People who favor Intelligent Design will point to the eyeball as a marvel of irreducible complexity.  The system for sight – biomechanics, function and linkage of the eye to the brain – is so complicated that there is no way for small-change evolution to end up with an eyeball; each piece is dependent on all the others.

People use their eyes to communicate in marvelous ways.  They Wink (see the movie I, Robot).  They Blink (see the Doctor Who episode by that name).  They Roll (see any teen movie). They Cross (don’t try this at home; if someone hits you in the back while your eyes are crossed, they will stay that way).  They Vibrate (Jesse does this to freak me out – his eyes jiggle rapidly back and forth). 

My most unique eye activity was during my hospital stay with Guillian-Barré syndrome.  My eyes could blunk out.  This is the phrase used in the Pogo comic strips to lampoon fellow comic Little Arf and Nonnie (Little Orphan Annie), whose characters famously had no pupils in their drawn eyes.

My face, like the rest of my body, was mostly paralyzed. I couldn’t hold my lips together to use a straw, I couldn’t move my eyebrows, and I couldn’t completely draw my eye lids together.  They tell me that when I thought I was closing my eyes I was really rolling them back into my head to duck under the bit of lid that came down.  Weird.

I would sleep with my eyes blunked out, on my back, and appear to be awake.  It made for some awkward moments. My friend Kirk came in one afternoon and had a long one-sided discussion with me until the guy in the neighboring bed said, “he doesn’t look like it but he’s asleep.” Sorry, Kirk.  Glad you stopped by.

The universe is a BIG place.  It is mind-blowing to realize there are more stars out there than there are grains of sand on the earth.  The universe is still expanding, and I cannot imagine what it is expanding into!  But, I can envision two possible scenarios for mankind interacting with living, sentient beings elsewhere in the universe.  I admit there are more possibilities but today I can only describe these two.

Both scenarios (and any other ones) start with the following understanding from the Bible:  The God who created the universe is majestic and can set things up however he desires. Man is made in God’s image.  Abraham and Israel were chosen to be God’s people, through whom the promise would be delivered.  From the line of David, God sent his only begotten Son as a redemptive sacrifice for mankind.  The church body of Christ was chosen to be his witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth.  Jesus will return in glory to judge the living and the dead, and to usher in a new Heaven and new Earth for those who believe in Him. 

Scenario number one says that this earth is the one place where the designer caused life to exist.  This should deepen our wonder and awe as we comprehend that His glorious power in creation was done solely for our benefit! We would need to understand our place as the chosen people and acknowledge with the Psalm 8 writer, “O LORD, our LORD!” 

Scenario number two adds another layer to the “witnesses” directive.  Whatever other beings are out there need to know the One True Trinitarian God of the Universe.  So, if men travel to other inhabited planets, part of God’s purpose will be having believers tell what we know about the saving grace of Jesus Christ. 

I don’t know enough to determine which scenario (or another one) is true.  But I do know enough to understand that Our LORD has a plan that includes us. I like the first scenario better because (a) nothing gets added to scripture, (b) it increases my awe for God, and (c) it probably won’t take as long. 

Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners remind me of the pastor’s retelling of the visit he made to a frail old member of his congregation as she lay dying in her hospice bed.  He was asking her about any last requests or funeral arrangement preferences.

“Just one thing, pastor.  Make sure there is a fork in my hand when I’m lying in the casket”

“Huh?  Whatever for?”

“Well every time the plates are cleared from our family dinners, someone would tell us to hold onto our forks, because the best was yet to come.  I am looking forward to the best after this life.”

 

I added a new page at the top of the screen – Annual Cool Date Listings.  There is a downloadable pdf listing of the “Cool Number Dates” for every year back to 2009.  This Sunday’s post will also highlight the 2014 list, since there aren’t any cool dates next week; 1 and 14 don’t play well together until 1/13/14.

So what does this have to do with Christmas?  Well, each year for gift exchanging in Diane’s family (her maiden name is Clark), the group decides on a “theme”, draws names, and gives presents that fit the theme. It saves the hassle of coming up with a list for yourself in October, and we all know a year in advance what name we have and what sort of things we are looking for. 

This worked out well in 2012 when Jesse and Linnea went to the Olympics, since they had engineered an Olympic theme for Christmas that year.  And you discover some interesting facts along the way.  When the theme was Bon Appétit, we found out that M&Ms won’t print foreign phrases on their candies – at least you can’t order them online with only a week’s notice.

As the process has evolved, a big part of the fun during gift opening is hearing the inventive, creative and sometimes lame ways that people tie a gift to the theme.  For a couple of years, one family made mixed CDs songs that featured the theme – Time; Light; and Red,White or Blue were easy, but Rock, Paper, Scissors ruined the CD opportunities.

And back to the Cool Data Listings.  The first number list corresponds to the Clark Family Christmas theme for 2008 – Numbers for the coming year.  A gift then, and an interesting task each year since.

