I wrote this yesterday and forgot to post it.   Sorry!!

I've been reading the Proverbs again.  There is a lot of wisdom in those verses.  And some of them are humorous--but true.  "It is better to dwell in the corner of the housetop than with a brawling woman in a wide house."  Proverbs 21:9.  Pity the man who marries a loud bawdy woman.  What was it our mothers told us--"you can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar."

Proverbs 26:11 "As a dog returns to his vomit, so a fool returns to his folly."  Some people keep doing the same thing over and over again hoping for a different outcome.

Proverbs 12: 15 "The way of a fool is right in his own eyes.  But the person who hearkens to counsel is wise."  We all know people who never listen to anything.  Their minds are closed.  They never learn or advance their understanding.  They are right about everything and are stuck in their teens.

Give me a person that listens.  They may disagree with the speaker, but they will research to find truth.  When I'm in doubt, I have a select few people with whom I can discuss an issue.  They are able to see both sides of it and weigh the problem.  I hate to argue.  Discussion, however, helps me crystalize my thinking.

Proverbs 17:22 "A merry heart does a person good like a medicine: but a broken spirit dries up the bones."  I have friends that are always joyful.  I don't know exactly how they do it on a consistent basis, but they do.  And I love to be around them.  Joy begets joy.  I always feel better in their presence.  And of course, there are people I avoid because they are always "down."  Their lives are always half empty instead of half full.  I don't know why they are never happy.  But they aren't.

Jesus said, "These things I have spoken to you...that your joy may be full." John 15:11  Get yourself some of that.

Last Friday, I wrote that you need to choose good friends.  I was so inspired by that thought, that I got up on Saturday morning and drove to Pryor to see Carolyn and go to church and see all of my real friends.  The ones who have known me all my life--warts and all--and still love me.  It was wonderful.  I either got a hug or a smooch from everyone I knew and a few that I didn't.

And the pastor taught the best sermon I've ever heard on the Mosaic law.  His main point was that we are very judgmental of others.  And that is a sin because we have all broken the law.   One of those "Take the log out of your own eye before you try and take the speck out of your brother's eye" kind of sermons.

And I got to hear my friend Carolyn teach a lesson--which was excellent.  She is always excellent.  I had gotten a substitute for my class here so that I could have a weekend mini-vacation.  That's the first time I've been been to Pryor on a Sunday since I moved to Edmond.  I'm rejuvenated.  I miss being there.  You can't take your reputation with you when you move.  Of course you wouldn't want to if it was bad.

I left here at 7 AM and there were no cars on the turnpike.  I bet I didn't meet 20 on the eighty miles to Tulsa.  And there was a dense, dense fog.  That's when you get behind a semi and drive their tail-lights.  But I couldn't find a semi.  However, coming back to Edmond on Sunday evening, the road was bumper to bumper.  I've never seen so many cars.  And it was pouring down rain.  Difficult.

I got to hug Amy Smith.  She writes me encouraging notes on a regular basis.  I would name every friend I saw, but I would surely leave someone out.

Now that thanksgiving is over, remember that we have to continue to be thankful in our hearts every day.  The apostle Paul said it this way:  "In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you."   1 Thessalonians 5:18.  He didn't say "for" everything.  He said "in" everything.  We can all do that.

My Bible is falling apart.  The pages are falling out.  Many of them are torn.  Tea and coffee stains are on half the pages.  And I've got the cover bound together with duct tape.  I would get a new one, but there are so many notes on the edges of the pages that I would spend the rest of my life trying to transfer them.  I guess I will just keep picking up the parts when they fall out onto the floor.

I have another one exactly like this it,  and I had started to transfer some my notes, but just when I would make some headway, I would teach another lesson, write some new notes and forget where I was in the transfer process.  I think that one of these days, if I outlive this Bible, I will have to do something because like I said, it is falling apart.

Also it is like a diary.  Important dates are recorded.  When something happened in my life, I turned to scripture and noted the event and date.

