The Nebuchadnezzar II Brick

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His Will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him
Forever in the next.
Amen.
--Reinhold Niebuhr

In this anxiety-ridden world, if we had not been blessed by its creator with the love and grace of God-- the providence of the creator for the creature-- something would have had to be invented to fill the hole in every soul, if God were not there to fill it. The world/ flesh/ devil has tried to fill that hole, but it does not satisfy; only the righteousness of Jesus Christ can satisfy.

"What else does this craving, and this helplessness, proclaim but that there was once in man a true happiness, of which all that now remains is the empty print and trace? This he tries in vain to fill with everything around him, seeking in things that are not there the help he cannot find in those that are, though none can help, since this infinite abyss can be filled only with an infinite and immutable object; in other words by God himself."

--Pascal

The redeemed, those filled with the righteousness of Jesus-- He breathing inside of us--have His assurance as we face the trials of this life, as well as knowing joy everlasting as we enjoy eternal life. They have been saved from eternal hell and the crush of corruption/temptation surrounding us in this world. Man can deal with any how as long as he has a strong why.

All of the years I was studying the homeostasis of the human body, I was conflicted by those who professed, yet showed so little possession of the righteousness which should have changed their human psyche/ actions. Why would one person have such a supernatural desire to showcase his Christian faith, while others-- supposedly having the same salvation-- be little different from the world and nihilists who believe in nothing? Why would an ordinary man like George Greenfield-- one boat, one mission-- challenge the 2,000 mile long Congo river to carry the gospel to total strangers and total pagans? He buried his wife and three children on the banks of the Congo, yet, at Goma (at the head of the great Congo river), this writer stood at the place where a choir of 10,000 Africans sang All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name at his funeral. Or David Livingston, when-- after his death in Africa-- committed Christians carried his embalmed body on their shoulders over 1,000 miles, to a port where he could be shipped to England and buried at Westminster.

You must put flesh and blood on the characters in God's word-- as well as those of more recent history-- if you are to comprehend the sovereignty of God. Too many skeptics-- even those sitting in the church-house pews-- do not understand the magnificence of the story. It took four years to write the Book of Mormon, 63 years to write the Islamic Koran, but 40 holy men, inspired by God, covering a period of 1,500 years, substantiated in time/ places/ prophecies/ promises, proved the inerrancy of God's holy word. His word changes lives. History, Geography, Archaeology are marked by the authenticity of His word. The Bible tells us that 630,000 Jews went in captivity to Babylon after Jerusalem was destroyed. Bricks bearing the name of Nebuchadnezzar, authenticating The Bible's story, were found. Too many young people leave the Christian church because they have never been taught the foundations of Christian history. Christianity is fact, not feeling. Christianity changes lives and if it has not changed yours, then something is wrong with you, not the Christian church.

This writer has visited the "Holy Land" several times and was there when Jerusalem was divided between Jordan and Israel. My cup was filled to overflowing as I walked in Jerusalem/ Bethlehem/ Copernican. At the Jordan River, I reached down and picked up a handful of pebbles and put them in my camera bag. When I returned home, I gave a pebble to several of my aunts, and several choice patients. They could not have been happier, had I given them a nugget of gold. It is wonderful to find the human body responding as written in books. It is wonderful to experiment with laws of physics/ chemistry/ life biology as written in books. The thought occurred to me many times, as I stood in Petra or Damascus or Jericho, "Why does the world not believe in the certainty of God?"

On Christmas Eve, we know that the next day will be Christmas. On New Year's Eve, we know that the next day will be New Years. We know the certainties and absolutes of life-- the periodic table, atomic weights, laws of motion. We want our pilot, surgeon, musician, to be absolutely correct. I may not be right, but I want my doctor to be right, my president to be right, my pilot to be right, and, most of all, I want my pastor and my professed faith to be right.