Inspiration for people who feel defeated

Lately, I’ve heard from many people who feel defeated. They feel like giving up. They feel like the battle has already been fought, and they’ve already lost.

Have you ever had conversations play out in your head long before you have them, as if you already know what’s going to happen? That’s a trap. It’s a trap of the enemy to get you to concede before the battle is over.

I’ve been guilty of that, but no more.  It affects your attitude and your expectations. It lowers your expectations, and diminishes your attitude.

If you’re going to play out a battle in your head, see yourself as the victor. See yourself winning, see yourself completing, see yourself succeeding.  Better yet, go in with the attitude that you will do your very best, and leave consequences to themselves.

Finally, here’s a clip from one of my favorite movies, “Facing the Giants”. I would recommend it to anyone, and suggest you rent it ASAP if you haven’t seen it.

PS The makers of this movie are releasing a new picture this Friday, September 30th, called Courageous. Why not take it in? I’m going.

What’s the biggest traps you’ve fallen into that make you feel defeated? How did you overcome them?

What’s your definition of victory?

Is victory winning over another opponent? Is it when you’re circumstances change? Is it when you get prettier or slimmer or smarter, or when you get richer?

Maybe victory is when you’re heart changes…..victory is when you’ve done your best and you’re strong enough to let someone help you…

What’s your definition of victory?

Is science and God really separate?

A time-lapse taken from the front of the International Space Station as it orbits our planet at night. This movie begins over the Pacific Ocean and continues over North and South America before entering daylight near Antarctica. Visible cities, countries and landmarks include (in order) Vancouver Island, Victoria, Vancouver, Seattle, Portland, San Fransisco, Los Angeles. Phoenix. Multiple cities in Texas, New Mexico and Mexico. Mexico City, the Gulf of Mexico, the Yucatan Peninsula, Lightning in the Pacific Ocean, Guatemala, Panama, Columbia, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, and the Amazon. Also visible is the earths ionosphere (thin yellow line) and the stars of our galaxy.

Think about this for a moment: One planet out of nine in our solar-system exhibits life (I’m including Pluto). ( 1/9=.11) That’s 11%.  If you add in the moons in our solar system to that figure, then that’s one half of one percent or .05% of bodies in our solar system exhibit life. The number dwindles from there when you add in the number of planets, moons, and orbiting bodies in the Milky Way. There are over 100,000 galaxies outside the Milky Way. If you  include the number of estimated planets in those galaxies (and that number varies greatly), the number becomes too small to calculate (for me anyway).

There are  1.7 million species on the Earth currently known to man (more are being discovered). How many life forms exist outside our little planet? None. That ratio works out to 1.7 Million to Zero.

Some say, “That’s an awful waste of space.”  I agree, but I don’t know what it takes to make a viable solar system and one tiny planet to support life (i.e. Earth). Is the rest of the universe just collateral damage from the Big Bang? I don’t know. I do know that no alien life form has found us, and we haven’t found them. What we do know of other planets is that they cannot support life as we know it, and we have found no evidence of life as we know it or life “other than life as we know it”.

Science has an important place in our lives, or as Albert Einstein said:

“The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed.”

The video above keeps me rapt in awe, so I think God exists in science, but I don’t need science to know God.

“Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts.” (Sign hanging in Einstein’s office at Princeton)

Earth is just the right temperature, with just enough water to support life, and just the right amount of gases for us to breathe (and plants too). We have a renewable food source, and means of disposing of waste. Millions of ‘accidents’ would have to take place over and over again in order for life to exist on this planet. I don’t see accidents. I see miracles.

Some say, “We don’t have the technology yet to detect life on other planets outside our solar system.” So, are we to reserve our judgement until science has the opportunity to catch up? That requires faith that science will catch up and faith that science will find life outside our solar system.

Well, with God, all things are possible…..