And some verses are so unique that I underlined them.  Like Jeremiah 12:5 "If you have run with footmen and they have made you weary, how can you contend with horses."  An interesting piece of philosophy.  My interpretation:  "If you can't deal with two children, how in the world are you ever going to deal with four."  (And I didn't plan on four.  God planned for me to have four.)

And then there is:  "The fathers have eaten a sour grape, and the children's teeth are set on edge." Jeremiah 31:29  My interpretation:  "Whatever I do, it is going to affect my children.  Especially when I do something wrong."

And then there are the Proverbs with verses like Proverbs 27:17 "Iron sharpens iron; so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend."  My interpretation:  "You need to choose friends who have personal qualities that are good.  True.  Kind, faithful, honest and solid.  They will make you a better person."  

If you aren't becoming a better person, you need to ask yourself, "Why?"  Because God promises to change us from the inside out.  Our part is to choose good friends. 

Happy Thanksgiving.  Of course, we are thankful every day.  But it is a good thing to set a day apart to remember how God has blessed us.  What a privilege to live in America.  To know God.  To have people who love us.

I fed eleven people last night.  They just kept coming.  It's wonderful.  And they stayed through the night.   Every bed in my house was full and the sofas as well.  We ate ham and potato salad and baked beans and water melon.  And we had enough voices to sing all the old hymns.  All we needed was an alto.   I'm going to have to get my piano tuned.  It was the only thing out of key.

Becky is having everyone over today for turkey later.  Everyone brings food.  Becky bakes pies.  Eight of them from scratch.  I may just skip the turkey and go straight to the pie.

Two of my great grandchildren came and stayed last night.   Hallie is four and Haven is 15 months.  So much fun.  What a blessing that my grandchildren come and see me and stay for a couple of days. Of course, I love my children, but my grandchildren and great-grand children--well, those of you who have them understand.

God bless you and yours.

My friend Sally has been sharing the gospel story with her sister.  And she has carefully gone through the sequence that brings a person to Christ.  Since they live many miles and states apart, Sally got her sister a copy of The Living Bible, because that Bible is so easy to read, and has spent the last month or two reading the Bible long distance with her sister and explaining scripture to her.

Last week, Sally told me that her sister had become a Christian.  Which is truly a blessing because Sally's sister died yesterday and has gone to be with the Lord.  It is never too late to come to a realization of our need for Jesus.

My grandson's fiancé has a close family member who got sick last week (he is 29 years old) and when his wife got him to the hospital, he died almost immediately.  Bacterial meningitis.  He had a new son--a son who no longer has a father.  A tragedy.

Life is uncertain.  But each of us will come to an end.  Some will live to a ripe old age like me, and some will live only a short time like my daughter Amy.  There is no way to predict how many days you have.  Only God knows that.

And because our lives are so fragile, we need to take heed of the meaning of life.  Of why we are here.  We need to acknowledge the God who made us and get right with Him.  There is a God.  And everyone of us will stand before Him and give an account of what we have done with our lives.

We waste so much time on things that don't count in the long run.  Trivial things.  Get busy helping people, making friends and sharing what God has done in your life.  Sometimes people don't get a second chance.  They need to hear this fantastic story about how much God loves us.  What he has done for us.  And how to connect with him.

God became a man.  Jesus.  To show us what He is like.  To be a substitute sacrificial lamb for our sins.  I don't think I will ever understand why He would do that.

I picked the last of the okra and tomatoes on Friday before the freeze.  There were over 100 tomatoes that were still green, so I wrapped them in newspaper and put them in a dark, dark place.  I've done that for years, and always have ripe tomatoes for Christmas.  I guess I could make fried green tomatoes, but I'm trying to avoid fried food.

Because.....over the last forty years I've gained about one-half a pound a year.  I'm still thin, but I want those extra pounds off. The way I figure it is if I lose one-half a pound a week, I can take it off quickly without giving anything up.  Just make a few adjustments--like not frying things.  I'm lucky because I don't like ice cream or much of anything sweet.  It's bread that is my downfall.  I never met a carbohydrate that I didn't love.

