From this Day

Marcin Patrzalek

Born 2000

Doug's video recommendation for this morning is of brilliant guitarist Marcin Patrzalek, from Poland, who stunned AGT judges with his performance when he was just eighteen. Worth a listen or a few!

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzBKlcYaKNg

Here's another video he made when he was just 15: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uc4gk8NLeFs

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcin_Patrzalek

Many hands make light work.

But only when they are working as a team.

Perspective

Thanks to Nick for this one.

"This is the true joy in life, being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one. Being a force of nature instead of a feverish, selfish little clod of ailments and grievances, complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy. I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community and as long as I live, it is my privilege to do for it what I can. I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work, the more I live. I rejoice in life for its own sake. Life is no brief candle to me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got hold of for the moment and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations." - George Bernard Shaw

An Interesting Story

A coworker told me a story they heard from a mutual acquaintance, of how they experienced gold dust "appearing" on peoples' faces and skin during a church service. For both of us, our initial reaction is one of skeptical curiosity. I certainly had never heard of such a thing, so he suggested I look into it. 

I found this article, and I don't know who wrote it, but I appreciate the approach it takes in responding to such claims.

Below is one excerpt I particularly enjoy:

"First John 4:1 commands us to “test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.” So how do we test something like falling gold dust? A cursory Google search indicates that at no time has any worshiper showered in gold dust ever produced any genuine gold. The “precious stones” have all proved to be imitation. A variety of laboratory tests have shown the “gold” to be cellophane or plastic glitter. The gold fillings have been consistently verified as having been put there by dentists. In light of these findings, a couple of questions surface: if God were to reveal Himself to believers in a “golden cloud,” would He use plastic? Would the Holy God who created real gold manifest Himself with a cheap cellophane substitute (Job 41:11; Psalm 50:12)? And if He were to take the time to fill a bad tooth with gold, isn’t it more consistent with the nature of Yahweh Rapha (“The Lord Who Heals,” Exodus 15:26) to simply heal the tooth?"

And

"Even during the powerful apostolic days of the book of Acts, God’s glory was revealed in the transformed lives of those who called upon Jesus’ name. The apostles’ miracles were merely to promote the resurrected Christ and were not an end in themselves. At no time did anyone report the appearance of a plastic glitter cloud as evidence of the Holy Spirit among them (1 Corinthians 2:2; Acts 3:12)."

Read more: https://www.gotquestions.org/gold-dust-church.html

Multiple Choice (Pick One)

In any given situation, there are only three internal responses to overwhelm or overpressure:

• Find a way to push through it,
• Rest and recharge first,
• Let it go.

Someone who's collapsed in a heap, miles short of the finish line, is faced with three options: either find a way to push through and crawl to the end, or rest until recovering enough energy to finish, or, third, recognize that neither will happen, let go, and stop trying to run. Any of those three may be an appropriate response, but none of them can be the only response in every situation. What God promises, though, is that he's with us to help us choose, with us no matter what we choose, with us to carry us over the finish line in the end no matter what we do.

Picturing my 2-year-old, the more we can support her to do things on her own, the better! But it has nothing to do with her value or how much we love her. It's our pure joy and honor to provide for her during this season when she relies on us for so much. It's such a beautiful reminder of how much we rely on God and how much he delights, not just in providing for us, but in seeing us grow and learn how to provide for ourselves. He delights in comforting, healing, and equipping us to get back up and run.

Lyrics

"I love your voice, singing over me every morning...calling out my name every morning. Your voice is not the voice of the accuser that says I'm a loser, Lord you're loving me." -The Royal Royal

Hebrews

God, having spoken long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days spoke to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds, who is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power; who, having accomplished cleansing for sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become so much better than the angels, as He has inherited a more excellent name than they." —Legacy Standard Bible. Three Sixteen Publishing, 2022, p. Heb 1:1–4.

Long ago God spoke many times and in many ways to our ancestors through the prophets. And now in these final days, he has spoken to us through his Son. God promised everything to the Son as an inheritance, and through the Son he created the universe. The Son radiates God’s own glory and expresses the very character of God, and he sustains everything by the mighty power of his command. When he had cleansed us from our sins, he sat down in the place of honor at the right hand of the majestic God in heaven. This shows that the Son is far greater than the angels, just as the name God gave him is greater than their names." —Tyndale House Publishers. Holy Bible: New Living Translation. Tyndale House Publishers, 2015, p. Heb 1:1–4.

Unlike Paul's letters to specific people and communities of people, this is wide open. It's oriented towards people with Abrahamic background or influence (which describes most of the world now), but this is a teaser that should draw anyone's interest who has any desire for truth and understanding about the world. Right now, the following exhortation is easy to take personally, and is of great comfort to me today:

Since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, laying aside every weight and the sin which so easily entangles us, let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary, fainting in heart. —Legacy Standard Bible. Three Sixteen Publishing, 2022, p. Heb 12:1–3.