Storytime Tapestry Newsletter

The newsletter devoted to spreading love and cultural awareness around the world.

Dec 8, 2006

Today’s Queue Stories

~**~**~

 All from Insights from a Blind Man: Chris Hansen

Chris Hansen
E-mail Address(es):
  chrishansen54@sbcglobal.net

 God, the Longer I Know Him the Stranger He Gets!

By Chris Hansen

Part I

Most of us don't realize just how strange God is.  That's because He is so familiar to us.  Many of us have grown up learning certain things about Him and we don't give them much thought.  However, the longer you think - the stranger it all gets. 

Let's take a really simple and familiar example of one of God's attributes.  For as long as we remember, we have been told that God knows everything.  So what?  What is so peculiar about that?  A little thought will quickly show just how odd this is!

The very nature of God, the attribute that He knows the future has, in fact, twisted the universe into a most peculiar shape.  For one thing, all of the laws of theoretical probability have to be thrown out!  Here's why.  Let's consider our reality-a reality untwisted by God's nature.  In our "real" world the probability of flipping a coin and guessing how it will land is 50%.  Heads or tails is equally likely.  Now, let's twist reality.  God already knows which side will come up.  Is there any chance whatever that it won't come up on that side?  No!  Therefore, the chance of one side is 100% and the chance of the other side is 0!  The very fact that God knows everything, in advance, has twisted the laws of probability so that 50% has now been twisted into 0 and 50% has been twisted into 100%!  Weird isn't it? 

We know something about what this is like.  Suppose you have recorded your favorite football team while you're away.  You don't know the outcome.  So, from your vantage point, one team is just about as likely as the other team to win.  However, reality has been twisted by the fact that the game has already taken place!  The chance of one team winning is, in fact, 100% and the chance of the other team of winning is, in fact, 0!  To us, that is not particularly odd since we understand what it's like to relive the past.

The thing about God, though, is that this is how he sees the future!  He sees things that haven't even happened yet, as if they have already happened!  This changes the very nature of reality itself.  If God knows that you will be in church next Sunday, this event becomes as certain as if it had already happened.  So, if God knows that you will be somewhere on a certain date, then there is absolutely no chance at all that you won't be there!  Well, this completely messes up our concept of freedom doesn't it?  If God knows that I will be somewhere at a certain time, then I really don't have the freedom not to be there, do I? 

So then, how do we untwist reality?  Actually, the important question is, how does God prevent reality from being so badly distorted that we can no longer function within it?  The answer is that God has built uncertainty into reality by withholding information from us.  This withholding of information makes it possible to enjoy an undistorted reality.  We don't know where we will be next Sunday.  So, we still can choose.  We don't know who's going to win the football game.  So, we can still watch and enjoy.  We don't know how the coin flip will turn out.  So, we can still talk, meaningfully, about 50% instead of the weirdly distorted 0% and 100%. 

So, what's the point of all this?  Yes, it has one!  The very fact that God withholds information allows us to have a meaningful experience with an untwisted reality.  However, this withholding of information is precisely what causes us to complain about God in the first place!  Why did God allow this?  Why didn't He prevent that?  And so on.

If God did allow us to see all of the future, then our reality would forever be frozen in the past!  We would see it as a massive unchangeable single frame.  However, because we can't see it all, we see it as a flowing and unfolding picture frame by frame.  The truth is that revelation itself changes the very nature of what is being revealed.

What we know, to put it more simply, changes how things turn out.  God gives us information so we can manipulate reality to some extent.  However, God withholds information so that reality will not be distorted for us.  So, the next time you complain that God is withholding information, understand that He is!

Also understand that He withholds information for an incredibly important reason.  Too much certainty changes the flow of reality.  A certain amount of uncertainty allows reality to flow as it ought to flow.  Consider this the next time you read the story of Joseph, for example.  You know how the story turns out, so this changes the very nature of the story for you.  Joseph, during the story, has no idea how it will turn out.  Again, this lack of information changes the very nature of the story for Joseph. (Genesis 37:50)  

One final question: which one of us enjoys the story more?  Joseph, who doesn't know, or the reader, who has read it a dozen times?  Remember how much you enjoyed the story when you first read it?  Remember how much you enjoyed it when you did not know?  Spend a few moments and thank God, not only for what He has revealed, but also, for what He has withheld.

© by Chris Hansen

Author of Grandfather's Journal

Revelation Revisited and Secret of the Psalms

~**~**~

Will You Pray For My Mother?

Ellie Braun Haley

My brother Gerry was telling me tonight, Transition Services at the
Foothills hospital said two weeks ago they did an evaluation on my
mother and said "she'll have to go to a Nursing Home". Now if she has to
go to a Nursing Home, she might get some Physio at the Nursing Home but
the very most she would get would be twice a week, (possibly).

  But if she remains  at Foothills and can get into Transition Services
they would work with her five times a week to get her back up and
running (that is a figure of speech)  Although what a miracle that
could be!!

So a few days later Gerry spoke with my mother's doc and asked, "Are
you discharging our mother?"

He responded, "No she is too fragile."

Two of her five sons sat down and told mom all that they had been told.
It was very difficult for them to be so blunt. It looks as though ,
armed with that news , and supported by God, mother has dug in her
heels to make headway! In the past seven days our mother has really
been working to get her body to respond and to strengthen.

Very recently she asked my brother Gerry to help her to get back into
bed from the chair she was in. She got exhausted and quit yet minutes
later said "let's try again"  This second time she managed to stand and
between the two of them she got back into bed.  This was major for her
as up to that point it has taken at least two staff to move mother.
(not because of her weight but because of her fragility and inability
to help herself). Gerry and Mom gave each other a high five!

