RaMbLeS
Welcome to RaMbLeS, a collection of weekly musings on life and Scripture. It all began in 2005 on Google’s blogspot as the aBeLOG (a name now recycled), a semi-autobiographical devotional that attempted to keep well-wishers abreast of my activities as I relocated to Scotland for a few years. Since my return, I’ve continued my RaMbLeS, and here’s its most recent incarnation on Homiletix, as random reflections usually based on current news articles and travel experiences and whatever else takes my fancy!
Swallowed!
Earlier this year, lobster diver, Michael Packard, recounted an incredible story.
He jumped off his boat in Provincetown, MA, and suddenly felt a huge bump and everything went dark. He thought he’d been attacked by a shark.
And then I felt around and I realized there was no teeth. And then I realized, ‘Oh my God, I’m in a whale’s mouth. . . and he’s trying to swallow me.’ This is it, I’m gonna die.”
Swallowed by a whale!
Way back when, the prophet Jonah had
Stress!
We knew this already: People are quicker to jump to the worst conclusions when they are stressed.
Yup, stress makes you a pessimist. Nothing new here, but now it’s proven. By a group of researchers from the Max Planck University College London Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research. In “Under Threat, Weaker Evidence Is Required to Reach Undesirable Conclusions,” published in The Journal of Neuroscience the other day.
I.e., when under stress people
Story!
Psalm 78 is the longest psalm in the Psalter after Psalm 119. But unlike the latter, the former is a recital of narratives—a double recital, actually. Two rehearsals of events that happened at and around the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt. They highlight the failures of God’s people despite his gracious provision and his compassion.
And He, being compassionate,
forgave iniquity
Silence!
Listen to it—all the noise around us, the music, the words, the whirring, buzzing, murmuring, chattering, and whining of those multiple contraptions that supposedly make life easier. It’s everywhere. All the time!
But authors of “Global Quieting of High-Frequency Seismic Noise Due to COVID-19 Pandemic Lockdown Measures,” published in Science, found exactly that: global quieting!
Seismometers the world over detect noises from trains, airplanes, industrial processes,
Steal?
Last week, the good folks at Kunsten Museum of Modern Art in Aalborg, northern Denmark, received a few boxes from Jens Haaning, an artist they had commissioned. They had loaned Herre Haaning over half-million kroner to create some art for a new installation. The man already had two works displayed in the museum, works actually made with displays of cash; the current project, including the KR500,000, was to be a recreation of those two pieces.
So you can expect the curators’
Fat!
The Bible says:
[Jesus] said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live on bread alone.”
Matthew 4:4a
He was/is right. I think butter makes any loaf far more exciting!
Oh, wait, that’s not what Jesus was recommending:
… but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.’”
Matthew 4:4b
In any case, what about butter? Good for you? Bad? In between? The debate has raged.
Well, now there’s yet another study out there pontificating on butter. This time with good news
Voice!
Val Kilmer, the actor of numerous films, including Top Gun (Iceman, 1986), Batman (Bruce Wayne, 1995), and Prince of Egypt (Moses, 1998), lost his characteristic raspy voice in 2015 after surgery for throat cancer.
About a year ago, he got it back!
Said the voice immediately recognizable as that of Kilmer, in a YouTube video posted last month:
My voice as I knew it was taken away from me. People around me struggle to understand me when I’m talking.”
Sonantic, a UK-based
Abe Kuruvilla is the Carl E. Bates Professor of Christian Preaching at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (Louisville, KY), and a dermatologist in private practice. His passion is to explore, explain, and exemplify preaching.