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The 2010 Winter Olympic Games are in their final week. The performances have once again been tributes to the skill and dedication of those who participate in the games. The sacrifice has been huge. As the numerous NBC personal vignettes testify, many of these athletes have given their whole lives to reach for Olympic glory. It is a heady goal to be acknowledged as the best in the world--to win the gold medal. For many at the games, it is enough just participate in the Olympics, to compete with the best, even if they don't win the gold. The glory of the Olympics compels these athletes as well. But there is a problem with pursuing Olympic glory. In the pursuit of medals there is the danger of making this pursuit the most important goal in life. You see, the Living God has demanded of man that He be most important in our lives. It is the pursuit of God's glory that is to dominate human life. That is what people were designed to be: pursuers of the glory of God. Romans 1:21-32 addresses this very issue.

A second snowstorm within three days has brought the mid-Atlantic region of the United States to a halt. This region contains the nation's centers for finance, business, and government. In some instances, even snow plows have been kept off the roads because conditions are too dangerous for plowing. So far, Washington D.C., Baltimore, and Philadelphia have had record amounts snowfalls. The news media have provided extensive coverage of the disruptions caused by the snow. Questions are being asked of politicians and meteorologists about the significance of these back-to-back storms. But one question is not being asked, and that is the most important question of all. Does God have your attention?

Snow is blanketing the East Coast this weekend in record amounts. Hundreds of thousands of homes are without power. Work will be disrupted for companies, small businesses, schools, and even the government. Thirty inches of snow simply cannot be ignored. Once again, the power of man quickly pales in comparison to the power of God. The scientific explanation of how snow occurs is not complex. The right combination of moisture, temperature, and a low pressure system will result in snow. However, small deviations in any of these three variables can result in ice or rain instead of snow. The convergence of just the right factors results in major storms like the one occurring now. For some this is a random convergence, occurring with all the certainty of a roll of the dice. But for those who believe in the God of the Bible, weather is not random at all. The Book of Job makes this statement:

This headline is from a recent edition of the London Daily Mail online. The rest of the headline reads: Scientists create sperm and eggs from stem cells. Here are a few quotes from this article:

The U.S. government-funded research also offers the prospect of a 'miracle pill' which staves off the menopause, allowing women to wait longer to have a child.

Scientists at Stanford University in California found the right cocktail of chemicals and vitamins to coax the cells into becoming eggs and sperm. 

The American team used stem cells taken from embryos in the first days of life but
hope to repeat the process with slivers of skin. The skin cells would first be exposed to a mixture which wound back their biological clocks to embryonic stem cell state, before being transformed into sperm or eggs.

The double success, published in the journal Nature, raises the prospect of men and women one day 'growing' their own sperm and eggs for use in in vitro fertilization treatments.

Today is September 11, 2009.  "Are you safe?" seems like a good question to consider on the 8^th anniversary of the Al Qaeda attack. I remember the morning of September 11, 2001. I left the house early to follow my son to the mechanic's shop where he was to have some work done on his car. I was listening to the radio as we drove through the countryside. The local talk station was playing on my car radio.  About half way to the mechanic's, the morning talk show host interrupted his discussion of some local topic to report that apparently a small plane had just flown into one of the towers of the World Trade Center in New York. The host was more amused than alarmed at that point.  However, a few minutes later his tone was much more than alarmed. As reports began to spread through the various network wire services, an unsettling picture emerged of an unknown number of planes crashing into an unknown number of locations. My son and I returned home to view our first TV images of the attack.  Within minutes of our arrival, the second tower of the World Trade Center collapsed.  We also heard reports of a bomb or a plane hitting the Pentagon. Numerous other unconfirmed reports were still being assessed. It was time to ask - are we safe?

Your comments are a valuable part of this blog. An example is a recent comment made by Jennifer regarding the news story about the confrontation between the police officer and the college professor in Cambridge, MA. This confrontation made headlines worldwide and sparked charges of racism and profiling. Jennifer and her husband make a good point that is easy to miss among all the sound bites and sensational headlines. Here is her comment:

Anger has come to dominate the headlines. Members of Congress have ventured out from the safe haven of the Washington Beltway back to their home states. Their reception by the home folks has been less than peaceful. Many constituents have exchanged the traditional summer grilling of hot dogs and burgers for grilling their congressional leaders. One hallmark of town hall meetings has been anger. The proposed healthcare plans by the Senate, House, and White House all have provisions that have fed angry interchanges at meetings across the country. Since all of the plans for health care reform are still just plans, it is difficult to debate what might be. Nevertheless, as concerns are raised about such provisions as end of life counseling, rationed health services, government funding for abortions, mandatory family counseling provided by the government, and the possible demise of private health insurance, tempers and fears run rampant.

Psalm 73 is the story of a troubled soul who wonders about the goodness of God in the face of the apparent prosperity of people who openly mock God and delight in wickedness. As we have seen, the psalmist needed to redefine his concept of good, and he needed to stop seeing the actions of the wicked in light of a momentary perspective. Among other reasons, this psalm is recorded by the Holy Spirit because faithful servants of God throughout history face similar situations. All of us can identify with the theme of this psalm. It is painful to see the wicked prosper. We sometimes question whether it is worth it to keep trying--is it in vain that we have tried to be faithful to God? But God in is wisdom and mercy provided this psalm to keep our thinking clear.

This post is a last minute addition to the series on Psalm 73. The absolute necessity of being able  trust God to define what is good for you has been painfully illustrated by the sad announcement of South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford's infidelity.  Sanford decided that his "good" was a relationship with a woman who was not his wife.  In his news conference, the governor appeared to struggle with giving up the "goodness" of his extra-marital relationship. Even though this relationship brought nothing but pain to his wife and children and dishonor to God, his struggle seemed to focus on how hard it was to end his adultery. Mark Sanford had defined good on his terms, not God's. The nearness of God was not his good.  The paragraphs that follow are from today's Shepherd Press Newsletter.  You can best guard your heart by defining good as the nearness of God.