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The Importance of God's Word

Throughout the course of my blog, I've been posting entirely about the beauty of creation and the power of the Creator. Today I'm going to transition a little bit into the Word of the Creator, the Bible, and it's affect on our personal lives.

I recently interviewed a fellow college student about various ways in which the Word of God has affected his life. His name is Levi Messer, he is in his Junior year, and is majoring in Pastoral Studies. Levi desires to one day receive a masters degree in Seminary, and from there move into a full time ministry position. I've recorded a few of the questions below, with the desire that you would be able to see how the Bible affects the human life.

First, I asked Levi if being at Bible College had changed his outlook on personal devotions in any way. His response was this: "While here at college, I've learned that my devotions are a lot more than reading a chapter a day. It's consistent time in God's Word so that you can apply it directly to your own life. It's about personal worship."
"It's a time to pray."

I followed this question up by asking him if he thought that spending time in God's Word was really impacting his life... if it was making a difference.

He chuckled... and then replied with a question of his own. Looking at me, he quietly asked, "Do you play an instrument?"
I replied that I did. "For how long?"
I told him I had been playing for almost 13 years.
"Okay," he said, "so lets look at this from the angle of a musician. If you spend time practicing your violin everyday, overtime you notice an improvement in your ability. If you periodically miss days throughout the week, you perhaps become a little frustrated because your competence of that instrument isn't going anywhere. Finally, if you don't practice at all, eventually you completely lose your ability to play that instrument."

I could see where he was going with this now.

"It's the same way with your personal devotions", he stated. "When you read your Bible everyday, your grow in your knowledge of God and his word, increasing your understanding of the Bible day by day. If you are frequently missing devotions throughout the week, your competence of God and His Word will be very shaky. Finally, if your not in God's word at all, you will completely lose your desire for Him, and the Bible. Therefore, I can say that spending time in God's Word has a massive impact on your personal life."

I enjoyed his illustration. On a whim, I asked him what he thought his life would be like without the Bible.
For a few seconds, he sat in silence. I could tell he was trying to think through scenarios in his life where he would have made different choices without the presence of God's Word in his life.

After a little while he looked up. "That's almost impossible to imagine. If I did not have the Bible in my life, I would have no knowledge of God."
"No purpose."
"Nothing to live for. My life would be drastically different."

After thanking Levi for his time and watching him exit the room, I thought to myself...
How would my life be different without the Word of God? It is so powerful, so convicting, so full of instruction, that it shames me to think of what I would be without it.
And then I think...how am I changing my life after reading it? Am I letting it impact me? Convict me?

The Word of God is incredibly powerful. No matter how busy, tired, or bone-dead exhausted you are throughout your day...never choose to neglect it.
Let it impact you. Convict you.

Let it change you!

The Sustainer of Life

I've posted the short video below not because it's a good example of cinematography, nor because it conveys professionalism, but because of the simple words that are spoken. The thoughts that are conveyed. The little reminders that are given.

How blessed we are to be created. To be given life. 

To wake up in the morning, and see. 

Hear. Smell. Feel. Breathe. 

We as humans, often in our finite minds tend to so very easily lose our awe for God. The very One who created us. The very One who places each breath in our mouths. The very One who daily pumps our hearts. 

You. Me. We are sustained. 

Therefore... let us glory in our Sustainer. 

God's Creation from Southeast TV on Vimeo.

Think Tall

The giraffe is the tallest living land animal in the world, with males reaching upwards of 18 feet in height.

While the giraffe does possess an obvious advantage in length of reach, some difficulties do arise at such a height. However, the Creator of all has an incredible way of designing special characteristics in order to meet the needs of an animal's various difficulties. Let's take a quick look at just a few of the characteristics that can be observed in the giraffe.

First of all, a giraffe's heart has an incredibly long, vertical distance to pump blood to the brain.
How is this properly achieved? Well, it just so happens that this creature was given a little bit bigger of a heart than your average critter. How big? Try 25 pounds big. Yikes.
Along with it's tremendous size, a giraffe's heart possesses a special series of one-way valves that force blood toward the head.

Oh and if your wondering how a giraffe gets enough oxygen into that massive amount of blood in their veins, it just so happens that a giraffe's lungs possess the same trait as their heart. As in...their massive. A giraffe's lungs can hold up to 55 liters of air.

Not bad.

Next lets take a look at this big guy's legs. For whatever reason, the skin covering the legs is extremely tight. Why you ask? Believe it or not, it is a necessity for the giraffe to live. The legs of a giraffe reach to six feet below it's heart. Without extremely tight skin around it's legs, the giraffe's blood would pool at it's hooves. Slightly important detail.

There's many more characteristics that could be mentioned, but I'll end with one that might at first seem rather insignificant.

