Thanksgiving 2014

"Praise the Lord, my soul; all my inmost being, praise His holy name."

-Psalm 103:1

This year I decided to write 10 of thanksgiving topics, but with a twist. For each topic, I wanted it to be outside of the box, and I also wanted to add something about God that I could be thankful for.  

1. Glasses- Without glasses I cannot do anything productive, because everything is unclear and unfocused. I thank God that He is my “glasses”- everything becomes clear and focused when I look through Him.

2. Job- I am thankful for my job, not only because it gives me money, but because I learn so much through it. While working there I learned about patience, hard work, patience, kindness, and patience. I thank God that He is continually working in me with great patience. 

3. Clucksters- I love the chicken at Clucksters. Pretty self-explanatory. I thank God that He is my portion and bread of life. 

4. YDJ- I am so blessed to be a part of YDJ. I’ve been especially blessed to be a leader for YDJ. With Abe leaving to Vietnam, more responsibility has been put on the rest of us, but it’s a joy to serve my friends in YDJ. I thank God for being a part of my life and for leading me.  

5. Music- Music has always been a big part of my life, whether it be praise team, piano, band, or orchestra. Music is so unique in that everyone can enjoy it, even if they are not a musician and cannot fully understand it. I thank God that I can enjoy Him, even though I do not fully understand Him. 

6. Messenger Bag- Before I got this bag from my work, I always had trouble finding the right bag for church. This bag perfectly carries my things for the weekends. I thank God that He carries me through life, especially in the hard times. Here’s a poem I really like by Mary Stevenson called “Footprints in the Sand”. 

“One night I dreamed I was walking along the beach with the Lord.

Many scenes from my life flashed across the sky.

In each scene I noticed footprints in the sand.

Sometimes there were two sets of footprints,

other times there were one set of footprints. 

This bothered me because I noticed

that during the low periods of my life,

when I was suffering from

anguish, sorrow or defeat,

I could see only one set of footprints.

 So I said to the Lord,

‘You promised me Lord,

that if I followed you,

you would walk with me always.

But I have noticed that during

the most trying periods of my life

there have only been one

set of footprints in the sand.

Why, when I needed you most,

you have not been there for me?’

 The Lord replied, ‘The times when you have seen only one set of footprints, 

is when I carried you.’”

7. Earpods- I use earbuds every day to listen to music on my iPod or computer. I thank Jesus because just as the headphones connect the source of music to me in a form I can understand, Jesus connects the source of life, God, to me in a form I can understand- love.

8. Bed- I love to sleep. Just like Clucksters, it’s pretty self-explanatory. I thank God that in Him, I can find true rest. 

9. Basketball- Basketball is my favorite sport, and is a great way for me to exercise and have fun at the same time, which is not natural. I thank God that although having a relationship with Him may seem like exercise and hard work, it is always enjoyable. 

10. Time- Time is extremely valuable, since no one is guaranteed tomorrow. I thank God that He is the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. He holds time in His hands, and graciously gives me time, even though I waste so much of it. I pray that I would use my time to glorify Him.   

Dimensions

"'Who can hide in secret places so that I cannot see them?' declares the Lord. 'Do I not fill heaven and earth?' declares the Lord."
-Jeremiah 23:24
      First of all, I would like to say that this blog post is going to be more theoretical than practical. This post will just be some thoughts I had regarding dimensions and I do not claim all of this to be true. This post was inspired by the movie "Interstellar" by Christopher Nolan, which deals with relativity, dimensions, time and space (Side note: I recommend the movie, it was good). So all that being said, what is a dimension? It's actually a bit difficult to describe without using an example, but at it's most basic a dimension is a direction of space. The way dimensions are described is with coordinates, and the more dimensions you have in a space, the more coordinates you need to describe a location in that space. Fortunately, most of us know what a dimension is because we learn about it in our math classes, so I don't have to explain it in great detail.
      While dimensions are typically used to describe space, they can also be used to describe other things as well. For example, many people regard time as a dimension. With that in mind, how can we expand our definition of dimension to cover time as well as space? I believe that we can describe a dimension as "a limiting or binding factor that can be used to describe position". Sorry if that seems inadequate, but it was the best I could do. What exactly do I mean by this definition?
      In math, we know about dimensional "spaces". There's one dimensional, two dimensional, and three dimensional, also known as 1d, 2d and 3d. In a one dimensional space, everything within that space is constrained to one infinite line, which describes the entirety of that space. No point in that one dimensional space can ever leave that line, or it would cease to be one dimensional. This is what I mean by "a limiting or binding factor". The dimension limits every point to that line. In a two dimensional space, every point is limited to an infinite plane, and in a three dimensional space, every point in limited to an infinite cube (or any 3d shape really).
      As humans on this earth, we exist in a four dimensional world. There are the three dimensions that describe our space, and there is also the time dimension. This means that we are limited to three dimensions in space, and are bound by time. We cannot cease to exist within these four dimensions, because we are four dimensional beings. In other words, we cannot go to a fifth dimension. It's also very difficult for us to imagine anything outside of these four dimensions, because we have never experienced any other dimension. We are limited by these four dimensions, so we never really consider any other dimension (unless you are a mathematician or physicist maybe).
      While thinking about dimensions, I wondered, "what about God? is He bound by any number of dimensions? if not, what is the nature of His existence?" Before I try to answer those tough questions, I want to again talk purely about space. Let's think about a two dimensional space. More specifically, let's think of something like a painting or a drawing. Imagine that you are a single point in the painting, and that you are bound by the painting's two dimensions. Try to imagine what the painting would look like from within the painting itself. You wouldn't be able to see much of the painting, would you? However, because we exist in a three dimensional space, we can see the painting outside of the two dimensions. We can see the entirety of the painting; the colors, lines, composition, and beauty. The painting looks totally different when we view it outside of it's two dimensions.
      You can probably guess where I'm going with this by now, so let me wrap up. Last time I wrote about God's nature and how He is infinite, where we are finite. I believe that this means God can also exist in more than four dimensions, if not infinite dimensions. Or perhaps God does not exist in any dimension, since He is unbounded and unconstrained. In any case, we know that God exists outside of our four dimensions. This means that God is not bounded by time or space. This also means that God views us very differently than we view ourselves. God can see the entirety of our lives, outside of space or time. God not only exists in every place, but also in every time.
      People often wonder why they cannot see God. If God exists outside of our four dimensions, perhaps it makes sense that we cannot see or comprehend Him. Think again to the painting. If you were a single point in that painting limited by the two dimensional space, you would only be able to see what is in that space. You wouldn't be able to see anything else, such as the artist, even if the artist was right next to the painting. The only way you would be able to see or experience the artist is if he decided to touch the painting, thus entering the two dimensional space. You would never be able to see the entirety of the artist though, because he exists in more dimensions than you could see or understand. Maybe this is also why we cannot see or understand the entirety of God. We are just a part of His creation, and He is the artist. The only way we can experience Him is when He decides to touch us.
-Smart