Here are the Clark Family Christmas Themes used since 2002:

Time

Light

Red, White, or Blue, OR made in the USA

Paper, Rock, Scissors

Bon Appétit

Entertainment

Numbers

Green

5 Senses

Vowels

Olympics

States

Shapes – for next December

Hey!

Sorry no post on Christmas or earlier today.

An ice storm last Saturday night in the Lansing area knocked out the power in many parts of town, particularly at my home office.  I hope to be able to start adding posts on Sunday…  there is a list of semi-funny items set up for tomorrow…

Seems like there should be some good material in having no power, like heating the house with a gas fireplace; using the gas range for cooking; releasing the garage opener chain to get the car out of the garage; eating out and going to movies a lot; finding that tall candles are better for light than short fat ones; putting flashlights in the same place every time so you can find them in the dark; looking longingly at the neighbors across the street who DO have power; making sure you have a good fireplace lighter for candles and gas stove; doing as much as you can in the daylight hours (including moving the traditional Christmas eve gift opening to the afternoon; enjoying the family’s varied efforts with candles, clothing layers, blankets, and hats; big branches in the streets and in my back yard; a large branch broken off the lovely pear tree in the front yard.

But four events stand out – (1) warm Christmas showers  and dinner in Jackson, (2)the lights coming on at church at the end of the Christmas Eve service, and (3) power coming back on at Jesse’s house – his computer works!, and (4) Pastor Ben’s prayer reminding us that God has all the power – sort of like He owns the cattle on a thousand hills…

 

Two things jogged my memory this week about events over thirty years ago:  we sent a Christmas letter to our friend Bonnie, and I got a haircut, complete with wash and rinse.

 

During the time I was in the hospital with Guillian Barré Syndrome, our friend Bonnie moved in to our house to be with Diane and help watch Linnea.  Angels do great service things.  Bonnie allowed Diane to come visit me since Linnea was too young to bring into the neurology ward or the ICU where I was housed.  Bonnie even taught Linnea all the cool faces.  “Show me SAD,” Bonnie would say, and a horrific frown would appear on the little girl’s face.  Happy, afraid, sleepy, and angry were all good but the best one was our two year old clasping her forehead with her hand, shaking her head slowly from side to side, and emitting a loud sigh, “Ooohhhh.”  That is Angst.

Sometimes you don’t know the angel.  Some nameless nurse was having a slow shift late at night when I had been in the ICU for several days.  She decided I needed to have my hair washed.  (Being paralyzed and on a respirator, I was unable to do this for myself, or even ask for it.)  She set it up perfectly.  She scooched me to the end of the bed so that the top of my head was hanging over just a bit; she filled a couple of pitchers with warm water and poured them over my scalp. I have always wondered how she kept the water from going all over the floor; I couldn’t see that part of the operation

 I do agree with David when he says in Psalm 133 “it is good and pleasant when brothers dwell in unity,” but I do not understand the next part very well: “It is like the precious oil on the head running down on the beard.”  Unless maybe if the oil was nicely warm and there was a head massage involved.  Because that night’s shampooing was one of the sweetest things an angel could have done.  Warm water, shampoo massage, cleaning the beard, and a warm rinse.  She did not even have to do the last part of “Lather,  rinse, repeat.”  It was so good to have my hair clean; I did not realize how grimy-dirty it had become.  Then she read aloud the book of Daniel until I fell asleep.  Good times.

I asked the next night who that nurse was and they told me the prior night was her last; she was moving to Denver.  So I didn’t get to say a super thank you, but I suspect Colorado has been blessed.

Reading in Deuteronomy 20 the other day reminded me how important the December 1, 1969 military draft lottery was to young men born between 1944 and 1950.  On that night, all birthdates were randomly assigned a number which provided the order in which men were selected for military service. 

Guys were looking for deferments – ways to avoid getting drafted.  There were medical reasons and psychological reasons; there were stories of weight gain or loss; feigning sickness or wackiness during physical exams, or new-found conscientious objection.  Some “draft dodgers” moved to Canada.  But the main deferment was to enroll in college– keep studying and passing those classes.  As soon as you graduate, you were in the pool or potential draftees and your number dictated the order of selection. 

My birthday, November 5, was Number 310; once I found out that the highest drafted number was about 200, I changed my student deferment to 1-A, available for service.  At the end of 1970, I was effectively not going to get drafted. 

My friend Dave Cushman was Number 4.  He decided to enlist and request a European assignment away from the Vietnam arena.  I don’t know how long he served, but he was able to be in our wedding in September 1972.

The Deuteronomy deferments were different.  If you had built a new house and had not yet dedicated it, you were dismissed until after the dedication.  If you had just planted a vineyard, you could go home until after you enjoyed some of the fruit.  An engaged man was to go back to his house and get married.  And, anyone who was “fearful and fainthearted” was sent home so as to not make others afraid.  One suspects there were a number of schemers in Canaan who stayed out of the battles by being polygamist real estate developers or inept farmers.

