That Beautiful Body

Gamers were recently able to decode a puzzle that has had scientists stumped for years. According to a Fox news article (see link below), online video gamers took three weeks to decipher the structure of a retrovirus protein that scientists have been unable to interpret for over a decade.

One of the big implications of this breakthrough is understanding the way the HIV virus replicates. With this new code cracked, scientists can create drugs to more accurately target the virus. (See the full article in the link below.).

Imagine the thousands of people who will be able to be treated, simply because scientists looked up from their microscopes and thought, “You know... I think someone else may be able to do this better than me.” They can’t be faulted for taking so long to realize. Haven’t you ever been so hyper-focused on a problem or situation that it never occurred to you to look at it a different way, or to seek help? I certainly have. My view is that turning to video gamers was a genius leap of creativity. 

I’m imagining the body of Christ working together so well, each member using his or her own genius not only to serve the Lord, but also to look around and see which other members can do what we cannot. Yes, the Lord is strong where we are weak, but God also calls us into community that can do things together.

The Lord saw the potential for people speaking the same language, focused on the same goal, as he looked on those building the tower at Babel: “The LORD said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them” (Genesis 11:6).

God has given each of us different and beautiful gifts. If you hear a call on your heart, but aren’t sure how to accomplish it, look up from your microscope. Maybe someone in your community can do it in a fraction of the time and energy it would take you. That is the beauty of the body of Christ.

“Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.  Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many. Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.” (1 Corinthians 12:12-14, 27)

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Sarah Stirman

"Now the Lord was gracious to Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did for Sarah what He had promised."  Genesis 21:1
http://www.sarahstirman.blogspot.com/
http://twitter.com/SarahSt

http://www.foxnews.com/health/2011/09/19/us-gamers-crack-puzzle-in-aids-research-that-stumped-scientists-for-years/

http://www.foxnews.com/health/2011/09/19/us-gamers-crack-puzzle-in-aids-research-that-stumped-scientists-for-years/

Hand it OVER!

Life is stressful no matter how hard we might try to make it less stressful.  Our interactions with people at work, common places, or even our relationships with family can suffer from stress or even be a contributing factor to it.  On the radio recently, I heard the DJ encourage the listeners to read Psalm 27.  I quickly pulled it up on my phone (praise God for technology!) and read through David’s psalm.  The timing could not have been more perfect!  I needed to read it.  In fact, I read it twice!  I am so thankful our Father’s inspired word is available for me to access and draw on when I needed the extra boost!  I praise HIM for the Spirit working at that very moment to impact my thoughts and decisions.  I encourage you to read Psalm 27 below.  I sincerely hope you find strength in it too.

Our father wants us to draw near to him and call on him for refuge. We don't face the same kind of enemies David may have been referencing but we all face THE ENEMY. Satan would like nothing more than for us to turn away from God. This can even be in the form of independence. Sometimes I struggle with wanting to handle things on my own and not surrendering ALL my worries to my Father.  Life really is much simpler when I leave the "heavy lifting" to God!

Psalm 27

   1 The LORD is my light and my salvation— whom shall I fear?  The LORD is the stronghold of my life— of whom shall I be afraid? 2 When the wicked advance against me to devour me, it is my enemies and my foes who will stumble and fall. 3 Though an army besiege me, my heart will not fear; though war break out against me, even then I will be confident.

   4 One thing I ask from the LORD, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple.      

   5 For in the day of trouble he will keep me safe in his dwelling; he will hide me in the shelter of his sacred tent and set me high upon a rock.

   6 Then my head will be exalted above the enemies who surround me; at his sacred tent I will sacrifice with shouts of joy; I will sing and make music to the LORD.

   7 Hear my voice when I call, LORD; be merciful to me and answer me. 8 My heart says of you, “Seek his face!” Your face, LORD, I will seek. 9 Do not hide your face from me, do not turn your servant away in anger; you have been my helper. Do not reject me or forsake me, God my Savior. 10 Though my father and mother forsake me, the LORD will receive me. 11 Teach me your way, LORD; lead me in a straight path because of my oppressors. 12 Do not turn me over to the desire of my foes, for false witnesses rise up against me, spouting malicious accusations. 13 I remain confident of this:  I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.

   14 Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD.

Father, thank you for being my refuge and taking care of my enemies. Please help me to draw near to you. Help me to choose to not be a slave to stress and fear. Thank you for being YOU!!

