Thursday, February 3, 2011

Seeing the obvious

My final thought on seeing the obvious comes from my school days, both as a pupil and as a teacher.

During my days behind a desk, instead of infront of one as a teacher, we had the traditional board. It was black and the teacher scribbled away with white chalk; lessons we used to call
'Chalk and Talk'.

In later years when I was teaching, the color of boards was turning to green. It was not a change to fit into the decor. My brother-in-law, also a teacher, told me that scientists had found that green was a more restful color to the eyes than black.

Imagine that! Green, a more restful color than black.

 At that time I was living in Lancashire, a county of lush meadows and hills. We were surrounded by green.

Lo, after centuries of  black boards, we eventually changed to green boards because the color is gentle to the eyes.

Makes you think doesn't it.

God thought of Green Peace before the Greenie Movement ever did

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Seeing the obvious

At the age of fifty or so, Gene Paisley, a friend of mine went to the ocean for the first time.

What did he do on reaching the sea shore? He didn't go paddling or skip stones, he stooped, tasted the water and remarked: "It's true. It tastes salty!"

You were right, Gene, it is salty. Gene had lived over a thousand miles from the ocean. He had swum in creeks, lakes, ponds and pools but he had never been to the coast.

"It's salty!"

But why? There may be many scientific causes but the chief biological reason is that salt and the other ingredients of the seven seas prevent their pollution.

Had the oceans been fresh water they would have been poisoned long since by the toxins that flow into them daily. BUT, they are salt water and thus they are self cleansing.

The oceans also clean their own shorelines. All the beaches on planet Earth get a twice daily rinse with the ebb and flow of the tides, all thanks to the rotation of the moon.

Sounds like the Creator knew what He was doing when He put the planet together.

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Let's go fishing

As I write several of my friends are ice fishing on Lake Simcoe. This lake is about twenty miles long and almost as wide. She is a Canadian beauty.

Somebody once said "Whoever invented ice-fishing must have had a lousy marriage" I can believe it.

What drives a man to endure sub-zero weather, to gaze down a dark hole hoping for a flirtatious fish to take his lure?

The ice on Lake Simcoe is nearly two feet thick; enough to hold up the heaviest truck. Considering this, it struck me that when God caused water to freeze He ensured that it froze from the TOP down not from the BOTTOM up. Had it been the other way round all the fish would have frozen in the first hard frost.

As it is they swim happily around, twenty fathoms below the feet of  fishermen with frozen fingers, blue noses and frost bitten cheeks while their wives shop happily in the malls.

God who caused lakes to freeze from the top down may also have given women the edge in intelligence.

Ice fishing proves it

Snow flakes and lots of them

It's winter in Canada. This evening a storm is approaching- the biggest of the season. There will be snow flakes; trillions of them. Astonishingly none of them will be identical.

Take my word for it. They are all unique.

You will probably know that each snow flake has six sides. They are perfect hexagons. If you are into numerology the number six is the number that denotes man.

Let's bring the two thoughts together. Each snow flake has six sides and each one is a unique creation; just like you and me.
Yes we are unique. We are separate creations of God and known unto Him.


Now think again about snow flakes. They are born in the upper atmosphere where water vapour coagulates around a tiny speck of dust. Here they build up, form and finally fall to earth.
Each flake, therefore, has a tiny speck of dirt in its centre.

When God says He will wash us "Whiter than snow" He saw that speck of dirt within our being removed and proclaimed us pure white.

Only He could see the dirt and only He could remove it.
He did that through the death of Christ on Calvary.

Now that's good news.

Sunday, January 30, 2011

Not seeing the obvious

A couple of weeks ago we were considering the inward ear. We called the series "Tuning In".

This week we will title the series: "Seeing the obvious".

Ever considered the human hand? Truly it is a miracle of design. It would be hugely beneficial if some of the teachers in our public school system, who trot out the party line on evolution, asked their pupils to contemplate their own hands.

They would see immediately that we are set apart from the apes not only by the size of our brains but also by the design of our hands; especially the position of our thumb!

The thumb is opposed to all four fingers. This allows for the most delicate and demanding work to be accomplished by our hand. Everything from brick laying to embroidery, from micro-technology to brain surgery, is achieved by a hand where fingers and opposed thumb work in perfect co-ordination.

And the monkey?

Let's take a look.  It has a thumb stuck down its wrist which cannot oppose its finger tips. Good for swinging in trees and eating bananas, but not for needle point or holding a pen.

Take a glance around you. Every man made thing that you see came from, directly or indirectly, a member whose design is a stratosphere above the hooks, hooves, claws and paws of the menagerie around us.

Today celebrate that you are a little lower than the angels not a step away from the local zoo!