All Is Vanity

What do you see? A beautiful woman staring at her reflection in front of a mirror? Or do you see a human skull? I first saw this picture hanging on the wall in a cafe in a small town my family was passing through during a camping trip. The image has always stuck with me because not only is it a bizarre optical illusion - but the message behind it is so true to the reality we all live in -- the world looks at something and defines it as beautiful -- but through biblical eyes, those pretty things only lead to death.

If you cannot view the photo I have posted above, you can view it by clicking here. You can view another version of the illusion here.

Attention Scrapbookers!

I stumbled across an advertisement in a scrapbooking magazine this weekend for stickers and scrapbooking products specifically tailored towards diversity: namely, the elderly, various ages and races, and those with disabilities.

I just checked out their website: www.same-differences.com. Same-Differences is a company started in 2004 by Kim Lundy. To read more about her, see the products, and to see where to purchase and how to order items, visit the website.

Here is a bit of information from the "About Us" section of their website:

All our products are printed on 100% acid and lignin free cardstock and/or sticker paper. The images can be used in scrapbooks, backed with magnetic tape for magnets, or laminated for educational use.

The inspiration for Same Differences grew from realizing that the scrapbooking industry is lacking "diversity" products - populations such as the disabled, the elderly, and those who have different ethnicities, religions, and cultures. Scrapbooking is growing exponentially and products are becoming more accessible to people other than those who look for and visit their local scrapbooking store, if they even have scrapbooking stores in their area. Although the "big chain" craft stores certainly are catching up in offering scrapbooking products, it is impossible for them to offer such customized products.

Our product line shows characters with different "diversities" conducting typical life activities in a positive fashion. We treat the diversity issue as "no big deal", just a part of life. We hope that this company will meet the needs of these populations in a creative way.
Additionally, we hope that our products are used in educational settings in order to promote positive awareness of differences between people in a positive manner.

Singin' in the Brain!

According to an article in Medical Hypotheses, “Vibration of the human skull, as produced by loud vocalization, exerts a massaging effect on the brain and facilitates expulsion of metabolic products into the cerebrospinal fluid, leading neurophysicists to hypothesize that vocal vibrations cause a kind of cleaning of the chemical cobwebs out of the head. A process as simple as singing might well make the removal of chemical waste from the brain more efficient.And according to a recent study by the University of California, Irvine, singing in a choir just might make you healthier. This study, authored by Robert Beck and Thomas Cesario and published in Music Perception, found that Immunoglobulin A, a protein used by the immune system to fight disease, increased 150 percent during rehearsals and 240 percent during performance.

A similar article concluded that singing for a half hour a day will improve your health, fend off illnesses, and positively affect your mood. This is interesting to me because the Bible has so much to say about worship.

There are a lot of verses in the Bible that talk about "giving thanks" in all circumstances and to be joyful in suffering. I have always interpreted this to be a lesson in faith alone - that if we trust God, we won't be anxious. But perhaps there is more going on. Perhaps God, as our Creator, built certain things into our immune system that respond favorably to the actual act of worship.
This isn't to say that everyone who sings will be immune from disease, of course. I am merely contemplating the idea that singing joyfully has an active and postive affect on our health.

I guess the only way to test the theory is to start singing and see what happens!

Scripture Memory

Krista mentioned Scripture memory in her article (see previous post). I also want to attest to the power that memorizing Bible passages has had in my life. The levels of self-pity, anxiety, and depression before I started memorzing Scripture and after are unbelievable. But that is only a minor benefit in comparison to fellowshipping with God through his Word. I encourage you to start right now!

Here are some good resources:

• http://www.bbcmpls.org/childsministries/ScriptureMemoryProgram.htm
• http://www.fbcdurham.org/writings/Scripmem.htm
• http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0802411428/qid=1106538633/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/104-4570418-2404767?v=glance&s=books

Welcome!

This is my first post, so have mercy on me. I'm feeling the same inexplicable panic I did twenty years ago when trying to leave a message on an answering machine for the first time. The pressure!

I hope to get together some links and photos and post them by way of an introduction, not only to me, but also to some of the powerful and precious truths that I have come to hold dearly. I suffered for many years, not solely because I have a deformed face, but because of people's inability to explain a Biblical theology regarding it that satisfied my pain and sorrow without compromising the character, kindness, and power of God.

It has been a very long journey, but I have since been introduced to a theology of suffering that healed my wounds, infused me with joy, and have hope for my future - and rather than making God look cruel, ironic, or disinterested, it made him more glorious to me than I ever imagined. I hope to share these various articles, preachers, and testimonies with you in hopes that you too might experience this same radical transformation for yourself!