When God created man, He did something entirely different than when He created all other life.  "...the Lord God formed man...and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." Genesis 2:7  That breath, the Spirit of God, is what made the human soul.  God didn't breathe Spiritual life into any other animal.  Only man.  And only humans have the capacity to hold His Spirit.  We have a unique place within us that God intended to be filled with Himself.

We were created specifically with the capacity to hold God within us.  That is what salvation is--God himself living inside us.  Paul explained what happens when a human receives the Spirit of God within his heart:  "For it is God which works within you both to will and to do His good pleasure." Philippians 2:13  God within us is what causes us to want to do his will.

Paul said this to the Corinthians in 5:17 "...I live, yet not I, but Christ lives within me..."  We have physical life like the animals, but we are unique because we have a greater capacity than the animals.  We have the capacity for Spiritual life.

Adam had it.  But after sin occurred, people were born empty.  Sin made us unfit to hold God's Spirit.  But God had a plan to restore us and to put his Spirit back within the human heart.  "A new heart...I will give you, and a new spirit will I put within you...I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes...and do them."  Ezekiel 36:26-27  We may be incapable of being Christ-like, but God isn't.  God's plan was to reconcile man to Himself by dying for our sin.

This "Spirit within" the human body is unique.  We read in the Bible about the only other human born with (starting out with) the indwelling Spirit in 1 Corinthians 15:45  "And so it is written, the first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam became a life-giving Spirit."  Another version says: "The Scriptures tell us that the first man, Adam, became a living person, But the last Adam--that is Christ--is a life-giving Spirit."

Getting the Spirit of God back where God intended it to be is the entire message of the gospel.   "Christ in you, the hope of glory." Colossians 1:27

I have been writing about trivialities in my life since I finished the sequence of Genesis--first chapter.  But I am going to go deep, pick up where I left off, and get to the heart of God's plan for the man he designed.  God didn't just randomly design and create a human, he had a plan for man's purpose.  It wasn't just some wild idea that God dreamed up for his own amusement.

So what was it??  I think you would have to start with His decision to create a universe.  And an earth.  Did space exist?  What is space anyway?  Where did it come from?  How far does it extend?  And ultimately:  Why?  Why are humans in it?

Followed by the eternal question that plagues all believers:  Where did God come from?

If you are any kind of reflective person at all, in any way, I'm sure that you have pondered that question for a second or two before you realized that it is unanswerable.  When Moses asked that question, God said:  "I am that I am..." Exodus 3:14  That's the answer he gave us.  He is.

God is God.  How can any human consider the existence of our universe, and the total improbability of it being here at all, without a cause behind it.  I don't get it--why don't people examine the implications of their belief.  To say that God "isn't" is like saying "we aren't."

God--the creator--is.  There is a power behind the existence of space.  Of matter.  Of planets.  Of humans.  Of the thing we call life.  Life of animals.  Life of plants.  Life of you and me.  Life.  The journey of the human mind must come to the conclusion that there is something behind the miracle of our existence, and the existence of the space, the vast universe that we inhabit.  It came from somewhere.  We came from somewhere.

We are.  And God is.  It is simply too improbable to believe otherwise.  Connecting man to the God who created him is the whole purpose of the Bible.

I'm on my way home today.  And I can't wait to sleep in my own bed with my own pillow.  It's amazing how small things are so frustrating as I age.  My tolerance goes down every year.  I think I'm getting crotchety.

It could be the same brand of mattress and pillow and the thermostat set at the same degree, but it's not the same.  Home is home.

I understand why Ken said--when he came home from Nam and retired after 21 years of deployments, "God willing, I will sleep in my own bed, in my own house and on my own pillow for the rest of my life."

I wonder why people got started talking about heaven as "Going home."  Maybe because home is so dear to us.  It's not that we have a lot or a little, but that we know where everything is.  I have built a "nest" around my recliner in my living room.  Scotch tape, stamps, kleenex, pens, a calendar to write notes on, a white out pen, lotion for my hands, finger nail clippers, etc. etc.  Everything you can think of is in a basket, within reaching distance.

I don't have to get up and go look for anything.  I have an antique walnut three drawer chest next to the chair that holds everything else I can possibly think of.

Except hot tea.  I have to get up to get my tea.

I wonder what heaven will be like.  I hope it is a little bit like home.

One thing we can be sure of, it will be perfect.

I went to Pryor again.  It's unusual for me to go again so soon, but Squig needed to have his teeth cleaned.  They take good care of him at the Pryor Vet.  However, in the rush to get out of the house with everything I needed for two days, I forgot to post what I wrote the night before.

I think that maybe I've been trying to do too many things at once.  I left Edmond at 5:45, had breakfast with Carolyn at 8:00, unloaded an IBM that I didn't need any more at the computer store so they could find someone to donate it to. (Turns out they are giving it to my brother and sister-in-law for a mission of the church that they are involved in--I should communicate with my own family better!!)  While I was there, I gave Steve a disk to copy--10 more.  People keep asking for it.  (The ceremony at Arlington for Ken.)

Then I picked up a piece of jewelry at Ivan's that Kerry had reset in a new mounting.  Next I went to my old church to make a donation to Lottie Moon--I would do it at my church in Edmond, but they split it into a bunch of missions and I want mine to go exclusively to overseas missions because the brother that I failed to communicate with (noted above) was a missionary to China.

Next I had a doctor's appointment.   Which made me late for a funeral for a lady who helped me raise my children during the years I was so sick.  She practically became a permanent member of our family for over 60 years.  Loved her.  And finally grabbed lunch at 3:30.  Then went see my granddaughter Meagan's new house--and see my great-grandchildren and spend time with them.  It has been a very busy day.  Found time to ask God a couple of times to give me a safe trip driving.

