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Friday, August 4, 2017

Woodward Park gardens Tulsa OK 8/3/17
Woodward Park Gardens Tulsa OK

"Fearfully And Wonderfully Made"

Note: We are in the Midwest visiting family and friends and attending three family gatherings in Missouri, Oklahoma and Arkansas. We are still in Tulsa where Brooksyne had a family get together last night. Today we head to a lake in eastern Oklahoma where we will gather for the weekend with my cousins who still meet annually. We do not expect the messages will be daily during this time but depending on our schedule, internet connection and so forth we hope to post several along the way. Due to travel we will not be preparing the daily podcast.

Message summary: We profess our belief and surely praise God for His creation. What about you today?

"I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Your works are wonderful, I know that full well" (Psalm 139:14).

So fearfully and wonderfully made,
How could they say there is no God?
Reminded every breath that I take,
It's by Your hand I have been formed
So what am I going to do with this life You gave me?
What could I do but live for Your praise?

I read a news report this week on NPR's "All Things Considered" regarding a new level of scientific and medical development that could have frightening implications. The article begins, "Scientists have been tinkering with the DNA in humans and other living things for decades. But one thing has long been considered off-limits: modifying human DNA in any way that could be passed down for generations." *

Marcy Darnovsky, who directs the Center for Genetics and Society, a genetics watchdog group in Berkeley, California wrote, "I think it's extraordinarily disturbing. It's a flagrant disregard of calls for a broad societal consensus in decisions about a really momentous technology that could be used good, but in this case is being used in preparation for an extraordinarily risky application."

We are thankful for modern medicine and each of us have each been the recipients of caring and competent medical professionals. It is very unlikely that Ester would even be alive without this. Valid medicine seeks to restore to God's design.

But where is the line with medical technology on several fronts? Consider the fallacy of elective abortions being referred to as medical procedures. Or the currently faddish notion of
surgically and/or hormonally changing one's birth gender which is absolutely outrageous as well as being "transgender" or any of the other constantly expanding gender wannabes. This gravely violates the design which was clearly established at Creation. "So God created mankind in His own image, in the image of God He created them; male and female He created them" (Genesis 1:27). Now we read of the possibility of transplanting a womb so a man can carry a baby.*³

This utter rejection of God's design and plunge into moral anarchy prompts a consideration of the phrase, "God gave them over to degrading and vile passions" in Romans 1:26. When will the Creator God will say, "Enough is enough"?!

Today let us consider a wonderful verse from the Old Testament that many of us are familiar with from a Psalm of David. It reminds us of God's design.

"I praise You." Inspired by the Holy Spirit David makes a remarkable observation in our daily verse. We have so very much to praise God for, infinitely more then we can ever realize. David says "I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made". There is so much to unpack in that statement that it will take each of us a lifetime to fully grasp the awe of God's creative power within our physical bodies. And on a natural level, understanding the complexity of life due to the advance of scientific studies, we should realize this even more than David.

Doctors and scientists have studied this remarkable machine and found ever more remarkable evidence of just how fearfully and wonderfully we are made, yet many don't have the faith of the shepherd, who continues the verse with  "Your works are wonderful, I know that full well". We profess our belief and surely praise God for His creation. What about you today?

Your grand designs leave us amazed.
The wonders of the way we've been made
Speak of Your power, tell of Your grace.
So what am I going to do with this life You gave me?
What could I do but live for Your praise?


Be encouraged today,


Stephen & Brooksyne Weber

Praying manDaily prayer: Father, we are in awe as we consider the work of Your hands, for who on earth has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand or marked off the heavens with the breadth of his hand? Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket, or weighed the mountains on the scales and the hills in a balance? When we meditate on Your unsurpassed power we are humbled and eternally grateful that in Your marvelous creation plan You made man in Your own image, male and female You created them and gave them dominion over that which You created on earth. We are a grateful people and we express it well when we love You with all our heart, soul and mind and thereby dedicate our lives to You and to Your service. Amen.

See Isaiah 40:12, Genesis 1:27



Some photos from yesterday's journey

Ester in phone booth, Ithaca Square, Tulsa 8/3/17
Ester pretending to do doing something she's never done for real at Utica Square, a historic urban shopping area in Tulsa similar to the Plaza in Kansas City.

Route 66 West Tulsa 8/3/17
We spent some more time on Route 66 near Tulsa in an area where Brooksyne grew up. This view is only a block from Daniel Webster High School she attended in the 70's.

Longhorn rack 8/3/17
During her high school years she often ate at Carl's Coney Island, a small hot dog shop we visited yesterday. The owner told me quite a story about this huge Longhorn rack. This was from his father's prized longhorn bull. He had shot his first deer as a boy. Later they were unable to find his dad's Longhorn bull and it turns out the bullet that killed the deer went through it and also hit the Longhorn in the head. (A powerful reminder to hunters: consider the background!)

Route 66 West Tulsa 8/3/17
We visited this historical park along Route 66 with old trains and this huge oil drilling derrick.

Sapulpa church we were married in 5/8/76 (photo taken 8/3/17)
We were married in this church in Sapulpa, Oklahoma on May 8, 1976. Brooksyne was Children's Church Director here during the summers when not attending Bible College.

Brooksyne with her brother Jody 8/3/17
 
Following our family gathering last night I snapped this photo of Brooksyne with her "baby brother", Jody, whom she hadn't seen for four years. They've enjoyed a close relationship, though distant in miles.

Oil well near Brooksyne's home 8/3/17
Brooksyne's Memory: This oil pump is located very close to the house where I grew up. I was only four years old when we moved there from Catoosa, OK. During the night hours when I should have been sleeping (I've always struggled with insomnia) I could hear what sounded like drums methodically beating deep into the night. This went on for a many weeks, possibly months, and I envisioned Indians on their warpath preparing to attack us (in my childhood cowboys and Indians at war was the big theme of our play). The area where we had recently moved had a large population of full blood Indians so I let my imagination run wild and my fears overwhelm me. Perhaps due to my young age and immaturity I didn't voice my fears to my folks for quite some time. When I finally told them about the drums I heard at night they explained that the drum beat was coming from this oil well. Finally I could rest at night and not fear getting scalped. (BTW I am part Cherokee Indian so I'm not purposely picking on the Indians.)



Today's Suggested Music and Supplemental Resources

Yesterday's lead photo was the Price Tower in Bartlesville, OK, the only skyscraper designed by arichitect Frank Lloyd Wright

* Scientists Precisely Edit DNA In Human Embryos To Fix A Disease Gene
   The Perfect Pair of Genes?

Princeton Tests the Gender Limits

How a Man Could Get Pregnant Scientific American (Caution: bizarre)

"Fearfully and Wonderfully Made"  Video   Matt Redman (Is there any topic that you can't find a song written by either Matt Redman or Chris Tomlin!)

Finally today:

Yesterday we showed a photo of Brooksyne wearing a t-shirt we had bought Wednesday during our visit to the Voice of the Martyrs. Unless you are up close all you see is "I am a criminal" which can sure send a wrong message but hopefully pique curiosity to read the entire message.

I am a criminal t-shirt front

I am a criminal t-shirt back
Thankfully we are not a criminal for wearing this in the USA
... not yet anyway
.

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Scripture references are from The Holy Bible: New International Version. © 1984 by International Bible Society; NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, New King James Version (NKJV) Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. and the King James Version.

Personal Mission Statement: "I am created by God to bring Him glory. Through God's Son Jesus Christ I have been redeemed and make it my life's goal to please the Lord. My mission in life is to honor God through my faith and obedience and prepare myself and all whom I may influence for eternity."

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