1500 houses burned down in CA, & counting

I listened to the news this morning while shaving and the man said that over 1500 houses have burned to the ground in the current set of fires in southern California. Many of these houses are valued at over a million dollars each. The owners will have to clean off their lots before they can rebuild. And it wouldn't surprise me a bit if the insurance companies called it all an "Act of God" and refused to pay off. (& I sure hope that FEMA doesn't give some rich So. California guy a few million of our tax dollars to rebuild his mansion. Surely even the federal government is smarter than that?) The owners who last month had a solid, substantial home now have almost nothing.

I find myself being glad that I am not relying on my possessions (house, bank account, ...), my abilities (job, strength, intelligence), my family (wife, children, parents, siblings), or any earthly other thing to provide my family's security. My security comes from God & from God alone.

Tim Temple (long-time pastor of Abilene Bible Church) used to frequently quote "... men and machines will fail you...". When he said it to me, it was usually on the occasion of a computer failing. But the meaning is the same whether I have recently been failed by a man or a machine: God is the only one who will never fail me. So if I am going to trust something, shouldn't I trust something (Someone) who is worth trusting...who can deliver on His promises?

BTW - When confronting a llama, I suggest you wear mirrored, wrap-around sunglasses. The llama likes to spit. (If this comment doesn't make sense to you, then ignore it. Someone knows what I am talking about.)

epistemology / truth

The following is a distillation of musings that started while listening to a sermon yesterday morning. The question at the end (What do I really want?) is the topic that I would like comments on.

Q. What is the difference between the idea that the unknown includes knowledge that I don't have the background to understand as opposed to knowledge that I don't have the capacity to comprehend?

A. humility - Accepting that the reason I don't understand is because I am created w/o the capacity to understand ... instead of merely because I have inadequate education ... requires my humility.

Humanism will not admit that any knowledge is beyond the capacity of men to understand.

Is humility a character trait that is worth cultivating? The church answer is yes. But what is the humanist's answer? The man who blows his own horn often gets what he wants - the job, the promotion, ... .

What do I really want?
- personal peace & affluence?
- success? (my efforts having the result that I intend / A man's reach should exceed his grasp...)
- truth?
- justice / honor?
- heaven?
- ???

Once I would have said, almost without thinking: "truth and justice". But is that a cop-out? I really don't know but I will think about it and update this post if anything startling pops into my head.

What do you think?

The nature of free will

Usually when I hear someone talk about free will, they start by saying something like "Let's be clear on what free will is not first." This has always been kind of disappointing to me. I always like to have terms defined.

Anyway, I had a semi-random thought about the nature of free will this weekend and wanted to share it to see if it generated any synergy.

Free will is what allows men to choose to sin or to choose God.

What do you think?