From Whom All Blessings Flow by Jill Carrattini

Take approximately 5 minutes to read this shortened version of yesterday's 'A Slice of Infinity'. Post comments to the blog for spiritual collaboration. Please email your prayer requests too.

Praise God from whom all blessings flow.
Praise Him all creatures here below.
Praise Him above ye heavenly host.
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

You will eat it for a whole month until you gag and are sick of it. For you have rejected the Lord, who is here among you, and you have whined to him, saying, “Why did we ever leave Egypt?” Numbers 11:20 NLT

And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to follow him. 7 Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness. Colossians 2:6-7 NLT

Slice of Infinity Snippets:
In what remains a revealing look at human nature, Moses describes life after Egypt. Rescued Israel was a grumbling people sick of manna, wailing for meat, even longing to go back to the land God had mightily delivered them from. Though their daily bread was actually falling from heaven, they wanted more. In the midst of their discontent, Moses revealed God’s promise for meat, but added the wake up call: “You have rejected the Lord, who is among you” (Numbers 11:20).

To our grumbling prone lips, these words are quite revealing. If being thankful is by nature being aware and appreciative of things beyond ourselves, complaining is refusing to see anything but ourselves. It is refusing to see the one who is among us. Moreover, it is an expression that serves only to affirm our own expectations, whether they are based on faulty visions of reality or not. Certainly the Israelites did not want to go back into captivity, but in their grumbling even slavery began to look inviting. Likewise, the falling bread from heaven ceased to be a remarkable sign of provision from the Father, but remarkably, a sign of monotony and their own dreariness.

Comments:
As we look forward to celebrating Thanksgiving with family and friends, lets really enjoy our time together! Yet, lets also think about our motivations for thankfulness. Here are a few pondering thoughts:
Why do we grumble so much? Why do we concern ourselves so much about our finances and our personal comfort? There are 6 billion people on planet earth and the US is a whopping 300 million. Why are we letting politics split the church? Why are we letting politics/finances keep us from following Jesus? Why, when the culture turns a deaf ear and begins to ignore the church, do we simply turn up the volume? Are we loosing relevance because we have adopted the American idea and we look so much like the the world that people easily see through our religiosity? Do we put our personal comfort before our love for humanity? (I know I do.) How can we focus our animosity on other human beings, regardless of what they do or what they look like when God loved us before we even were?

If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing. Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. 1 Corinthians 13:3-7 (NLT)

Street Culture:
The street culture always pursues and welcomes them, but the doors of the church are open only on Sunday. The church wants them neat and clean, but the streets take them as they are. Leroy Barber, president, Mission Year as quoted in unChristian-Kinnaman/Lyons

Q&A:
On October 28th, I posted the verse from Titus :Remind the believers to submit to the government and its officers. They should be obedient, always ready to do what is good. They must not slander anyone and must avoid quarreling. Instead, they should be gentle and show true humility to everyone. Titus 3:1-2

Shannon asked pointed quesiton about what this will look like when many part of an administration do not match our personal convictions.

One thought I want to convey is that in submitting ourselves to governmental authority, we learn to submit to God's. While men are falible, God is not.

Have a great day in Christ COUGARS!
-Chad

Faith and Reason by Stuart McAllister

Take approximately 5 minutes to read this shortened version of yesterday's 'A Slice of Infinity'. Post comments to the blog for spiritual collaboration. Please email your prayer requests too.

Jesus heals a paralytic
Sermon on the Mount

Slice of Infinity Snippets:
In many circles today, we are given the impression that we face a choice between thinking and faith. We are given the impression that somehow the postures of faith and reason are mutually exclusive. We live with words in our culture that seem to confirm a divide between fact and value. There is a real world of objective things, science, and hard realities; and there is the world of tastes, opinions, and personal values. The gulf, we are told, is real and to be held to at all times. This division is further reinforced by the notion of public and private worlds, whereby one set of values or criteria rules in one sphere and a different set rules in the other. And this is then often compounded in the church with the divide between sacred and secular. The language employed is one that clearly divides that which is deemed "of God"--preaching, praying, and evangelism--and that which is deemed of "the world"--business, politics, media, and so forth.

