Posted on by Lori Cartmell

How Can We Sum Up God?

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

“The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.”

Some of you might recognize this sentence from typing tests in school. It’s an example of a “pangram,” a sentence which contains every letter of the alphabet at least once.

At 35 letters, this is not the shortest pangram, however. This next one comes in at a slim 28 letters:

"Waltz, bad nymph, for quick jigs vex."

We can trim it even shorter than that if we allow abbreviations. The following sentence is a perfect pangram, using each of the 26 letters of the English alphabet only once:

"Mr. Jock, TV quiz PhD, bags few lynx.”

That got me thinking… If we wanted to construct a sentence expressing all of God’s attributes, how short could we make it? Is it possible to sum up God?

This is a tall order, because God is so multi-faceted.

We’d have to start off with His role as Creator of the universe and all life on earth, including you and me.

We’d have to include His unfathomable love, His mercy, truth, justice, holiness, faithfulness, wisdom, righteousness, goodness and grace.

We couldn’t leave out His omniscience, omnipotence, and omnipresence. And let’s not forget his unchanging, eternal nature.

Whew! Looks like our sentence is getting pretty long. We might have to trim it a bit.

I wonder if we can encapsulate all God is in one word?

Turns out, we can:

Jesus.

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Posted on by Lori Cartmell · 2 Comments

Put On The Right Costume

Image by PublicDomainPictures from Pixabay

It’s amazing what a cape can do.

Ask any child who puts on a superhero costume for Halloween.

They suddenly feel braver. Their confidence gets a boost. They believe that they can achieve things that they couldn’t before.

Actors understand this. Many actors report that they can more readily get in character for their role once they don the costume associated with it.

Interestingly, some actors identify with the characters they portray so much that they become real-life action heroes.

Tom Cruise has reportedly rescued people in real life at least six times, including coming to the aid of a woman set upon by muggers in London, rescuing a family from a burning boat in France, and helping the victim of a hit-and-run in California.

Likewise, action star Harrison Ford has pulled someone out of a burning car, and has used his own helicopter to rescue a stricken hiker.

The theory behind this phenomenon is called “embodied cognition,” and it might help explain how actors and others become their roles.

In the case of action heroes, acting brave in movies may lead to actually being brave. The more you practice something, the more you become it.

The key might be in putting on a costume or adopting a set of behaviours.

I think that’s why Scripture tells us to “put on” Christ.

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Posted on by Lori Cartmell

God Didn’t Make a Mistake When He Made You

Cormorant. Image by sharkolot from Pixabay

Pity the poor cormorant.

This ungainly waterfowl is never at the top of anyone’s list of favourite birds.

It looks almost prehistoric, with its matte black feathers and strongly hooked bill. It lacks the beauty of a brightly coloured cardinal or the elegance of a swan.

The cormorant sits unusually low in the water, as though it’s about to sink. And because its wing feathers aren’t waterproof like those of other waterfowl, it needs to stand for long periods with wings outstretched, drying its feathers out in the sun.

It’s clumsy on land, and must expend more energy flying than other birds.

Nothing seems quite right about the cormorant.

Did God make a mistake when he fashioned them?

Not at all!

The cormorant’s lack of waterproofing actually plays to its advantage. Its waterlogged feathers make it less buoyant than ducks, enabling it to dive deeper in search of fish to eat.

Cormorants are excellent divers, agile and swift, with some species being able to dive to an astounding 150 feet.

So its “deficiencies” aren’t actually a bug, but rather a feature.

Do you ever feel like you’re not as good at things as other people? Do you feel as though you simply don’t measure up?

Rest assured, God didn’t make a mistake when he made you.

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