The care they take is on display
as swallows from the rafters swoop.
From nest to ground they make a loop
to feed their young throughout the day.
Can evolution show a way
that’s plausible when all I see
is nature mocking endlessly?
Chance has no chance to make sense here.
There’s much to doubt. They no doubt fear
we’ve lost our gullibility.
Ronovan Hester offers the rhyme word “swoop” to be used in a B-line of a décima having rhyme pattern ABBAACCDDC for this week’s challenge.
The painted wall was old with an open knot hole letting those passing by peek through should any care, but in this mundane setting no one bothered. All that was on the other side was the mystery of another family’s sense of home.
Was it Bert’s family where bankruptcy and divorce left the remaining member, Bert, wondering how to get even, wondering why, wondering and then resting from wondering? Was it Clara’s family whose husband was buried last month wondering when it would be her turn and wondering how she would be able to get by on her own until then?
Was it Bill’s family where Bill suggested repentance and reconciliation for Bert as Bill’s wife stopped by to see Clara to let her know she was not alone? Was it some other family of lovers and beloved perhaps even your own?
Denise offers the word “mundane” to be used in this week’s Six Sentence Stories. Eugenia offers “lovers” as the theme for her prompt this week.
Dale offers the theme “when the wind blows” for this week’s Cosmic Photo Challenge. These photos were taken some years ago. The evidence that the days in the photos were windy are in those parasails and the waves.
But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows.
Luke 12:7 King James Version
Hagar, Sarah’s Egyptian slave, was the one who told us our God is the God who sees (Genesis 16). That may not seem like much, but the blind idols we construct to imitate God have no interest in us.
Those who think they can get by on their own might prefer blind gods, but it doesn’t matter what any of us prefer. All we have, given our experiences of bliss or despair in this wonderful universe, is whether we will choose to serve God or not. Those who are blessed to realize that they can’t get by on their own yearn for Him with repentance, praise and thanksgiving.
God sees you. God sees me. God sees.
I am grateful to Kathie Lee Gifford and Nicole C. Mullen whose oratorio The God Who Sees presented Hagar and to revivedwriter whose poem Call Me Hagar brought Hagar to mind.
Weekly Parashah Readings
Parashah: Vayachel 25 Adar, 5782 – February 26, 2022
Torah: Exodus 35:1-38:20
Haftarah: Kings II 11:17 – 12:17
Brit Chadashah: 2 Corinthians 9:6-11; 3:7-18
Resources: Chabad, Hebrew4Christians, Weekly Torah Readings, Calendar
Constricting envy cannot rest.
It meditates throughout the night,
turns dark the dawn of morning light.
Our lungs can’t breathe. We’re python pressed.
We’d much prefer to be caressed
without this dust. We don’t need more
of what they’ve got. We’re looking for
a way to make the python go,
stop scheming, squeezing, wanting so.
The Spirit breathes. We see the door.
Ronovan Hester offers the rhyme word “rest” to be used in a A-line of a décima having rhyme pattern ABBAACCDDC for this week’s challenge. Eugenia offers “envy” as the prompt for her challenge this week.
Niko had not one but six godmothers carefully selected by his father and mother. He had just as many godfathers, too, because those godmothers were all happily married even though their marriages might have suffered through times when the husband, the wife, or usually both, were a bit rambunctious.
Being an infant Niko didn’t remember the oil anointing at his dedication, but now with the battles raging about them he gave thanks for all of his extended family who faithfully showed him by their examples the narrow path all those years. As the men and women who stood by him fell he remained fearless. He prayed that all would find their way home.
When Niko himself found his way home his mother and all those godmothers along with his father and all those godfathers rushed to welcome him laughing and singing like joyfully rambunctious children eagerly showing him by their example the dance of praise before the Lord.
Denise offers the word “rambunctious” to be used in this week’s Six Sentence Stories.
Dale offers the prompt “picturing the past” for this week’s Cosmic Photo Challenge.
The top photo is an old house preserved in a park in Illinois. I imagine it is sometimes open for tours, but I have only looked through the windows.
