bob robbins

Lent

I know that at least in this modern era Lent has been part of the Catholic Church but I don't think you have to be Catholic in order to benefit from the concept. Lent is a season of soul-searching and repentance. It is a season for reflection. Lent originated in the very earliest days of the Church a a preparatory time for Easter, when the faithful rededicated themselves.

By giving up something that is important it can have an effect on the mind and heart, altering one's mind-set toward whole new ways of thinking and acting. This involves taking a look at where we are and trying to see where we ought to be. It involves testing our values and discerning how they stack up against the values that Jesus offers his followers. Every time when we would participate in what we have given up for Lent we should be reminded to look inward and search for ways that God might change us. Lent offers us all a very special opportunity to grow in our relationship with God.

Lent is a time of stripping down to essentials, as each Christian focuses on his or her individual relationship with God. Lent need not be a time to live in guilt and shame. Instead it may be a time when we find ourselves in the place where we pay attention to our stirrings—in that place of deep stillness where the hunger of our souls and the heart of God meet.

Lent begins Wednesday. Is there something in your life that you can give up for 40 days and by doing that it might help you focus on your relationship with God.

Funny Monday - Part 5

No real reason - just because it is cool and a little freaky. Follow the directions and you will be amazed.

Phone Number Magic Trick                      

1. Grab a calculator (You won't be able to do this one in your head)
  2. Key in the first three digits of your phone number (NOT the area code)
  3. Multiply by 80
  4. Add 1
  5. Multiply by 250
  6. Add the last 4 digits of your phone number
  7. Add the last 4 digits of your phone number again
  8. Subtract 250
  9. Divide number by 2

Pretty wild! Have a great Monday.

                     

space

I am overwhelmed at the size and beauty of our universe. This is a picture of NGC20403 Galaxy in Camelopardalis. It would be easy to think this is a painting or a computer generated graphic but it is an actual picture of a galaxy somewhere out there.

Did you know that every star is different? There are more than 10²² known stars in our universe, that’s a 1 followed by 22 zero’s.¹ Not one of them exactly like any other. They are different in size, temperature, color, and physical properties. They differ in brightness, not only visually to us, but also in absolute brightness. Since some of the stars are farther away than others they seem dimmer, but may actually be brighter than even our own sun.

Although we can only see around 3000 stars with the unaided eye at a remote country site, this photograph of just a small part of the sky shows millions of stars. All of them varying in brightness and even color. We are not unlike the stars when it comes to how we “shine in the world”. Each of us varies in brightness, color, personalities, etc., but God has called us to “shine like stars” here on earth.

Voyager

I am still amazed at some of the things I am discoving about the Voyager missions. There are two Voyager crafts and Voyager 1 is the greatest distance from home. As of July 2003, Voyager 1 was at a distance of 13.3 Billion Kilometers (88 AU) from the sun. Voyager 1 is escaping the solar system at a speed of about 3.6 AU per year, 35 degrees out of the ecliptic plane to the north, in the general direction of the Solar Apex.

Both Voyagers are headed towards the outer boundary of the solar system in search of the heliopause, the region where the Sun's influence wanes and the beginning of interstellar space can be sensed. The heliopause has never been reached by any spacecraft; the Voyagers may be the first to pass through this region, which is thought to exist somewhere from 8 to 14 billion miles from the Sun. Sometime in the next 5 years, the two spacecraft should cross an area known as the termination shock. This is where the million-mile-per-hour solar winds slows to about 250,000 miles per hour—the first indication that the wind is nearing the heliopause.

"The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands." Psalm 19:1

Voyager

I have been studying for the upcoming indescribable series that we are doing at NHC and I have been amazed at some of the stuff I have discovered.

In 1977 we launched a spacecraft called Voyager 1 that has traveled through and photographed our solar system. The amazing thing is that it is still an active spacecraft. As of January 21, 2005 the spacecraft was nearly 9 billion miles (14 billion kilometers, 94 AU) from Earth in a dark, cold, vacant neighborhood at the very edge of our Solar System. Voyager 1 holds the record as the explorer from Earth that has traveled farthest from home. It is heading in a southerly direction out of the Solar System.

