December 2013 did not have many cool number combinations; besides being next to each other, 12 and 13 don’t have much in common. As you can see in the attached pdf file, January 2014 is also sparse. The first cool date of the year is not until 1/13/14… a week away.
But you can see the whole year in the attachment.
See 11/16 and 12/7/13 if you care for past history
Delegates from the original 13 states formed the Contented Congress. Thomas Jefferson, a Virgin, and Benjamin Franklin were two singers of the Declaration of Independence. Franklin discovered electricity by rubbing two cats backward and declared, “A horse divided against itself cannot stand.” Franklin died in 1790 and is still dead.
Abraham Lincoln became America’s greatest Precedent. Lincoln’s mother died in infancy, and he was born in a log cabin which he built with his own hands. Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves by signing the Emasculation Proclamation. On the night of April 14, 1865, Lincoln went to the theater and got shot in his seat by one of the actors in a moving picture show. They believe the assinator was John Wilkes Booth, a supposingly insane actor. This ruined Booth’s career.
Johann Bach wrote a great many musical compositions and had a large number of children. In between he practiced on an old spinster which he kept up in his attic. Bach died from 1750 to the present. Bach was the most famous composer in the world and so was Handel. Handel was half German, half Italian, and half English. He was very large.
Beethoven wrote music even though he was deaf. He was so deaf he wrote loud music. He took long walks in the forest even when everyone was calling for him. Beethoven expired in 1827 and later died for this.
The nineteenth century was a time of a great many thoughts and inventions. People stopped reproducing by hand and started reproducing by machine. The invention of the steamboat caused a network of rivers to spring up. Cyrus McCormick invented the McCormick raper, which did the work of a hundred men. Louis Pasteur discovered a cure for rabbits. Charles Darwin was a naturalist who wrote the Organ of the Species. Madman Curie discovered the radio. And Karl Marx became one of the Marx Brothers.
Several small groups have been in the habit of praying for the worship services each Sunday.
WHAT to pray is pretty routine; in fact, a prayer is often offered that says, “We have prayed this same prayer many times, LORD, but you have told us to be persistent; so we are.” The time involved is short so we can’t pray for all the events or worries of the week ahead. But the key thing is that someone is there praying for the services every week, and we DO desire that God be glorified.
I added a new page at the top of the screen – Annual Cool Date Listings. There is a downloadable pdf listing of the “Cool Number Dates” for every year back to 2009. This Sunday’s post will also highlight the 2014 list, since there aren’t any cool dates next week; 1 and 14 don’t play well together until 1/13/14.
So what does this have to do with Christmas? Well, each year for gift exchanging in Diane’s family (her maiden name is Clark), the group decides on a “theme”, draws names, and gives presents that fit the theme. It saves the hassle of coming up with a list for yourself in October, and we all know a year in advance what name we have and what sort of things we are looking for.
This worked out well in 2012 when Jesse and Linnea went to the Olympics, since they had engineered an Olympic theme for Christmas that year. And you discover some interesting facts along the way. When the theme was Bon Appétit, we found out that M&Ms won’t print foreign phrases on their candies – at least you can’t order them online with only a week’s notice.
As the process has evolved, a big part of the fun during gift opening is hearing the inventive, creative and sometimes lame ways that people tie a gift to the theme. For a couple of years, one family made mixed CDs songs that featured the theme – Time; Light; and Red,White or Blue were easy, but Rock, Paper, Scissors ruined the CD opportunities.
And back to the Cool Data Listings. The first number list corresponds to the Clark Family Christmas theme for 2008 – Numbers for the coming year. A gift then, and an interesting task each year since.
Here are the Clark Family Christmas Themes used since 2002:
Time
Light
Red, White, or Blue, OR made in the USA
Paper, Rock, Scissors
Bon Appétit
Entertainment
Numbers
Green
5 Senses
Vowels
Olympics
States
Shapes – for next December
There are many different “Read the Bible in a Year” plans out there. Most of them begin with Genesis in the first week and end up the year with the book of Revelation. Yesterday, I actually finished the year’s prescribed readings with Revelation 22 on the last day of December.