In Jesus name, amen!

Michelle Tittor

Grapevine TX

I Want More

I have a wonderful and blessed life, to be sure. I am married to a Godly man, I have two beautiful children, I am living my dream of staying at home to raise them, I am well-fed and protected, and I have family and friends nearby. But something evades me still. A certain hunger, a longing for meaning, depth, and peace.

Have you felt that desire? Have you looked into your own heart and found that all the things around you, even the good things, are not enough?

You could choose put the blame on the things themselves. You could go through life searching, believing that if you only had a better husband, a better job, a better house, or a better church, you could finally be happy.

You could choose to repress your desire. You could try to “grow up” and not have too high of expectations for your life, keeping your head down and your hands in your pockets. But there is another way.

“Creatures are not born with desires unless satisfaction for those desires exist. A baby feels hunger: well, there is such a thing as food. A duckling wants to swim: well, there is such a thing as water. Men feel sexual desire: well, there is such a thing as sex. If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.”
–CS Lewis, Mere Christianity

Have you ever thought about that? The fact that you have that desire at all is proof that God exists, that Heaven is truly waiting for those who follow God’s path! After all, where else would that desire come from? People throughout history have been asking the question, “What is the meaning of life?” And as Lewis says, “If the universe had no meaning, we should never have found out that it had no meaning.” Animals do not feel this desire for inner peace. It is unique to humankind, put there by our Creator to set us searching for Him.

So open your heart fully – let that longing all the way in. Lewis reminds us that continually looking forward to the eternal world is not a form of escapism or wishful thinking. It is not an emotion. It is one of the things a Christian is meant to do.

The book of Hebrews calls hope “an anchor for the soul” (Heb. 6:19). Our hope of eternal life is what keeps us steady, frames all our decisions, purifies our motives, and helps us let go of the things that don’t matter in this life.

If we choose to hope, it doesn’t matter comes our way. At the most, our troubles can only last one lifetime. But Heaven will last for thousands of lifetimes (2 Cor. 4:16-18)!

 I don’t know exactly what Heaven is going to be like. But I do know that any piece of happiness I feel here is less than a shadow of the pure, even tangible joy we will live in.

 Your longing was put there deliberately. God wants you to listen to it and even spend energy building it up. Celebrate the fact that true peace can be found. Stoke the fire, and dream on!

Bicky Tolar
Abilene, Texas

Staying on Track

And God said:

... and then there was light!

Is it important that we know everything about God’s Creation?  If it were imperative that we know all of the details, they would have been provided in God’s Word.  I don’t sweat the unknown variables. My daughter went to a women’s Bible study group recently. The ladies were discussing the Creation.  The teacher was adamant that God created the world in six 24 hour long days and rested on the seventh day.  There were no dinosaurs, and the world is approximately 10,000 years old.  That certainly may be the case, but there is a surfeit of evidence that dinosaurs roamed Somervell County, Texas, including bones and tracks preserved in rock.  We have all picked up fossil rocks of sea creatures that lived long ago.  Scientists believe those fossils may be much older than 10,000 years, maybe millions of years old.  I believe that God has created everything and did so purposefully. I don’t believe it is impossible He achieved such a grand project in 144 hours; I just think time is relative, especially to God. 2 Peter 3:8 says “But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.  I don’t believe it is important to my salvation that I know which method of Creation God used.

Another issue was raised in my Bible class this morning. Adam’s son Cain left the area after he killed Abel, had children with his wife, and built a city he named after his son Enoch.  Where did Cain’s wife come from?  Why build a city unless there are other people to live in it?  Why would Cain be afraid other people would kill him for his actions toward his brother?  Most people in the class believe that Cain and Seth married their sisters.  Genesis 3:20 says “Adam named his wife Eve, because she would become the mother of all the living.”  Mother of all the living may mean Eve was the first and only woman directly created by God.  It may also mean she was the first of all of the women created by God.  Adam may be the first of all of the men created by God or he may be the only man directly created by God.  The history of the world outlined in Genesis describes my God as omniscient, wonderful, powerful and forgiving. Genesis also represents the beginning of the line of ancestors leading directly to Jesus, God’s own son.  Jesus, God’s son who redeemed us, is the factor of the creation story that is important to my salvation.  I cling to that as unquestionable truth.

Dear God, Help me to be ready to study your word, and share your love and grace with those around me.

Sherilyn Svien

Stephenville,TX