So now, I'm still in Pryor after a long night with Squiq and Becky's dog Annie crawling all over me all night.   (As long as I was coming here, I brought them both)  I'm tired before I even get going.  I'm too old for this.

Maybe I will sleep tonight.  "You will keep a person in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on God."  Ecclesiastes 9:10

Tired, but peaceful.

Squig is not very smart.  Bless his heart, he is sweet and loving, but I don't think he will ever learn to fetch.  I have tried all the suggested methods to get him to bring his toy back to me when I throw it, but nothing seems to work.  He is not motivated by treats at all, which makes it difficult.

But some things, he learns.  He will lie around all day, sleeping on the sofa.  But when I put on my shoes he comes unglued, begins to yelp, squeak, and dance all over the family room.  If I am going somewhere, he wants me to know for sure that he wants to go with me. I guess he has learned that when I put on my shoes, I am leaving in the car--since I pad around barefoot most of the time while I am in the house.

But if I tell him, "I''ll be back in a minute," he stops prancing around and just stares pitifully at me as I leave.  So maybe he isn't completely dumb.

When I let him go with me, I tell him to "get in the car" and open the car door for him.  Which he won't hop into--until he has made a complete circuit all the way around the back of the car, past the passenger side, past the front of the car and back to the driver's door where I stand patiently waiting on him while he does laps.  And then, instead of getting in the open door, he always goes under it before he hops in.  Which is difficult because there isn't much room to jump in that way.  I haven't been able to convince him that there is an easier way to do it.

I wonder if there are things that God is trying to teach me that I am just as head-strong about.   Am I running circles around things that need to be done, (like Squig running around the car). Things that I am so in the habit of doing my way that I fail listen to God, or notice that he is holding a door open for me--and fail to recognize that he has a better way for me to do it.

I said that Squig was not very smart.  I bet that sometimes God thinks the same thing about me.

Becky Bacon came to stay with me yesterday and left today.  So much fun.  She is married to Joe Mike--you may remember that I told you that he was Garth Brooks pilot for a number of years.  Vietnam veteran, aviator.  He and Ken were wonderful friends and Becky reminded me of how all of us met.  I had forgotten this story.

She and Joe were living in St. Louis and needed to move closer to Texas--where his mother was--but stay within driving distance of St. Louis--where Becky's son was.  So in a conversation with Richard Dickerman--a China missionary who was visiting his ailing mother in St. Louis, (Becky was an R.N. caring for his mother), Richard suggested that they move to Pryor as it was halfway between St. Louis and Texas.  Richard told them that he had served in China for many years with a missionary doctor that was from Pryor and told them how wonderful Dr. Swan was and that he would be an instant friend.  So Becky and Joe moved there.

Cut to the day I met Becky.  I started going to a Bible study at my church, saw Becky and knew she was new.  I asked her who she was and how long she had been in Pryor.  She told me that she and Joe Mike had just moved to town.  I asked her what they were doing in Pryor, and she said a friend had suggested it as a half-way point between Texas and St. Louis.  He said it was a great town and that it was the home town of a missionary friend of his in China, Dr. Swan, and did I know him. I answered yes, and she asked what was he like.

"He's a real brat," I said.  She was shocked.  She said, "Everything I've heard about him was so very positive and wonderful.  I can't imagine why don't you like him."   "Well," I said, "I like him okay, but from an older sister's point of view, growing up, he was ornery." And I told her the story of how he would get home before I did from school, get the mail and hide my letters from Ken.  And a dozen other stories of growing up with a little brother.

"I can't believe that the first person I have met in Pryor is Bill Swan's sister,"  Becky said!  We then began to talk about our husbands, their common experience as military pilots.  Later, Ken and Joe met each other and instantly bonded.  Ken called Joe his little brother.  They became best friends.

Becky said that Joe was so proud to be Ken's friend.  That feeling was mutual.  That was twenty-two years ago.  It seems like yesterday to me.  It seems like yesterday to Becky as well.

What you believe determines how you live your life.  Whether it is true or not.  For instance, when you were little, your mom made sure you washed your hands with soap.  So without knowing any better, we assumed that soap killed germs.  Which isn't true.

Soap cuts grease and oil.  Which loosens dirt and allows dirt, grease and oil to be washed away.  But the only germs that soap gets rid of is the germs contained the dirt, grease and oil.  Everything else lives on happily on your hands.  Washing hands is very important, but in a hospital you want to be sure that after the nurse or doctor wash their hands with soap, that they swish disinfectant on their hands before they touch you.  Bottles of disinfectant are attached to the side of the door in every room in the hospital for just that reason.  To kill germs.

It is the same way in our spiritual life.  What we believe spiritually also determines how we live our lives.  For instance, if you believe that all roads lead to heaven, you will miss the narrow path that actually leads you there.  And convinced that what you believe is true, you won't look for the truth.

When we believe something, we usually stop looking any further.  That is why it is so important to have a regular daily habit of reading the Bible.  Even if it is only for a minute or two.  It is a book of God's truth.  Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the light.  No man comes to the Father except by me." John 14:6  If you don't believe what Jesus said, someday you are going to be shocked when you find out that what you believed in this life didn't get you to where you wanted to go for eternity.

You can't cram learning about God into a weekend.  It has to be a daily progression in that direction.  My Grandson asked me this week how I knew where to find things in the Bible.  I told him it was because I started reading it when I was seven years old and continued doing that for all my life.  Little by little I learned what was in it, and how to find what I was looking for when I had a question.

Start.  Take a step towards God.  It's never too late.  Learn a little bit every day.  He's the best friend you will ever find.  He loves you.  He knows your name.