God is Faithful

I have been granted over the course of the last few weeks to see the faithfulness of God reaching across timespans and touching so many lives.
I have heard so many stories that cannot be explained.  They don't make any sense to me in my humanness.  They don't make much logical sense.  All I know upon hearing them is that God is faithful.

How is it that in the face of general ignorance, and a world of opposition that a family, though separated from each other, can come through serving God?
How is it that someone, without being a radical "Jesus Freak," can avoid the pressures and expectations of the world, and find their greatest joy studying God's Word?
How is it that one who has turned away from God can ever be redeemed and restored?
How is it that a love and desire for God is instilled?

How is it that any of my family is redeemed?

How is it that someone, after 25 years, can suddenly understand where they have been wrong and find the grace to humbly seek deliverance and restoration?
How is it that one who has lived so close to sin for so many years can come through still shining and serving God?
How is it that God can take a life, full of errors and bitterness, and yet bring such results of goodness and beauty?
How is it that God can keep a person close to Himself, even when they are not fully walking with Him?
How is it that God protects one and keeps them from straying too far, when they are not actively seeking Him?
How is it that a love and desire for God is instilled?
How is it that anyone is redeemed?

God is faithful.  I have seen His hand working.  I have heard story after story of His faithfulness.  I have spent hour after hour marveling, and trying to make sense of all that I have seen and heard.  All I know, held in fathomless wonder, is that God is faithful.

Evolution and Economics (Evolution 2)

Evolution and Economics (Evolution 2)
Survival of the Fittest in Everyday Life

The theory of evolution is based on a few primary tenets.
1) There is no God, and everything that is is a result of natural processes.
2) Mutations occur that introduce new beneficial information.
3) Natural selection weeds out the lower species.

This is a very simplistic synopsis, of course. But this is the basic starting ground for a description of the so-called evolutionary process.

What I have observed is that there are very few people who really truly believe in evolution. In fact, many of the strongest opponents of evolution do not really believe it in a way that affects their entire life. More specifically, I see evolution missing from modern economics.


Let us expand on the principle we observe called natural selection. Natural selection is the process whereby better-equipped life forms are separated from the less-equipped. It is nature at work, and we see it everywhere. Collies do not survive in the arctic because they are not well equipped for such an environment. Polar Bears, on the other hand, survive quite well.

According to the theory of evolution, it was this natural process, also called “The Survival of the Fittest,” that isolated and solidified the beneficial mutations into new creatures. These new life forms were better-equipped than the former, and thus survived in a superior manner. Any negative mutations or poorly-equipped life forms were eliminated.

Now, one who truly believes in evolution understands this process to be good. And not merely good, but absolutely essential to life itself. For the progress of species to continue (and it must), Natural Selection must be constantly eliminating the poorer life forms. This insures that negative mutations are not perpetuated.

However, none of us really believes in evolution.


In recent months, the USA has been faced with economic crisis. We have seen a major decline in our stock market, in our housing industry, and more specifically, the crash of several major banks. Much of this revolves around our addiction to credit. Mortgages, double mortgages, and debt-collateralized loans have thrown us into a mess.
Our government recently decided to “bail-out” two major companies who were faced with bankruptcy.

We gave money to those who could not pay their mortgages. What about those people who HAVE paid their mortgages? We have bailed out the companies who have been in bad business and it has come back to bite them. What about those companies that are soundly operated? What have we done?

We do not believe in evolution. We do not really believe in the continued progression of our own species. Natural Selection would have bankrupted the companies who were ill-equipped; it would have killed those unable to pay their mortgages; it would have broken the country that lives on money it doesn't have. Natural Selection would have advanced those better-equipped. It would have weeded out the weakest of our species and retained the more fit. Survival of the Fittest would have insured our continued evolution.

But evolution is not true. None of us believes it. We like to talk about it, for it allows us to ignore God. But when the press comes, deep down, we all know that man is not the result of a natural process. Man is special, completely unique and different from all other creation. The survival of mankind is not a step of the evolutionary process; it is the act of God. We have a responsibility to our own kind, not because we happen to be the highest life form right now, but because we are spiritual beings, made in the image of God.