I just noticed that this blog is number 1007.  I passed one thousand and didn't even know it.  That's enough pages for at least three books!!  Good grief.

I am really enjoying my Sunday class.  I think they have all figured out that I am a little bit of a ding-bat.  They laugh at my stories a lot.  That's good.  Sunday, I told them about living in Beaufort Carolina for three years.  1963-1966.  Along with a story Pat told me last week (that I had never heard before) about her and Becky and Scott going home with our house keeper for the weekend.  Ken and I were at a church retreat.  Anyway Pat told me about the three of them going home with Mrs. Washington and going to the "black" church.

She said it was a lot more fun than our church because everyone sang peppy songs and Mrs. Washington helped them raise their hands in the air and "get happy."  I don't know why I hadn't heard that story before, but there are a lot of stories that I haven't heard before.  The three of them stayed the night and ate "soul food."  And of course were an object of interest since they were "flour" white.

Kennedy was shot in 1963, and the world was on edge.  It's nice to know that three little white children could go home with a woman of another race and spend the weekend as part of her family and come home saying they wished we had a church like that.

Everything is good.   I am going to make cornbread and start the process of making dressing today.  I am in charge of dressing and gravy.  That's my job every year since Becky took over Thanksgiving.  Last year she made 14 pies.  From scratch.  Homemade crust--so flakey.  So good.  I think we ended up with 36 people.  The pies were gone by the end of the day.  So was most of the rest of the food.

I was going to order huckleberries so we could have a huckleberry pie but they were $100.00.  Not blueberries--if you live in Oklahoma, you know the difference.  I wonder if we will ever have a huckleberry pie again.  Nobody wants to pick them anymore.  They are teeny-tiny and it takes a million years to pick a quart.

One of the things I love about the day after TG is that Becky makes gumbo with what is left of the turkey.  Gumbo to die for.  And she packs containers for me so I can freeze it and enjoy it all winter long.  Yum.

This has been the strangest November.  It didn't freeze or even get cold until last Friday night.  The next day, Saturday the 19th, marked 3 years since I lost Ken.  It was a very cold day--in every way.  I can't believe it has been three years.

Ken told me (when he asked me to marry him) that the nine years difference in our ages wouldn't matter then, but that someday it would.  He was right.  I miss him.  But I'm okay.   I stay busy.  I guess God isn't through with me yet.  And unlike many people who have lost a spouse, I was prepared.  Because Ken was gone so much, I learned how to be independent.  How to function well by myself.

I don't like it.  But you have to live with what you've got.  This is my life now.  And I am determined to fill it up.  And try and be helpful.  And available to the needs of those who have something for me to do.  I have four children with wonderful spouses.  Ten grandchildren--six of them married to wonderful people, and three great-grandchildren.  Lots of friends and a church that keeps me busy.

But......I miss him.  I wish I had thanked him more often for what he meant in my life.

So.  While I have been writing about how God will put someone in your path to explain something to you when you are confused, something happened yesterday that reinforced that truth.

I had a doctor's appointment--one of those "every six months come in so that we can check you out" kind of appointments.  And while I am waiting, a young nurse engaged me in a conversation that quickly became Christian in content.  We talked for over thirty minutes about the problems she faced as a black woman, and mother of a young son.

I shared experiences with her.  She was so eager to hear what I had to say, and told me:  "This morning, I shut my bedroom door, got on my knees and prayed to God that he would send me someone to help me think through the problems that I was facing.  I can't believe that he has answered me so quickly.  You don't know how much you have helped me."

I have no idea what I said that helped her.  But I gave her my card, and that evening she texted me to thank me.

I wonder how many times I have missed the opportunities that God has put in my path.  How many times have you missed the opportunity that God has put in your path?

We are here on earth as ambassadors for Christ.  However, it takes awareness.  It takes boldness.  It takes preparation in God's word.

Once you have a heart for recognizing the opportunity,  God will use you for his work.

It sure does feel good.  And I've made a new friend.  That's what it's all about.

