Tuesday, May 16, 2006

Good Morning   

 

In honor of Brad and Ron's trip to China this coming Friday, I thought we would keep up with the weather in Beijing each day.

 

Current  Temp:  (at  3 P local time)   90 degrees and sunny.  

Today:  Lots of sunshine.  Warm, high 90F.  Winds S at 10 to 15 mph 

Tonight:  Some passing clouds . Low around 65 F.  Winds NNW at 10 to 15 mph.   

The 10-day forecast at: http://www.weather.com/outlook/travel/businesstraveler/tenday/CHXX0008?from=_topnav_business

Today's Reading:    Revelation 12 3-4 -- Barclay  87-88 

 

-- quick read today, with the focus on the dragon and his description.  Generally speaking, the dragon has long been the symbol of evil and the forces of evil -- the one that John describes is no different.  It is interesting to me that the symbol of evil is something that only exists in the imagination -- dragons don't exist, or every have existed, as far as I can tell.  But the dragon is something that we all can envision -- we all have a mental picture of what it might look like.  That is rather interesting, that many cultures and times have used the same mythical symbol to describe the idea of devouring evil, which, in a strange way, makes it seem more real.  How did we all get to using the same symbol?

 

-- when it comes to the dragon, we have to assume that John is talking symbolically, or that what he was looking at and describing was symbolic or dreamlike. 

 

-- (for Brad and Ray) I think that it is just coincidence that China is associated with the symbol of the dragon, particularly a red dragon.  Barclay doesn't make that connection.  So, no (real) need to worry.

 

Today's Scripture   

 

But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living.  But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.

Joshua 24:15

Today's prayer requests:     Ellen Barrett and the kids.

 

She's solo this week while Jake is on the road out of town, and she'd just like us to remember her as she does the single mom thing while he is away.

 

Today's class member prayer:

 Andrew Peebles    

Jay