Are Miracles A Bunch of Nonsense?

Folks who are skeptical about the Christian faith read the accounts of miracles in the Bible and they say, “This is nonsense! We know these kinds of things could never happen.”  But, in a way, the more fundamental issue is not the miracles.  The more fundamental issue is the existence of God.

If God does not exist then the miracle accounts are absurd.  However, if God does exist—if an all-powerful, Creator exists—then certainly He is capable of doing things that would be miraculous to our understanding of reality.  I believe He exists.

Lucy Peed On My Bed

Rachel was holding our new puppy, Lucy, on my bed.  We’re working on housebreaking Lucy.  She’s still young and, as you know, these things take time.  So I said to Rachel, “Keep an eye on her, Rachel.  Make sure Lucy does not go potty on my bed.”

“Alright,” said Rachel with great confidence.  And I must admit, I was convinced she had things under control.  After all, she said, “Alright.”  That suggests she was fully aware, in charge, and ever-vigilant.  Right?

It was literally less than 15 seconds later that I turned to see Lucy staring at me with her innocent puppy eyes and a look of contentment as she calmly christened my bed.  For such a little dog she really does have a lot of… um… well… uh… you know what?… never mind… that’s probably something that doesn’t need further elaboration.

“LUCYYYYY!!!!!!!!” I screamed.  Then I said, “Rachel, you said you were going to watch her!”

“Alright,” said Rachel.  Again, with a good bit of confidence.

In retrospect, as I sit writing these words, it occurs to me that I really should have seen this one coming.

E-Flash From Dan, February 22, 2014

Dear E-Flash Friends;

I’m sitting here doing some editing of my message for the services on Sunday and I’m feeling so enthusiastic that I felt compelled to let you know about my eagerness.  We’ve just begun a new series on what it means to be the church and tomorrow the message is titled, “The Church Is The Body of Christ.”

Hey, I’ve got a great idea.  Why not click on the link below to see a brief video invitation to the services?

Link…    http://youtu.be/50j9OK0L3Qc

I really hope you’re planning to be here!  I know God is going to be present.

Love and blessings,

Dan

Come To Church This Sunday!

                                              Click here for video!

                                             Click here for video!

When Our Souls Are Wounded

Hurts can happen in life that deeply wound our souls.  When this occurs, the path toward healing will involve acknowledging the brokenness as well as relational reconciliation and forgiveness.  But one of the most important aspects of healing involves intimacy with God.

The Gift of Full Attention

Some people will receive great help and encouragement today if we will listen to them, giving our full attention and letting them know that we have heard what they said and that we care about them.  We all need some people who will honestly listen to us.  When we do this for someone we are giving the person a wonderful gift.

Solving The Wrong Line Problem

If I'm at a store or restaurant with several cashiers I always choose the wrong line. The slowest line. The line in which someone has trouble paying. The line in which the cashier is a new trainee and does not actually know how the register functions. The line in which the cashier is actually a mannequin but I don't notice until 10 minutes of pointless waiting has elapsed.

So I've decided upon a new strategy. And I'm sharing it with you here because that's the kind of generous guy I am. Here's the new strategy: I will very carefully, very deliberately choose a line to stand in. Then, having made my choice, I will get in any other line except the one I've chosen since the one I choose is always the wrong one!

I hope you folks are nodding your heads in silent appreciation of the brilliance of this plan.

We Recognize Christ As Head -- Audio Podcast

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It's Getting Fun Around Our House

Our dog, Jasper, is making adjustments to our new puppy, Lucy.

Although he does sniff her a little bit here and there, just to verify whatever it is his sniffing verifies, for the most part he tries to ignore her.

The problem for Jasper, however, is that puppies have a lot of energy, a lot of curiosity and a tremendous desire to engage their older dog-brothers in playing.  I know, intellectually, that dogs don’t sigh and roll their eyes.  In fact, I’m pretty sure a dog-whisperer once told me, “Dan, always remember that dogs don’t sigh and roll their eyes.”

(Okay, it’s possible I am imagining my dog-whisperer conversation.)

I’m telling you, though, I’m almost positive I saw Jasper sigh and roll his eyes when Lucy tried to get him to run around in the snow with her.  And then he looked at me and his eyes said, “Really?”

The imaginary dog-whisperer told me dogs don’t say “Really?” either.  But can we really trust a guy who goes around whispering with dogs all day long?

Earlier today, Lucy discovered that Jasper’s tail is fun to play with.  Puppies have teeth that are like sharp little pins.  As you may have guessed by now, Lucy bit into Jasper’s tail with her sharp little pin teeth.  It was very evident that Jasper felt this bite and he gave her a clear indication that “he don’t play that game!”

He didn’t bite her or anything like that.  She’s okay.  But he got her attention.  (Large dogs are pretty good at getting anyone’s attention if they need to.)

As I said, adjustments are being made but, as you can tell, it’s getting very fun around our house.

Serving God Whether It Feels Good Or Not

There are times that we serve God and it feels good, fulfilling, exciting, maybe even fun.  There will also be times that we will be called to serve God when it won’t feel so great.  But we are called to serve Him anyhow because we don’t serve Him based on how we feel.  We serve Him out of a love and reverence for who He is; as an act of obedience; and out of a response to what He has done for us.

Nadia's Valentine Present

“What can I get Nadia for Valentine’s Day?”

That’s the thought that kept going through my mind the past couple of days.  It seems like everything I thought of fell into the category of:  “You’ve-already-gotten-that-before.”

Okay, I can get her another lovely set of Ginsu knives, sure, but as romantic and fun as Ginsu knives are they still left me thinking: is it possible there’s something more interesting?  Something that might be more surprising?

Well, on an impulse I pulled into a couple of different pet stores.  That can be a dangerous thing to do.

And as you have probably guessed by now, the little beagle puppy in the photo is Lucy.  She is Nadia’s Valentine’s Day present and the newest member of our family.

She definitely qualifies as “something more interesting” and “more surprising” than any other Valentine’s Day gift I’ve purchased.  Fortunately, Nadia loves dogs (I knew that in advance) and she’s already falling in love with Lucy.

…Don’t ask me what I’m going to do for Nadia’s birthday.  But I’m glad she doesn’t really like boa constrictors.

Danger In The Hospital Parking Lot

I was starting to walk across a road on hospital property.  Before I could cross, a van came whipping around a corner.  It was definitely exceeding the speed limit of the parking area.  I had to quickly run back and dive to the sidewalk hoping the guy was not actually trying to hit me.  While I rolled to safety I thought about the potentially strange irony of getting mowed down right there in the hospital parking lot.

(Okay, I didn’t actually “dive” to the sidewalk but isn’t the story a lot more fun if you imagine me diving to the sidewalk while you read it?)

As he zoomed by, the driver gave me an ugly look and shook his head as if to say, “What’s wrong with these dopes who try to cross the road when I’m at the wheel?”

When I reached the front entrance of the hospital I noticed that the dangerous driver was actually one of the hospital’s valet parking attendants!

Go ahead and let that sink in for a moment.  I suppose it is—in an odd way—slightly amusing.  (The amusement factor is substantially higher for me in light of the fact that I’m still alive.)

Even though I admire successful businesses I still think this is a flawed strategy for generating new customers at the hospital.