Then in the last three days a granddaughter of my mother (Terry) who is
a nurse came in and helped mother to get out of bed into a wheelchair
and she took mom around showing Mom where she worked and where others
worked. It was a great excursion. Then between the two of them they got
Mom back into bed. This is major. progress! Now that  is twice mom has
managed to get in and out of bed with only a single person assisting
her. THIS IS A "HOPE" SITUATION!

Because of this wonderful progress  Gerry phoned the Transition
Services and explained all that mom has been doing. He asked if they
would reconsider their decision.  Transition Services agreed and is
going to do another evaluation right away.

Please pray for mother that she might gain strength, that God might
consider to give  her a miracle and return to her the use of her legs.

Her name is Patricia Snell. At 90 years old she has not given up. She
said to me on Friday of last week, regarding the things she is working
on, "I may even surprise myself."

Thanks for listening. AND MAY YOU BE BLESSED FOR YOUR GOODNESS

Love Ellie

shaley@telusplanet.net

Readers Feedback

Carol - I just read I Am From and it is truly one of the most beautiful stories I have read  within a poem.  It speaks from your heart. Sharlett Hunt

Re. I am  From:  Beautiful.  Carol your words paint your life and it is like a sunrise of wondrous colors.  Louise

I am From – Wonderful poem Carol, thanks for sharing – Barbara Weymouth

Re.  The Unthinkable.       Thank you Bill for the history lesson.  Do all the horrors of the world run on continuous threads that twine and knot and wind their way around this poor earth?               Louise

How inspiring Chris Hansen, What a wonderful poem!!!!

Mary M. Dees

Hart Dowd - In Germany, we celebrated St. Nicholas Day on December 6. On the night of the 5th, the children placed a shoe on the window border. On the morning of the 6th the children rush to their shoes to see what type of goodie they got. Many of them get a "Beckmann". It is a piece of sweet bread shaped like a gingerbread man holding a pipe... The children could also get a small gift or chocolates.... It is a cute tradition. On the 24th comes "Christ Kind" (Baby Jesus" and leave a gift for the children. This is a BIG GIFT!!!!!!!!!

My youngest son received a 2007 calendar from sheepworld.... This is the latest fashion in Germany. My oldest one a cross puzzle..... They had a good day today. This, however, it is not an official holiday so they have to go to school today. Tannia Ortiz-Lopes

EVE of ST. Nicholas or Sinterklaas: Hart Dowd:    the "Spekulatos" cookies ARE DELICIOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Tannia Ortiz-Lopes

~**~**~

Donations are needed to help with the operating expenses of running the newsletter and to keep Storytime Tapestry the quality newsletter you are so accustomed to.   

Please note that Storytime Tapestry is a free newsletter to members and there will never be a cost for the newsletter.  Donations are purely voluntary and no member should ever feel guilty for not making a donation at this time.

Angels on earth, they exist they are out there.  Angels come in all ages, shapes and sizes, civil status, and religion.  Their nature is love and their purpose is giving to the less fortunate of this world.  Storytime Tapestry angels are no exception.  These angels are loyal members who have contributed to the upkeep of Storytime Tapestry newsletter so that Storytime Tapestry can continue come to your email box 350 days of the year.

Here is our Storytime Tapestry Angels: Also, I would like to thank those of you who chose to be a silent angel and gave an anonymous donation to keep Storytime Tapestry up and running.

Clara Westerfer

Mark Crider

Rosanne Catalano

Paula Booher

Mary Ellen Grisham

Louise Nomani

Sharon Bryant

Angela Walker

Hart and Helen Dowd

Keith Ready

Mary Ellen Grisham

Ginger Morgenstern

Ellie Braun-Haley

Surinder Jandu

Senior Writers

Chief writer: Sharon Bryant

Chief researcher/historian: Hartson Dowd

Agee, Vance; Apted, Violet; Baker, Kathy; Batt, Al; Berry, Nell; Blaine, Pamela; Boda, Ginger; Booher, Paula; Buhagiar, Victor; Cassady, B.J.; Costner, Joan Clifton; Cavalera, Robyn; Crider, Mark; Dees, Mary; Deming, Barb; Doherty, Maria;  Dowd, Hartson; Dowd, Helen; Gilbert, Robert, Jr.; Gold, Ron; Goodier, Steve; Grisham, Mary-Ellen; Braun-Haley, Ellie; Harris, Kathy Anne; Henry, Linda Ann; Hunt, Sharlett; Hymes, Christina; Jacobson, Gary; Kiser, Roger Dean; Kerens, Claudia; Kevin, Tim; Jenkins, Pamela; Liles, Norma; Lily Jodi Flesberg; Lock, Joyce; Marlor, Janice Bumbalough; Mazzella, Joe; Meeks, Carol; Mizrany, Mary Carter; Morris, Deepak; Ojeibge, Georgewaters; Petry, Dianna Doles; Pringle, Sandra Lewis; Roberts, Susan; Shiveley, Debra; Shaw, Bob; Sims, Richard; Smith; Michael; Streidel, Saskia; Swarner, Ken; Vaknin, Sam; Verhoeff, Jan; Walker, Bill; Walker, Joe; Warner, Gordon, K; Walsh, Sue; Weymouth, Barbara J.; Whirity, Kathy;

Wainland, David; Westerfer, Clara; White Robert;

Storytime Tapestry Staff

Carol Roach - Founder/publisher

Thelma Hartselle - Co-Founder, Moderator

Clara Westerfer – moderator

Bob Johnston - moderator