LIGHTNING
“For just as the lightning comes from the east and flashes even to the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be.”
Matthew 24:27
Hi Men:
As in the verse above, have you given any thought when Jesus returns (Note: The image above is not intended to portray Christ’s return). When the Lord of lords returns, no one will miss it, misunderstand it or need to be told that it happened. Like lightning blazing across the entire sky, the coming of King Jesus will be sudden, visible and unmistakable.
Yet most of us give very little thought during the course of an ordinary day to the return of Christ. Our minds are often consumed with circumstances, politics, responsibilities, and concerns that will soon pass away.
Remember what Jonathan Edwards said: “Lord, stamp eternity on my eyeballs”
I recently came across this short statement from a missionary who has served in some of the world’s most dangerous and difficult places. A truly profound statement:
“In our lives it can be easy to look at the little kings sitting on manmade thrones as having true power. I have seen Christians enter into absolute panic depending on how elections go in their country. I am not saying that Christians should disengage from politics — far from it. I am actually saying that our ministry to the kings of this world will be the most effective when we are consumed with the knowledge that an Eternal King sits above them on an everlasting throne. His rule will never be shaken by the circumstances around us.
“I have been to more than 50 nations and have personally seen that this gospel of Jesus Christ is powerful to save regardless of the type of government that is ‘in control.’ We are most effective when our eyes are firmly fixed on the One who sits on the throne. This puts everything else into focus and inspires a holy fear of the Lord in our hearts that the Bible says is the beginning of wisdom.”
You will see Philippians 4:8 below which will help bring his words into even sharper focus and remind us where our minds must remain fixed.
PHOTO ABOVE
Scientists understand much of what happens after a lightning discharge begins, but exactly how lightning is first initiated inside a thunderstorm remains an important unanswered question. I borrowed the remarkable image above from a fascinating article “What Is Lightning?” published by Unbekoming.
A Few Jaw-Dropping Facts About Lightning
- The actual electrical channel inside a lightning bolt may be only 1–2 inches wide, even though its brilliant glow makes it appear enormous.
- The air surrounding that narrow channel can reach approximately 50,000°F — five times hotter than the surface of the Sun.
- The air heats and expands so explosively that it creates a sonic boom—which we call thunder.
- Camp Geronimo, Arizona – 2003: Lightning struck this tree beside our Boy Scout campsite with a tremendous boom. The intense heat likely vaporized moisture inside the tree, creating steam pressure that split the trunk open. After the storm, the boys went over to see the damage.
- What looks like one flickering bolt may actually be as many as 20 separate strokes traveling through nearly the same channel.
- The brilliant flash we see — the return stroke — actually travels upward at approximately 200 million miles per hour.
- A powerful lightning strike may carry up to one billion volts and 300,000 amperes.
- Lightning can melt sand and fuse it into hollow glass tubes called fulgurites, leaving its pathway preserved underground.
- Thunderstorms can also produce invisible bursts of gamma rays, the most energetic form of light.
- The longest lightning flash ever officially measured stretched 515 miles, from eastern Texas nearly to Kansas City.
- Before you finish reading this bullet point, lightning will have flashed somewhere on Earth hundreds of times. Worldwide, there are nearly 4 million flashes every day.
Scientists can photograph lightning, measure its temperature, trace its path and calculate its speed, yet they still do not completely understand how the first spark begins.
Man can measure the bolt — but only Almighty God can command it.
There are hundreds of videos on lightning. You might like this 1 Minute Video by Kurzgesagt on how lightning works:
IN YOUR OWN BACKYARD
Lin-Air
Our air conditioner went out this week, and Dave—the same technician who has helped us before—came to the rescue. Thankfully, it turned out to be a bad capacitor rather than the compressor.
Now this is too funny……. After he finished, I walked down to his truck and asked, “What do I owe you?” Dave smiled and said, “A million dollars.”
Talk about a divine layup.
I reached into my pocket, pulled out a million-dollar bill, and handed it to him. He burst out laughing. I told him, “Dave, the best part is what’s printed on the back.”
That opened the door for me to share my testimony with Dave and give him the Million Dollar Gospel of John along with several other tracts. He gladly took everything and was far more receptive than the last time we talked.