"And you shall seek me and find me, when you shall search for me with all your heart."  Jeremiah 29:13.  People who want to believe that there are many paths to God will say, "What about the people that live in the deep dark regions of Africa, or on unexplored islands, etc. who have never heard about Jesus?  You can't expect them to know what to do."  But consider this: The Ethiopian had never heard about Jesus.  He was living in Africa.  And when Phillip appeared and witnessed to him, the Ethiopian was traveling through Gaza, a desert.  The middle of nowhere.

God is in the business of rewarding those who seek him by giving them answers. We are just the vehicle that he uses--if we are willing.  Phillip could have questioned God.  He could have said, "Lord, I'm busy here in Samaria and thousands are coming to saving faith in Christ.  I'm sure you've made a mistake and don't really want me to just jump up and go to Gaza."

But Phillip didn't say that.  He did what God asked him to do.  If everyone does what God asks them to do, the world will hear the good news.  One person at a time.  However, we know that there are some who will refuse to listen.  Paul said it this way: "For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen...even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse...Romans 1:20.  There are those who will refuse to listen to God's voice.

Each individual--everyone everywhere--is accountable.  Because: "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the skies show his handiwork.  Day unto day they utter speech, and night unto night show knowledge.  There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard.  Psalm 19:1-3

Having seen God's work in the heavens, and the earth, the next step for each person is to seek answers.  And God promises to provide them.  If you seek Him, you will find him.  You will.

Four steps.  1.  Believe that there is a God.  A creator.   2.  Respond.  (This is where God has promised to come in and reveal himself.)   3. Repent and acknowledge that Jesus has paid your debt for sin.  4.  Trust Him.  With your life, your mind and your future.  That's it.  What is really neat is that God says that he will come and live within you and direct your paths.  That is the Holy Spirit.  "Christ in you, the hope of glory."  Colossians 1:27  What a deal.

Another thing that I recently learned while reading about Phillip and the Eunuch.  Phillip had gone to Samaria and was preaching Christ to them.  He was letting these Gentiles know that they could become Christians.  That they would never again be excluded.  And the people "...with one accord gave heed to those things which Phillip spoke to them..." Acts 8:6.

In the middle of preaching to thousands in Samaria, an angel appeared to Philip and told him to go to Gaza, a desert.  So Philip left what he was doing and went.  He saw the Ethiopian eunuch sitting in his chariot, reading Isaiah from a scroll.  We know this story.  Phillip shared the meaning of the passage that the man was reading, (from Is. 53:7) and told him that what he was reading had been fulfilled.  Jesus, the Christ had come, died and risen from the dead.  The Isaiah prophecy was now a fact.

So the eunuch believed.  And since they were near water, he was baptized.  Right there.  Right then.

And here is the thing that I learned from this passage which I have taught many times, and never thought about.  Phillip was in the middle of a revival.  Thousands were coming to Christ--people were believing the story that he and the disciples were telling them.  But God had Phillip leave the thousands and go out to an empty desert to witness to one man.

The individual is always important to God.  And when an individual begins to search for God and begins to search the Word of God, God responds.

"And you shall seek me and find me, when you shall search for me with all your heart."  Jeremiah 29:13.

People who want some other way to be saved say things like, "I think there are many paths to God."  The Bible says there is one way.  Jesus.  That's it.  And because God says that you will find Him if you seek Him,  he doesn't need a plan B.  Jesus is our savior.  He is the one who died for us.  Acts 4:12 "...there is no other name under the heaven that has been given among men by which we can be saved."   Look for Him and you will find him.

Someday in the future, I will continue into the second chapter of Genesis.  But not now.  I'm done.  Like I said, I'm probably not going to write about it anymore.  I'm through.  It's out there on the web for ever more.  Oct. 3, to Nov. 14, 2016.  My friend Amy Smith has forwarded it to her son in college.  I suggest you do the same if you have someone in your life who will benefit.

I have been teaching on Sunday from the book of Acts.  Every time I teach a story that I have taught many times before, I am amazed when I learn something new.  Last week I was telling about the man who had been lame since birth.  He sat outside the gate to the temple to beg.  Every day of his life!  And all the people who went into the temple (three times a day) knew him.  Recognized him.