Within such a context, belief is seen as something mystical, existential, and defying rational boundaries or requirements. For the Christian in such a context, thinking, theology, and reasoning can be seen as unnecessary distractions to "simple" or "pure" faith.

Yet the biblical reflection of faith is quite the contrary. Throughout Scripture we are reminded of what it means to be made in the image of God, and what it means to live and function in a created order. God has given us various faculties that are the vehicles of our knowing and understanding. Reason, experience, and revelation are all legitimate means and provisions of God for us and to us.

In the words of the prophets and the cries of the psalmist we see many references to reason in relation to faith. The book of Job is an extended discussion on the "reasonableness" of Job's situation, and though reason does not discover a right answer and makes many blunders, it is not refuted in and of itself. The entire wisdom tradition enjoins the pursuit of knowledge and understanding as an expression of worshipping God. Nowhere do we get the impression of blind faith or esoteric leaps into ecstatic union.

Moreover, in the life of Jesus, the sound use of soul, heart, and mind is further exemplified. His teaching required careful listening and comparison, as in the Sermon on the Mount. He asked questions which were structured to require reasoning, such as in the healing of the paralytic. Even when asked by John about whether he was the Christ (Matthew 11:1-6), Jesus essentially tells John to think through his own conclusions, sending messengers back to report what they heard and saw. Christ's use of questions, parables, and dialogues shows boldly that reasoning is not ruled out of our spiritual life but is a central component of it.

Indeed, when reason and faith are set up as juxtaposing postures, much is lost. Authors R.C. Sproul, John Gerstner, and Arthur Lindsley describe the current divisions among us with a warning: "The church is safe from vicious persecution at the hands of the secularist, as educated people finished with stake burning circuses and torture racks. No martyr’s blood is shed in the secular west. So long as the church knows her place and remains quietly at peace on her modern reservation, let the babes pray and sing and read their Bibles, continuing steadfastly in their intellectual retardation: the church’s extinction will not come by sword or pillory, but by the quiet death of irrelevance. But let the church step off the reservation, let her penetrate once more the culture of the day and the face of secularism will change from a benign smile to a savage snarl."

Pictures of Me by Jill Carattini

Take approximately 5 minutes to read this shortened version of yesterday's 'A Slice of Infinity'. Post comments to the blog for spiritual collaboration. Please email your prayer requests too.

But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. Romans 5:8 NLT

Slice of Infinity Snippets:
While in prison, Dietrich Bonhoeffer struggled with the many reflections of his life. As a seminary instructor he was considered a saint and a giant. In America they made him feel like an escapist. In prison they made him feel like a criminal. There were days when he saw himself as all three and all the stages in between. It was in such a convolution of images that he asked:

"Who am I?
This or the other?
Am I one person today, and tomorrow another?
Am I both at once? A hypocrite before others,
And before myself a contemptible woebegone weakling?
Or is something within me still like a beaten army,
Fleeing in disorder from victory already achieved?
Who am I? They mock me,
these lonely questions of mine.
Whoever I am, Thou knowest, O God, I am Thine."

Our adoption by God is our identity, the picture we hold as children until the day when there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, and God will wipe every tear from our eyes. Neither death nor life, nor anything else in all creation, can separate us from this love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Comments: The main thrust of this article (click here to read today's slice of infinity in full) was adoption. Galleries containing photographs of foster children at play spur people towards adoption. Recently, I have been keenly aware of God's command to love your neighbor as yourself. If you recall in the recent letter I shared with you, one comment, which was first made by a friend of mine, went like this,“My prayer and heartbeat is that we in America will stand up and focus on what is eternal and begin to love people in such a way so that next time a girl gets pregnant before she goes to the abortion clinic, she will first think to go to a Christian family who will love and accept her and will either help her raise her child or will adopt her baby. When this becomes our reputation, then I'm convinced that the abortion rates will dramatically be will be lowered in our land.