The giraffes tongue. One cool thing is that they're approximately 20 inches long. Giraffes actually clean their ears with their tongue! That's just cool to me.

And... a little gross.

What amazes me most however, is that the tongue is colored a bluish-black. So right now you might be thinking okay...what's the big deal about that?

Get this. Their tongue is given that color to protect it from being sunburned. I'm sorry, but it's little details like this that firmly prove in my mind this creature was not made this way by accident. No big bang could ever account for insignificant little details such as this. It had to be fashioned that way, for a purpose, by a loving, caring God.

Take time today to praise your Maker for His incredible attention to detail.

Underwater Beauty

Marine animals such as coral and sponges are often viewed as undersea algae that do nothing but sit there and take up space on the bottom of the ocean floor. However, many various coral and sponges are quite active, and mobile.

Also, when observing these amazing creations we find that they are indeed incredibly beautiful creatures! 

Included below is a short video by Daniel Stoupin which will provide you with an up-close look at the movements of these creatures, and the plethora of vibrant colors God has painted them with.
Make sure to notice the incredible detail that God has placed in even these often unseen creatures! 

Slow Life from Daniel Stoupin on Vimeo.

The Majesty of the Sun

Everyone enjoys a beautiful sunset. They cast a glowing light which adds a special warmth that is unmatchable at any other time of the day. In painting these beautiful evening panoramas, God utilizes the magnificent sun. This massive, powerful, orb of fire is so incredibly enormous it is hard for us to fathom it's size. I've included just a short Prezi containing a few facts about the sun in order to help you realize how incredible this creation is.

Next time your walking outside and you happen to notice that the sky is filled with a beautiful sunset, please follow these four steps:  

Stop. 

Smile, and enjoy it for a moment. 

Before you continue on your way, remember the God that created the sun, and the incredible power and wisdom that He must have. Finally...

Give thanks. 

The Venus Flytrap

Today were going to take a look at small plant known as the Dionaea muscipula, or Venus flytrap. This little guy is perhaps one of the most amazing plant creations on earth. As it’s name suggests, it is able to trap and digest many various insects. 

But that’s not all. It also has the ability to trap and digest small frogs. (Did I mention this was a plant?)

Looking at the anatomy of this cute little guy, we see that the Dionaea was miraculously formed with brightly colored pigment on the inside of both its leaves, which contain small glands that secrete a sweet smelling nectar. Both of these minute details are incredibly effective at attracting insects.

As well as an occasional frog.

To explain the whole process of how this little leafy guy traps and digests his prey, I’ve copied part of an article from the International Carnivorous Plant Society and posted it below.

"I: Initial Snap

This is the very fast, snapping closure that catches bugs in such an exciting way. It takes less than a second.

II: Tightening Phase

This is the phase in which the leaves slowly tighten against each other making a cage from which bugs cannot escape. This takes about 30 minutes. Many of the traps in the photo to the right, captioned "Phase II", have finished this phase.

III: Sealing Phase

This is the stage in which the seal is completed. The marginal spines are pulled away from each other, so they are no longer crossing each other. 

All the phases of Dionaea leaf closure are caused by changes in the curvature of the leaf surface. These changes in curvature are achieved by differences in the size of the leaf on the inner surface vs the outer surface. The plant tissues on the opposing leaf surfaces change in relative size. There are three main mechanisms for this: acid growth, growth by cell division, and leaf turgor.



Acid growth is a phenomenon in which the release of acidic compounds in the leaf tissues result in the loosening of some of the fibers in cell walls. Because of this loosening, the cells are free to expand. This is acid growth. The enlarging (growing) cells make one side of the leaf bigger than the other side, and the leaf flexes away from the side experiencing the acid growth. Acid growth is responsible for phase I leaf closure that I described above.

 

Turgor pressure leaf movement is an osmotic effect, in which an ion (in the case of Dionaea, K⁺) released into the leaf tissues makes the cells on one surface of the leaves wilt. This makes the wilting surface slightly smaller than the unwilted, opposing leaf surface. The leaf curls towards the wilted side. Turgor pressure effects are apparently at least partly responsible for phases II and III that I described above.



Growth by cell division is another way of increasing the amount of tissue in parts of a leaf or tentacle. It is a relatively slow phenomenon, so does not contribute to particularly rapid leaf motion. It may have a role in Dionaea leaf actions in phases II and III". 

Wow. Quite the process. In fact it's such a process, that scientists still don't fully understand how this little plant works. 

Which causes me to leave you with a small challenge. Think of what the probability is of this complex creation being accidentally thrown together as the result of a massive explosion. 

The answer is simple- It's not possible! It had to be created by an unbelievable God. 

Now try and wrap your mind around this: Compared to God, just how frail is mankind if our brightest scientists can't even fully comprehend the function of one small leaf?