Peter and John came by and he asked them for money.  They said they had no money but that they would give him what they did have.  "In the name of Jesus, rise and walk."  Then Peter took the man by the hand.  We sometimes tell people what they need to do, but don't take the next step and give them a hand.   You have to get them started on the next step.  And many times, the next and the next and the next.  That's called disciplining.

The lame man rose, jumped, leaped, and praised God.  But here is the thing I had missed when I previously taught this lesson.  Since he was lame, by Mosaic law, he couldn't enter the temple.  (Leviticus 21:17-18.)  The very first thing he did when he was healed was to run through the temple gate.  For the first time in his life he got to join the other worshipers inside the temple.  Jesus had made him whole.  And he gave his testimony to everyone who was there--praising Jesus.  Because of this, 5000 men became believers in the resurrected Christ.  And probably just as many women and Gentiles.

I was reminded of the Eunuch nobleman, who was not even Jewish, but had gone to Jerusalem to worship and had purchased a scroll from Isaiah.  Phillip met him and the Eunuch became a believer in Christ and asked, "What prevents me from being baptized?"  He was sure that since he was flawed that he wouldn't be able to be baptized.  Phillip baptized him.  Mosaic law was done with.  No more exclusions.  Our God has a big house.  Everyone is invited in.  There's a hallelujah party going on.

 

Day 7

Genesis 2: 2-3 "And  on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work...and God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it..."

Seven.  We are introduced to a number that has significance from Genesis to Revelation.  Here it seems to represent completeness.  We just know it means something to God because he uses the number seven repeatedly in his Word in other circumstances.

He rested.  We desperately need rest, but it doesn't seem to mean much in the world we live in.  One day is like another.  Everyone seems to be exhausted.  In your life, find a day and set it aside from your work.  Give yourself a day to rest.  I don't know what work means to you, but for me, gardening is not work.  For me it is pure joy.  I love to set aside a time each day when I am through with my work to go outside and get my hands in God's earth.  But for farmers, planting and harvesting is work.  They need rest from it.  Whatever your work is, find time to set that work aside and rest.

Sunday is another rest day for me.  I teach a class.  I go to worship. I renew fellowship with other Christians.   I read.  Historically, we Christians set Sunday apart for a day of worship.  I do.

God blessed the animals.   He blessed man.  And He blessed the seventh day.  (Which is Saturday.)  We honor Sunday because Jesus arose on Sunday.  But God went further.  He sanctified the seventh day.  We usually think of sanctification as a work that God does in us.  He finishes us into something pleasing to him.  But here he is finishing, bringing to a full end all His creative work.

I hope this review will help you as you teach your children and grandchildren that the Bible is true from cover to cover.  And the story of creation in Genesis is true in every detail and sequence.  It is important that they know this.  That the Bible is true--cover to cover.

The thing about not eating meat is pretty important.  Until Adam and Eve sinned, nothing had to die.   But when they did sin--that sin being disobedience--God required a live animal for a  sacrifice, a covering for sin. ( Genesis 3:21)  He made them coats of skins to cover their naked bodies.  He sacrificed an animal to cover their sin.  Then God casts them out of the garden lest they should eat of the Tree of Life and live forever.  The prototype for a sacrifice has just been set by God.  

Genesis 1:32  "And God saw every thing that He had made, and behold, it was very good."  (Everything that he had done was perfect at this point. ) "And the evening and the morning were the sixth day."

Genesis 2:1  "Thus the heavens and the earth were finished and all the host of them." (Millions and millions of animals.  Millions and millions of stars and galaxies.)

We aren't getting new animals on the earth.  Or anything else.  God was done.  Animals became prey after man sinned.  Animals have been going extinct (they are not evolving into other species) for thousands of years--because we have not done the five things that God asked us to do.  He asked us to care for the fish, birds, cattle (mammals), earth, and creeping things.  That means that we must also care for the water, air, food for animals, soil, and the clean up crew of creeping things.  We are responsible for the habitat of all creatures.  We've pretty much blown that.  Just in the ocean, there are islands of discarded plastics.  And discarded fishing nets.  They trap and kill whales and other large animals every day.  And then there is smog, air pollution.  And chemical waste in the soil.

