DECEMBER 4

“Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know:....” - Acts 2:22

Do you believe in miracles? You should. By the time you have read this blog the Lord will have performed numerous miracles today....in your life....for you. Can't see when? Where? - in what way? Well, I suppose the answer depends on your belief in a living, caring God, and on how you define a miracle. So, what is a miracle?

The Oxford On-line Dictionaries give the following definition:

'An extraordinary and welcome event that is not explicable by natural or scientific laws and is therefore attributed to a divine agency: the miracle of rising from the grave.' While Geoff and Hope Price write, “A 'miracle' can be described as a divine surprise which, in intellectual or rational ways, causes us simply to stand back in amazement.”

I suggest that daily life itself is a miracle. By 'daily life' I mean the physical, emotional, sensory, mental, cognitive and spiritual awarenessess that combined, make us who we are. God provided us with bodies that are a mechanical wonder, with plumbing systems second to none! From the moment we wake from sleep (itself a miracle) to leaving the house for work, we will have experienced miracle upon miracle. I won't go into detail, because if I do, this blog will turn into a book, and more to the point, I'm not qualified. - more a consumer! I can recommend an excellent book though, “In the Likeness of God” by Paul Brand and Philip Yancey – experts in their field. It's an incredible read - you'll never look at your body in the same way again!

Just to whet your appetite for a read of the above book -

Take the heart. Moment by moment and day after day it pumps blood to every limb and organ of our bodies, supplying nutrients that give life and energy, at the same time cleansing our tissues of the days debris.

Then there's the gift of sight. Our eyes provide light and shade....the fantastic range of colours surrounding us – think of the colours of nature, the shades of autumn...a sunset. Millions of cells line the back of our eyes, each calibrated to it's own colour wavelength, with the pupil adjusting it's size in response to light and shade. Living lenses, clear and flexible, with tiny muscles that ensure precise focus....tears that cleanse.

Our sense of hearing brings us music, voices, memories of sounds of speech – the lilting laughter that brings back to mind a long forgotten person, or event – all stored in a web of nerves deep in the dense bone at the base of the skull. Rows of tiny hairs bend to movement of the fluid bathing them. These hairs pick up vibrations through canals and tiny bones, each hair vibrating to just one wavelength of sound. Incredible!

Tomorrow we will look at the mind-boggling miracle of the mind.

“All bodies, the firmaments, the stars, the earth and it's kingdoms, are not equal to the lowest mind;

for the mind knows all these and itself too; and these bodies know nothing” - Blaise Pascal.

“The Wonder of it All” - George Beverley Shea brings us our music today.  Click on the picture of Britain in Autumn.

       

     Housekeeping details for you

     The point of this short blog will become clear if you decide to use this reading in the way we intend it. Netherfield Seventh-day Adventist Church believes in healthy churches. You can see what that means if you head to the relevant Healthy Churches page of the website. We also want other churches to be healthy. That means you can join in our campaign to create healthy churches, with healthy people serving the people in those churches.

     A healthy church is one where Jesus comes first. A healthy church is one where the people work together to put Jesus first. One thing we are doing is to join people together to spread that news. I would like you to look at our prayer partners page. This will explain how we want you to use this short devotional. Very basically we want you to find a like-minded Christian friend who you will join with to : choose to pray together every day, decide together on a way to serve other people together, to help them grow as Christians - and to invite the Holy Spirit into your life every day. This blog that you will receive every day simply gives a common spiritual purpose. If you are a newcomer and want to join the blog with this object in mind click here