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Monday, November 02, 2009

Long Grain

In a moment of manic madness, I worked out that there are approximately 479,180 grains of rice in a 10kg bag of long grain rice. Now consider this... if you were to place 1 grain of rice on the first square of a chess board, 2 grains on the second square, 4 grains on the third square and so on, doubling the number of grains for every square... 10kg's of rice would be found on the 20th square. The 24th square would have over 8 million grains of rice. By the time you got to the 64th square, there would be 18,446,744, 073,709,551, 615 grains of rice. That's 18 quintillion!

Why do I wonder about such things? Because I am fascinated by the power of multiplication. Imagine... what if every disciple of Jesus discipled two others... who discipled two others... who discipled two others...

 

Posted by Matt at 8:27 PM
Categories: Along the Road

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Before the throne of God above

I have been reflecting on the words of this great old hymn...

Before the throne of God above, I have a strong and perfect plea, A great high Priest whose Name is Love, Who ever lives and pleads for me.
My name is graven on His hands, My name is written on His heart, I know that while in Heaven He stands, No tongue can bid me thence depart.

When Satan tempts me to despair, And tells me of the guilt within, Upward I look and see Him there, Who made an end of all my sin.
Because the sinless Savior died, My sinful soul is counted free, For God the just is satisfied, To look on Him and pardon me.

Behold Him there the risen Lamb, My perfect spotless righteousness, The great unchangeable I AM, The King of glory and of grace.
One in Himself I cannot die. My soul is purchased by His blood. My life is hid with Christ on high, With Christ my Savior and my God!

I wonder, have you ever really stopped to contemplate what the second verse is talking about? If only I could fully grasp the truth of the freedom I have in Christ. Not the freedom to do what ever I like... but the freedom to live my life as a child of God. I suspect that many poeple, not just me, still stuggle to understand the implication of what Jesus has accomplished on the cross. Lord, help us to see ourselves as you see us.

Posted by Matt at 12:19 PM
Categories: Along the Road