My brother (doctor, missionary to China) said that they tested all of the children they treated in China including their own children and  hundreds of missionary children, and without exception, every one of them tested well above the acceptable level for lead in their bodies.  China dumps everything in the soil--just as we used to do.   Produce that is coming up out of the ground is not coming up roses.

I am done with explaining the sequence of events after Gen.1:1  The word 'create' is used to describe three events.  1. The heavens and the earth.  2.  New kinds of animals.  3.  Humans in the image of God.   The word 'let'  or 'made' is used for everything else.

So did you decide what REplenish means?  That the earth needed to be re-plenished.  It says  that there was probably life before Adam.  You can't replenish something that was never plenished.

I find that amazing.  How  could someone only a few thousand years ago write an account of the life on earth before Adam with such  scientific accuracy on their own?!!    They had no way of knowing anything about such things.   That information had to come from a God that inspired the writer of Genesis.  I think it says for certain that the Bible is the word of God.

 God revealed it.  Someone wrote it down.  Truth always stays true.  The writer didn't know about dinosaurs,  but could use the word "Replenish"  without any problem at all.  He trusted God's supreme knowledge over his own  limited knowledge.

Science that is fact--and not theory--will never be in contradiction with God's word.  Because God's word is truth.  Truth that always stays true.  It never changes.  The theories of man change all the time.  I have a collection of publications that I have cut from newspapers, scientific journals, etc. that go back for over fifty years that announce that "they" have changed their mind about something.  Or revised "their" theory about something.  You never have to revise the Bible.

Day six is almost over. but God speaks again to the male and female:  He has given them their first instruction.  "Be fruitful and multiply.  Replenish the earth."  Now he tells them something else.

Genesis 1:29  "And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face on the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat."  At this point, man was a vegetarian. Fruit and herbs were their meat.  No animal had to die for them to eat food.

Was Adam the first man.  Yes.  He was the first man we know anything about.  He was a very different kind of man than any creature that had come before him.  How???  Continued............

God spoke to the animals and said, "Be fruitful, and multiply..."

He told us to have dominion over the fish, birds, cattle, earth, and creeping things.

Genesis 1:27  "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them."  More about this later.

Genesis 1:28  " And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air  and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth."

So we get His blessing.  What more could a man or a woman want than the blessing of God?  And then he tells us the same thing that he told his animals:  "Be fruitful and multiply... and have dominion over it..."

But in the middle of all that, he tells us to "...replenish the earth..."   Replenish?   Think about that.  Could it have been "Plenished" before this?  Perhaps between Genesis1:1 and Genesis1:2?

Re----plenish.  God's first words to man.  And we have perverted reproduction--God's gift to a man and wife.  The first thing he told us to do.  The world has turned the gift of God into recreation and entertainment.  We will have to answer for this at the judgment.

The Tulsa newspaper had an article in it on the age (strata) of the Grand Canyon.  Some say it is 70 billion years ago, (probably a misprint).  Some say it was carved 55 million years ago.  Others say 17 million years ago. Some say it is only 5 or 6 million years old.   Mercy.  All those dates in one article.

Fossils are dated by strata--the layer they are in.  It is a very inexact (!) science.  No one agrees or seems to be able to rectify the vast differences in the opinions concerning strata.  And we're supposed to date dinosaurs by the strata they are in?  Everyone does agree that they are very, very old.

Every fossil, every bone, creates this kind of disparity in opinions.  Todays' animals (mammals) aren't all that old in geological time.  Hence, the mad scramble science is having in trying to tie today's animals (by evolution theory) to the dinosaurs that vanished.

When God said, "...let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind..."  He didn't mean, "Dem' bones, dem bones, dem dry (dinosaur)  bones...". Many of these living creatures were new.   Only birds are considered scientifically to be dinosaurs.  (Look at the scaly leg of a chicken.)

