Story behind my last post

Based on the title, you might want to first scroll down to the post entitled Life...

I was inspired to write this from something I wrote for my animal reproduction exam. I was writing about how the sperm fertilises the egg and as I got to the point where the sperm actually fertilises the egg, I almost wrote, "and the two become one."

And I was struck with how so many everyday things (ok, so I'll admit, most people don't know the actual process of sperm maturation and fertilisation, but it happens everyday nonetheless) parallel with spiritual principles. The one of which I am specifically referring to in this case would be marriage (if you hadn't already guessed).

The sperm has to leave the male reproductive tract (where it grows and matures) and swim through the female reproductive tract to find the egg. It doesn't fully reach maturity until completing most of the journey to the egg.

It kind of reminds me of how a man must leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife...and the 2 shall become 1. Sound familiar? And I also believe there's no coincidence in the fact that it's the sperm's job to find the egg, not the other way around.

Of course it's not a perfect analogy, as there usually aren't thousands of men competing for one woman, and most men don't face multiple near-death experiences or have immune cells trying to eat them, but I can say that there are some pretty cool parallels.

One male and one female, who are whole (100%) beings on there own, come together (like in marriage) and accomplish more together than they could apart. And talk about it being good to find a wife? Of the millions of sperm that are ejaculated, the only one who's fate doesn't end in death is the one that successfully fertilises the egg. But the coolest thing in my mind is that this fertilisation process, with so many parallels to marriage, serves the ultimate purpose to make a baby (not saying that all married ppl have to have kids, but its one of the perks). The zygote grows into a baby, and if that sperm happened to deliver a Y chromosome, that baby will eventually grow up to be a man, who will leave his father and mother to cleave to his wife, and the process will once again begin with the sperm maturing and setting out on the adventure to find his 'wife'.

Coincidence? I think not.

Life...

He began as just a cell. Just a little insignificant cell, or so he thought.

He didn't know that he had a purpose, or that many were working on his behalf, protecting him from those who sought to destroy him, acting as a barrier, a shield. He didn't know that others were working to equip him to be able to survive against those who would come after him later with the same intent, his demise.

He didn't know he had been chosen, that he had a purpose. He just knew that he seemed to be stuck going in the same direction as all the others surrounding him, subject to those larger forces around him. But although he didn't know it, all these experiences were maturing him so that he could fulfill his purpose.

Soon came the time for him to leave the place he had been born, the comforts of familiarity.

He entered a new place, a new environment, and that time of a maturity came in handy. In this place, every moment was a new obstacle, a new adventure, another chance to die.

Many with whom he'd grown up with had already fallen, but he and those who remained with him continued on the perilous journey.

He finally makes it to a place on the journey where the environment is not so harsh. He seems to coast for a bit, and he becomes complacent. But then, he encounters a new experience. Something like he's never yet experienced.

In this new environment, some unknown force surrounds him that begins stripping him of the hardness that he had developed over the course of his life.

With this newly acquired clarity, he realises his purpose, and for the first time in his life, he begins to trek his path quickly and determinedly.

Those that surround him race to try and steal his price.

But finally, after a grueling journey, he makes it.

He finds...Her!

She of course is surrounded by fortified defenses, but he hasn't come this far to give up. He breaks through to get to her and when he finally does, he realises that the journey was worth it.

Upon his presence, she becomes his, and all the others are immediately turned away. Then, a beautiful thing happens.

SYNGAMY...the two become one

and form a zygote.

A lesson from my little brother

I was listening to a podcast and they were talking about how people relate within the church with those they don't know. Basically, they were talking about how you need to look for ways to meet new people and start conversations and be relational and stuff. Then someone made the comment, "I think we make this too hard" and my mind immediately jumped to my youngest brother. For the sake of not putting his name on the web, I'm not going to put his name on the web, so we'll just refer to him as my little brother. If you know me, you probably know his name.