I also gave him a generous tip. But the greatest gift that day was another opportunity to point a man to the only hope any of us have………. Jesus Christ.
—————–
Peg’s Glorified Ham
I went back to Peg’s Glorified Ham near Sunset Station mainly to see Robyn and Megan. Both have a profound love for Jesus Christ and actively look for opportunities to share the gospel.
I brought them tracts, Ten Commandment coins, and Million Dollar Gospels of John. Robyn already has an Evidence Study Bible, but Megan does not, so I’ll be going back with one for her.
Two delightful, evangelistic young women who are serious about making Christ known.
Grateful slave to King Jesus,
Dan
“To Live is Christ…… To Die is Gain” (Phil 1:21)
“But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.” Philippians 3:7-11
THE GREAT REVERSAL
The Christian: I Must Decrease
Question: Do you believe the following:
“…… to the degree that Christ is exalted and people think less and less of you, you are successful. If you seek to please only Him in your life, what He gives you and what He does with you are of no importance.
He Must Increase, but I Must Decrease – Day 219 Red Book
The purpose of these devotionals is to help you think Biblically
Solomon said, “As a man thinks, so is he”
1 – John 3:26
PDF – Send to someone you have been mentoring
Philippians 4:8 vs. The News
Question: Are you the 10 : 1 guy?
Men: A number of you attended the Dallas Layman Conference in June. Below is a 35 minute testimony by our brother Winston Parker. Click on the image to play.
Listen to more of the messages here
General Dwight D. Eisenhower
One of our dear brothers passed this 2 1/2 minute video about General Eisenhower.
He wanted All the Soldiers Saved to Christ before landing in Normandy
The following was written by Shahriq Khan, a former devout Muslim who grew up in New York in a Pakistani-Indian family. After years of defending Islam, his search for truth ultimately led him to Jesus Christ. Today, he leads Christ Underground, a ministry devoted to reaching Muslims with the gospel and teaching Christians how to speak the truth with both courage and compassion.
His words below carry a needed warning for all of us: we must never soften the truth about Islam, but neither should we mock or despise the Muslim people Christ has called us to love and reach. Listen carefully to this powerful appeal from a man who once stood on the other side:
My father watched the second plane hit the Towers with his own eyes. What happened after is why I’ll never let you mock Muslims on my page.
He lived the aftermath every brown man in New York lived—the looks, the suspicion, the word “Muslim” turned into a weapon pointed at us.
And here’s what nobody understands about why leaving Islam is so hard: When the world attacks your people, your identity fuses to the group. Persecution doesn’t weaken tribal faith, bro.
It welds it that much tighter.
Questioning Islam didn’t feel like doubting doctrine. It felt like joining the side that profiled my father.
So, fellow Christian, hear me, because I love you and you need this:
When you mock Muslims, when you sneer, when you make it about “those people,” you are welding the very chains you claim you want broken. Every insult buys another decade of resistance. Every sneer confirms everything they were told about you.
My rule—and it’s non-negotiable on this page: Savage on the BOOKS. Tender on the PEOPLE. The books can be weighed. The people are my mother. My cousins. Me, ten years ago.
Jesus looked at crowds exactly like mine and had compassion because they were like sheep without a shepherd.
Compassion, bro. Not contempt. You want to reach Muslims? Love them so well that the truth becomes safe to consider. That’s how I got reached. It’s the only way anybody does.
Jesus said, “Love your neighbor”—even if it costs you everything.
Neuroscience Confirms, Mental Health Healing Can Come Through Scripture: ‘There’s Tremendous Hope’
Men:
I placed a longer video in the Friday letter in the past. This one is only 9 minutes and well worth the watch. Hear from Neurosurgeon W. Lee Warren who was stationed at a combat theater hospital in Iraq (YouTube 9 Min)
And if you want to watch another one, here is a recent video from Dr. Daniel Amen: (YouTube 6 Min)
A.W. Pink
A man almost unknown when he died became far more influential through his writings after his death than he had ever been through his preaching while alive.
He authored, The Sovereignty of God, The Attributes of God, and The Seven Sayings of the Saviour on the Cross … to name a few.
Pink is also a sobering reminder that visible success during a man’s lifetime is not necessarily God’s measure of the lasting usefulness of his ministry.
