Muddling Toward Maturity Blog

ALISTAIR BEGG - "THE GOD OF HOPE"

Alaister Begg is the pastor of Parkside Church in Cleveland, Ohio.  I thought this message delivered March 29, 2020 inspirational and timely.   May God fill us with His presence and hope during this challenging experience of the Coronavirus disease.   2.3 billion people are currently in lockdown across the world.  

 

ALMA DEUTSCHER - YOUNG PRODIGY PRODUCES BEAUTY TO TAKE YOUR BREATH AWAY

   A couple days ago my attention was captured by a Wall Street Journal article highlighting the musical accomplishments of a young 15 year old musical prodigy, Alma Deutscher:   a piano sonata at 6, a piano concerto for violin and orchestra at 9, a full-length opera by 12 and a complete concert at Carnegie Hall last December (age 14) with herself as both violin and piano soloist.   I went online to see if I could find any videos.  Oh my!  For the next two hours I sat stunned, mesmerized, and enraptured as I listened to her performances and interviews. 

Before the concluding performance of her Carnegie Hall program, she explained to the audience the odd beginning of her "Siren Sounds Waltz" which transitions from the cacophony of Viennese traffic sirens into music utterly celestial.  Watch as she explains:

In case you didn't catch all she said in introducing the music, here is a partial transcript:

"Some people told me that nowadays melodies and beautiful harmonies are no longer acceptable in serious classical music. Because in the twenty-first century, music must reflect the ugliness of the modern world. Well, in this waltz, instead of trying to make my music artificially ugly in order to reflect the modern world,  I went in exactly the opposite direction! I took some ugly sounds from the modern world - and I tried to turn them into something more beautiful through music.

Following are a few additional videos:

WHY THIS NOBEL LAUREATE PREDICTS A QUICKER CORONAVIRUS RECOVERY: "WE'RE GOING TO BE FINE"

Joe Mozingo of the Los Angeles Times reports:

While many epidemiologists are warning of months, or even years, of massive social disruption and millions of deaths, Levitt says the data simply don't support such a dire scenario — especially in areas where reasonable social distancing measures are in place.

"What we need is to control the panic," he said. In the grand scheme, "we're going to be fine."

Michael Levitt, a Nobel laureate and Stanford biophysicist, began analyzing the number of COVID-19 cases worldwide in January and correctly calculated that China would get through the worst of its coronavirus outbreak long before many health experts had predicted.

Now he foresees a similar outcome in the United States and the rest of the world.  [More...]

** Note:  Worth reading is theologian Dr. Ron Sider's short article, "Finding Strength in a Time of  Pandemic"   It expounds beautifully the reality of Easter morning and its meaning for all believers.