Rick's Little Space

Matthew 7:7-8

Galatians 6:7-8

Matthew 7:12

1 Corinthians 10:13

1. The word "queue" is the only word in the English language that is still pronounced the same way when the last four letters are removed.
2. Beetles taste like apples, wasps like pine nuts, and worms like fried bacon.
3. Of all the words in the English language, the word 'set' has the most definitions!
4. What is called a "French kiss" in the English speaking world is known as an "English kiss" in France.
5. "Almost" is the longest word in the English language with all the letters in alphabetical order
6. "Rhythm" is the longest English word without a vowel.
7. In 1386, a pig in France was executed by public hanging for the murder of a child
8. A cockroach can live several weeks with its head cut off!
9. Human thigh bones are stronger than concrete.
10. You can't kill yourself by holding your breath
11. There is a city called Rome on every continent.
12. Your heart beats over 100,000 times a day!
13. Horatio Nelson, one of England's most illustrious admirals was throughout his life, never able to find a cure for his sea-sickness.
14. The skeleton of Jeremy Bentham is present at all important meetings of the University of London
15. Right handed people live, on average, nine years longer than left-handed people
16. Your ribs move about 5 million times a year, everytime you breathe!
17. The elephant is the only mammal that can't jump!
18. One quarter of the bones in your body, are in your feet!
19. Like fingerprints, everyone's tongue print is different!
20. The first known transfusion of blood was performed as early as 1667, when Jean-Baptiste, transfused two pints of blood from a sheep to a young man
21. Fingernails grow nearly 4 times faster than toenails!
22. Most dust particles in your house are made from dead skin!
23. The present population of 5 billion plus people of the world is predicted to become 15 billion by 2080.
24. Women blink nearly twice as much as men.
25. Adolf Hitler was a vegetarian, and had only ONE testicle.
26. Honey is the only food that does not spoil. Honey found in the tombs of Egyptian pharaohs has been tasted by archaeologists and found edible.
27. Months that begin on a Sunday will always have a "Friday the 13th."
28. Coca-Cola would be green if colouring weren’t added to it.
29. On average a hedgehog's heart beats 300 times a minute.
30. More people are killed each year from bees than from snakes.
31. The average lead pencil will draw a line 35 miles long or write approximately 50,000 English words.
32. More people are allergic to cow's milk than any other food.
33. Camels have three eyelids to protect themselves from blowing sand.
34. The placement of a donkey's eyes in its' heads enables it to see all four feet at all times!
35. The six official languages of the United Nations are: English, French, Arabic, Chinese, Russian and Spanish.
36. Earth is the only planet not named after a god.
37. It's against the law to burp, or sneeze in a church in Nebraska, USA.
38. You're born with 300 bones, but by the time you become an adult, you only have 206.
39. Some worms will eat themselves if they can't find any food!
40. Dolphins sleep with one eye open!
41. It is impossible to sneeze with your eyes open
42. The worlds oldest piece of chewing gum is 9000 years old!
43. The longest recorded flight of a chicken is 13 seconds
44. Queen Elizabeth I regarded herself as a paragon of cleanliness. She declared that she bathed once every three months, whether she needed it or not
45. Slugs have 4 noses.
46. Owls are the only birds who can see the colour blue.
47. A man named Charles Osborne had the hiccups for 69 years!
48. A giraffe can clean its ears with its 21-inch tongue!
49. The average person laughs 10 times a day!
50. An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain

Last night, our bible study group studied the video clip about noise. In the modern time, there are all kinds of noise everywhere all the time: TV, radio, cars passing by, kids yelling, and even the billboards along the highway (that is visual noise). We are so easily get distracted and lose focus. We are also missing quiet time when we can calm our heart, clear our thoughs, so that we can hear God's voice better.

Noise becomes noise only when it draws our attention, i.e. distracts us. There is noise all the time, but we don't notice it all the time, because we don't always get distracted. Therefore, what matters is not the noise itself, but the distraction it causes. Our focus is like a balloon. Noise is like the wind blowing by. The wind can blow the balloon away, but only if you don't hold it tight. Even if there is no wind, if you let go your balloon, it will still fly away. When we are distracted and lose our focus, we should not blame it all to the noise. It is more of our fault that we don't hold our focus tight enough. So trying to block the noise may help, but what can really solve the problem is to hold tight our focus.

We all know it is not easy to hold our focus tight. But do we notice that when we do things we truely love, like watching your favorite movie or watching the Packers beating the Vikings (yes, they did today ), we just don't get distracted easily, if not at all for the diehard football fans? Sometimes, we totally immerse ourselves into the thing we are doing, and lose the time and the world around them. That is because we truely love the thing we are doing. Therefore, the key to focus, I think, is love. If we want to focus on something, we must love it first and get excited. Love leads to priority, and priority draws attention and focus. So, love your job, love you family, love your friends, love the things you do, and love your Lord, from the bottom of your heart. Love the things that are truely important and deserve your attention, so they will become your priority and easily win your attention over the noise.

There is spiritual noise as well. Things we want and problems we are facing are all drawing our attention away from God. We have our eyes on the things in the world, and we lose our sight of God. It is not that we should not be wanting things in the physical world or finding solutions to problems in our physical life. We live our life on earth for the purpose of God, so we need to let it go through God and let God guide us through. It is like we are driving in Chicago downtown (assuming it is very confusing). There are signs, stree names, shops, buildings and people everywhere you look at. You are searching for hints for direction, but you may get more distraction and frustration than useful information. God is like the GPS system on your car's dashboard. You are still driving the car, minding the road and traffic, but let the GPS guide you. GPS knows all the roads and the turns all the way to the destination, but you can only see a block or two ahead of you. So put your trust to the GPS and let it tell you which way to go and where to turn. Now when you look at the surrounding buildings, people, signs and shops, you are not pressured to look for directions and get frustrated, instead you can start enjoying them. You will be amazed, wow, Chicago is beautiful. So is life.

Don't bother if you've used it for only a few shots or used less than 10% of the charge.