been dazed and confused for so long it's not true

Wow!!!

posted by andy @ 2:40 PM 1 Comments Links to this post

What I want to try in Glasgow!

posted by andy @ 11:22 AM 0 Comments Links to this post

So yesterday, whilst sat in church, my mind started to wander a little. Normally when this happens it means pointlessly thinking over everything to come in the week ahead, or wondering where my lunch is going to be coming from, or sometimes even thinking up grand plans to save the world with one simple twelve month gap year program. On this occasion however, whilst I was drifting somewhat from the sermon, it was still related. See, the sermon was about Lot and his fleeing from Sodom. Basically, Lot has gotten himself into a real mess here. Not only has he found himself living in a pretty evil place but it seems to have messed him up pretty badly too. It seems that the usual way of treating a passage like this is to focus on all the mistakes Lot makes and use him as an example of what not to do. Whist it's incredibly important to learn from the mistakes of others, I kind of feel that's only giving half the story.

See, Lot did mess up pretty bad - he offered to let the men of Sodom rape both his daughters for starters! - yet God never turned his back on him. In fact God's angels physically drag him out of harms way and later rescue him and his family from the destruction of Sodom. The apostle Peter even goes on to call Lot righteous. That's a curious response if you only see Lot as a sinner who's made mistake after mistake.

Looking through the bible as a whole, a pattern seems to emerge. Time after time, people screw up and sin big time, but God is always able to forgive them and restore them. Abraham went on to be the 'father of many nations' despite turning his back on God numerous times; David was described as being a man after God's own heart even after being a murder and adulterer; Peter repeatedly denies even knowing Jesus but is made the head of the church just weeks later. It seems it is important to remember that although we are fallen beings and mess up lots, God can in an instant pick us up and put us back on track again if only we let Him. No matter how great our sin is, the forgiveness and patience of the creator of the universe is always greater. That's pretty amazing!

posted by andy @ 2:39 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

An exercise in triviality

In case anyone still thought that physicists play an important role in society, here's an example of the sort of exam question I'll be trying to answer in a couple hours time:

If the law were changed so that traffic in Great Britain travelled on the right-hand side of the road instead of the left, would the length of the day increase, decrease or be unaltered? Explain the reasoning behind your answer.

posted by andy @ 11:22 AM 2 Comments Links to this post

The Narnia Code

Just something that was on BBC One last night and is really worth watching if you're at all interested in C.S. Lewis.

posted by andy @ 12:01 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

Uncertainty...

Uncertainty is a strange thing. It's one of those things that just seem to, well, define life - at least in my experience anyway. So you'd think I'd be pretty used to it by now. Yet for some reason it just overwhelms me every time. Right now the two big things are those that more or less characterise the student experience at this time of year, well apart from exams - finding a place to live and something to do with my summer that earns me some money. It doesn't matter that I've been here before. This is my fifth year of university and it's always roughly worked out. It doesn't even seem to matter that we have a God who promises to take care of us and for whom any problems I can see must surely be no match. But it should.

posted by andy @ 5:18 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

King Knut

There is an old English story about a Norse king called Knut. One day he told his entire court to follow him down the beach where he ordered the tide to halt. Obviously the sea didn't obey but that was the point. Knut was concerned that his subjects held him in such high regard that they had forgotten he was just a man.

The reason for bringing this up is that Barack Obama's inauguration is today. Judging by the story told in the British media at least, it would appear that this is the most significant event to happen anywhere for decades. The BBC alone has four TV channels and three radio stations covering the event live! Whilst he is a great politician with a lot of good ideas, one would be led to believe that within the next four years he will solve all the world's major problems and leave us living in some sort of harmony that has evaded us thus far. Perhaps it is time for Obama to do something similar to old King Knut.

The story of Knut ends with him telling his people:
'Let all men know how empty and worthless is the power of kings, for there is none worthy of the name, but He whom heaven, earth, and sea obey by eternal laws.'

posted by andy @ 2:06 PM 0 Comments Links to this post