For “Scripture Sunday”:
Hey, fans, Sunday it’s here—the Super Bowl!
“For our international viewers, that’s when over 100 million of us Americans huddle in front of our TVs for hours to watch the National Football League championship game—the Super Bowl.
A friend of mine jokes with me that this is really not “football,” and that what Americans call soccer is far more popular worldwide, as is (he loves to remind me) rugby and cricket.
Regardless, wherever you go, humans play, watch and cheer for athletic games of some sort. Last year over 10,000 athletes from 204 nations competed in an event that originated over 2,500 years ago in Greece, the Olympics.
The Greeks had their annual Super Bowl too. In addition to the games held every four years at Olympia, Greek athletes also competed in an annual circuit of games in other areas, all of which honored various gods. You might say nothing’s changed—sports today are like a religion for lots of fans! Prizes today are a lot better though. Super Bowl winners this year get $88,000, plus a $25,000 ring. Greek athletes got a wreath for their heads made out of pine needles, laurel or … celery!
Sports’ impact upon culture was not lost on the apostle Paul, when he wrote his letters to a man named Timothy, whose father was Greek, and a church in Greece, Corinth. Paul used athletics to make some powerful points about life itself.
“Do you not know,” he wrote, “that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate [exercises self-control] in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown” (1 Corinthians 9:24-25).
Later he wrote Timothy, “If anyone competes in athletics, he is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules” (2 Timothy 2:5).
Aren’t all of us striving in some way for something? Don’t we all want out of life a crown, a reward, of some sort? What are you racing for, and why? For most people, their main pursuits in life are perishable, temporary … our own versions of a wreath of celery or Super Bowl ring. You might ask, “What in life isn’t perishable?” That’s precisely Paul’s point: Only things that pertain to God and the purpose for which we were born offer us something imperishable, something worth pursuing!
But in that pursuit, no crown is awarded unless we are competing “according to the rules.” What rules? Who sets them? Can you imagine just before the Super Bowl starts the referee says, “All right fellows, we’ve removed the boundary lines; we may change the rules of the game as it goes along; and since most of you complain about the officiating, we’re not going to referee this game.” The game would instantly turn confusing and chaotic.
What’s different about the game of life? Looking around at a confused and chaotic world today, could the reason be that we’ve removed the boundaries; that we’re changing the rules of the game that God created; and since most of us have complained about His officiating, He’s letting us referee ourselves?
Paul was tackling something far more important than sports; he was talking about life. God, who invented life, invented the rules for life, and He’s offering a great prize—an imperishable crown of eternal life—for those who pursue it, run that race and follow Him.
Do we even know the rules of life—God’s rules—anymore? Do we know what we’re racing around after?
As we watch the Super Bowl, or any other game around the world, and cheer for our teams—let’s take some time to think about the larger picture: life, our pursuits, God’s purpose and competing by the rules.” From: http://lifehopeandtruth.com/speaking-of/the-super-bowl-and-life/
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The Boy Scouts and the Gay Agenda
“The Boy Scouts of America have broken the line on morality they have defended for generations.”
Transcript at: http://www.ucg.org/beyond-today-daily/christian-living/boy-scouts-and-gay-agenda
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Prophecy and the Colosseum
How was the ancient Roman Colosseum financed and what does it have to do with Bible prophecy?
From: http://www.ucg.org/beyond-today-daily/bible/prophecy-and-colosseum
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Priorities.
“We seem to have slipped into a generation that wants beautiful houses and costly furnishings at the start of life.
Wisdom ought to lead us to keep our priorities straight. The first items we need to pay attention to and get in order is our work outside the house—like the farmer's field, the workers' job and income. Once that is firmly in place and in order, then we are in a better position to look into building a house. That is the sort of wisdom that prevents the economic collapses we see in the world about us. It is the wisdom of God (Proverbs 24:27 Prepare thy work without, and make it fit for thyself in the field; and afterwards build thine house. See All...).
We are often driven by the opinions of others. We try to "keep up with the Jones'" as the old saying goes, and if the Jones family falls into the ditch, we are sure to follow. The better way by far is to realize that our circumstances in life are unique to us and real to us. They ought to be the guide by which we make decisions. Our priorities are singularly ours. Follow them wisely to success.” From: http://www.ucg.org/this-is-the-way/priorities/
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This morning’s program on WGN TV: Is This the End Time?
