Friday, January 29, 2010

Spending Our Energy on Making a Mess

Okay, so it's entertaining, but this video reminds me of how easy it is to expend a lot of energy in a day, only to end up making a mess! It also reminds me that on any given day we are permitted to do pretty much anything....we just have to deal with the consequences of what we've "sown" or in this dog's case, "bitten!" Go do something significant today!



"Now this is what the LORD Almighty says: 'Give careful thought to your ways. You have planted much, but have harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it.' This is what the LORD Almighty says: 'Give careful thought to your ways.'"Haggai 1:5-7

It's okay to have a good time, but somewhere along the way, I hope we can do the significant things in life, too! Go have a "significant" day!

Saturday, January 23, 2010

My Optic Nerve Cavity

Had my eye exam the other day and got a 3D map of one of my central retinas using a Heidelberg Retina Tomograph!! How cool is that? Basically, it scans the "pit" or "cup" made by the one million nerve fibers which make up the neural superhighway we call the optic nerve. Talk about traffic. Those one million nerve fibers are handling nerve impulses from 8 million color photo receptors and 100 million black and white receptors! Amazing! Anyway, click on the video to see my eye pit!



So what's the point? Two (and only two since it's getting late):

First, we are fearfully and wonderfully made by the ultimate engineer who is taken for granted for all He gives us just in the physical world, much less everything else! Here's what I said in my youtube description: This is a 3D map of one of my retinas! This is why I always have a camera in my pocket. The scan is something they do to see if pressure in the eye is causing a deepening of the optic nerve cavity in the back of the eye...a sign of glaucoma and the death of neurons causing eventual blindness. It was just part of my eye exam and will be a baseline to compare future scans with. I'm just amazed we have clear vision with all those blood vessels, floaters, 108 million photoreceptor cells (among a gazillion other support cells), etc...then for the brain to overlay the two images from the gazillion cells almost instantaneously, flip the dual images from the eyes, and THEN to make sense of what is being seen, while directing thoughts, muscles, and/or memory storage at the same time...it would seem we would have headaches all the time! Amazing engineering...God does good work!..Oh, and if you haven't had your eyes checked for glaucoma in over two years...shame on you!!!! Protect these amazing devices called your eyes!!!!

Second:Interior pressure in the eye slowly destroys nerve tissue causing irreparable blindness. It is painless, and the damage occurs before a person "sees" it. Reminded me how the world keeps putting pressure on us to "see" its values and purposes more and more, and "seeing" God's values, truth, commands, etc., less and less. Eventually we are completely blinded to the truth of God in Christ and are stumbling around spiritually blind without even knowing it! So keep your physical AND spiritual eyes in good health!

Friday, January 22, 2010

Four New Photo Albums Posted


These are links to four new photo albums from a long time ago from the archives of the First Baptist Church of North Augusta, SC. There are:

Camps and Church Socials From Early to Mid 60's Plus a Few Older Photos From the Church
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2024653&id=1533128561&l=692570c80a

Miscellaneous and Church Fellowships from Mid 70's
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2024656&id=1533128561&l=31c5f5ea68

Youth Camp at Jekyll Island (Early 70's)
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2024637&id=1533128561&l=51e15129b6

Youth Campt at Awanta Valley (late 70's)
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2024679&id=1533128561&l=05aa25da58

Friday, January 08, 2010

Thanked God for Your Rods and Cones Today?

David didn't know any of the following (in technical terms), yet was grateful for God's "engineering" of his body when he wrote:

For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother's womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
Psalm 139:13,14


The question is, "do we know full well" how fearfully and wonderfully made we are? Case in point: have you thanked God today for the 100 million black and white photo receptors (rods) and 6 to 8 million color receptors (cones) you have in each eye? I came across this interesting "zoomorama" called "color wheel."

http://www.zoomorama.com/Franklinss/01-75b05de4f6fd6449fb67a5cdaccfcb93

It contains over 16,000 colors (zoom way in and see with your scroll wheel!)...most people can discern around 10,000,000 different colors.

The brain does pretty good work, doesn't it, processing streaming date from over 216 or so million photo processors, flipping those streaming images right side up, AND discerning the meaning of those streaming images. And don't get me started on how the brain integrates that data with all the other data it's getting at the same time from your ears, nose, skin receptors, etc., and THEN after all that (or should I say "during" all that, it's finding the appropriate context in your history files to assign meaning, and to determine appropriate responses. All this usually occurs without the least bid of head ache, and we fail, again and again to be amazed by the gift of this three pound mass of blood vessels and nerves that house the unique entity simply known as YOU!

With all the great enginneering our Father has putting into making us, you'd think we'd take more time to thank Him for the amazing gifts He's given us! Well, take time to thank Him, and then let's all thank Him by using these great gifts to love Him and others!

By the way, you can go to http://www.zoomorama.com and make your own "zoomin'" creations!

Wednesday, January 06, 2010

Don't Read This If You're Having a Bad Day

Came across this amazing "infographic" which shows how much our gov't may ending up spending if it passes the administration's proposed 2010 Federal Budget. Note: scroll to zoom in and click and drag to move around it...





For more information on this informative piece of artwork, go to...
http://www.zoomorama.com/01-929f9f7efd4b50dd34a159fe23ac88c9

Neat Gift Idea for Next Christmas! (Or My Birthday!)

Since I'm so very difficult to buy for, I thought I'd give everyone a lot of advance warning for gift ideas for Christmas or my birthday!

Sunday, January 03, 2010

Getting Some Perspective

Are you dealing with some "major" problem? Sometimes gaining a new perspective helps. I used this video clip as part of our "Crazy Love" emphasis.



Reminds me of Job 9:8-10:

8 He alone stretches out the heavens
and treads on the waves of the sea.

9 He is the Maker of the Bear and Orion,
the Pleiades and the constellations of the south.

10 He performs wonders that cannot be fathomed,
miracles that cannot be counted.

So before you panic over some problem, make sure you start your prayers by focusing on our Father's "immensity," not the "immensity" of your problem. If He can speak the universe into existence, you can count on Him to show you the best way through whatever you're facing! So watch the video, then go outside if it's night and clear and look up at infinity and thank God that He's so BIG!!!!