The 31st--Issue #7

"...And welcome back, everyone, to The 31st, a semi-regular column featuring all sorts of wild and wacky trivia!"

And that's right, folks! This is the seventh issue of The 31st, a periodic column that I run on my blog in each month that has a 31st day! As mentioned above, it is full of all sorts of fascinating trivia. Have fun learning some new things this month!

~Photobug

Did you know...

• That the Gyrfalcon is the largest falcon, and breads on Arctic islands and coasts? This bird's body can grow to be 24 inches long.
• Sawfish, also known as Carpenter Sharks, can grow to be 23 feet long? They are in the ray family, and have long, toothy snouts.
• That there are more than 300 breeds of pure bred dogs?
• That the word "zoo" is short for "zoological garden"?
• That Baku is Azerbaijan's capital?
• That the United States Postal Service started using airplanes for mail delivery back in 1918?
• That near Puerto Rico the Atlantic Ocean is nearly 30,000 feet deep?
• That Chester Arthur was the 21st President?
• That Neil Armstrong was born in 1930?
• That the Arkansas River starts in Colorado and flows through Kansas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas before emptying into the Mississippi River?

See you in August!

Choices

My family and I were vacationing in Michigan! We were having a grand time visiting with my grandparents, going to history museums, hanging out, and just making some fun memories. We planned our vacation to be nine days long; we had left on a Wednesday and were planning to return home the Thursday of the following week.


Of course, weather plays an important part in when and how well our travel goes. So the Tuesday night before we were going to leave, my dad and I checked NOAA's weather page online to see what the weather would be in various cities along our route. Unfortunately, it did not look good. We take I-75 to go from Michigan to Tennessee and vice versa, so we checked the weather of cities such as Toledo, Dayton, Lexington, and Knoxville. In every city, 60-70% chance of severe thunderstorms was predicted. 


FYI: 60-70% chance of severe thunderstorms is not good weather to drive in for almost 650 miles! 


Besides being not preferable, it's quite dangerous too. Dad and I called Mom over to discuss things. We didn't want to cut short our vacation a day, but should we? Should we come home on Wednesday instead? We checked Wednesday weather for I-75. Wednesday, while slightly better, didn't look good either! There wasn't 60-70% chance of severe thunderstorms, instead, it was about 40-50% chance. Problem was, we couldn't just stay longer in Michigan. College was ramping up quick, and I had an appointment on Friday! So, after much prayer and discussion, we decided to go home a day early, on Wednesday. 


That was at 8:45pm on Tuesday night. God blessed us with speed and clarity of thought, I know. Because just over an hour later, by 10 PM, we were ready and packed to go. 


Fast-forward to Wednesday--Dad woke both me and my sister up at approximately 5:24am. About twenty minutes later, we were out the door. We had a brief downpour of rain about half hour into our trip, but for most of the day it was just overcast. We went as fast as we could, getting as many miles behind us as fast as we could. Because we had no idea when the storms would come. 


The storms came in southern Kentucky. Unlike other parts of our trip, where we are very close to cities (think Ann Arbor, MI and Toledo, OH; Dayton and Cincinnati, OH, etc.), southern Kentucky does not have any cities. Just a few towns. From Lexington you drop straight down to Knoxville--WHEEEEEEE! as my sister would say! ;) So anyway, I guess I'm just trying to say that we were really out in the boondocks when the storms hit. Lightning flashed multiple times, and not too far away either. Thunder rolled, and the rain came in torrents. Dad almost couldn't see because the rain was so blinding. I was praying hard. 


Then a whole new twist came into the story. Overhead signs, which can be constantly updated, told us that there might be considerable delays on I-75 once we crossed into Tennessee. We had experienced some of these on the way up; construction had closed the interstate down to one lane. Fine. We'd just go on through, at least it was only like 1:30pm. (It's about three hours from the TN-KY to our home.) However, as we approached Tennessee, the signs that we encountered gave us conflicting messages. Some said that there would just be delays; others stated that I-75S was completely shut down. EEK! 


One sign even advised us to turn to a certain radio station, which of course we did. While not very clear, we did make out that I-75 southbound was indeed totally closed, due to an accident that had happened just an hour before. Motorists were advised to take Exit 160 (the Jellico exit, the first one you come to in TN) and take 25W as a detour around the accident, and then rejoin I-75S at Exit 134. 

With really no other option left, that's what we decided to do. But as we got off the interstate, I saw many more cars not get off the interstate. Had they not heard the radio? Had they not seen the signs? Didn't they know what they were getting into? I honestly felt sorry for those people.

Did you ever pause to ponder that that may be how God feels about us sometimes? When He sees us keeping on sinning, going to our destruction? Even when we have been well-warned way ahead of time, with His heavenly "radio" and "signs"? For hundreds--no, thousands--of years, God has untiringly tried to save humankind. We don't deserve it. We don't deserve anything but our rightful punishment--death. (see Romans 6:23) But God has lavished His love upon undeserving us, and has set in place a way for us and Him to be together again someday. That's really the crux of it all. God can't stand to be away from us. Have you ever experienced that? A time when you had to part ways with a friend or loved one, and couldn't wait to get back together again? If so, I think you'll understand where God is coming from.