Family Reunion

This weekend was my Grandma Lorimer's 90th birthday, and with it, the largest family reunion in 30 years.  It was solely immediate and immediate extended family (no 2nd cousins, etc).  I saw many of my cousins for the first time in about 5 years, several for the first time in 10 years, and one uncle whom I had never met at all!  It was very exciting and enjoyable.  The cousins have all become young adults, and are now connecting in much deeper ways than our previous years of playing in the backyard.  Our parents were all together again, for the first time in 30 years, talking and laughing, and happy to all be together. 

I love my family.  I love the heritage given to me.  It was commented that we are a noisy family.  Indeed, we may like to talk.  However, I noted that there was no shouting the entire time.  There were many opinions, for each member of the family carries first-born traits.  But there were no disagreements.  There was no arguing; there was no yelling.  There was no losing of temper, temperance, or propriety.  It was beautiful.  I am blessed with a wonderful family.

I love our spiritual heritage.  A love for Christ is a common element in our family.  We desire to love, serve, and learn more about God.

I know not what it is like to be the matriarch of such a family.  I cannot begin to imagine the thoughts and feelings of my grandmother.  She has reason to be proud.  She must have done something right.  Her children rise up, and call her blessed.

There is something strange and inexplicable about a family reunion.  Deep down, you know that somehow, this person that you hardly know has somehow, someway, made a part of who you are.

You are not quite sure how to interact, since the last time you talked with this person was over a half-decade past.  And yet, the traits of family allow you to talk and interact in a way that picks up right where you left off.  Even those whom you have never met share many traits and thought patterns with you, and you can communicate as though you're old friends.

I was very happy to meet my uncle whom I had never met.  I have heard so many stories.  I have prayed for him.  I know, that in some way, he is a part of my life.  He has influenced me, though we have never met.

The cousins have changed.  We are no longer children, innocent and carefree.  Now, we have each been faced with life.  Our ideals and whims have been challenged.  For several of us, we have tired of wild oats, and have returned to the strength and stability we knew in our home.  We have grown up, and we appreciate each other much more deeply.  We were children; we are now adults.  We were innocent and free; now we have faced the burdens and trials of life.  But we have become, in a much greater and deeper way, family.

Family is a mysterious, wonderful thing.  We are independent families, and yet, all one.  These have influenced me; they are my family.  Family is a tie that joins and often superceeds other ties.  We cannot explain how people whom we otherwise may never have chosen to hang out with are so close to us.  We do not understand how we can feel such a strong connection to someone we have never met.  We cannot comprehend the care and concern for those we have not seen in a decade.  Friends come, and friends go, and when you do not speak for years, you grow apart.  But there is something deeper and greater in family, a connection that years cannot fade nor destroy.  There is an invisible tie in spirit and soul, a mystery of God.  A mystery called family.

To my family, I love you all.  I appreciate you.  May God bless and keep you, and may He smile upon the descendants of Frank and Linda Lorimer.  May God bless my family.

The 4 Dimensional God

I was thinking today that perhaps we often see God as one might see a 4-dimensional object passing through our 3-dimensional reality. I'm sure it is an utterly inferior illustration, but it was somewhat helpful to me.

So often, we learn something about God, and apply it to Him as though He has no other traits. For example, our modern church in the US has learned that God is love, but paint God over with love so much that they forget He is also just. It is the nature of our finite minds to learn in this way, but it is unfair to the God we serve. We may learn that God abhors sin, but we must not begin applying that knowledge without understanding his mercy!

I see it very much like a 4-dimensional object passing through a 3-dimensional universe. We see odd glimpses and shapes that wrack our poor little 3d minds. We draw conclusions about this odd object we see, but in an instant, it has changed again. We are stuck trying to understand, while we are missing a whole dimension. We form conclusions, and they are correct, but they do not apply to the whole. We have no complete understanding of the multi-faceted, grand, mysterious shape that we are actually seeing!

In much the same way, God is so much greater than we understand. We see Him work in various ways in our world and in our life, but each is only such a small part of the great God He really is! We see one small misshapen object, and conclude the whole object looks the same. We also see one attribute of God, and assume this is the only way He works. God is so much bigger; so much greater! Somehow, we must try to comprehend the great God who is the completely permeated aggregate of all His traits. God is awesome!


... sometimes I think of God as a 5-dimensional object passing through a 3d world ...


In case you are not familiar with 4d theory:
http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/7997/hypercube.html
http://dogfeathers.com/java/hyprcube.html