A Day at the Dentist

I love field trips, and today my field trip was to visit my dentist, Dan Roth and I got to have a crown put on one of my teeth. 

This is my dentist.   It was very interesting to watch him at work today..

First they drilled all the bad tooth away....  and then they took photos of the area with a computer.  The computer generated an image of the exact missing part of the tooth.  It was like making a puzzle piece that would fit right in.

Here it is on the screen: 

After the image is made, the dentist did the detailed work of triming it to the exact proportions he wanted it to be.  Then he sent it to another machine that would actually make the tooth replacement part, right in his office, which took about twenty minutes.

Here is the machine, called Cerac.  It is an amazing little piece of equiptment.

 Here is a close up of the window:

The square is the hard material that will be used to make the crown once the information is sent from the dentist to the machine.  Those drills will cut the material with computerized precision to the exact form delineated by the photographic information it was given.  This is what will make the replica that will replace the tooth parts that had to be removed.  It is like having a new tooth.

This is what the product look s like when it comes out of the machine.... well sort of. 



This is not mine, but one that had to be stopped during the process.  You can get an idea of what it is like when it is finished being milled.

Below is my tooth.

and the dentist polishing it up...

making it, "just right!"

While he worked, ever so diligently, the assistants and I had some fun reading "cowboy Poetry " and posing for photos...

And this was only their morning, the beginning of a very busy day. And hey, look at those smiles... and those TEETH!  It's good to know they can laugh and have some fun.  It was not a typical day at the dentist...  if you know what I mean. Dr. Roth got in a few smiles too.

All in a days work I guess.

And as for me, I have a new tooth, AND a FIELD TRIP,  all in one day! (Actually, it only took about three hours.)

Super!

Light

A friend sent me some notes, a "devotional" (which frankly, I am not certain WHAT this means)  on a Bible passage about light.  It was written by a well known pastor, so maybe it was his thoughts on the matter at hand.  At any rate, it began with a passage thought from John 3:10 that says,  "And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. "  It provoked me into thinking.... and writing, and  photographing things... and so, here I am.

. 

Acts 17:27God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.

I was thinking about some other Bible passages. 








This is especially since my friend and I were recently discussing issues of the Christian faith, including some of the topics the little devotional addressed, lie the Pharisees, benefits of "light," and how Jesus made the claim to be the "light of the world. "  

The devotion said, "The Pharisees did not doubt Jesus because they merely disagreed with Him; they doubted Jesus because they were hardened against him. "


.........................Funny, we are all a little hardened.  But I have to say that after simply reading the passage given I was not clear as to how the "Pharisees" got into the discussion.  I was simply reading about light and darkness and all of a sudden, the pharisee's appeared.  My guess is that the chapter deals with Jesus and the response of the Pharisees to him.



The devotional goes on to say, "Doubt is a matter of the mind. Even Christians have moments of doubt. We don't always understand what God is doing or why He is doing it. Unbelief, in contrast, is a matter of the will. It is a choice we make. "


............ so I wonder.. Were the pharisees in doubt, or unbelief?  

The writer of this devotoional says, "The Pharisees were full of unbelief."  I cannot help but note that the Bible verse quoted was not about "unbelief." although it might be safe to claim the Pharisees did not believe a word Jesus said or was saying.  Apparently, this man named Jesus was getting way too much attention for their comfort that is, if the people listening to JEsus were to support their expert leadership in spiritual and religious affairs and follow their prescribed way of life and faith.   The passage was actually about being in darkness.... moreso,  being in love with darkness, and HATING the light.  This is more than unbelief.; it is pride and pride before God, who created man, and who rescued him from sin and death, is sin.

The author goes on, and makes the point that : "They (those Pharisees) did not reject Jesus for lack of evidence or because He was not consistent with what He said. The fact is that Jesus was the perfect example. Even Pontius Pilate, who had examined countless people, said, "I find no fault in this Man" (Luke 23:4), and "I am innocent of the blood of this just Person" (Matthew 27:24). Judas Iscariot, who spent three, concentrated years with Jesus and even betrayed Him said, "I have sinned by betraying innocent blood" (Matthew 27:4). So Jesus clearly was a model of everything that He said. "


......... more importantly, (after reading the book of John through chapter 8, I can tell you that  he, Jesus, was a model of everything that he himself said, but more than this, he was a man who represented God the father and who did everything, just as God THE FATHER said.

The devotion continues, "The Pharisees rejected Jesus because it interfered with the way they wanted to live. And that is why people reject Him today. Jesus said, "And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed" (John 3:19–20).  People don't reject Jesus because they have carefully examined the evidence and have determined that it is not convincing enough. They don't reject Him because they have read through the Scriptures and have found some apparent contradiction. They don't reject Him because of the so-called hypocrisy of some in the church. They reject Him because He interferes with the way they want to live."


Interesting.   JEsus offers forgiveness of sin, eternal life... and he is considered an "interruption." Tis is rather ironic. 
 

