Famous Name T-shirts

Sharing is Caring – Karl Marx

Just Doubt It – Nietzsche

Gregor Mendel:  Giving Peas a Chance since 1856

Waldo – A good man is hard to find

Zeus’ Hardware – Specializing in Nuts and Bolts

Pavlov:  The name that rings a bell

Evolution:  You Darwin some; You Darlose some

PI Day

PI (π) is the non-repeating irrational number which starts off 3.14159265358….  It is the ratio between the diameter and the circumference of a circle. 

Since 3.14 is an approximation of PI, March 14 (3/14) is PI day.  English speakers know the event is tastier when known as PIE day.  Other language groups can enjoy all the geekiness but miss the punny treaty-ness.

Diane clued me in about the existence of PI day by having a lovely Dutch Apple Crumb Pie delivered on March 14 several years ago.  She included a doctored greeting card proclaiming “PI Day wishes from Gandalf” – it was during Lord of the Rings trilogy days.

Jesse worked at a company in Wisconsin whose cafeteria invited all employees to come down and enjoy a tasty, free slice of pie on 3/14, at 1:59 in the afternoon.  There was a near riot at the place in 2009 when PI day fell on a Saturday – no free pie for you on the weekend!  The natives had accepted the inevitable by Sunday March 14, 2010 and have been satisfied ever since.  Next year will be tough again.

What an amazing creator we have who put this simple circular relationship in place.  But the simple definition has been used to challenge computer scientists, mathematicians, and supercomputers – the decimal representation has been done to over 10 trillion digits.  An infinite number of digits, an ever expanding universe sounds like Isaiah 55.9:  “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than yoru ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

Au Contraire

The linguistics professor was making a point about the meaning of double negatives.  “In English, a double negative becomes a positive.  In many languages, such as Russian, a double negative still stays negative.  But there is no case is any language where a double positive means a negative.”

A tired voice from the back of the room says, “Yeah, right.”

Prayer from Isaiah 40

We used the verses from Isaiah 40 in a very powerful Tuesday morning prayer time.  As you read it below, you may recognize a wealth of familiar phrases – particularly look at verses 1, 8, 28-31. The instructions were simple – First, everyone read the chapter silently.  Then take turns reading aloud a few verses until you know what to pray, and pray what comes to mind.  We concluded by singing the first verse of Behold Our God, by Jonathan Baird, Meghan Baird, Ryan Baird, and Stephen Altroggge, artists from Sovereign Grace Worship.

The leader put spaces in reasonable spots, and often the praying individuals stayed with them.  One of the wonderful traits of a passage like this is it can be repeated.   For the same short section, the prayers of one person this week will not be the same as those of a different person next week.  The Bible is the living Word of God and our prayers are God-inspired

Isaiah 40

1 Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. 2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the LORD’s hand double for all her sins. 3 A voice cries: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. 4 Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. 5 And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”

6 A voice says, “Cry!” And I said, “What shall I cry?” All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like the flower of the field. 7 The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the LORD blows on it; surely the people are grass. 8 The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.

9 Go on up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good news; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good news; lift it up, fear not; say to the cities of Judah, “Behold your God!” 10 Behold, the Lord GOD comes with might, and his arm rules for him; behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him.

11 He will tend his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms; he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young. 12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and marked off the with a span, enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance? 13 Who has measured the Spirit of the LORD, or what man shows him his counsel? 14 Whom did he consult, and who made him understand? Who taught him the path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding?

15 Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket, and are accounted as the dust on the scales; behold, he takes up the coastlands like fine dust. 16 Lebanon would not suffice for fuel, nor are its beasts enough for a burnt offering. 17 All the nations are as nothing before him, they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness.

18 To whom then will you liken God, or what likeness compare with him? 19 An idol! A craftsman casts it, and a goldsmith overlays it with gold and casts for it silver chains. 20 He who is too impoverished for an offering chooses wood that will not rot; he seeks out a skillful craftsman to set up an idol that will not move.

21 Do you not know? Do you not hear? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? 22 It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to dwell in; 23 who brings princes to nothing, and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness. 24 Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown, scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth, when he blows on them, and they wither, and the tempest carries them off like stubble.

25 To whom then will you compare me, that I should be like him? says the Holy One. 26 Lift up your eyes on high and see: who created these? He who brings out their host by number, calling them all by name, by the greatness of his might, and because he is strong in power not one is missing. 27 Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, “My way is hidden from the LORD, and my right is disregarded by my God”?

28 Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. 29 He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. 30 Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; 31 but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint. “

Purpose

John 20.30-31 gives the summary purpose for the book. “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”

These verses are one of the proof texts used to support the first part of Answer #3 of the Westminster Shorter Confession: “The Scriptures principally teach, what man is to believe concerning God, and what duty God requires of man.”

So according to the Bible, we (men) are to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, the one prophesied throughout the Old Testament.  Jesus is part of God’s plan from the beginning.  The patriarchs; the Exodus; the Law and the sacrifices; the judges, kings, and prophets; the genealogies all point to Jesus as the Christ.  And all the New Testament gospels and letters declare Jesus as the Christ, bringing into focus his authoritative teachings and signs.  The disciples and followers of Jesus had the advantage of knowing him and hearing his explanations of how the Old Testament applied to him (Luke 24.27).

We are also to believe that Jesus is the Son of God.  He is truly God as well as truly man.  He is Emmanuel, God with us.  As holy God, he is righteous and without blemish or sin.  As just God, he will judge upon his return. As loving and merciful God he died on the cross to exchange his righteousness for our sins.

And we are to believe that our faith in Jesus will lead to life. John 3.16 rings strongly to support this idea: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” 

John wrote his book so that its readers would believe these things. All men are supposed to but sadly not all do. Heaven awaits those who have accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior.  Amen.

Number T-shirts

Fibonacci – It’s as easy as 1, 1, 2, 3

The Binary Social Club, where no One’s a Zero!

PI – It’s as easy as 3.14159

An Apple a Day still leaves you 2-4 servings short of your daily fruit recommendation

Mole Problems? Just call 602-1023

I’m an English Major.  You do the math.

 

Good and Upright

Psalm 25.8 makes this proclamation:  “Good and upright is the LORD.” And then the verses follow with a therefore:

  • He instructs sinners in their way
  • He leads the humble in what is right
  • He teaches the humble his way
  • All the paths of the LORD are steadfast love and faithfulness

The last one has a caveat – “for those who keep his covenant and his testimonies.”

This is akin to the caveat in Romans 8.28 “All things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”