Headline Reuters: NASA Postpones Launch of Super-Fast Jet to Tuesday

In Sunday School this morning, we discussed the principle of Sola Scriptura based upon the work of John Wycliffe (1330-1384). The teacher included the following quote from Christian History magazine:

Wycliffe developed five rules for studying the Bible:

"Obtain a reliable text, understand the logic of Scripture, compare the parts of Scripture with one another, maintain an attitude of humble seeking, and receive the instruction of the Spirit."

Those are excellent rules, and it is amazing to think that someone wrote them in the Middle Ages. These are the rules of Bible study taught by the reformers 150 years later, and are still the correct way to study scripture today.

Q.7. What are the decrees of God?

A. The decrees of God are His eternal plan based on the purpose of His will, by which, for His own glory, He has foreordained everything that happens.

For the next few weeks we will be dealing with the decrees of God. This is offensive to many people, but the Scriptures clearly teach it.

Here are just a few examples:

Isaiah 45:5-7

5 I am the LORD, and there is no other,
besides me there is no God;
I equip you, though you do not know me,
6 that people may know, from the rising of the sun
and from the west, that there is none besides me;
I am the LORD, and there is no other.
7 I form light and create darkness,
I make well-being and create calamity,
I am the LORD, who does all these things.

Isaiah 45:5-7

9 remember the former things of old;
for I am God, and there is no other;
I am God, and there is none like me,
10 declaring the end from the beginning
and from ancient times things not yet done,
saying, ‘My counsel shall stand,
and I will accomplish all my purpose,’

Daniel 4:34-35

34 At the end of the days I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High, and praised and honored him who lives forever,
for his dominion is an everlasting dominion,
and his kingdom endures from generation to generation;
35 all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing,
and he does according to his will among the host of heaven
and among the inhabitants of the earth;
and none can stay his hand
or say to him, “What have you done?”

Despite the difficulty in the doctrine, there is such a comfort in knowing that God is in control of all circumstances.

She was born in a world I will never know. It was before World War I. Cars and radios were rare. There were no televisions, computers, or cell phones. Woodrow Wilson was president, and the Woolworth building in New York was the world’s tallest building at 60 stories.

She was married during the Great Depression. Just like with other families of the time, there were times when she didn’t know how she would put the food on the table for her small family. Somehow God always provided, but it was a struggle I have never faced.

She lived through the tension and fear of World War II.

Airplanes were ten years old when she was born, and she lived to see the first man walk on the moon, and the Challenger explosion.

She was 17 years old when the Empire State Building was built and she was 88 when the World Trade Center fell.

My earliest memories of her are of how hard she worked to keep her home ready for the service of others. She was always active in the church and concerned to tell people about salvation in Jesus Christ.

I remember when my grandfather was very ill for a long time. I was afraid that he would not live. During that time, she was the strong one who got everything done.

But about 15 years ago, it became clear that she was no longer the strong one. She had one serious ailment after another, culminating in open heart surgery at the age of 83. I never thought she would make it through that surgery, but God spared her. It took about a year for her to recover from it, but that surgery restored a lot of her health and energy, and we rejoiced in the eight years of life it brought her.

On top of the serious illnesses, she also went blind. That was a terrible blow to her because she could no longer do the things that had always kept her busy. Reading, sewing, cooking, studying, but above all, reading her Bible. These doors were closed to her when she wasn’t able to read any more. I think this was the biggest disappointment to her in her last years, and it hurt her the most.

She let herself go to the point where my grandfather did everything for her. She was completely helpless without him, and so I really thought that when he died three years ago, she was going to follow him quickly, as she no longer had anything to live for. But I was very wrong. She bounced back from the blow of losing him, and for a while seemed to thrive. Most of her hours were spent sitting alone, and she was very lonely. But she was able to live by her self in the assisted living section of the home, and she shared in the common time with the other residents to a degree she had not done when my grandfather was alive.

The final blow came when she got an infection and was admitted to the nursing home section. That seemed to take away any reason for life, and she withdrew into herself. In our visits for the last year, we weren’t sure what went on. Did she know we are even there, deep down? Or was she just shut down with the lights on and no one home? Only God knows. We thank God for the chance we had to say goodbye to her Thursday, but in some ways, we said goodbye to her before she entered the nursing home.

In her life she faced things I will never know, and served God and her family to the best of her abilities. Our prayer for her at the end was that she would know that we love her and that she would have God’s peace. I believe that prayer has been answered. Now my prayer is that we would also have God’s peace in our grieving.

Goodbye, Elsie Mahaffey: Born April 4, 1913. Died November 13, 2004. We will meet again.

Headline AP: Man Opens Fire at Eiffel Tower; 3 Wounded

PARIS – A Venezuelan man swiped a policeman’s gun while handcuffed and opened fire Friday at the foot of the Eiffel Tower, injuring a police officer and two security guards, officials said.

I got a phone call from Darth Vader last night. He must have gotten an inhaler because his asthma was much improved. And he used a pseudonym. Jimmy E. Jones, or something like that, but he couldn’t fool me. I instantly recognized the voice of Darth Vader.

He tried to convince me to go to Verizon’s web site, promising the phone company would give me a GMC Envoy if I would do so. But I am no fool; I didn’t go to the Verizon web site. Being of stronger mind, I refuse to fall for these Jedi mind tricks.

Instead, after I hung up, I spent the rest of the evening rethinking my life, and I’ve decided I will no longer sell people death sticks.