...........................More thinking:

IT is  easy to understand that the worldly reject the godly and that those in darkness, who love their lives in this world or who love their sin more than God, reject JEsus. With this topic in mind, another verse I think about is Issiah 9:2...  the one that says, " The people who walked in darkness Have seen a great light"

YEs, we have...  the whole world has seen this light... even the pharisees.... but they would not follow. ( IF people haven't believed in the Son, they have, at least, seen and felt the Sun, marveled at the works of His hands!.)  Those who did not, would not harken unto JEsus' who would not follow him, would not come into the light that was shining so prightly, speaking directly to them, face to face.  They hated the light that was shining, why?  Because the loved other things... not God, but you can bet that they had a form of "godliness." These men were always in the temple.... in fact holding up God's law. 


Thinking more about "light..."

JEsus said, "As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world." (John 9:5)
and then again, in John 8:12... When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."

JEsus is the "light." True light, Light from Light... in Him is no darkness at all!




 
But back to Isaiah, which a little further into the text, reads..." Those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, upon them a light has shined." (KJV) 


(That would be us... those dwelling in the shadow of death.... and Jesus, HE is the light that has shined....

Further on in verse 6 it reads, (and we have all read in a Christmas greeting...)

For 
unto 
us 
a 
Child 
is 
born...

"For unto us, a Child is born, Unto us a Son (that would be JESUS) is given; (gifts, you know are given and JESUS is the gift of God.. which is the gift of eternal life through reciecing this gift, "him")
And the government will be upon His (JESUS's) shoulder.
And His (JESUS's) )name will be called
Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, (because "Jesus is God")
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. (all are relative to JESUS who himself is the prince of peace that passes understanding)
7 Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end,
Upon the throne of David ( (JESUS is "Lord") and over His kingdom, (King of kings too!) 
To order it and establish it with judgment and justice From that time forward, even forever."








Wow, that was a lot of information.

I guess it is one thing to reject Jesus and do your own thing... continue in darkness, go your own way... and it is another to come out of darkness, into the light.  God is light.  God is love.  


"Christians" walk in God's light and in love.  They are children of the promise, His promise, His Word.. made good in Christ Jesus, and  it is that which is sure, true, right and good, full of mercy and good fruit.

"Anyone who loves their brother and sister lives in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble.." (1 John 2:10) ,

"But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin." 1 John 1:7

It reflects to us the idea that walking in the light... the light of  God's word, the light of Jesus Christ...as He is in the light, is the Christian life of fellowship with God and with one another.  Additionally, it is essential for purification from sin.

Matthew 6:( 22-----23 ish)  says,


"The light  

of the body 

 is the eye: 

if therefore 

thine eye be

single, 

thy whole

body shall  

be full of light.
But
if thine eye be evil, 

 thy whole body 

shall be full of darkness. 

If therefore 

the light  

that is in thee be  

darkness, 

how great

is that
darkness! 

No man
can serve two masters:  

for either

he will hate 

the one, 

and love the other; 

or else he will hold to the one, 

and despise 

the other. 

Ye cannot
serve 

God 

and 

mammon.

And so... it all leaves me marveling at the benefits of "light" and the things that Jesus said.





 

Tiny Treasure

 This is something I have had since I was a child.

 You peek into the center of the cross; and what do you see?

A prayer....

Busy Artist

Here is a little artist at work.  He is five years old.

Good work!!!

A Word for Today- Jesus

Some Friends of Mine

Puzzled Out

Vacation

I have been on vacation.  George had some time off from work and we just spent all our waking hours doing things together.  This is never without challenges, if you know what I mean, but we had a great time and did a lot of "nothing" together.. at least a lot of nothing demanding... for we actually did a lot of things... just no thing we "had" to do.  It was fun.  You might say, it was a blast!  (It was an arctic blast for sure!)

While it was cold outside, our hearts were warm inside.  Here we are, "Papa" and Grandma posing beside Jonathan's Christmas tree on Christmas Day.

Our holiday began on Christmas Eve, at our house.  It was filled with a lot of love, laughter, food, time together as family, and we opened up some nice gifts too. We actually did a lot of things and took a lot of photos too.

 The babies were beautiful.

We colored.  We like to color in these huge black and white prints.   Some of us colored on David.  Apparently, his tattoos were not colorful enough., 




We wii-ed...

(That is what these boys are doing.)


 

We played games, (like Bananagrams...)

We read stories,  had a little girl sized tea party... 















played with toys... of all kinds.  We even flew airplaines around the living room.

We "Tim Tam Slammed," (most of us used coffee, instead of milk, and the Americanized Arnott cookie by Pepperidge Farms.)

We opened presents...

played with babies....

and had all sorts of fun.

It was quite a good, memorable, old-fashioned, stay-at- home, busy, yet relaxing, (and occasionally overwhelming,) white-Christmas kind of holiday that was simply fun; and it was also a great vacation!