But I Don't Want to Go!

I am posting this video simply because I can.  Bella is swimming and enjoying it very much until it is time to go home.

http://theilovedogssite.com/gone-viral-dog-throws-hissy-fit-when-told-its-time-to-stop-swimming/

Does this look and sound familiar?

Look at This!

Typhoon Haiyan devastated the Philippines, displacing at least 600,000 people and killing upwards of 3200 people.  The death toll continues to rise as rescue and recovery efforts continue.  Supplies of food and water are only now beginning to reach many of the victims.   The people need our prayers and support.

In the midst of the death and destruction there are, of course, acts of heroism and nobility, and there is one thing which stands out as truly amazing.  I am a rather concrete, historically based, and non-superstitious Christian.  Images of Jesus on food, or in the shape assumed by a Cheeto, or in a stain on a door, I find to be ridiculous.  I am skeptical of religious relics, signs, and supposed miracles.  I do not deny their existence, I merely realize that we cannot base our faith on them. 

Look at this. 

What They Think of Us: Jesus Parodies

Apparently They Think This is Funny

Jesus Walks on Water Prank

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgGmedc-AEM&NR=1&feature=fvwp

Jesus Turns Water into Wine

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgrSyokK6H0

Jesus Levitation

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4q6Zx5n9Jw

Jesus Carries the Cross

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40mPaWqffSc

Burning Your Eyeballs

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/04/eye-sunburn-anderson-cooper-temporary-blindness_n_2239020.html

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505263_162-57557493/anderson-cooper-on-temporary-blindness-cnn-shakeup/

“It turns out I have sunburned my eyeballs.  I had no idea you could do this.” Anderson Cooper.  Cooper had a case of photokeratitis, commonly called “snow blindness, ” in which ultraviolet light which reflects off snow, sand, or water painfully urns the cornea.  The damage is not permanent.  It is why snow skiers wear sunglasses.  The thing I noticed here was his statement, “I had no idea you could do this.”

The experienced Portuguese sailors should have thought to remind Cooper to wear sunglasses.or a brimmed hat or both.  Cooper was not an absolute water novice but he had never heard of the condition.  That did not stop the ultraviolet radiation from burning his eyes.  There is a legal principle: “Ignorance of the law is no excuse.”

The application of this occurrence for Christians is this: there are pitfalls and dangers which come as part of being a Christian.  They are there and are operative whether or not the believer is aware of them.  Also, there are pleasures and privileges which come as part of being a Christian. They, also, are there and are operative whether or not the believer is aware of them.  

It is incumbent upon experienced Christians to teach new believers these things.  And new believers need to study to learn these things.  The place where they will learn these things is in the Bible.

Biblical Sources of Phrases in Common Use: A Drop in a Bucket

The phrase, “a drop in a bucket,” is an idiomatic saying which speaks of an insignificant, overwhelmed thing.  Something too small to make any sort of difference to a situation.  The phrase, “a drop in the ocean” has the same meaning.

The first known use of the phrase is believed to have been in Isaiah 40:15.

“Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing.” Isaiah 40:15