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Consider the following:
1) No known species of reindeer can fly. But there are 300,000 species of living organisms yet to be classified, and while most of these are insects and germs, this does not COMPLETELY rule out flying reindeer which only Santa has ever seen.
2) There are 2 billion children (persons under 18) in the world. BUT since Santa doesn't (appear) to handle the Muslim, Hindu, Jewish and Buddhist children, that reduces the workload to 15% of the total - 378 million according to Population Reference Bureau. At an average (census) rate of 3.5 children per household, that's 91.8 million homes. One presumes there's at least one good child in each.
3) Santa has 31 hours of Christmas to work with, thanks to the different time zones and the rotation of the earth, assuming he travels east to west (which seems logical).
This works out to 822.6 visits per second. This is to say that for each Christian household with good children, Santa has 1/1000th of a second to park, hop out of the sleigh, jump down the chimney, fill the stockings, distribute the remaining presents under the tree, eat whatever snacks have been left, get back up the chimney, get back into the sleigh and move on to the next house.
Assuming that each of these 91.8 million stops are evenly distributed around the earth (which, of course, we know to be false but for the purposes of our calculations we will accept), we are now talking about .78 miles per household, a total trip of 75-1/2 million miles, not counting stops to do what most of us must do at least once every 31 hours, plus feeding and etc.
This means that Santa's sleigh is moving at 650 miles per second, 3,000 times the speed of sound. For purposes of comparison, the fastest man- made vehicle on earth, the Ulysses space probe, moves at a poky 27.4 miles per second - a conventional reindeer can run, tops, 15 miles per hour.
4) The payload on the sleigh adds another interesting element. Assuming that each child gets nothing more than a medium-sized lego set (2 pounds), the sleigh is carrying 321,300 tons, not counting Santa, who is invariably described as overweight.
On land, conventional reindeer can pull no more than 300 pounds. Even granting that 'flying reindeer' (see point #1) could pull TEN TIMES the normal amount, we cannot do the job with eight, or even nine.
We need 214,200 reindeer. This increases the payload - not even counting the weight of the sleigh - to 353,430 tons. Again, for comparison - this is four times the weight of the Queen Elizabeth.
5) 353,000 tons traveling at 650 miles per second creates enormous air resistance - this will heat the reindeer up in the same fashion as spacecraft re-entering the earth's atmosphere. The lead pair of reindeer will absorb 14.3 QUINTILLION joules of energy. Per second. Each.
In short, they will burst into flame almost instantaneously, exposing the reindeer behind them, and create deafening sonic booms in their wake. The entire reindeer team will be vaporized within 4.26 thousandths of a second.
Santa, meanwhile, will be subjected to centrifugal forces 17,500.06 times greater than gravity. A 250-pound Santa (which seems ludicrously slim) would be pinned to the back of his sleigh by 4,315,015 pounds of force.> In conclusion - If Santa ever DID deliver presents on Christmas Eve, he's dead now.
Ever since then, I've become increasingly aware of just how much my emotions wreak havoc on my life, and how incapable I am of identifying them and processing through them properly. And during a semester that has been super-saturated with emotional highs and very low lows, this has become extremely problematic. In two weeks I will have to recount everything that I've been going through these past four months, and I'm not sure if I can do it because I don't know what happened. I know I cried... a lot. I know there were weeks where I felt like ripping my heart out. I know there were months that I walked around with this massive burden on my heart, and that eventually the burden was lifted. But I couldn't put into words what I was feeling and what I learned; all I know are the physical manifestations of my emotions. Why is my super-analytical brain so incapable of analyzing my heart? Why do I think and think and think but never really feel? My reasoning and logic has built an impenetrable fortress that my heart can't seem to infiltrate.
Oh Rachel, you are truly blessed. To be in touch with your emotions is to have the capacity to love others like Christ loved others, and it's something I so greatly lack.
And although it seems like such a short span of time, the next two weeks seems like a vast expanse when filled with last-minute tests and daunting final exams.
And as much as every fiber of my being is longing to be in Singapore, part of me is scared of the unknown. I don't know what you're going to say, what you've been feeling, or what we're going to do... you've been gone for so long. But I know that God is good, and we're in His hands.
It doesn't matter to me if people remember me as a good friend,
or a nice person,
or someone they could count on.
All I want is for people to be able to genuinely say, "Ruth - now she was a woman after God's own heart." No compliment could be higher than that.
