Wonderfully Made…
I want to thank everyone for their thoughtful cards, calls, and prayers. It is a blessing to know that we are not alone, but have friends who care and pray for us.
I am guilty of the sin of complacence, of taking health for granted. It is unfortunate to go along from day to day, distracted by the troubles of the moment, rather than constantly thanking God for all the blessings He has given us.
We don’t stop often enough to give thanks for the miracle of life and for all of the things that function well. A few years ago Colleen and I visited the exhibition “The Human Body” in Atlanta. The exhibit was both disturbing and revealing. In showing the tiny blood vessels of the lungs that allow oxygen to be transferred from the air we breathe to our bloodstream, the exhibit pointed out that the surface area of the blood vessels in one person’s lungs would cover a football field. Imagine a football field’s worth of tiny blood vessels and airways in our lungs so that we might breathe!
Just one cell of our body contains more atoms than all of the millions of stars of our galaxy, the Milky Way.
Both the psalmist and Jeremiah praise God for the fact that we are wonderfully made. There are muscles, bones, tendons, blood vessels, nerve cells, organs, and sinews that usually work in perfect harmony. When they go awry the lesson is not that something is wrong, but that God has been right throughout creation.
We have members of our church and of our community who have suffered unspeakable loss, illness, injury, and grief. We give thanks for their strength, for the example of courage that they show the rest of us through their trials. Let us give thanks not only for the blessing of life that God has given to each of us, but also for the blessing of a living, caring community of faith that God gives us through Bethany. Praise the Lord!
I am grateful for each of you.
Mike