It is no coincidence that another friend replied with some wonderful ideas of how we can truely love our neighbor as ourself:

I also think a huge investment in the opposite side of the equation would make so much sense. What if we lived in a culture that praised a young girl for delivering a baby for a sterile married couple instead of mocking her for "being a careless tramp" (or whatever other vulgar things are said)? What if young fathers were comfortable with supporting the mother in all ways instead of denying "participation" and running from the result? What if adopted kids were so routine in families that nobody ever did a double-take? How about government funding for organizations that educate young couples, help them through the pregnancy, and facilitate adoption instead of funding the murder? This seems so simple.

I really like this. Here are some concrete examples that buck perception of Christians because we don't condemn the girl for being a 'tramp'. And we disciple others in Love. Let us strive to make this the new reputation.

May you today be known by how you love your fellow Christian.
-Chad

Tiny Beginnins by Alison Thomas

Take approximately 5 minutes to read this shortened version of yesterday's 'A Slice of Infinity'. Post comments to the blog for spiritual collaboration. Please email your prayer requests too.

Here is another illustration Jesus used: “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a mustard seed planted in a field. Matthew 13:31 NLT

The birds nested in its branches,
and in its shade all the wild animals gave birth.
All the great nations of the world
lived in its shadow. Ezekiel 31:6 NLT

“‘While I was lying in my bed, this is what I dreamed. I saw a large tree in the middle of the earth. 11 The tree grew very tall and strong, reaching high into the heavens for all the world to see. 12 It had fresh green leaves, and it was loaded with fruit for all to eat. Wild animals lived in its shade, and birds nested in its branches. All the world was fed from this tree. Daniel 4:10-12 NLT

Slice of Infinity Snippets:
Since Jesus and his disciples were familiar with those mighty images, the deliberate irony in the parable of the mustard seed was clear. The kingdom of heaven would grow from its tiny beginnings to a great tree that would ultimately provide shelter, protection, and benefit to the entire world. As Craig Keener notes, "The parable is intended to accent both the qualities of growth and contrast. Like the mustard seed, the kingdom's humble beginnings and unpretentious character offer no visible indication of its future growth and glory, but just as there is continuity between the tiny mustard seed and the resulting 'tree,' so there is continuity from the seemingly inconsequential beginnings in Jesus' ministry and the future glory of God's consummating reign. Thus even though the beginnings of God's kingdom as manifested in Jesus may appear unimpressive, it is casually dismissed at one's own peril."

How marvelously the parable of the mustard seed highlights the past, present, and future magnificence of the kingdom in which God reigns. Though the presence of the King among us may at times feel threatened and slight, his is a kingdom with an explosive promise: it is not the one who plants or waters; it is God who makes things grow. Even now God is working to that end of future glory, calling us to see the great tree in the seedling, growing all things in his time--even those with the tiniest of beginnings.

Comments: This week I know you received my letter/website forward. As you search to share this, I want to ask you to be diligent in prayer for God's will. It is his Kingdom we want to bring, not our own.

Here is one way I have approached sending this letter out:

Thanks Ryan, you have always been very open to dialogue and that is something I really admire about you. You have a keen mind and you are gentle towards your fellow man.

I don’t know if you already received the letter. I’m assuming you have not. There is an attached web address that the letter asks you to follow. When I first saw the video on this website, I wanted everyone to see it and I didn’t care about the consequences. Therefore, I sent it out to many people on my email list. Looking back, I wish I had not been so hasty and had asked permission first, as I have done with you. Adam is one whom I think got the original without any prior soliciting.

If I may, I would like to expound first on my reason for asking permission. There is a cultural perception of Christians that I am trying hard to overcome. The perception goes a lot like this: Christians are: judgmental, too political and anti-choice, anti-gay and anti-just about everything. Put it this way, if I know my neighbor is a Christian, it is likely because I know he votes pro-life or at least republican and that he goes to church on Sunday. It is unlikely that I know he is a Christian because I know he cares about me and my life circumstances. I don’t know he cares because he does not demonstrate that he cares and therefore is actually demonstrating that he really only cares about himself. Likely, with Adam and with many others whom I hastily sent the letter/website to, I have played right into this cultural perception that much of the church has earned so well.