To continue the analogy, what if you saw that your friend was swiftly walking towards a cliff's edge, which surely spelled instant death? If they didn't know about it, wouldn't you want to warn them? But what would you think if, after being warned, they decided to not change their course? To continue walking towards' that cliffs' edge? Well, I think you see what I mean.

God communicates with us in a variety of ways. He communicates through His written word, the Bible. When you hear that still, small voice speaking to you, that's God! Or God may choose to tell you things through a pastor's sermon, or any number of other ways. And that gets me thinking--the word communicate stems from the word commune. What does it mean to commune with God? Merriam-Webster defines commune (or communing) as talking things over, or discussing different matters with other people. Just think! God wants to hang out and talk with us! Is that incredible or what?

Anyway, anyway, back to my original story...God did keep us safe as we traveled through Tennessee. He stopped the rain while we were on 25W, some twisty-turny country that I don't know if I ever want to go through again! God miraculously let my GPS acquire satellites quite easily, and I was able to track our progress. This assures us all that we were on the right road, going somewhere. As we once again joined I-75 at Exit 134, a stark, scary, frightening black sky met our gaze. We prayed once more, and proceeded on. Mile after blinding mile (the rain had started again) crept by, but God protected us through it all. I'm sure He gave my dad extra wisdom and alertness, and somehow by three o'clock in the afternoon we found ourselves in Knoxville. As we turned our sights towards Chattanooga, blue skies greeted us. We raced home and reached our destination just over an hour later.

I think that the lesson of this devotional is pretty obvious. God is very involved with mankind and He is constantly trying to figure out ways for us to be together with Him again. He has set up a plan, really a gift, of salvation by which we may be saved and live forever with Him. But none of that can happen unless we follow His signs and directions, and do what He says.

Are you following God today?

Everlasting God (Strength Will Rise)

Here is another of my favorite songs from campmeeting. While I like all of them, this one especially means a lot to me. I love it! Especially when I really listen to the lyrics and think about the message...enjoy and have a very Happy Sabbath!

~Photobug

Hosanna

So at this year's campmeeting (yes, it happened almost two months ago, but bear with me!) I was really blessed by all the music and messages. Music that helped me praise God better, and messages that challenged me to follow God even more. It was an awesome experience, and definitely one that I want to remember forever.

One of the many things that I liked about campmeeting is the songs, and so starting this week I'll be sharing one of my favorite songs that I learned at campmeeting. This week I'd like to share (see video above) the theme song for this year's campmeeting--Hosanna. It's a wonderful song and I hope that you are truly blessed. Enjoy and have a wonderful Sabbath!

~Photobug

Radiance

"When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the Testimony in his hands, he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the LORD. When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, his face was radiant, and they were afraid to come near him."

That's taken from Exodus 34, verses 29 & 30. Lately I've been thinking about blindness and radiance, and now I'd like to share those thoughts with you. If you don't know what's happening in the above verses, well here's the scoop:

Moses and all the Israelites are camped out at the base of Mount Sinai. God calls Moses to the top of the mountain for a little chat, but when Moses comes down, he looks totally different. He has spent so much time with God, his face literally glows! Aaron and the other Israelites can hardly stand to look at him, so Moses puts a veil on his face when he delivers God's messages to His chosen people.

That brightness, radiance--hold that thought.

I've been thinking about this subject for quite some time now. The idea actually first popped into my head when I was at work! As most of you probably know, I work part time at the local university's cafeteria. One of my jobs there is to clean the gigantic dining hall. I'll wipe the tables, push in the chairs, and vacuum the floor. In short, make sure that the place looks all nice and neat for the next group of people to come through and mess it up! ;)

One of the things that one will immediately notice about the dining hall is the enormous floor-to-ceiling windows that line almost all of the walls. Really, you can see quite a bit of the campus through them! Another thing that I should note is that the dining hall is located on the third floor. There's two more floors until it, and out to the two sides of the dining hall there are two-story wings as well. So looking through the dining hall windows you can not only see the campus, but also the roofs of both of the wings.

Lately one of the wings has been going under some major renovation. For what, don't ask me! All I know is that a crew of guys has totally ripped apart the inside of the wing, and transformed the roof as well. The end result of all of this is that the roof is insanely more bright white than it used to be! Honestly, when I look at it, I am temporarily blinded. Just a short glimpse of that bright, white radiance so radically changes my vision that it takes a few second for me to look away and get re-accustomed to the relative darkness of the dining hall.

Remember that brightness, radiance that Moses had? I've been thinking about that. What if we spent enough time with God, so much time that other people would notice? I can't begin to tell you of the difference between that wing's new bright white roof and other buildings. The sun shines down so brightly on it that you can't help but notice how well it radiates the sunlight. So let's apply this to our own lives. How well do we radiate God's Sonlight? Not well enough? I must admit, that while I try, I think that I'm a little dirtier than I wish. Let's pray to God this week that He will cleanse us, so we can radiate Him even better to those around us.