No muy seguido, pero de tiempo en tiempo, Dios nos trae a una encrucijada en nuestra vida. Desde ese momento podemos seguir en una vida cristiana mas perezosa e inutil o encendemos mas ese fuego con el que damos todo por su grandeza--lo mejor para su gloria. ~Oswald Chambers
Posted: February 22nd, 2010 | Author:Carlos Moran | Filed under:Articles | Comments Off
En estos dias oficialmente dejare de ser contribuidor a este sitio y me despido dandoles gracias por haber me dado su compania. Pueden visitarme en el sitio heycarlitos.com. Este sitio seguira contandoles las aventuras de los jovenes de las Iglesia Bautista de Washington. No se les olvide visitar la seccion de fotos para ver aventuras anteriores. Una vez mas gracias y bendiciones!
I will now be moving onto new things and this will be my last post. Thanks so much for your readership. Please continue to visit dcjoven.com for all the new things that the youth group will be doing. You can visit me at heycarlitos.com and I’ll be happy to have you.
The result of being in God’s presence is humility and an awe-striking sense of God’s greatness:
Hence that dread and amazement with which as Scripture uniformly relates, holy men were struck and overwhelmed whenever they beheld the presence of God. When we see those who previously stood firm and secure so quaking with terror, that the fear of death takes hold of them, nay, they are, in a manner, swallowed up and annihilated, the inference to be drawn is that men are never duly touched and impressed with a conviction of their insignificance, until they have contrasted themselves with the majesty of God.
-Calvin
El estar en la presencia de Dios resulta en una repentina humildad de nuestra parte al sentir la magnificencia de Dios. Como lo relata Calvin:
Es una manera terrible e impresionante, que nos cuentan las Escrituras, con la que se encontraron hombres santos al ser sobrecogidos por la presencia de Dios. Cuando vemos aquellos que estaban solidos en sus pies temblar de terror con un real temor de morir, o aun mas, de ser aniquilados es de lo cual inferimos que los hombres no son propiamente concocedores y convencidos de su insignificancia hasta que se han contrastado con la majestad de Dios.
El telescopio Hubble recibio unas muy importantes mejoras en sus sitemas de imagenes y la foto que vemos aqui es una de ellas. NASA le dio un servicio de mejoras al telescopio en Mayo de 2009. En el servicio Hubble recibio una nueva camara llamada Wide Field Camera 3 y el nuevo instrumento COS (Cosmic Origins Spectrograph) el cual usa la gama de luz emitida por cuerpos celestiales para determinar la composicion elementaria de los gases en las galaxias observadas. Siempre al ver estas fotos me recuerda el maravilloso Salmo:
me pregunto:
«¿Qué es el hombre, para que en él pienses?
¿Qué es el ser humano, para que lo tomes en cuenta?»
Since 2007 the Holocaust Museum has been mapping the crisis with Michael Graham as the initiative’s coordinator. The mapping works by leveraging Google Earth’s large user base. The team has mapped and followed the crisis by creating layers of data on top of Google Earth and showing the location of destroyed villages, damaged villages and refugee camps that have been created as a result. In some instances the is photo evidence of the villages “before and after” the attack. These photos become powerful evidence of what has been happening in Sudan since 2003 and the maps show the actual locations of villages that were, in some cases, wiped out by the attacks.
There are also testimonies compiled by Graham’s team from survivors by Amnesty International and also mapped to the location of the villages. These testimonies tell of how Janjawid have overran villages, used rape as a weapon of war and killed men, women and children in merciless ways. Here is a sample:
“I was living with my family in Tawila and going to school when one day the Janjawid entered the town and attacked the school. We tried to leave the school but we heard noises of bombing in the town and started running in all directions. All the girls were scared. The Janjawid entered the school and caught some girls and raped them in the class rooms. I was raped by four men inside the school. When they left they told us they would take care of all of us black people and clean Darfur for good.”
–one of the survivors of the Tawila attack
The amount of evil perpetrated there is a shocking reminder of the world we live in and a wake up call to non-stop intercession for the refugees of this conflict. Let’s pray that God may open up the doors for more aid organizations to enter and work freely with refugees and that with his power the amount of evil there may subside. Let’s also give to those who are already working on-site and publicly decrying this genocide.
Please click here to go to the Holocaust Museum’s site and hear the entire audio update or read the transcript. Next week, I will post a map of the crisis. If you want to know more, the link to the Amnesty International Report is below. Please visit SaveDarfur.org to contribute your time, your voice and your financial resources. Let’s persevere in prayer and in deed for Darfur!