Today we had a long trip to visit my grandmother. We went halfway across Pennsylvania and back. On the long drive, we had the opportunity to listen to a band no one has ever heard: Jacob’s Trouble. What a flashback. The band seems to purposefully emulate 1960′s bands, mainly the Monkees. The intro to one song was clearly “The Last Train to Clarksville”. Another intro was the Beatles “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da”. There were musical quotes all over the place. And then came these lyrics:

You say you want a revolution, you know you’re not the only one

But are you looking for a peaceful solution or just a reason to carry a gun?

…

You talk about a new world order

It’s so correct politically

One church, one money, one government

Sounds like one big tower of Babel to me

You’re singing “All You Need is Love” now

And to “think” it is all you need to do

Seems to me I’ve heard some of those lyrics before…. I wonder if Paul and Yoko got royalties for that song?

I had some help with the driving for the first time on the trip across the state. I only had to do half the driving for a change. That was pretty nice. We had seven hours of driving for a short and somewhat disappointing visit. My grandmother never awoke while we were there. We never know what good our visits will do, but we pray that somehow she will know that we love her, even if she doesn’t know that we visit.

On the puppy front, the primary dog and emergency backup dog are getting along wonderfully. The primary dog continues in her belief that life is all about playing fetch. (With such an overpowering sense of purpose in her life, she obviously she has rejected the clear life purpose statements of the Hookie Pookie.) Every night she insists we spend time chasing the ball. The emergency backup dog just doesn’t see things the same way. She doesn’t chase the ball. She doesn’t care about the ball. She chases the primary backup dog who chases the ball.

What surprises me the most is how the primary dog doesn’t seem to mind it at all. I think she enjoys the added challenge of having to fetch the ball while dragging the puppy who is hanging from her neck or holding onto her tail. She is like the wide receiver who enjoys playing against a live defender to add to the sport.

Do dogs have a conscience? I know of one that does, and one that doesn’t.

The puppy has taken to sneaking down into the basement to take care of her business. We even left people home from the long day’s trip because it would be too long for her, but she still was naughty. The little darling has no shame. When we found her surprises, she gladly capered around with no acknowledgment of her misdeed, not even noticing our displeasure. Meanwhile, our primary dog is slinking around, tail between her legs, clearly saying, “I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry. I don’t remember making that mess, but I’m sorry.” The primary dog clearly thinks that she is in big trouble, even though she has done nothing wrong.

The emergency backup dog has no conscience, but the primary dog has enough of one for both of them. It must be something they learn.

And with that I will sign off for the night. Good night.

It appears that Bertie Wooster has fallen upon hard times. Without his man Jeeves, Bertie is having trouble shaving and dressing in a presentable manner.

You can tell how disturbed he is by the look in his eyes. Things are so bad, it is reported that he is thinking of moving to Hollywood, pretending to be an American and taking up acting.

AFP Photo:

Caption: “Hugh Laurie is shown at Fox Studios in Los Angeles Thursday, Sept. 30, 2004. Laurie plays Dr. Gregory House, an acerbic diagnostician with a ruthlessly honest approach to solving obscure medical maladies in the new Fox medical drama ‘House.’ (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)”

When I took the primary dog out this morning for her morning business trip, I happened to look up to the western sky and noticed Orion and the Pleiades. Beautiful. As I was looking at them, a shooting star passed right between them. Quite impressive.

It’s been quite a while since I last saw a shooting star. I don’t spend much time looking at the skies anymore. The skies I usually see are washed out by the city lights, and so it has to be a particularly bright celestial light to even be visible. It was a nice surprise to see.

Later, while waiting for my ride to work, I admired the eastern sky with Venus, Jupiter and the crescent moon visible just before dawn.

We have so little contact with the night sky. For most of us, it has no significance at all. There was a time when people were much more aware of the celestial events since these governed the annual and monthly events of their lives. But these events now have no impact on our lives. Nevertheless, I enjoyed seeing the shooting star and made me remember when I used to sit out at night and watch the sky for hours at a time.

It was a standard day at work, without anything very outstanding. Someone called a meeting I attended, and he forgot to attend it himself. Whoops. Fortunately, I know enough about the issue to be able to take care of the business at hand for him, but that was a rather glaring mistake on his part.

I also found that I might get a chance to soon work again with the man who was in the roll I currently fill before I “replaced” him. I’d love to get to work with him again.

I always joked that I wanted to some day take his job, and it worked out to be partially true. I am far from having all his skills, and if I can work with him again, perhaps I can pick up more from him. I haven’t fully taken his job yet, you know.

On the drive home, we passed under a large road sign that is a popular pigeon roost. There were scores of pigeons, and as we drove under it, a large flock flew away. I was struck by how they all took off and flew together, turning, climbing, and diving almost in unison. Individual birds behaving as a collective group.

As I watched the flock, thinking about their collective group navigation, there was an advertisement on the radio for the latest reality TV program. You know the kind of show. The announcer was urging you to watch this because everyone else is watching, as if that is reason in and of itself.

I observed birds that just follow the crowd and flit one direction to another as a group with no apparent individual thought and I listened to how I should just join the crowd and watch a popular TV program. Hmmm. Seems like there is some lesson there. They advertise this way because it apparently works for most pigeons … I mean people.

Speaking of “collective group”, I have been informed that “collective word count” would be a good name for a rock band. Keep that in mind next time you form a band.

The kids are watching the first (or is it the fourth) Star Wars. The worst line in the whole movie is when the ghost Obi-Wan tells Luke, “Trust your feelings.” That is just wrong on so many levels. If you follow that kind of (il)logic, who knows where you will end up. You might even end up watching reality TV.

So my advice for the evening is for you to think about what you are doing, put down the remote, and go outside to look at the sky for a few minutes. Doesn’t that feel like the right thing to do?

Good night.

When you’ve already made up you mind what you will find, you don’t need to waste much time on research.

Headline AP: Scientists Find Arctic Warming Quickly