Snowmen, Shakespeare, and the Chaos Theory

I am going to-once again-going to attempt to show the snowmen Aubry and I made in our last big snow. I've tried several times to share the fabulous creations, but it hasn't worked so far. Curses to the new Blogger! Anyway, mine is on the top, and Aubry's is on the bottom. Aren't they lovely? We used dried noodles for hair and colored water in a squirt bottle for clothes. Who ever heard of an unclad snowman.... :)





















The never failing Shakespeare has once again come through:
"Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O no! it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come:
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved."
Now that is real love...the kind that comes through regardless of trials, circumstances, and appearances.

I have found a new fascinating idea. The chaos theory! Also known as the butterfly effect, this theory can be summed up in the title of a paper written in 1972: "Predictability: Does the Flap of a Butterfly’s Wings in Brazil set off a Tornado in Texas?" This theory asks whether or not every single action a person does or doesn't take affects life...forever. Examples of this theory can be seen in "The Butterfly Effect" and "Jurassic Park".
Once again, this idea seemingly brings up an interesting question of the sovereignty of God. How much sovereignty does He essentially "put into effect"? And how much do our decisions change and effect our lives and the lives of those around us? For example, say God was calling me to go into full time missions work. Because of my sinful nature, say I didn't. Would that change the course of my life and someone else's life or would God intervene and make things still go the way He wanted? I acknowledge that He is all powerful and completely in control, but I do wonder sometimes how much our decisions play into the course that our life takes. I mean, say my Mom hadn't decided to go to wherever it was that she met my Dad that day like...I dunno...twenty or something years ago. Does that mean I wouldn't be here if she had decided to stay home and watch a movie? Hmmm.... :)

Oh, and check out the new blogs on the sidebar. One is the fabulous Bonnie's blog, and another is a newly discovered blog from the Boundless magazine. I have been reading their articles, but I did not know they had a blog. Also, see the blog of Markus Wolf who is a missionary in Ukraine who does a lot of work with kids.