simply saying what He wanted made. WHAT!??!!!????!!!!  That is crazy!! Our Sunday school leader compared it to if you walked into the kitchen and said "Breakfast" and it would be made. I would LOVE that! And, I would say "Muffins" ALL THE TIME! So, the major point of today is to sit back and think about just how ridiculous it is that God created everything by speaking it into existence. God has that kind of power, that kind of authority to do that! WOW!