Anyhow, we were at the ENT for my younger, his older, brother, and he was playing with standard toys that are usually present at a doctor's office and this other little girl was there as well, so as little children do, they began playing together. At one point he comes up to my mom, and was referring to his new playmate as "the little girl," so my mom says to him, why don't you go ask her what her name is. So he did. I suppose the little girl wasn't to the point of being able to fully communicate because she didn't really give him an answer. She sort of turned to her mom for guidance and then kinda mumbled something as a response. I realise for many of us, in our "sophisticated adult ways" are often hesitant in befriending or relating with those who it may seem "not so easy" to relate with initially. However, the lack of communication on her part, was no discouragement to my youngest brother. Instead of saying, well, "we can't really relate", or "this person seems like there will be effort to getting to know them" as we often say (not necessarily by our words, but our actions), he responded with a very formal (especially for the age of 3), "my name is _(first name)_, _(first name)__(last name)_." I found it very humorous at the time for the sole purpose of his unnecessary and completely unexpected formality, but as I think back on it, there's so much that can be learned from that 3 year old's introduction. Upon introducing himself, they continued playing as if they'd known one another for ages.

Oh if we (especially me) could be more like little children! (Matthew 18:3)

Two related observances

I just thought I'd share this. I was reading about the Pharisee and the tax collecter the other day, where they are both praying. The Pharisee goes on and on quite loudly about how good he was and was thankful that he was better than this tax collecter. A few things ran through my mind at that moment. First, the impression I get from reading that was that the two of them were quite near to each other. If they were, I just have to say that that was so rude. I get the picture that he was standing right next to the guy. The second thought that I had was what was his point in praying? God's so much bigger than us, and all the Pharisee did was praise himself. For him to be so "big" on rules, it seems that he'd broken the number one command, "Thou shalt not have any other gods before me" because I don't recall him giving praise to God once in his "prayer." Lastly, I suppose, is the most meaningful observation. Pride makes people look stupid. I feel like he probably looked really foolish yelling out a prayer like that, but when we're blinded by pride we don't seem to notice...so lesson learned from that, stay away from it.

The second observation has to do with the city of Adelaide, although this isn't my Australia blog. I feel it fits better in this one. I was told by a friend that although Adelaide was known as the city of churches, many of the churches have been turned into other things, unfortunately. Last night, I was walking and I saw a bar called heaven, which looked like it had once been a church, or the building was modelled to look like one. This angered/saddened me at the same time. I immediately thought of Jesus cleansing the temple for the sole fact that I had read Luke's account of it that morning. I imagined what would happen if I walked in there and started flipping tables and stuff. Amusing thought, but I'm not Jesus, so I would have no right to judge the people there. The sadness came as I thought on it longer. I thought about a quote that Pastor Linda often uses: "There's no high like the Most High." I was saddened because people truly need the love and peace and all the other great things that the Holy Spirit offers, but they too often settle for Satan's cheap counterfeits. I suppose that's all the more reason that the church is so desperately needed. Well, that's all for now. You haven't heard from me in a while, and who knows when I'll write on this one again so until next time, May you meet the Most High if you haven't yet, or may you continually enjoy Him if you have.

Chance after chance after chance...

So at the beginning of the summer, or maybe a bit earlier, I'd realized that I hadn't really read any of the prophetic books of the Bible, so I decided to start, in the book of Isaiah and make my way through. Up to this time I've made it through Lamentations, and thus far Jeremiah has really stuck out to me. Not to say in the least that Isaiah and Lamentations are not worth reading, but the thing that stuck out to me in Jeremiah was the patience in God's character.

If you have read the book, you probably know what it's about, and if not, I'd recommend it. But basically, the Israelites, once again have turned their backs on God. But it seems that this time, they were refusing to repent, and instead of coming back to God, they seemed to just get further and further away. They worshiped false gods, and listened to false prophets, and continued to offend their creator. And so Jeremiah is sent to warn them to repent or their enemies would overtake them. And they ignore him. Now you'd think that since Jeremiah does his job pretty early on, that the book of Jeremiah would be fairly short, and yet it turns out (by word count) to be the second longest book in the Bible. So what's the reason that God doesn't just remove His protecting hand from His people? Because He loves them so much. And His nature of patience is so evident to me in this book. In this book that seems to be so dark and gloomy, it's here that God says He has loved his people with an everlasting love (31:3). For nearly fifty chapters God continues to give the Israelites chance after chance after chance to repent, to turn from their wicked ways, and He continues to withhold His judgment. And the extent of His patience amazes me.

