my burg

Bible reading for Nov 30.  1 Chronicles 28. "All this he made clear to me in writing from the hand of the LORD, all the work to be done according to the plan." (28:19)  PLANS & PREP. In chapters 23 through 27 David is preparing the way for the reign of his son Solomon. Genealogies of the priests and the Levites are reviewed, and David organizes divisions of service (or, tours of duty) for them, including musicians and gate-keepers, and finally, the military. In chapter 28 David gives a charge to Solomon to be faithful to the Lord, and to have courage to complete the work of building the temple (vv 7-9). This work was to be done according to plan (v 19). The organization of the divisions, as well as the design of the temple, remind us that our God is a God of purpose and order. The Bible teaches that behind creation and the flow of history is an infinitely-wise and powerful Designer. Our universe is not the result of random, impersonal forces. The early chapters of Genesi...

"O LORD, how manifold are your works!  In wisdom have you made them all;  the earth is full of your creatures."   (Psalm 104:24 ESV) It is exciting to see Google and Chipotle running tests in our community for using drones to deliver burritos. See Roanoke Times article here .   It is really quite a feat, and really fun that our university is on the cutting-edge.  And yet -- think about this-- it has taken us humans thousands of years to develop the technology to be able to do this. We have to produce the materials, build the drone, write the code -- probably millions of lines of code -- and utilize the skill of lots of engineers, just to deliver a burrito to one location and fly back.   But every year I notice many birds, small birds -- many smaller than most drones -- flying about finding food, collecting, taking it to the nest, feeding their young, and repeating this many hours every day for several weeks.  And then... they train their ...

We constantly need to be reminded that scientific conclusions (or opinions) at any given time really only represent "current thinking" on the subject.  In a remarkable about-face the federally-funded Encode project has come up with a startling find (though for proponents of Intelligent Design, this is no surprise)... Now scientists have discovered a vital clue to unraveling these riddles. The human genome is packed with at least four million gene switches that reside in bits of DNA that once were dismissed as “junk” but that turn out to play critical roles in controlling how cells, organs and other tissues behave. The discovery, considered a major medical and scientific breakthrough, has enormous implications for human health because many complex diseases appear to be caused by tiny changes in hundreds of gene switches... There also is a sort of DNA wiring system that is almost inconceivably intricate... The big surprise was not only that almost all of the DNA is ...

"My heart is not proud, O Lord,  my eyes are not haughty; I do not concern myself with great matters  or things too wonderful for me. But I have stilled and quieted my soul;  like a weaned child with it mother, like a weaned child is my soul within me."  (Psalm 131) "Nothing comes into our life apart from the plan of God.  Not a sparrow falls to the ground apart from the will of the Father.   Not a cell in your body nor the orbit of a planet is out of His control.  There is great comfort in the assurance that every detail of your life has come through God’s hand – God does not make mistakes and every trial comes with a divine purpose.  The purpose may be to grow in obedience, or humility and dependence.  If the Bible says that Christ learned obedience from what He suffered, how much more do we need to learn obedience too."  (Joe Kelley, Sunday sermon at BCF) "The brain’s overall complexity is almost beyond belief.  One sy...