In the bottom photo is a bookshelf I made myself. I use it for old books I bought decades ago. They are mostly books on mathematics which is what I studied. They are also mostly unread. I picked a photo where the titles were blurry, since what I did read back then is now blurry in my mind and I have no longer any desire to make it clearer.
It is by the power of the Holy Spirit that we experience the joy of salvation and are enabled to rejoice even in the midst of trials.
Jerry Bridges, The Practice of Godliness, page 113
I sometimes forget the role of the Holy Spirit in Christian rebirth since many of the fruits of the Spirit I can fake for a short while with my own efforts. Trusting too much in my own efforts leads me to doubt that there even is a Holy Spirit.
Joy is a fruit that is difficult to fake. True, I can smile when events or emotions challenge me, but people looking closely see through it.
What this tells me is there is more going on to make joy possible than my own efforts. Although I might be tempted to refuse to participate in the working of the Holy Spirit, the more I let the Holy Spirit work in me the less I am persuaded to work against Him.
And yet there are many times when circumstances seem overwhelming. Imagine the despair the Israelites felt trapped between the Red Sea and the Egyptian army. And yet God was there for them. Or, imagine what Hagar felt in the desert before God spoke to her. But then He spoke.
Weekly Parashah Readings
Parashah: Ki Tisa 18 Adar, 5782 – February 19, 2022
Torah: Exodus 30:11-34:35
Haftarah: Kings I 18:20-39
Brit Chadashah: 2 Corinthians 3:1-18
Resources: Chabad, Hebrew4Christians, Weekly Torah Readings, Calendar
Today, February 12th, is Darwin’s birthday and also Question Evolution Day.
The kind of evolution being questioned is biological evolution, not the alleged evolution of solar systems or galaxies, although I don’t think that kind of evolution is possible either. The universe is winding down through entropy. It is not evolving into something more complicated than what we see around us.
Biological evolution is also not the differentiation of a specific kind of animal into new breeds or sub-species. That comes about routinely with either artificial or natural selection. However, no new kind of animal can be formed by this selection process alone.
Biological evolution is a way to go from something simple to something complicated without involving the free will of any agent such as God. The whole point of biological evolution is to do away with God as an explanation.
Since God is not involved, evolution will need some mechanism by which change can take place making a transition from slime mold to ourselves plausible. The current mechanism offered is random mutations. Given mutations over long periods of time DNA is supposedly changed so slime mold can turn into a chicken or maybe a dinosaur and the dinosaur can turn into an ape and the ape can become a human being.
However, it has become apparent that mutations aren’t enough to make that happen.
The reason mutations won’t work is because they are generally deleterious. Rarely do they benefit the species undergoing them. That is why our bodies try to correct them, but they do not always succeed. We pass on some of these mistakes to our children who pass them on to their children with additional mutations. A mutational load builds up generation after generation.
This increasing mutational load is what John Sanford calls genetic entropy. Natural selection cannot stop it. The end result of genetic entropy is not some superior creature, but mutational meltdown. That’s when a species is no longer able to reproduce. It goes extinct.
So, unless there is some mechanism for biological evolution to occur besides mutations to supplement natural selection, biological evolution is not possible. Genetic entropy prevents it.
That’s why I celebrate Question Evolution Day.
Admittedly the extinction part is depressing. However, God said that He not only created a very good world with us in it, but in response to the fall of Adam and Eve, He offered us His Son whose sacrifice almost two thousand years ago would allow for a new heaven and a new earth. Given genetic entropy, we are going to need it.
It’s not the sun. It’s not the moon.
It’s not the stars. They serve as signs.
The ordered light they offer shines,
but cannot sing a sacred tune.
He’s coming and He’s coming soon.
We lift our voice. We lift our hands
abandoning our once prized plans.
In unison our praises rise.
In expectation, earth and skies,
are eager, waiting for our stands.
Ronovan Hester offers the rhyme word “rise” to be used in a D-line of a décima having rhyme pattern ABBAACCDDC for this week’s Decima Challenge. Eugenia offers “unison” for her weekly prompt. I am thinking of Romans 8:16.
Poetry, Short Prose and Walking 