Without Excuse Series

WITHOUT EXCUSE

The atmosphere we reside within is the perfect combination and perfect balance. At 79% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, the air is perfectly fit for our consumption and for life to exist. If the two gasses were divided in half with each other, we would all die immediately due to overexposure to nitric oxide. If the figure of nitrogen was slightly less, say 2/3rds, the results would be comical—as our entire society would live in the condition of permanent laughing gas, which you and I know would be impossible to sustain life for any significant period of time. What are the odds of these specific numbers happening randomly, or for that matter any percentage of any type of gas since our periodic tables indicate thousands of different variations? I would say the chance happening of this specific atmospheric equation taking place by random chance to be an impossible one.

When a bee buzzes up to a flower with the intent to gather pollen, scientists will point out that the smell is so pungent to our friendly flier that their breathing apparatus gets all stuffed up—worse than any cold you or I could imagine. In fact, it has been proven that while gathering pollen, the bee cannot even breathe. But located on their knees is an object like a brush—a stiff brush. The bee uses the stiff brush to clear away all stoppages before suffocation can take place. If these brushes evolved over time, rather than with the bee in the beginning, the entire bee population would have ended within the first generation since all would have died from lack of oxygen.

Walking through a high grass field, we all must stop at the edge when finished to pick off those annoying cockleburs that have gathered on our stockings. Amazingly, did you know that to guarantee its’ survival, that every cocklebur has two seeds inside. During the first year, only one seed begins to grow while the other seed waits for the following year in accordance with God’s plan to perpetuate their existence. What built in wisdom tells the humble second seed to delay producing in order to guarantee the life of their ancestors? Is that an accident?

These three small examples, three of thousands I could give and millions more if I had the time to research, are small key indicators that life is precious, created by God, and all for a purpose. Lost in the many philosophical arguments debated by scholars trying to decide the existence of God and the order of creation is what the word of God says about creation and its purpose. Romans 1:20 clearly states, “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.”

“Without Excuse.” Did we get that? Did we mere mortals, the same beings who have looked upon the Rockies, the sunset, a newborn child, or even the tender feathers of a blown dandelion, did we really intellectually excuse away God’s creation with illegitimate theories indicating that everything happened by accident. We may have. For this generation we live in continually asks for a sign, a clear indicator from the heavens above proving beyond a reasonable doubt the reality of a loving God who created us as more beautiful than anything else in creation. Perhaps, we should look no further than the lowly cocklebur, the kneecaps of a bee, and the very air we breathe for evidence of God’s love for us. Amen.

WHICH ROAD ARE YOU ON?

“Yahoo! Travel” has released an article titled America’s Scariest Drives, and the results are frightening. Here is a brief list of some of the roads:

Highway One that travels off the Big Sur Coast in California is both beautiful and breath-taking. This 122 mile stretch travels over 30 bridges with many of them as much as 30 stories straight down, the web author calls a drop from here to be a fall into “liquid oblivion.”

Do you like volcanoes? Then take a trip on Saddle Road, located on the Big Island in Hawaii. Much of the route is narrow and one way, and there is always the chance of an explosion if the season is just right.

You had better gas up ahead of time if you are driving to Dalton, Alaska. The “nation’s loneliest road” has steep grades, wild animals, and no stops for 414 miles. I suppose a helicopter could be called to save troubled travelers.

The phrase “Tail of the Dragon” sounds like a Japanese movie. Instead, it is a treacherous 11 mile stretch of highway is tucked below the Smokey Mountains on the Tennessee border. This little stretch of road contains 318 curves, many of them S-shaped and hairpins and even one nicknamed “The Slide,” and we all can only imagine the meaning behind that name.