nimbo
Goals are deceptive. The unaimed arrow never misses.
God Winks
A while ago I wrote this blog about how God is real to me in my day-to-day life.
On the 16th I got into a long and interesting conversation about God and evolution with an atheist; this atheist challenged me about whether my belief in God was a result of "brainwashing". I like being challenged and I think it is healthy to be challenged; but I thought to myself that, being raised by Christians, I've always taken the existance of God for granted; I could not imagine how this physical reality could exist without God, let alone my awareness of it. And when I thought this, a part of me said, maybe you just lack the imagination. Now, I've had enough people tell me that I have a healthy-enough imagination, but I was challenged, not by my friend, but by my own self, to try and imagine the possibility of existance without God being behind it.
Not that I tried very hard, mind you, it was just a thought, and then I moved on, but it was still in the back of my mind; that and my conversation with my atheist friend.
Now, I work for a Christian organisation which has a very strong Christian atmosphere and lifestyle within it. On the 18th of December was the annual Christmas devotions where bible scriptures from both Old and New Testament were read out and carols were sung. There was also an accompanying band made up of the more musical employees of the organisation. One of the instruments was a violin.
Now, it may be worth mentioning that I am virtually tone deaf and so, even though I like music, my ability to appreciate music properly is limited. Yet, during the carol-singing, my attention was brought to the violin-playing which seemed to stand out amongst the other instruments and I remember thinking that the sound the violin made was exceptionally beautiful. Later, I heard the CEO of the company talking to another person, and he was saying, "And she didn't know the devotions were on today?" Since it didn't seem to have anything to do with me, and I had no desire to eavesdrop at the time, I didn't stick around to hear the answer and promptly didn't think about it until later.
It wasn't until when mum was driving us home (she works at the same company as I do) when she told me the story about the violin. Instead of telling you the story, I will just copy and paste it as my mum wrote it on dad's Christian forum when she got home that day.
A Christmas Blessing
Today CBM had their annual Christmas devotions and Kris Kringle. The devotions are held monthly and in December it has a Christmas theme with readings from appropriate Old and New Testament readings, prayers and carols led by some of the more musically inclined in the company.
Accompanying instruments were a keyboard, a couple of guitars and a violinist. Now the blessing was this...
The fellow who was to play the violin came down sick and wasn't able to make it. No one would have known the absence except the other players, but God had something else in mind. While this fellow was ringing in sick, a lady (I think she is one of our volunteers) was having her morning prayer time. God told her that she needed to go to CBM today, and to take her violin with her. Now this lady is a professional musician with a symphony orchestra in Melbourne, and without any rehearsal or preparation was able to play beautifully all the carols on the program.
So who says God doesn't care about the little things? What would it matter in the grand scheme of things if our staff service did not have an accompanying violinist? Not much I suspect, but it was a blessing to us at CBM as we celebrated God sending his son to be the means of our salvation.
I don't know whether or not this lady knew about the devotions, but I do know that she was not supposed to come in that day, and there was no way she would've known that the fellow who was supposed to play had called in sick. For mum it was just a nice addition to her day. For me, it was a reinforcement of my faith at a time when I was being challenged; like God was winking at me. And this isn't the first time something like this has happened, either.
On the 16th I got into a long and interesting conversation about God and evolution with an atheist; this atheist challenged me about whether my belief in God was a result of "brainwashing". I like being challenged and I think it is healthy to be challenged; but I thought to myself that, being raised by Christians, I've always taken the existance of God for granted; I could not imagine how this physical reality could exist without God, let alone my awareness of it. And when I thought this, a part of me said, maybe you just lack the imagination. Now, I've had enough people tell me that I have a healthy-enough imagination, but I was challenged, not by my friend, but by my own self, to try and imagine the possibility of existance without God being behind it.
Not that I tried very hard, mind you, it was just a thought, and then I moved on, but it was still in the back of my mind; that and my conversation with my atheist friend.
Now, I work for a Christian organisation which has a very strong Christian atmosphere and lifestyle within it. On the 18th of December was the annual Christmas devotions where bible scriptures from both Old and New Testament were read out and carols were sung. There was also an accompanying band made up of the more musical employees of the organisation. One of the instruments was a violin.
Now, it may be worth mentioning that I am virtually tone deaf and so, even though I like music, my ability to appreciate music properly is limited. Yet, during the carol-singing, my attention was brought to the violin-playing which seemed to stand out amongst the other instruments and I remember thinking that the sound the violin made was exceptionally beautiful. Later, I heard the CEO of the company talking to another person, and he was saying, "And she didn't know the devotions were on today?" Since it didn't seem to have anything to do with me, and I had no desire to eavesdrop at the time, I didn't stick around to hear the answer and promptly didn't think about it until later.
It wasn't until when mum was driving us home (she works at the same company as I do) when she told me the story about the violin. Instead of telling you the story, I will just copy and paste it as my mum wrote it on dad's Christian forum when she got home that day.
A Christmas Blessing
Today CBM had their annual Christmas devotions and Kris Kringle. The devotions are held monthly and in December it has a Christmas theme with readings from appropriate Old and New Testament readings, prayers and carols led by some of the more musically inclined in the company.
Accompanying instruments were a keyboard, a couple of guitars and a violinist. Now the blessing was this...
The fellow who was to play the violin came down sick and wasn't able to make it. No one would have known the absence except the other players, but God had something else in mind. While this fellow was ringing in sick, a lady (I think she is one of our volunteers) was having her morning prayer time. God told her that she needed to go to CBM today, and to take her violin with her. Now this lady is a professional musician with a symphony orchestra in Melbourne, and without any rehearsal or preparation was able to play beautifully all the carols on the program.
So who says God doesn't care about the little things? What would it matter in the grand scheme of things if our staff service did not have an accompanying violinist? Not much I suspect, but it was a blessing to us at CBM as we celebrated God sending his son to be the means of our salvation.
I don't know whether or not this lady knew about the devotions, but I do know that she was not supposed to come in that day, and there was no way she would've known that the fellow who was supposed to play had called in sick. For mum it was just a nice addition to her day. For me, it was a reinforcement of my faith at a time when I was being challenged; like God was winking at me. And this isn't the first time something like this has happened, either.
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