Day six is ending.  But God isn't through yet.  Day six is a really big, big day.

Genesis 1:26-27 "And God said, Let us make man in our image after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air and over the cattle, and all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.  So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them."  This is the third time in the first chapter this word create is used.

And, what about that word "us."  And "our."  Recall John 1:1-3.  "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.  The same was in the beginning with God.  All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made."  The triune God.

More tomorrow.  Day six is a long day.  And I have a lot to say.  Bear with me.

I have gone through the first two chapters of Genesis before.  Twice.  This third time is it.  I'm not going to do it again.  If you want to learn about it, go back to Oct. 3, 2016 and read through November.  After I finish it this time, I'm through.  I'm going to write about something else.

Evolve:  To change.  We are evolving--as I said at the beginning, we humans are losing our wisdom teeth among other things (as a species).  But we are not evolving into something else.  We aren't going to turn into a frog.  If ever our species should need those teeth again to gnaw food, we would, over time, by natural selection, regain them.  Because we carry those genes for wisdom teeth.

Natural selection.  Survival of the fittest.  Both are results of conditions.  Enough.  I could go on about this for hours.  Suffice to say, we stay recognizable.  Sharks, crickets, crocodiles...and a zillion other animals...are easily recognizable from millions and millions of years ago.  Those animals have not become some other animal.  They are today just what they were then.  They survived the darkness in the water.  The land dinosaurs didn't evolve.  They died out.  Period.

Day six.   New animals suddenly appear.  Cattle for one thing.  What in the world would the human race do without cows and goats and all the wonderful things such animals provide us.  My only question is:  why would God make pigs and then deny all that ham and bacon to the Jews.  I'm glad he didn't deny bacon to Gentiles and Christians.  Bacon needs to be a food group.

Genesis 1:24-25 "And God said: Let (just think how many times this word has appeared!!!) the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle and creeping thing, and and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.   And God made (the third word I mentioned was "made") the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and everything the creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good."  Chapter 1 tells us that God created these new animals.

Now, all those animals need, are names.  God is getting ready to take care of that.

We're still in day five.  God finally speaks to his creation:  Genesis 1:22  "And God blessed them, saying,  'Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let (there is that word  'let'  again) fowl multiply in the earth.'"  These are the first words that God has spoken.

I love blessings.  "And God blessed them."  Sometimes our pastor reads a blessing from the Bible at the end of our church service. I find comfort in the fact that the God we worship started his dialog with the world in the form of a blessing.  He told all of his creatures to reproduce.  God invented reproduction--and blessed it.

When you study embryonic division of cells, the miracle of the creation of life is indescribable.  One cell divides.  Then both of those cells divide.  Cells divide again and again.  And each new cell knows what to become.  Our God is an awesome God.

At this period in the life of the earth, new animals appear--and this is not so long ago in geological time.  Note:  We are not evolving anything new.  Today, animals are becoming extinct.  Hundreds of species vanish each day.  The dinosaurs appeared millions of years ago, then they start disappearing, not evolving into other creatures.  They died off.  Gone.

And yet, all at once, an entire  plethora of animals appear on earth.  Scientists struggle to explain this.  They keep looking for missing links.  Problem is, there are millions and millions of missing links--and nothing in strata to validate an evolutionary process.  Nothing to explain the appearance of these new species.  That is, nothing except a miracle.

Genesis 1:23 "And the evening and the morning were the fifth day."

Continuing day five.

 Genesis 1:21  "And God created great whales, (behemoths) and every living creature that moves, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good."   This is only the second time that the word "Create" appears in the Bible.

This word will be used only one more time in the book of Genesis.  When God creates man.

The evolution theorist says that everything that lives today originated in water.  The Bible agrees to a point.  The Bible says "...which the waters brought forth...".   However, mammals didn't.  They are a new thing.  So is man as we know him today.