There is a conflict that rages within me during these times of loneliness, because I was once a Christian who had Christ as an accessory instead of the core. My past forces me to have patience; my experiences demand that I have empathy and understanding. But all I want to do is run. Run from the pain of watching others fall. Run from the pain of having to endure it all on my own. Run from the pain of having it all hit so close to home. But God, my God, I know I am here for a reason, and you will not let me fail. You have not brought me to this place just to watch me be defeated. So Lord, let me rejoice in my sufferings, for suffering produces perserverance, perserverance produces character, and character produces hope... and hope will never disappoint me.
Lord, give me strength to survive the next 46.
Lord, show me how to love them like you love them. Give me the patience to endure.
Fill the loneliness,
comfort my heart,
heal the pain,
carry me through.
I hope whoever said "absence makes the heart grow fonder," knew what they were talking about, because this is torture.
In the autumn on the ground
Between the traffic and the ordinary sounds
I am thinking signs and seasons
While a north wind blows through
I watch as lovers pass me by
Walking stories - whos and hows and whys
Musing lazily on love, pondering you
I'll give it time, give it space and be still for a spell
When it comes time to walk that way we wanna walk it well
I could write a million songs about the way you say my name
I could live a lifetime with you and then do it all again
And like I can't force the sun to rise or hasten summer's start
Neither should I rush my way into your heart
-- "Love is Waiting" by Brooke Fraser
Your beloved needs you now
God, be near, calm my fear
And take my doubt
Your kindness is what pulls me up
Your love is all that draws me in
I will lift my eyes to the Maker of the mountains I can't climb
I will lift my eyes to the Calmer of the oceans raging wild
I will lift my eyes to the Healer of the hurt I hold inside
I will lift my eyes, lift my eyes, to You
God, my God, let mercy sing
Her melody over me
God, right here all I bring
Is all of me
Your kindness is what pulls me up
Your love is all that draws me in
I will lift my eyes to the Maker of the mountains I can't climb
I will lift my eyes to the Calmer of the oceans raging wild
I will lift my eyes to the Healer of the hurt I hold inside
I will lift my eyes, lift my eyes, to You
Because You are, You were, and You will be forever
The Lover I need to save me
Because You fashioned the Earth and You hold it together
God, so hold me now
I will lift my eyes to the Maker of the mountains I can't climb
I will lift my eyes to the Calmer of the oceans raging wild
I will lift my eyes to the Healer of the hurt I hold inside
I will lift my eyes, lift my eyes, to You
I will lift my eyes, lift my eyes, to You
God, my God, I cry out
Your beloved needs you now
-- "I Will Lift My Eyes," Bebo Norman
"I pray that He would share your greatest joy with you, and also absorb and take in your greatest despair, that when everything goes dark, only His grace would be there, and it IS sufficient for you."
I have carried this pain
On a back bruised, nearly broken
I'm crying out to You
I will sing of Your mercy
That leads me through valleys of sorrow
To rivers of joy
When death, like a gypsy
Comes to steal what I love
I will still look to the heavens
I will still seek Your face
But I fear You aren't listening
Because there are no words
Just the stillness
And the hunger
For a faith that assures
I will sing of your mercy
That leads me through valleys of sorrow
To rivers of joy
Alleluia, alleluia
Alleluia, alleluia
While we wait for rescue
With our eyes tightly shut
Face to the ground using our hands
To cover the fatal cut
Though the pain is an ocean
Tossing us around, around, around
You have calmed greater waters
Higher mountains have come down
I will sing of your mercy
That leads me through valleys of sorrow
To rivers of joy
I will sing of your mercy
That leads me through valleys of sorrow
To rivers of joy
Alleluia, alleluia
Alleluia, alleluia
-- "The Valley Song" by Jars of Clay
I spent part of the day reading through old emails, flipping through old photos, and going through old posts, and the same thought keeps coming back to me: what happened to those days of blissful ignorance? Up until one month ago, I was completely oblivious to the fact that I was standing on the railroad tracks as a steam engine barrelled towards me at full speed. I suppose, looking back, I should have known... little hints of things and small glimmers of the truth were there, but I refused to believe. It was too much of a stretch. Too impossible. Too unfathomable. And now as I stand on the precipice of what is probably one of the most pivotal periods of my life, I want to be strong. I want to figure out what to do next. I want to know that I'm going to get what I want in the end. I want to know that my suffering is not in vain.