What a great chapter! In the readings way back at the beginning of 2013, creation and the curse were introduced in the first three chapters of Genesis. God made everything GOOD, but Adam and Eve disobeyed and caused every created thing to be affected by the curse, as punishment for their sin. But now, the new heaven and new earth have arrived and the curse is lifted in Revelation 22.3.
The chapter mentions some of the grand plan of history that God has weaved together to get from Genesis curse to Revelation re-creation.
Jesus is described as the Lamb (verse 3), tying together a key theme of the Old Testament legal system instituted by God for the nation of Israel – a sacrifice of an unblemished animal was necessary to take away sin. The death of Jesus as the perfect, spotless lamb was able to accomplish for all time what the regular animal sacrifices could only do temporarily.
Jesus says of himself in verse 16, “I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.” Jesus is the key player and is the promised messiah of the line of David. He is also before David (the root) and indeed was with God at creation – verse 13 says of Jesus, “I am the Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”
And the author of Revelation testifies in verse 8, “I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things.” This same John was one of the apostles called to be witnesses of what they had seen and heard of Jesus’ ministry, death, and resurrection. Christians ever since have been proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ, that his death on the cross takes away our sin. And that good news will continue into the future for those who believe in Jesus, when He returns and ushers in the new heaven and new earth, with no more pain or tears.
The last chapter of the Bible builds on the Old and New Testament law, prophets, gospels, and epistles to let us know that reading the Bible in a year has a wonderful ending!
This brief conversation was overheard one day at church. It is amazingly simple and complex at the same time. Names were changed to protect the missing.
“Where is Larry?”
“Isn’t he up in the tree?”
Paul wrote to his friend Titus about appointing elders for the churches they had planted. Titus 1.6-9 lists the qualities to look for:
This is a lonnnggg list. Prospective good elders will invariably say they cannot possible meet the standards; the bar is too high. It is only by the grace of God that we can try and sometimes succeed.
You may recall that PI Day is March 14. This is in honor of 3.14, the rounded version of PI.
Go out a few more decimal places to 3.14159265359 (that’s what Google gives right away!)
Make that into a date and TIME – 3/14/15 at 9:26:53 (or 9:26:54 if you round).
That is just more than a year away, so get ready. It falls on a Saturday, so think of the opportunities in the morning and evening, with pies and math jokes galore.
And get ready to round out your big PI day because 3/14/16 is rounded at the date level. It’s a Monday.
Of course, don’t forget this coming year – 3/14/14 is on a Friday.
Thanks to Evan for reminding about the TIME part.
The Dentist’s Hymn: Crown Him with Many Crowns The Weatherman’s Hymn: There Shall Be Showers of Blessings The Contractor’s Hymn: The Church’s One Foundation The Tailor’s Hymn: Holy, Holy, Holy The Golfer’s Hymn: There’s a Green Hill Far Away The Politician’s Hymn: Standing on the Promises The Optometrist’s Hymn: Open My Eyes That I Might See
Hey!
Sorry no post on Christmas or earlier today.
An ice storm last Saturday night in the Lansing area knocked out the power in many parts of town, particularly at my home office. I hope to be able to start adding posts on Sunday… there is a list of semi-funny items set up for tomorrow…
Seems like there should be some good material in having no power, like heating the house with a gas fireplace; using the gas range for cooking; releasing the garage opener chain to get the car out of the garage; eating out and going to movies a lot; finding that tall candles are better for light than short fat ones; putting flashlights in the same place every time so you can find them in the dark; looking longingly at the neighbors across the street who DO have power; making sure you have a good fireplace lighter for candles and gas stove; doing as much as you can in the daylight hours (including moving the traditional Christmas eve gift opening to the afternoon; enjoying the family’s varied efforts with candles, clothing layers, blankets, and hats; big branches in the streets and in my back yard; a large branch broken off the lovely pear tree in the front yard.
But four events stand out – (1) warm Christmas showers and dinner in Jackson, (2)the lights coming on at church at the end of the Christmas Eve service, and (3) power coming back on at Jesse’s house – his computer works!, and (4) Pastor Ben’s prayer reminding us that God has all the power – sort of like He owns the cattle on a thousand hills…
A. Knapp for That 