So I get a few things from the book of Jeremiah. The first is obviously a deeper understanding of God's character of love and patience. The second is that as I think about it, the book of Jeremiah is somewhat of a mirror of today where it seems that people are running further and further away from God, and yet He's withholding His judgment to give us time to repent and turn back to Him. Fortunately, although people are turning away from God, unlike in Jeremiah, many are turning to Him. The last thing that I take away is an example of how I am to behave. In the book of Ephesians, we are called to "be imitators of God" (5:1). He's perfect and yet He is patient and still loves us in our imperfection. That means that I need to imitate Him in that patience and and love others with an everlasting love.

May the patience of the Lord our God be with you. Until next time, signing off with the other LOL

Helpless

I stand by helpless
Watching you make one foolish decision after another
I'm not in the position to say anything
Not that you would listen anyway
You don't listen to the people in your life
Who try there best to speak wisdom
So I just stand here helpless
Wishing you would get some sense
And stop listening to him
And stop wrekin yo life!
Praying that things will change
for you
for your children
for your family
Praying, praying...praying
Maybe I'm not so helpless
Prayer is powerful
Why is prayer powerful
Cause God is powerful
More powerful than me
More powerful than you
More powerful than him
So maybe I'm not so helpless
Cause although you have him (or think you do)
I have Him, and he's the best
So I'll stay hopeful, keep prayin, and waitin
Cause things will change
All things work together
for the good of those who love God
And I'm completely, and totally in love

The obvious silver lining

So why am I so upset? Because I'm a brat, that's why. I will begin by saying that this post is about a week and a half late, and I currently no longer harbor these feelings, but at the beginning of last week I was being a total brat, and I'll tell why as soon as I give a little background as to why you haven't heard from me in a while.

In my last random "poem" post I mentioned that I got a job. This is the first time I've worked a full time job, which to my surprise takes up quite a bit of time, so I haven't had much time to post anything. Anyhow, I was working the 2nd shift (2-11) remodeling a Walmart (Oh the glamor of my life, lol) but it was decently ok. And it wasn't that hard. Since I had to be at work at 2, I could no longer volunteer at the vets that I'd been at because they were too far away, but one of the vets that I was with told me about a referral practice that happened to be right down the road. So I got to go there a few times and just as things seemed to be going smoothly, I get a call saying my shift had been changed to the 1st shift (8-5). And then of course everything that was wrong with the whole situation came up.

A bit of short but recent background history. Although I work at Walmart, I don't work for Walmart, I was hired by a temp agency, not knowing at that time that Walmart was hiring as well. If I'd been hired by Walmart I'd be getting paid .20 more, and I would have been able to stay on my original shift because the whole reason I got moved is because Walmart kept hiring people to the 2nd shift to the point that they had enough of their own people and no longer needed the temps. And so here's where the obvious silver lining comes in.

Out of the seven people who had not been fired for missing too many days a row, only four were allowed to keep there job by being moved to the 1st shift. Many temps from 3rd shift were terminated as well. And so here I am complaining and being upset because I was one of the fortunate ones allowed to keep my job. (Woe is me, NOT!!!) But that's not the only silver lining that there was. On the 2-11 shift, I really did not get to see my family at all. I'd see my parents at night when I got home, but the critters (I say that in the most affectionate way, little brothers) I really got to spend no time with except on the weekend. And 1st shift actually has work to do, constantly, which makes the time go by a lot faster. And my supervisor is absolutely hilarious. Generally, 1st shift has proved to be a lot better...so I just can't go to the vet anymore. There's always Christmas vacation. And if it's God's will for me to shadow then, He'll work it out, because He always knows what's best. And the times that I've gotten to spend with my family this summer have been quite epically priceless.

In the end there's a moral of this story as well as a lot of the ones that I've posted. That moral would be: Thank God (literally) that He's a God of second chances because to me it seems that every time He throws a test my way, I fail it. completely. But then He gives me grace to get back up and try again, with His help. So never just fail and leave it that way. You were created to be successful because God's not a failure and you were made in His image.

May the grace of God, the perfect Father, be with you in all that you do. Signing off til next time with the other LOL.