So, I ask permission to speak into your life about the topic of abortion because I do not want to be that guy. I wish the video were edited to remove any mention of politics and we could simply look at what abortion is. Unfortunately, this is not the case. However, I still feel that the rest of the video is powerful and moving.

Thanks for letting me get all this out. I look forward to talking to you more.

Have a great Monday everyone. Keep praying for the upcoming elections here in the United States that His Kingdom come and His well be done. Consider joining the windfarm prayer initiative on November 3rd (9pm mountain time) and consider downloading the 'daily audio bible' podcast. This would be another connection for us as we grow together.

All for Jesus the Christ
I am Chad Livingston

Take approximately 5 minutes to read this shortened version of yesterday's 'A Slice of Infinity'. Post comments to the blog for spiritual collaboration. Please email your prayer requests too.

My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify(Greek hagiazo set apart for sacred use or make holy) them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. John 17:15-18 (New International Version)

Slice of Infinity Snippets:
In one of the climactic scenes of The Lord of the Rings, the young hobbit, Frodo, laments the world he sees around him with all the tragedy and darkness that has befallen him. Looking at the difficulty in continuing on the path laid out before him, Frodo mourns, “I wish it need not have happened in my time.” Gandalf the Grey, ever his wise mentor, consoles him with these words: “So do all who live to see such times, but that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us. There are other forces at work in this world, Frodo, besides the will of evil. Bilbo was meant to find the Ring, in which case you were also meant to have it. And that is an encouraging thought.”(1)

Like Frodo and the other members of the Fellowship of the Ring, we can so easily look around us and see the peril of the journey in this world. Our desire to avoid difficulty and pain, and our longing for another kind of world often distracts us from doing God’s work in God’s world, regardless of the times at hand. Yet, our longings for what is good, beautiful, and right for our world do not have to lead us to flights of fantasy, or to wishful thinking. Rather, our longing for a better world should compel us to action as witnesses to the gospel as the force of good for our world. Indeed, our longings can lead us to decide what we can do to make the best of the times we’ve been given.

Comments:
This past weekend a group of friends ran the Chicago Marathon with a cause of Pro-Life. Several thousand dollars were raised to give to many different organizations in an effort to end this injustice in America. To be part of this was something amazing. May I encourage you to look for causes that fight injustice and become part. There were several people running for causes. One shirt that stands out read, "Love Wins".

Share your passions with the group and lets move forward in service.

Thank you Pat (COUGAR) for adding fuel to the fire of passion for the Love of Jesus through service.

Does the Bible Condone Slavery? by L.T. Jeyachandran

Take approximately 5 minutes to read this shortened version of yesterday's 'A Slice of Infinity'. Post comments to the blog for spiritual collaboration. Please email your prayer requests too.

"Do not oppress an alien; you yourselves know how it feels to be aliens, because you were aliens in Egypt.

(Exodus 23:9)

lamentably, it must be admitted that the Church has taken many centuries to live out what Scripture taught long ago, and no doubt we continue to drag our feet. The time delay between the Word of Scripture and its implementation in society is often due to the “holy huddle” mentality prevailing among Christians who are largely unconcerned about issues outside of their immediate periphery. Another reason many Christians continue to remain silent in the face of injustice is the platonic view of the cosmos we have adopted, implying that life in the hereafter is the only issue to be addressed, while we watch the world go by in its destructive way. Both mentalities are sadly misguided.

Those of us who say that we believe the Bible to be the Word of God have to raise our level of awareness and involvement regarding social issues. Having failed to do so, we have let these issues pass into the hands of those who may not be Christians, but are better informed about social injustice and concerned enough to fight wrong practices through legal means. While they have no logical basis to do what they are doing, the real tragedy is that we who do have a basis to address these issues remain largely indifferent. May the Lord of Scripture open our eyes to see that God is interested in the redemption of the whole of creation and not just disembodied souls and spirits!

