‘How I wished I still had my religion’

Posted on August 27, 2015 by vincentsmithauthor

In his autobiography, Arthur Miller tells of his marriage to Marilyn Monroe, and how he watched her descend into depression and despair. As they grew apart he feared for her life as her paranoia grew and drug dependence increased. One evening, while she was sleeping, he stood watching her. ‘I found myself straining to imagine miracles,’ he writes. ‘What if she were to wake and I were able to say, “God loves you, darling,” and she were able to believe it! How I wished I still had my religion and she hers.’
I think there are many people who could say the same; seemingly too sophisticated and worldly wise to have faith, but inwardly wishing they did. Yet all they have to do is follow what their hearts tell them. ‘Seek, and you shall find,’ Jesus said. ‘When you call on me, I will answer.’

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The human brain – the most complex biological entity known

Posted on August 27, 2015 by vincentsmithauthor

Doctor Seth Grant says that the human brain is the most complex biological entity known to man. It has one hundred billion nerve cells, each one connected to a thousand others. The network of the human brain has ten million billion of these connections. Each one is a computer storing and processing information, and has a million times more connections than the entire World Wide Web.
However, the World Wide Web didn’t happen by accident. It’s the creation of many brilliant human brains. So what are the chances that those human brains, each a million times more complex than the World Wide Web, just happened by chance?
Albert Einstein’s conclusion was that all we can have is ‘a humble admiration of the infinitely superior spirit who reveals himself in what we are able to perceive with our frail and feeble minds.’

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Telescopes to God

Posted on August 27, 2015 by vincentsmithauthor

Hans Lippershey was a Dutch spectacle maker who in sixteen hundred created the first telescope. One day two children came into his shop and were playing with some of the lenses scattered around. They put two together and found they greatly magnified a weathervane across the street. Lippershey quickly saw the potential in this and built the world’s first telescope. People were sceptical at first but eventually he made a profit selling telescopes to the military.
It’s been a big journey from that invention to the Hubble Telescope that enables us to see galaxies beyond our Universe, but it was two small children at play that caused it to happen. It reminds me that Jesus once said that it is faith like that of children – simple, intuitive, uncluttered by worldly skepticism – that enables us to see beyond to the reality of God.

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‘Disappointed? Often! Discouraged? Sometimes! Defeated? Never!

Posted on July 6, 2015 by vincentsmithauthor

It’s said that Thomas Edison performed fifty thousand experiments before he succeeded in producing a storage battery. You’d think he’d have had some serious doubts along the way. But when asked if he ever became discouraged working so long without results, Edison replied: ‘Results? Why, I know fifty thousand things that won’t work.’ Theodore Roosevelt said: ‘He who never makes a mistake never makes anything.’ But nobody summed it up better than the Apostle Paul who, talking about the disappointments of life, said: ‘We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair. We are hunted down, but God never abandons us. We are knocked down, but we get up again and keep going.’
The real winners in life are those who, like St Paul, can say: ‘Disappointed? Often! Discouraged? Sometimes! Defeated? Never!

Posted in Courage, Defeated, Despair, Disappointed, Disatisfaction, Discouraged, Faith, Persistence | Leave a comment

Trying to empty the sea

Posted on July 6, 2015 by vincentsmithauthor

St Augustine, one of the greatest theological thinkers of history, once saw a boy running backwards and forwards from the sea shore to a lagoon with a bowl full of sea water that he would pour into the lagoon. Augustine asked him what he was doing and he said he was trying to empty the sea and fill the lagoon. Augustine realised that that was exactly what he, as a theologian was trying to do – to exhaust the knowledge of God and pour it into human understanding. And just as that boy could never do that with the sea, neither can we do it with God – God is too big.
But God has given us what we can understand:that Christ became what we are so that we could become what he is. Though we can never exhaust the depths of this, it still is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes.

Posted in Faith, God, Knowing God, understanding, Wisdom | Leave a comment

‘The eyes may be wrong, but the psyche is right’

Posted on July 6, 2015 by vincentsmithauthor

Carl Jung, the great psychoanalyst, once wrote: ‘We are all born to believe. The eyes may be wrong, but the psyche is right… We are all looking for a perfect model of ourselves.’ Similarly, C. S. Lewis said: ‘Most people, if they had really learned to look into their own hearts, would know that they do want, and want acutely, something that cannot be had in this world. There are all sorts of things in this world that offer to give it to you, but they never quite keep their promise. The longings which arise in us when we first fall in love, or first think of some foreign country, or first take up some subject that excites us, are longings which no marriage, no travel, no learning can really satisfy.’
The truth is we were made for God and we’ll always be empty until we fill that God shaped hole within us.

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All for good

Posted on July 4, 2015 by vincentsmithauthor

A few years ago, the Worcester Telegram reported the story of a temporary power outage in Newport, New Hampshire caused by a man who choked on a piece of food while driving. The Police report said that Ronald Tinker was eating chicken when a piece got caught in his throat. He choked, blacked out and veered off the road, taking down a wire that was supporting a utility pole. The pole then snapped, cutting power to several nearby businesses for much of the day.
However, there was some good news. It seems that the shock of the crash knocked the chicken out of Ronald’s throat. He was taken to New London Hospital, where he was treated for minor injuries and later released. Reflecting on it later he said: ‘Now I know it’s true; God is at work in all things for the good of those that love him.’

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Thank God for professional car thieves

Posted on July 4, 2015 by vincentsmithauthor

A woman whose baby urgently needed medicine drove to a pharmacy to get the medication. Unfortunately, she then locked her keys in the car. She searched around and eventually found a wire coat hanger, but then realised she had no idea how to use it to open the door. So she asked God to send her some help. Minutes later a rough looking character roared up on a big motor cycle and offered to assist. He got off his bike, took the coat hanger and within seconds had the car door open. She threw her arms around him and hugged him tight saying: ‘You are such a nice man.’ ‘No, I’m not, Lady,’ he replied. I just got out of prison for car theft.’ She then hugged him again and through her tears thanked God not only for hearing her prayer, but for actually sending her a professional.
Maybe that’s what the Bible means when it talks about God knowing what we need even before we ask!

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No taking a bath on the main street during banking hours

Posted on June 29, 2015 by vincentsmithauthor

In a classic Frank and Ernest cartoon, the two of them stand facing hundreds of books in a Law Library. Frank says to Ernest: ‘It’s frightening when you think that we started out with just Ten Commandments.’ And so it is. America has an estimated thirty five million laws on its books. Not all of them make much sense. For example: in Florida it is illegal for a single woman to parachute from a plane on Sunday afternoon. In Amarillo it’s against the law to take a bath on the main street during banking hours. In Portland it’s illegal to wear roller skates in public toilets, and in Halethorpe a kiss lasting more than a second is illegal.
Well it’s good to know that God is not a legalist. Jesus reminds us that the whole Law of God consists in just two commands – love God and love people.

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Legacies

Posted on June 29, 2015 by vincentsmithauthor

Best known for its elegant and expensive watches, Swiss watchmaker Patek Philippe has also become well-known for its clever advertising slogan which says: ‘You never actually own a Patek Philippe; you merely take care of it for the next generation.’ And that ought to be the motto for all of our lives because ultimately we are not the owners of what we have either – and I’m talking about our gifts, our abilities, our opportunities and all those things that leave an impression on the world around us. We are managers of them, and the way we manage them will be felt not just in our lifetime but beyond to the generation that follows.
The Bible says, ‘No-one lives to himself and no-one dies to himself,’ and that we’ll all give an account of our stewardship to God. Our life and influence is of more value than we think. We should use it well.

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