And perhaps those statements in themselves reveal the problem - I want to do it all. Instead of trusting the God who knows all, sees all, and controls all, I want to take my life into my own clumsy, inexperienced hands. I know and fully believe that He is the one who has orchestrated everything up to this point, yet I can't seem to trust Him to take care of the rest. Everything that God has done has been wonderful up until now hasn't it? Then why is it so hard to believe that the rest will be just as amazing? Maybe because there's so much more at stake now, so much more to lose. The higher I've climbed, the farther I can fall. And even as I cling onto the last bits of safety and security, I know in the back of my mind that eventually I'm going to have to let go because my human strength can't sustain me forever. So instead of waiting until that point when my fingers are too tired to hold on anymore, I'm going to let go and trust that God will catch me... or at least break my fall.
Lord, I'm trusting you with it all, as scary as it is. I wouldn't even be here if it wasn't for you. You've brought me this far, so I'm trusting you to bring me the rest of the way... no matter what the end might hold.
God Knows
"I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year,
‘Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.’
And he replied, ‘Go into the darkness and put your hand into the hand of God
That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way!’
So I went forth and finding the Hand of God trod gladly into the night.
And He led me towards the hills and the breaking of day in the lone East.
So heart, be still, what need our little life
Our human life to know, If God hath comprehension?
In all the dizzy strife of things both high and low,
God hideth his intention. God knows. His will is best.
The stretch of years which wind ahead,
So dim to our imperfect vision, are clear to God.
Our fears are premature; In Him all time hath full provision.
Then rest; until God moves to lift the veil from our impatient eyes,
When as the sweeter feature of life’s stern face we hail,
Fair beyond all surmise, God’s thought around His creatures our minds shall fill."
-- Minnie Louise Haskins
[Thanks Schezn for the poem :)]
May 13 - Proctoring and packing up
May 14 to 15 - Orientation Leader Training
May 16 to 17 - Moving
May 18 to June 5 - IPE3 Community Pharmacy rotation
June 8 to 9 - Summer Orientation (1)
June 9 to 15 - Flying home for my last visit
June 16 to 17 - Summer Orientation (2)
June 18 to 19 - Summer Orientation (3)
June 20 to July 23 - EPIC Southeast Asia missions trip
July 24 to August 10? - Singapore
August 10? to 21 - Shenzhen, China
Completely jam-packed; completely awesome. I think the fact that everything fits in perfectly speaks to just how much God has his hand over my summer... that He would open up the doors when I put Him first. An answer to prayer for sure! I'm so excited :)
P.S. Schezn, if you're reading this, I TOTALLY want to see you this summer. Especially since I'll probably have a lot to tell you in regards to my missions trip...
My family is moving to China.
Sure, I have "Over My Head" and "How to Save a Life" on my mp3 player, but if you asked me what the name of the band's first album was or who the lead singer is, I wouldn't be able to tell you. I enjoy the melodies and the fact that the songs are piano-based, but was I a groupie? Far from it. Then I hear The Fray's latest song, "You Found Me" dominate the airwaves, and the first stanza intrigues me:
"I found God on the corner of 1st and Amistad
Where the West was all but won
All alone, smoking his last cigarette
I said, 'Where you been?' He said, 'Ask anything.'"
Maybe it's the image of God smoking a cigarette that throws me off, and I automatically attribute the use of the word "God" to be a loose interpretation of any deity. But still, I couldn't shake the feeling that there is more to this song (or any of The Fray's songs for that matter) so I Google it and discover this article that took me by surprise. Who knew that The Fray was a faith-based band? Suddenly, my perspective of their lyrics changes and my appreciation for the band increases.
I do more digging, and I come across an article in Christian Music Today in which lead singer Isaac Slade says this:
"If we grow up in the church, it's easy to think it's our Christian duty to preach to every single person because God is the most important thing. And he is, but I'm a musician first. This is my job. We're not pastors. We're not preachers. We're not even missionaries. If you're a painter, paint, but you don't have to have Jesus in every picture. Paint well, and if you paint well enough, they might ask you why you do that."
Too often I forget that I could drag a million people to a Cru meeting and tell them about God's goodness and love, but the best testimony I have is a life in which people can see a goodness and a love for others that they can't explain. Instead of being easily frustrated with others, I want to be humbled and realize that God is working in their lives in ways I can't see. Instead of judging others and always thinking I'm right, I want to show love and pray that the idol of self-righteousness be removed from my life. Instead of doing things completely for my pleasure and having things go my way, I want to help others and live selflessly. And maybe, through a life lived with the philosophy that "I am Second," people will see who is first.