After the rain the last couple of days, this morning was clear and low humidity. Great morning for riding.
Today’s Bike Ride
Quote for the Day
The truth is, God’s faithfulness and loyalty and love are never put to the test in our difficulties; it was my faithfulness, my loyalty, my love for him that was being tested. Andrew Brunson
Today’s Sermon
Quote for the Day
I decided that if I ever had the opportunity, I would be open and honest about my struggles, that my testimony would be one of weakness: my weakness, but God’s strength. Maybe God chose a weak man to serve as an encouragement to others who feel weak. Andrew Brunson
Quote for the Day
The Kaputar National Park is closed for road upgrades. A beautiful morning to be on the bike, although my muscles are complaining.
Quote for the Day
I opened my mouth, weeping aloud, and the words I heard murmured stunned me: “I love you, Jesus!” And again, “I love you, Jesus! I love you, Jesus!” Immediately I realized, Here is my victory! In my lowest point the cry of my heart was one of love to Jesus. Andrew Brunson
The End of History
Ukraine War Spells The End Of The Golden Arches Peace Theory
Just a week ago there was a theory that no two countries that both had McDonalds outlets had gone to war against each other. Not any more.
John Roskam writes:
ORIGINALLY APPEARED IN THE AUSTRALIAN FINANCIAL REVIEW
For the past quarter of a century, we’ve wanted to believe Francis Fukuyama and Thomas Friedman were right. And we’ve acted as if they were right.
Fukuyama’s book The End of History and the Last Man, published in 1992 at the end of the Cold War claimed ‘history had ended’ because every country would become a liberal democracy.
Friedman’s book The Lexus and the Olive Tree: Understanding Globalization, published in 1999, at a time when the intertwining of national economies seemed inexorable, made popular “the Golden Arches theory of conflict prevention” – “no two countries that both had McDonald’s had fought a way against each other since each got its McDonald’s”.
There are at least 700 McDonald’s outlets in Russia and more than 100 in Ukraine.
The idea of a new world order of peace isn’t new.
In the 18th century, Immanuel Kant envisaged a “perpetual peace” because, ashumanity embraced “reason”, communities would no longer tolerate “all the miseries of war”.
The day after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, George Will wrote that “the nation’s decade-long holiday from history [has come] to a shattering end”.
Although he was referring to America and its political debates, which appeared to him to have reached “a nadir of frivolousness”, what Will said could easily have applied to the West as a whole.
Read the rest of the article at the IPA web-site
Reflection on Luke 4:1-13
Scripture
He was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where he was tempted by the devil for forty days. Jesus ate nothing all that time and became very hungry.
Observation
Immediately after His baptism, the Holy Spirit direct Jesus into the wilderness where He is tempted for forty days.
At the end of this time, when Jesus is very hungry, the devil provokes Jesus to turn some stones into bread to prove His Sonship. Jesus rebukes satan with scripture.
Next, the devil takes Jesus up to a high place to reveal to Him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendour. This will be given to Jesus if He worships Satan. Again Jesus rebukes him with scripture.
The devil takes Jesus to the highest place of the Temple and says He should jump off so tha the angels will come and rescue Him. Again Jesus rebukes satan with scripture.
Finally the devil leaves Jesus.
Application
I can’t imagine what forty days of temptation must have been like for Jesus, alone with satan in the wilderness. It must have been intense as satan tried to get Jesus to sin or even just deviate from the path that the Father had set for Him.
I have been through times of torrid temptation. It would seem to be so easy to walk away from God’s calling, but I recognised what was happening.
Less obvious, and so easier to miss, are the lesser temptations. Satan entices us to seek something, to compromise just a little, to lose control or to give in to our passions.
Jesus is our great High Priest. He has been tempted in every way, just like us, but he did not sin. He understands the pressures that satan and the world put on us. He has compassion and forgives us readily when we turn back to Him.
Prayer
Thank you Jesus for this assurance that you know what temptation is like and you understand my weakness. Please help me to stay strong in you. Amen.
Jo Nova: There were Bigger Floods and Rain-bombs in the 1800’s
Jo Nova writes:
If only the $3 million dollar a day ABC could afford a science team that could do as much research as one unpaid volunteer does in a day?
Thanks to Cliff Ollier and Ken Stewart for the BOM graph of past Brisbane Floods. Clearly things were worse in the 1800s.
If CO2 has any effect perhaps it reduces flooding?
One day when the ABC finally gets the Internet they’ll be able to find official pages like “Known Floods in the Brisbane and Bremer River Basin“. And one day the half billion dollar BOM agency will be able to update graphs like this within a week of a new flood peak, like bloggers did (above).
Ken Stewart went looking for lost Rain Bombs and found them
As Ken reports the ABC made a fuss over three Queensland sites recording more than 1 metre of rain in just four days. But neither the ABC or the BOM is telling Australians that there have been at least nine similar “Rain Bombs” before and most of them were more than one hundred years ago.
I went looking at Climate Data Online for four day rainfall totals over one metre, to compare with the recent totals above at Mount Glorious, Pomona, and Bracken Ridge. For a start, Pomona’s BOM station has been closed for years, and Bracken Ridge is not listed at all, so those reports are from rain gauges external to the BOM network and can’t be checked. That’s OK. In about half an hour I found the following four day rainfall records.
| Crohamhurst | 4/2/1893 | 1963.6mm |
| Yandina | 3/2/1893 | 1597.8mm |
| Tully Sugar Mill | 13/02/1927 | 1421.3mm |
| Palmwoods | 4/2/1893 | 1244.6mm |
| Buderim | 3/2/1893 | 1150.3mm |
| Bloomsbury | 20/01/1970 | 1141.8mm |
| Dalrymple Heights | 6/04/1989 | 1141mm |
| Innisfail | 3/04/1911 | 1075.8mm |
| Nambour | 11/1/1898 | 1013mm |
1893 was a wet year! Crohamhurst had 2023.8 in five days, and Brisbane had three floods in two weeks in February and another in June.
And there is no such thing as a “rain bomb”, a term invented to make it sound unprecedented. This was an entirely natural and normal rain event. Slow moving tropical lows drift south every few years in the wet season, producing a large proportion of Queensland’s average rainfall.
It’s another Red pill moment. Spread the news. Australians need to know the media and the BOM are not giving them the whole truth. Has anyone in the BOM called up the ABC and corrected their mistake? Isn’t that their job?
Quote for the Day
I imagined a modern, high-tech safe with a hand scanner on the front as well as a turn handle. God and I were the only ones able to open it. I took each of my questions and doubts and deliberately placed them in the box. Andrew Brunson
