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“Billions of galaxies trace their origin to four words.”

A thought by Mark Batterson (2014-09-02) from his book,  The Grave Robber: How Jesus Can Make Your Impossible Possible  (p. 226). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.  (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) And those four words were, “Let there be light.” Genesis 1: 3.   And even now we are finding that the command is still being lived out.  Mark says, “Less than a century ago the prevailing opinion in cosmology was that the Milky Way galaxy was the sum total of the universe. Nineteenth-century Austrian physicist Christian Doppler had theorized an expanding universe, but there wasn’t much tangible evidence to back up his belief. Then an astronomer named Edwin Hubble spied several spiral nebulae that were far too distant to be part of the Milky Way galaxy. The announcement of his discovery on January 1, 1925, was an astronomical paradigm shift. He discovered that the degree of redshift observed in light coming from other galaxies increased in propor

“At about six months of age, children start developing internal pictures of external realities.”

A thought by Mark Batterson (2014-09-02) from his book, The Grave Robber: How Jesus Can Make Your Impossible Possible (p. 202). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) Mark continues, “Psychologists refer to this ability to create and catalog mental images as representational intelligence. Like a slow-developing Polaroid, those internal images are developed in the darkroom of your mind’s eye. The first internal image is mom, which develops at about six months of age. Dad doesn’t enter the picture until about eight months. Give children a few years, and their entire vocabulary will have a matching picture. But if your eyesight doesn’t develop normally, neither will your mind’s eye.” And that is true in so many areas in our development even spiritual.   I was fortunate that I was raised in a home that took me to church at a very early age.   Of course my dad was a minister so that was my life and going to church w

“There are lots of different explanations for every experience.”

A thought by Mark Batterson (2014-09-02) from his book, The Grave Robber: How Jesus Can Make Your Impossible Possible (p. 220). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) That is so true.   Have you learned to use that as a way to enjoy life instead of endure it? Look at what Mark says, “Let’s say you’re at a restaurant waiting for a date that you were supposed to meet at 7: 00 sharp, but forty-five minutes later he or she is a no-show. At some point you need to explain to yourself why the person isn’t there. Here are some possible explanations. You might think, “He stood me up,” causing you to become mad. You could jump to conclusions and think, “She doesn’t love me anymore,” causing you to become sad. You could assume, “He was in an accident,” causing you to feel anxious. You might imagine, “He’s working overtime so that he can pay for our meal,” causing you to feel grateful. You could speculate, “She’s with another ma

“The goal isn’t the miracle. The goal is God’s glory.”

A thought by Mark Batterson (2014-09-02) from his book, The Grave Robber: How Jesus Can Make Your Impossible Possible (p. 216). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) That can be a problem to realize when we are going through an impossible situation and we are looking for a miracle but that is the real goal.   But that can be a very difficult prayer to pray.   I’m sure it was difficult for Jesus when He was facing the cross, and prayed to His Father, “Not my will but Your will be done.” Marks says, “And if you forget that, it’s difficult to get through difficult circumstances. So let me offer this reminder: the will of God is the glory of God. That’s why cancer can’t keep you from doing the will of God. Nothing can. You can glorify God under any and every circumstance.” We prayed that prayer when we found out my wife had thyroid cancer.   He took care of the cancer but she still lives with some of the complica

“When life doesn’t go according to plan, we naturally look for someone or something to blame.”

A thought by Mark Batterson (2014-09-02) from his book, The Grave Robber: How Jesus Can Make Your Impossible Possible (p. 213). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) As Rick Warren has said. “To blame is to be lame” but it is an easy thing to do.   It started way back in the Garden of Eden where Adam blamed Eve and then got around to blame God.   Their eating the forbidden was really God’s fault because He created the woman. So are you a blamer?   When something happens that really is your fault do you strive to find someone to blame?   I mean you are really in debt but it’s your spouce’s fault.   They just need, need, and want, want, want so you have to spend, spend, spend.   Or it’s the Democrat’s/Republican’s fault when it really it is your fault.   But as Mark says, “But no one wins at the blame game! And it’s usually followed by a postgame pity party. At some point, we must recognize that the circumstance

“Doubt is downgrading your theology to match your experience of reality.”

A thought by Mark Batterson (2014-09-02) from his book, The Grave Robber: How Jesus Can Make Your Impossible Possible (pp. 175-176). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) Here is what Mark says leading up to this thought, “We have a natural tendency to explain away what we cannot explain.”   He then says, “The reason many of us miss the miracles that are all around us all the time is because we don’t have a prior memory to associate with them.”   Mark is looking in this section of his book of the experience of the apostles out in a boat on the Sea of Galilee and the miracle of Jesus walking on the water. They had never seen someone walking on water and so there was no way that their mind would come up with that as a fact.   They first thought He was a ghost.   And wouldn’t that be true of you and me?    My first thought wouldn’t be that Jesus would be walking on the water.   I haven’t seen it so it can’t be true.  

“Your job is not to crunch numbers and audit the will of God.”

A thought by Mark Batterson (2014-09-02) from his book, The Grave Robber: How Jesus Can Make Your Impossible Possible (p. 141). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) Mark in this chapter of his book is dealing with the feeding of the 5,000 with five loaves and two fish.   Now if we crunch those numbers, 5 + 2 does not = 5,000.   No way.   And we do that over and over in our lives don’t we?   But the equation had another variable to it that makes all the difference and it was 5 + 2 + God and that does = 5,000.   And that is true in your life too. As Marks says, “Your job is not to crunch numbers and audit the will of God. After all, the will of God is not a zero sum game. When you add God to the equation, His output always exceeds your input. And your two fish can go a lot further than you imagine if you put them into His hands.”   Just remember that as you face whatever you are facing this week.   The equatio