Lenten Advice

"A life is either all spiritual or not spiritual at all. No man can serve two masters. Your life is shaped by the end you live for. You are made in the image of what you desire."
Thomas Merton

A Lenten Prayer ...

Forty days alone,

a wilderness of thoughts,

tempting and inviting thoughts,

which could so easily have distracted you from your task, your mission, your vision.

Yet you emerged, stronger and more attuned to all that had to be done, despite a time constraint that to our eyes would have seemed hopeless.

We too live in stressful times.

Demands are made of our time,

that leave so little

for the important things of life.

We are easily distracted

in the wilderness of our lives,

by every call to go this way or that,

to turn stone to bread

leap from mountains,

and do all that would keep us from the truth.

We listen to the voices of this world,

and ignore the one who endured all this and so much more, and emerged triumphant, that we might not have to suffer so.

Forgive us, Father,

when we get distracted from our task.

Forgive us those times when we try

to be all things to all men, and fail to be anything to anyone.

Courtesy Cathleen Getchell,

Darwin & Einstein on the Origin of the Species ...

Charles Darwin, often called the father of evolution, is best known for his work titled The Origin of the Species. In chapter six of that book, he goes into great detail about the human eye. He writes: "To suppose that the eye, with all its inimitable contrivances for adjusting the focus to different distances, for admitting different amounts of light, and for the correction of the spherical and chromatic aberration, could have been formed by natural selection (evolution), seems, I freely confess, absurd in the highest possible degree."

Renowned scientist Albert Einstein, named Person of the Century by TIME magazine in 1999, was an agnostic. He did not believe in a personal God. However, he did say this: "Everyone who is seriously interested in the pursuit of science becomes convinced that a spirit is manifest in the laws of the universe -- a spirit vastly superior to man, and one in the face of which our modest powers must feel humble."

As You Read the Bible ...

"Marvel at God's Goodness and let yourself be overwhelmed with the "Yes Me!" thought ..."

Ed Noble, Teaching Pastor,
Journey Community Church,
La Mesa, California

As You Read the