Love For The Father

Most evenings I have something to do that takes me away from the house, this is simply part of life. Today when I picked up my little girl, Karis, from the babysitters she ran to the door and jumped up and down and yelled, "daddy, daddy" and hugged me. She does this nearly every time I pick her up. When we got home I needed to leave right then to get to a prayer meeting. She burst into tears and cried for me to stay with her. She said, "I love you daddy, I want to play with you, I want to talk with you." I cherish these times because I know they will not last, there will come a time when she does not cry for me to stay with her, but rather she will want to go be with other people.

It got me thinking, I wonder if that is how God feels about us? Are we overjoyed to simply be in His presence? Do we long to talk with Him? Are we bothered to the point of tears when we are not in His presence? Have we gotten to the point in our spiritual lives in which we would rather be with other people or do other things? Jesus said we have to be converted and be like a little child to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven (Matthew 18:3). Where there are more than one level of meaning for that text, perhaps one meaning is we must learn to love the Father the way a child loves a caring, protective, loving father.

Baby Names

I have been giving a whole lot of thought to baby names lately. Our second baby girl should be born real soon we hope. None of us choose the name we are given, sometimes we see names and we wonder what in the world was that poor child's parents thinking. 

We named our first child Karis, which in Greek means grace. Her middle name is Rebekah after a godly woman we know, which in Hebrew means captivating. There is no doubt that the grace of God is captivating.

Our second little girl will be born real soon (we hope) and we have decided to name her Priya Elise. Priya means beloved in Sanskrit. Elise means God is satisfaction in Hebrew or consecrated to God in French. I pray this child when know she is beloved and she finds her satisfaction ultimately in God for she is consecrated to God.

In Scripture there are four names given to Christians: saints, believers, brethren, and disciples. All four of these names depict one of the characteristics needed to be a child of God. To be a saint is to be holy. We are holy not because of our own goodness, but because God has declared us holy by the work of Christ. That being said we are called to live a holy life. To be a Christian is to seek to be more like Christ who is altogether holy.

Christians are also called believers. Without faith it is impossible to please God, this has been the case from the beginning. We are called to live a life of faith. We walk not by sight, but by faith. To do this we must constantly reevaluate and adjust our way of thinking (Rom. 12:2).

Third, we are called brethren. When we become Christians we are called to into a spiritual family that is defined by love. We are called to love as Christ loved (John 13:35). Love is not simply an emotion; it is daily choice we make to treat others as if we were serving Christ, for we are in the end.

Last, we are called disciples. To be a disciple of Christ is to follow in His steps (1 Pet. 2:21). We can’t do that if we don’t know what He did while on earth. Thus to be a disciple includes studying God’s Word to seek His will for our lives. To be disciples means to seek to be like Christ in all we do, say, think, and feel.

We have been given the name Christian, which means little Christ. Let us live lives that show we are seeking to be more like Christ as evidenced through holiness, faith, love, study, and dedication.

I Am Not A Fan Of Daylight Savings Time

     

Why? This is the question I hear tens of times every single day. My wonderful three year old wants to know why about everything. Why does it snow? Why does it melt? Why do clouds move? Why does the moon change shape (full to half and such)? Why does she have to go to bed at 10 PM? Why does she have to take a bath? You get the idea. Why do we have to move the clocks up an hour tonight? I have reasonable answer for that one. I can explain the water cycle, the need for sleep and bathing, even the phases of the moon, but why do we lose an hour of sleep on this night, no clue. There are 3 myths out there I want to address:
1.     It likely does not save energy.Yes I know the explanation that it saves energy, but I don’t buy it. In a 2014 study published in the Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, they report that not only does Daylight Savings Time not save energy; it may well even increase energy usage as a whole. A study in Indiana actually found a slight increase in energy use after the entire state adopted DST (for years, only some counties followed it), costing the state’s residents about $9 million; the researchers believed that more air conditioning in the evening was largely to blame. That’s a far cry from the $7 million that Indiana state representatives had hoped residents would save in electricity costs.
2.     It does not help farmers. In fact, farmers fought against this for years. “Farmers wanted it because it extends hours of working in the field,” Texas state Rep. Dan Flynn offered after filing a bill that would abolish DST. Even Michael Downing, who wrote a book about DST, has said that before researching the subject, “I always thought we did it for the farmers.” In fact, the inverse is true. Traditionally farmers were dead set against it. The lost hour of morning light meant they had to rush to get their crops to market. Dairy farmers were particularly upset: Cows adjust to schedule shifts rather poorly, apparently.
3.     The extra hour of light in the evening does not make us happier. Rather, there are some rather disturbing statistics that point the other direction. There are increases in heart attacks and upticks in criminal behavior following the change each year. A study out of the University of Colorado in October, titled “Spring Forward at Your Own Risk,” suggested a strong association between the reduced sleep and reallocated daylight of DST and fatal car accidents. “The increased risk persists for the first six days of DST,” the author states, “causing a total of 302 deaths at a social cost of $2.75 billion over the 10-year sample period.” Experts have warned about spikes in workplace accidents, suicide and headaches — just to name a few health risks — when DST starts and ends. One 2009 study of mine workers found a 5.7 percent increase in injuries in the week after the start of DST, which researchers thought was most likely due to disruption in the workers’ sleep cycles. An examination of Australian data found a slight uptick in male suicides in the weeks following time shifts, to the effect of half an excess death per day, which the researchers blamed on the destabilizing effect of sleep disruption on people with mental health problems. 
On a more practical level it is just annoying. Do you agree?