Nuestro deber de llenar al mundo con las buenas nuevas de Dios empieza por nuestra comunidad pero se extiende hasta el mundo entero. El panorama del evangelio de hoy puede ser analizado de varias maneras pero hoy quiero apuntar a la idea que hemos escuchado cada vez mas fuertemente que debemos ver al mundo en base a sus etnias. Si entramos al detalle de las etnias veremos la variedad de personas que no han recibido el evangelio dentro de un mismo pais. Veamos por ejemplo a Sudan. El mapa incluido aqui nos muestra que esta dentro de la ventana 10/40 y por lo tanto estara en el enfoque de muchos. Pero que este en la ventana 10/40 es solo una pequeña parte de lo que hemos de saber acerca del pais. Si nos acercamos en el mapa podemos ver mejor los puntos que señalan las etnias de Sudan.
Veamos ahora especificamente al oeste de Sudan, cerca del borde con Chad y veremos que hay una variedad de etnias relativamente cerca la una de la otra. Cerca del borde esta la etnia Batahin con la religion Islamica y el idioma Arabe; un poco al sur esta la etnia Fulakunda con el idioma Pulaar y con una variedad de la religion islamica; cerca tambien esta la etnia Kimr con el idioma Assangori y la religion islamica. En paises como el Sudan las diferencias etnicas han resultado en graves situaciones como el continuo genocidio en Darfur. Este ejemplo se repite a traves del mundo y de la historia: cada etnia tiene su propia necesidad e historia que afecta el nivel de alcance del evangelio. Si hemos de interceder por ellos, es necesario tambien conocer lo mas posible y mucho mas si hemos tambien de ir a ellos. El mapa pequeño esta aqui y el mapa grande esta en este link. Y para ver el mapa en grande y en 3D puedes hacer un click aqui (pero requiere el Google Earth Plug-in y una coneccion de banda ancha).
The map below shows a color-coded map of the world’s wealth disparity. The darkest green shows the greatest amount of disparity and the countries with name captions shows countries with the deepest level of poverty at less than $2 per day. Most of us already know that such disparity exists but accept it merely as a fact of life. Why? Because somewhere along the line we started believing that what we have in the wealthier nations is not a privilege but a right. While it is true that the entrepreneurial spirit has boosted this countries economy and riches it is also true that, instead of pulling our fellow human beings in other nations to come and join in our prosperity, we actually just leave them behind with out looking back.
We shouldn’t just “give money” out of guilt but look for a way to help others but look for ways to build on their lives also. Jesus was only concerned with our hearts but He lifted people out of their physical ailments as well. He fed the hungry crowds. He showed compassion and love for our basic human needs and so should we. As we contemplate the map below lets also think about our future approach to the issues and maybe we will develop some practical ways to help those who need it. By approach I mean: Don’t just send over bottled water, let’s help them build a well. Let’s think in terms of new schools, new electricity generators, water purifiers, new tools and new methods to help those who are in less fortunate circumstance.
Lastly, the United States is still the wealthiest nation but it also shows a enough of a disparity that points to a great need within.
On Monday, we start the work week with a great song. Because of labor day, I’ll post the song today instead. King of all Days is a great song by Hillsong it speaks of God’s mercy, sacrifice and open arms. It is uplifting because it’s reminder of God’s love—a love that moves us when we try to comprehend it.
King of All Days (iTunes link in video).
VERSE 1:
In Your surrender
As You laid down Your life
You took up a sinner’s cross
And Your life rescued mine
VERSE 2:
In this redemption
Love and mercy displayed
You lifted my eyes to see
That Your truth never fails
PRE CHORUS:
Lord of the heavens
King of all days
Without You my world slips away
Redeemed by Your mercy
Consumed by Your grace
Now I live for You
CHORUS:
I’m found in the arms of love
For Your love
It has saved my soul
I’ll run to Your arms of love
Your light’s gonna lead me home
VERSE 3:
Glorious Saviour
In Your light I am free
The things of this world will fade
Still You are all that I need
BRIDGE:
At Your cross
I lay my burdens
At Your feet
Where Your love covers
All I’ve done
Now I walk with You Lord
Here is a man who was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant woman. He grew up in another village. He worked in a carpenter shop until He was thirty. Then for three years He was an itinerant preacher.
He never owned a home. He never wrote a book. He never held an office. He never had a family. He never went to college. He never put His foot inside a big city. He never traveled two hundred miles from the place He was born. He never did one of the things that usually accompany greatness. He had no credentials but Himself…
While still a young man, the tide of popular opinion turned against him. His friends ran away. One of them denied Him. He was turned over to His enemies. He went through the mockery of a trial. He was nailed upon a cross between two thieves. While He was dying His executioners gambled for the only piece of property He had on earth – His coat. When He was dead, He was laid in a borrowed grave through the pity of a friend.
Nineteen long centuries have come and gone, and today He is a centerpiece of the human race and leader of the column of progress.
I am far within the mark when I say that all the armies that ever marched, all the navies that were ever built; all the parliaments that ever sat and all the kings that ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of man upon this earth as powerfully as has that one solitary life.
http://simile.mit.edu/timeline/examples/religions/christianity.html