The Voyagers have sufficient electrical power and thruster fuel to operate at least until 2020 when Voyager 1 will be 12.4 billion miles from the Sun. Voyager is traveling at almost 40,000 miles per hour. NASA says both Voyagers are headed towards the outer boundary of the Solar System in search of the heliopause — the region where the Sun's influence wanes and the beginning of interstellar space can be sensed.

It hurts my brain to think about how big our universe really is and to wonder what all is out there. Over the next two weeks we will talk about this stuff on Sundays at NHC and how it all relates to God and ultimately us.

Skeletons In The Closet

You know that stuff that is deep down in your soul that you have never told anyone? We have become pretty good at hiding these things from those around us. The crazy thing is that God knows everything. God knows who you are deep down in your soul and there is nothing that is hidden from Him.

Whatever it is that is creeping into the back of your mind, God already knows. You can't hide it. You can't deny it exists, especially from the One who made all things in the first place. Don't hide it behind your back - lay it all out there.

Confession is good for the soul. God will look at the pile of baggage that you put before Him, and He will sweep it away. Then God will look at the empty parts of your soul. those spaces that have been taken up too long by guilt and fear and pain, and He will fill then with His love and peace and joy. But until you are ready to empty those spots, you can't have the good stuff.

Don't let fear make you hold onto what you don't need anymore.

God is not going to beat you up. God is not standing before you with a bucket full of lightning bolts with your name on them. He does not work that way. God is standing there with a broom and a dustpan, saying, "We can clean this up." He is standing there with His arms open and a warm washrag in His hand waiting to wash the dirt from your face and make you clean.

Adapted from God Is Here

Funny Monday - Part 4

Be very careful on this! It is entirely possible for you to waste away your entire Monday playing putt putt on this site. If you do go and play come back here and post your score in the comments section so we can see who is the best. My first try I shot 111 but after I practice I think I can beat that.

Putt Putt Challenge

Have a great Monday!

The Way

Too often we approach our faith as if it is something we do only on Sundays. The rest of the week we must live in the "real world." There is a big difference between the way the world works and the way God wants us to live.

The world teaches us that to get ahead you step on those who are in your way, look out for yourself, get yours first, do it yourself because no one else is going to do it for you, watch your back, play the game, work the system, grab all you can because you never know when its going to be gone.

God says to look out for each other, help each other up when you fall, get yours last, trust God, back each other up, don't be loose with the truth, don't take more than is yours.

What would happen if we took our faith into the world? What if when the rest of the lunch table started boss-bashing, we chose not to participate in that conversation? What would happen if instead of passing the blame for a mistake, we actually took responsibility? What if we started living The Way of Jesus?

You might think, "I have to do what I have to do in order to survive. That's the way things are done."  But isn't that just an excuse?

Do you think if you live as God wants you to that He's not going to take care of you? Do you think that if you help someone up from a fall that God's not going to do the same for you?

We treat God like He is the last resort. We break. We fall. We slip. We mess up. We watch our lives come apart, and then when it's all over, we finally say, "Hey, God? Could I get a little help please?"

Live by faith. Don't lie. Don't cheat. Don't steal. Don't gossip. Don't manipulate. Live life as a person of The Way (follower of Jesus) and do it ever day.

Adapted from God Is Here

Understandable Language

It is a sin against the Holy Spirit to stubbornly refuse to learn form other people who know about life in today's world. We can ask them for a drink, as Jesus did at the well in Samaria: he did not hesitate to listen to the Samaritan woman (when His own people would have nothing to do with her).

We have a message for the world; but we need the world too. Without understanding the world we have no relevant language in which to share that message. Moreover, the world helps us understand ourselves better, especially our need to be open to the newness of the Gospel of Jesus.

Adapted from Jean Francois Six

Friend Part 2

I see from my house by the side of the road
by the side of the highway of life,
those who press with the ardour of hope,
and others who faint with the strife.
But I turn not away from their smiles nor their tears -
both parts of an infinite plan.
Let me live in a house by the side of the road
and be the friend I can.

Sam Walter Foss

As you travel through this thing we call life - how can you be a better friend.