“Jesus said that the time of His second coming would be like the days of Noah. What did He mean? How could you be affected?”
Transcript at: http://www.ucg.org/beyond-today-program/news-and-prophecy/end-time
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On This Day:
Cousteau publishes The Silent World, Feb 3, 1953:
“On February 3, 1953, French oceanographer Jacques-Yves Cousteau publishes his most famous and lasting work, The Silent World.
Born in Saint-Andre-de-Cubzac, France, in 1910, Cousteau was trained at the Brest Naval School. While serving in the French navy, he began his underwater explorations, filming shipwrecks and the underwater world of the Mediterranean Sea through a glass bowl. At the time, the only available system for underwater breathing involved a diver being tethered to the surface, and Cousteau sought to develop a self-contained device.
In 1943, with the aid of engineer Emile Gagnan, he designed the Aqua-Lung, the world's first self-contained underwater breathing apparatus (scuba). With the Aqua-Lung, the largely unexplored world lying beneath the ocean surface was open to Cousteau as never before. He developed underwater cameras and photography and was employed by the French navy to explore navy shipwrecks. In his free time, he explored ancient wrecks and studied underwater sea life.
In 1948, he published his first work, Through 18 Meters of Water, and in 1950 Lord Guinness, a British patron, bought him an old British minesweeper to use for his explorations. Cousteau converted the ship into an oceanographic vessel and christened it the Calypso. In 1953, he published The Silent World, written with Frederic Dumas, and began work on a film version of the book with film director Louis Malle. Three years later, The Silent World was released to world acclaim. The film, which revealed to the public the hidden universe of tropical fish, whales, and walruses, won Best Documentary at the Academy Awards and the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival.
With the success of the film, Cousteau retired from the navy to devote himself to oceanography. He welcomed geologists, archaeologists, zoologists, environmentalists, and other scientists aboard the Calypso and led numerous excursions to the world's great bodies of water, from the Red Sea to the Amazon River. He headed the Conshelf Saturation Dive Program, in which men lived and worked for extended time periods at considerable depths along the continental shelves.
His many books include The Living Sea (1963), Three Adventures: Galapagos, Titicaca, the Blue Holes (1973), and Jacques Cousteau: The Ocean World (1985). He also produced several more award-winning films and scores of television documentaries about the ocean, making him a household name. He saw firsthand the damage done to the marine ecosystems by humans and was an outspoken and persuasive environmentalist. Cousteau died in 1997.”
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Yesterday:
After my daughter’s long Saturday phone call, there was a lot of confusion. Chris, the foster mom who lives near me, said that she had to go to Adoption Day, and so she would take Miss Priss. Normally, she just does Adoption Day on the 3rd. Saturday. She was having to go as our boss, Kenya was going to be doing an orientation for the new cat habitat at Petco during Adoption Day hours.
Ray was supposed to go to tend to the cat habitat in the morning, but hadn’t checked his answering machine to say that he didn’t have to go, as Kenya would go to Adoption Day early, and tend to it. Ray arrived on my door step all slicked up and ready to go, as I was going to go too, before church, to show him the ropes, as I do have some knowledge about it. That was a surprise as I didn’t know he hadn’t checked his machine, and wasn’t even dressed yet. So then it was arranged that he would go to the orientation in the afternoon. Then Chris called back, no one had told her that the orientation had been cancelled, and she and Ray didn’t have to go at all. Just a lack of communication all the way round. I hope it isn’t going to be like this all the time!
After leisurely getting ready for church, I took Misty for a little walk, then Jay called to say that he couldn’t go to church, as he had to go with his mother to pick up her car from having new motor mounts put on it. Their neighbor was going to take them, but he doesn’t like to hang around in stores while Claudia does her shopping. Jay says that she is not safe to be driving by herself.
So, alone, I headed for church, and arrived in time for the Bible Study ‘The Miracles in the Desert” about the miracles that God performed in the times of Moses. The sermon was given by a guest pastor from Zambia. First, he, his wife and missionaries in our church who used to be in Zambia, sang a Zambian song. Then he showed a video about their ministry there. I can’t say that I learned a lot from the sermon, as I could hardly understand his accent, but what I did catch, was interesting.
The pot luck was great as usual, then I hurried home to let Misty out.
Now I have to get ready, as it is my turn to do the cat habitat today.
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