Royal Wisdom

"There's an old saying that it is better to light a candle than curse the darkness."
                                                                   Queen Elizabeth                                                                                                   
Yes, your Majesty, that is precisely what God did in Bethlehem.

Merry Christmas!

Last Night

Note to Self at Crunch Time

It's Crunch Time. Every year I vow to have everything done well ahead and every year I violate my vow. It's that time. And when the self-inflicted pressure begins to ratchet up, I can get grumpy. Not exactly the Christmas spirit. 

A short verse in Daily Guideposts this morning caught my eye as an antidote to short circuit the "grumps":

10 Give generously to them and do so without a grudging heart; then because of this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you put your hand to. 11 There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your fellow Israelites who are poor and needy in your land.

                                                                                                                      Deuteronomy 15:10-11

I can't solve the problems of the poor or even those of my own family and friends, but I can give without a grudging heart of my time, talent, treasure and attitude and thereby receive what is really at the heart of Christmas. God did so in sending His Son, so it's the least I can do. 

Greater Love Hath No Man ...

At the start of the week when we celebrate God's personal entry into this dark corner of the universe which ultimately ended with the greatest sacrifice of all, we need to remember the name and face of this young man too. 

Sophomore Zaevion Dobson was a 15-year old who lived in Knoxville, Tennessee, He was a football player, a leader and a great kid say those who knew him. And earlier this week, during a random gang shooting into a crowd of kids, Zaevion's actions were described thusly:  

"Knoxville Police Chief David Rausch broke down at a press conference discussing the young man’s heroism: 'Zaevion Dobson, a 15-year-old Fulton High School student and football player, was struck and killed after he had jumped on top of three girls to shield them…to shield them from the shooters.'

A teary-eyed and choked-up Rausch paused for several seconds before he could finish the sentence."

And so should we all be saddened by the loss of this fine young man to thugs. I hope the young women he saved will never forget his face or his life given so that they might live. I am certain that the One who sent His Son took notice and will never forget. 

www.breitbart.com/sports/2015/12/19/hs-football-player-killed-shielding-three-girls-from-shooters/

Christmas is Coming

Earth's Guardian

Bill Whittle has an interesting segment at PJTV.com talking about why the earth may be alone in the universe as a life-supporting planet despite the fact that there are probably millions of similar planets out there and it's the moon. That I wasn't expecting. 

He reports that the moon was formed in a gigantic collision with another similar-sized planet early on and the debris that flew off was captured by earth's gravitational pull and coalesced into the moon. Since then it has done two important things.

First, it is a shield. As Whittle notes, if you look at all the craters on the moon you must realize that all of those would have hit earth but for our celestial guardian and developing life in a constant artillery barrage is not easy to do. A second shield function is that the moon has enough of its own gravitational field that it deflects the orbit of extinction-sized asteroids, comets, etc. and most often causes a near-miss with earth.

The second function performed by the moon is that exerts just enough gravitational pull on the earth to keep the earth's axis canted at exactly the right angle to produce seasons and tides, both of which refresh life on earth on a seasonal basis. 

Bill chalks all this up to an astounding occurrence of chance. Sounds to me as if it's almost like someone planned it. Hmm...