There are so many things that I don't have the energy or endurance to tell you about the scientific truth of Genesis, but suffice to say, I am trying to hit the high points.  One thing you might be interested in is the Triassic, Jurassic, and  Cretaceous  periods-- called the Mesozoic Era--goes back 245 million years ago.  At the end of this Era, Dinosaurs became extinct--and that was a very short time ago.  Wham.  Everything changed.  Almost everything vanished.  The fossil record drys up for over 60 million years.  Except for animals that lived in the water.

Now,  how we are supposed to have evolved in the short time--since life on land died out--is a mystery to me.  This is where a good knowledge of statistics comes in handy.  If--as the evolution theorist claims--we are supposed to have evolved from something that simply vanished--it would be statistically impossible in the time left--after the Mesozoic Era--until now, to do it.  Statistically.

We are living in the Cenozoic Era.  And only in the tiny last part of this Era does man appear.

God was done with dinosaurs.  He started a new kind of life.  He created great whales, (mammals).  He..."created every living creature that moves..."  He created new animals.  A different kind.

Day five.  Here is where the fun begins.  The earth is ready.  The sea is ready,  The grass, flowers, and trees are ready.  The old dinosauric life is gone--with a some exceptions such as crocodiles, armadillos, crickets, numerous 'bugs'--just to name a few species that could live in water and damp, dark, murky places--that made it through the destruction.  Genesis 1:2 "And the earth was without form, and void: and darkness was upon the face of the deep...."

And of course,  almost all of the fish were still there.  They didn't care if the world was dark and formless.

When I worked with the dissection of birds--which sometimes swim, and fish--that sometimes fly, it was very noticeable that the fin of the fish and wing of the bird are very similar.  Their tails as well.  Neither have lungs like we do, (with a few exceptions).  So if you are a Christian Darwinist (which is an oxymoron to me),  this next verse might give you comfort.  But only on the subject of birds and fish.

Genesis 1:20  "And God said, Let (let again) the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that has life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament (sky) of heaven."

One species survived the destruction because it lived in the water, the other in the air.  Birds might have made it by nesting in floating debris.  And there was probably a lot of that.  Understand, I am giving an account of how what we know scientifically might fit into the Biblical account.

The tide--the force that now drives the motion of the oceans--is bringing creatures onto land.  Crabs, fish that prefer to lay eggs in sand and then go back to the sea.  Turtles as well.  Many creatures of the sea had no problem using both sea and land--thus providing a food source for the abundant life that is getting ready to appear in Genesis 1:21.  Sunshine and tides changed everything for these water creatures.

I absolutely love this book.

Someone asked me, "What difference does all this make?  Why does it matter so much to you?"

If Genesis does not stand up to the test of true and validated science, then, there is room for doubt in the hearts of those who are not educated on the facts of the Bible.  Especially our children.  We must hold the conviction that all of the Bible is true and that it is always true.  Once there is doubt about one part of the Bible, then how do you pick and choose what is true and what isn't.  We must rectify the truth of Genesis with true science.  That is why we must know what Genesis really says and what it does not say.

I want to know the truth.  That was my only motive for work in Zoology, Physics, Math, and Statistics.  I  wanted to be able to judge what was absolutely true in science.  And what wasn't.

I knew in my heart that the Bible was the true word of God.  I wanted to know what scientists knew for absolute sure, and what they were speculating on.  What was fact and what was just theory.  I was amazed.  Over and over again in the last fifty years science has reversed course, changed their minds, and recanted their 'facts'.  The book of Genesis has remained the same.  But if evolution theory is wrong, they have no where else to go--except for a Creator.  Which is no longer politically correct.  Sad, but true.  Their latest theory is that we came from outer space.  Duh.

Remember, everything scientists discover--atoms, molecules, distant planets, black holes--and the list goes on and on--God made.  He already knows everything about everything he made.  We don't.

The world will disparage your faith if you don't understand Genesis.  They will say that you and I believe the world is 3000-6000 years old--which it obviously isn't.  They will mock your faith. I am amazed at the things some people believe that it says--which it doesn't.

That's why it matters.

Genesis 1:19  "And the evening and the morning were the fourth day."