Advent 24: Reading & Thinking

Popular posts from this blog

Is God Good?

During "at home learning", I helped my daughter design an experiment on plants. She set up four identical pots with the same amount of soil in the same location on our deck (controlling her variables, right?). She planted two bean seeds in each pot. She watered three out of the four plants with various amounts of water (1/4 cup, 1/2 cup and 1 cup). The fourth plant only received whatever water naturally fell from the sky. At the end of one month, her hypothesis was partially verified. She thought the 1/4 cup water plant and 1/2 cup water plant would grow the best, which was true in the end. On the other hand, she guessed the others would not germinate at all. Interestingly enough, while the one that was drench in water (1 cup) did not germinate, the one she did not water at all actually grew! It germinated late but had the most steady growth. Is God good? I have been thinking about this question a lot these days. A global pandemic is still raging over our planet decimat...
Read more

Ordinary: Tempering Radical

Let's say you attend a Women's Conference. It isn't anything flashy. The poster advertising the event doesn't promise life changing advice or earth shattering results. The main speaker is "plain jane" and not clad in today's bling or tomorrow's trendy. The conference doesn't have a gymnasium full of booths with famous authors signing autographs. Neither are there inspirational coffee mugs with quasi-Christian phrases for sale. The atmosphere is not frenetic or vacuous. Rather, the events are fairly ordinary. God's Word is expounded with integrity. Prayers are spoken in unison and in private. Songs are offered with sincerity. The Lord's Supper is observed. And genuine thankfulness is offered to our God for divine redemption through His Son and the Gift of His Spirit until He returns. Doesn't that sound refreshing? Why doesn't everything these days have to be spectacular? I just finished reading a book entitled O r·di·nar·y b...
Read more

The Great Pandemic of 2020

A Pandemic. Yes, it has hit our earth quicker than I ever imagined when I penned my last post. COVID-19 was in its infancy as 2019 came to a close. On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared the pneumonia-like illness, with zoonotic origins, a global threat to humanity. Shortly thereafter, schools suspended face-to-face instruction, non-essential businesses closed their doors and the aviation industry dramatically slowed down. Fourteen day quarantines were ordered for international travelers and anyone with flu-like symptoms (especially a dry cough, fever or difficulty breathing) were asked to isolate. Fast forward to now where all mainstream media feeds are saturated with updates on number of cases, number of recoveries and number of deaths. Some countries such as Italy, Spain and U.S.A. have been hit hard. Other countries such as South Korea, Japan and Singapore have escaped with low fatality rates. It is an uncertain time to be alive. Today is Good Friday, a day whe...
Read more