A dazzling fall panorama brightened the early morning view out my office window a couple of weeks ago. Ominous, dark clouds were the backdrop in the west.  The sun, just rising, was selectively sparkling on two remarkable yellow trees a couple of blocks away.

In front and beneath those trees, thick white frost covered the dark roof of the neighbor’s house.  The burning bushes at our back fence had turned a spectacular cranberry that set off the bright green grass and dark evergreen bushes in the neighbor’s yard.  Right in front of me, the black and grey trunk of our huge Norwegian Maple framed the picture on the left.  

It was the sort of picture one likes to see in a jigsaw puzzle – distinct, well-defined patches of different but complementary and extraordinary colors.  If I had been quicker and a bit more tech-savvy, I could have taken a photo, but the sun went behind a cloud and the colors lost their brilliance. Besides, I was more intrigued by the sequence of events God had set up to make that brief picture possible:

–          We planted the burning bushes across the back fence when we moved in twenty-five years ago.

–          The green grass and bushes were planted two summers ago by the industrious resident who has since moved away

–          Five days prior, there were still too many leaves on the maple tree to allow the sun to brighten the burning bushes

–          Three days after, all the leaves on the maple AND on the burning bushes were lying pale on the ground

–          Five minutes earlier, the sun had not come up yet

–          An hour later, the sun had burned the frost off the neighbor’s roof

–          Ten seconds before and ten seconds after, the sun was behind a cloud.

And, I turned around from working at my desk just in time to catch a glimpse.

Thanks, God.

Daylight savings ended for the year last Sunday morning and we were ready to use that extra hour.  We reset the clocks early on Saturday evening and ignored them long enough to get to sleep.  Then we woke up “early” on Sunday morning to enjoy a leisurely breakfast prior to church.

But Tuesday was Election Day in Lansing.  Because many Lansing schools are polling places, it was a day off for students and teachers.  That meant that Diane’s alarm would not be going off as usual, so I needed to get myself up to lead the prayer meeting at 7:00. I set my watch alarm and checked it twice – an alarm at 6:17 (always have a prime number on the minutes) allows enough time for getting dressed, having a quick breakfast, and being on the way in a timely fashion.

I woke up at 4:30 to go to the bathroom and was pleased to have another hour and a half of sleep ahead.  It felt too soon when the alarm woke  me; indeed, it was only 5:17! What!

The alarm time was set correctly, but the watch time had not been reset for removal of Daylight Savings… both were thinking it was 6:17.  I can’t just go back to sleep, because there is nothing to wake me up.  The watch battery was low enough that the lighted face did not show clearly.  Arghhh… I end must go in the other room and turn on the light in order to set the watch to the correct time. But now I am awake and there is no getting back to sleep.

I am thankful this did not happen in March when Daylight Savings started because I would not have made it to prayer on time back then.  But someone owes me another hour.

Some biblical concepts are puzzling for a long time; often I sort of know the answer but am not quite sure why.   The light dawned on one such issue in a recent URC New Members class – the foundation of a complementarian view of roles for men and women in the family and the church comes from the beginning.

Several key facts from the first three chapters of the book of Genesis:

–          God made everything “good,” including man – male and female (1.27).  Making two different forms of humans means there will be differences, and we know of obvious physical and emotional distinctives. 

–          God made the man Adam from the dust of the ground (2.7), put him in the Garden of Eden (2.15), and told him not to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil (2.16-17).  Adam was given the command.

–          God made the woman Eve from the rib of Adam to be a helper fit for him (2.20-23).  Before the Fall and the Curse, there was a hierarchy – Adam was the head of the family and given the command to protect the tree; Eve was the excellent helper.  They had complementary roles.

–          After the serpent tempted both Adam and Eve to sin, God talked to Adam about what they had done (3.9-11) and then Eve confessed that she had been deceived (3.13).  Eve ate first, but God held Adam accountable.  Again, Adam was the one responsible – the head of the family.

–          The curses wrecked everything – the snake is cursed, the woman is cursed, the man is cursed, the ground is cursed.  The crucial complementarian curse is the sentence directed to the woman, “Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you” (3.16).  Sin has introduced an ongoing struggle for leadership in the marriage relationship.  As the ESV Study Bible comments, “This especially takes the form of inordinate desire (on the part of the wife) and domineering rule (on the part of the husband).”

The concept that sinful men and women each have a bent away from the God-ordained complementary roles is very clear in the change-of-heart commands of Ephesians 5.22-23: “Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord… Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church.”   These are both hard tasks and require the ongoing work of Holy Spirit sanctification.

There are puzzling parts in other key New Testament passages on this topic: 1 Corinthians 11.2-16; 14.33-35, and 1 Timothy 2.11-15.  But there are clear directives in each verse that follow from Jesus’ shed blood setting us free from the tyranny of the devil. Men are to be loving leaders and women are to be excellent helpers.