Jesus and the Kingdom of God by Jill Carattini

Happy Monday!

-So when they had come together, they were asking Him, saying, "Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?" (Acts 1:6)

For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, (Colossians 1:13)

A Slice of Infinity snippets:
...But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” In other words, they were not only going to be recipients of the kingdom of God, they were going to be agents as well--agents of a kingdom that was already among them...
In the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, we have not only been given a means to enter the kingdom of God, we have been made agents of its very presence among the world as we know it today, even as we wait eagerly for Christ to come again. Indeed, come, Lord Jesus.

Chad's Comments:
Jay noted that this was not a concept only practiced by early Christians. This is something he believes we would find if we visit any Catholic church on any given Sunday. Thanks for the insight into your faith Jay!

This is an apologetic I had not previously considered:
How was it that the earliest confessors, who had expected a messiah that would boldly rescue Israel from its political oppressors, came to articulate these words? What would have caused them to speak of the arrival of a present and eternal kingdom, though injustice and repression remained throughout the land?...

With great evidence, we continue to see the hand of God, not the hand of man, succeeding in HisStory.

As one great song states: "I did not make it, no it is making me. It is the very truth of God and not the invention of any man."

I also note that people have asked what Jesus has for them NOW; not just what He has in store for their eternity. In what ways are we being agents of the kingdom today?

COUGARS' NeighborDAy weekend: We are able to love and minister to our hurting neighbors simply because we invite them over for dinner. Pick a weekend in June or July and share your story on the blog.

Prayer requests: (Please email us and share yours)
Please continue to lift up Elaine's family, My neighbor Gerry and his wife Terri and my aunt Barbara who struggles with depression and alcoholism.

* The Street Church still needs volunteers and donations. (there are very few washers and dryers available for the homeless. So, even though they may not need coats, they will wear a shirt until it is really ragged and smelly, then simply throw it away. Clothing donations in the summer are strongly encouraged.

*To comment on this thread, visit the blog.
*Read today's slice and email me with your comments/questions/prayers for
our next posting.
*Check out Life Devotions and see if you would like to receive their daily snippets.
*Invite friends and family to join us on this faith journey.

-Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst. (John 6:35)

- Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, "I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life." (John 8:12)

- "While I am in the world, I am the Light of the world."(John 9:5)

“the gate” (10:7), “the good shepherd” (10:11,14), “the resurrection and the life” (11:25), “the way, the truth and the life” (14:6), and “the true vine” (15:1).
(Actual Verses)

A Slice of Infinity snippets:
... When responding to anti-Christian religious trends, it is easy to focus on what we do not believe, what we are not for, and stop there. Everyone knows what Christians are against, but does anyone know what we are for? The evidence for a Christian vision of a new earth is seen when we are active in our communities, offering hope, healing, and renewal through the various gifts God has given us by his grace. Because of God’s redemptive work through Jesus, a new earth can arise now.

Chad's Comments:
Can your church be 'Green'? Can you help your church building recycle, use less electricity and find new ways to clean up the area around it?

The kingdom of God is at hand.

COUGARS' NeighborDAy weekend: We are able to love and minister to our hurting neighbors simply because we invite them over for dinner. Pick a weekend in June or July and share your story on the blog.

Prayer requests: (Please email us and share yours)
Please continue to lift up Elaine's family, My neighbor Gerry and his wife Terri and my aunt Barbara who struggles with depression and alcoholism.

* The Street Church still needs volunteers and donations. (there are very few washers and dryers available for the homeless. So, even though they may not need coats, they will wear a shirt until it is really ragged and smelly, then simply throw it away. Clothing donations in the summer are strongly encouraged.

*To comment on this thread, visit the blog.
*Read today's slice and email me with your comments/questions/prayers for
our next posting.
*Check out Life Devotions and see if you would like to receive their daily snippets.
*Invite friends and family to join us on this faith journey.