Posted on May 24, 2014
Digging in the Dirt, Part 1
The cold wind howled furiously around me as I knelt on the barren ground to pick up a sparkling rock that had caught my eye. I turned the rock over in my hand, enamored with its beauty and structure. I then proceeded to take pictures of it and sit on the ground to see what other interesting rocks might be there. About that time, one of my fellow diggers excitedly came over to ask if I had found a fossil. “No,” I replied enthusiastically, “it’s a rock!” My companion shrugged and wandered away, apparently not sharing my excitement about the rock. Oh well – I can’t expect everyone understand the joys of rocks in the same way I do.
Last week, I had the privilege of getting to go on my first real dig in Kansas. Although I have worked with a fossil museum for nearly two years, the opportunity to go on a dig didn’t really work out until recently, as college classes usually took priority over my time. I really wasn’t sure what to expect, and was a little bit nervous that I wouldn’t know what to do or would be one of those people who is constantly finding black rocks and asking if it’s a fossil. Thankfully, I ended up knowing more than I thought I did about working at a dig site and adjusted to the new scene fairly well. It was not exactly easy work, with running all around and adjusting to a new climate, but I absolutely loved it and can hardly wait to go on another dig.
When we find a fossil, we don’t typically just pick up the fossil or dig them all out at the dig site itself. The most scientific way to excavate bones is to create and record a grid around the discovered fossil, properly showing the compass directions, so that we can learn more about how the creature died and was buried during the global flood we read about in Genesis. We also create field jackets out of plaster and burlap to wrap around the fossil and the dirt surrounding it (called the matrix). These field jackets help protect the bones, preserving them just the way they were found until we can get them back to the lab to be fully excavated, molded, and/or chemically tested. Several months before going on the dig, I was able to work on field jackets that the team had excavated from the Kansas dig site on a previous trip. Being familiar with the field jackets made it a lot easier to work on the dig site.
Next week, I will explain more about the dig and why the fossils are important. Of course, I’m quite sure that my geologist side will come out a little and I will probably say at least a few things about the rocks. Until then, go outside to your own backyard to appreciate the beauty of the rocks and sky where you are, giving praise to the marvelous Creator Who made them (and you too).
Posted on May 2, 2014
Filling the Gaps
Do you have special skills or gifts that you like to use to serve the Lord and those around you? Maybe music is your thing, and you leap at the opportunity to join your church choir. Perhaps you are good at woodworking and like to create things to help solve someone’s problems. You may enjoy working in children’s ministry or teaching . . . the list could go on and on. We typically like using our talents for good, but what if there are needs in your community that go beyond your skill-set and comfort zone? It’s easy to sit back and just wait for someone else to take on those jobs , someone who is more qualified or better equipped, but today I would like to challenge you to step up to whatever job you fear and give it a try.
To be completely honest, I have never enjoyed working on computers. I love paper, pens, pencils, and books I can smell and touch – not Apple or any of the new devices that do everything in the palm of your hand. I can think of at least a hundred things I’d rather do than web design. However, I love to write and I love to inform people about creation science, so I have been writing a blog for nearly two years and I am trying to help my local creation ministry keep up a website. No, these are not my strengths, and no, I’m not really “qualified” to do many of the things I do, but I try my best to learn how to do whatever needs to be done. If there were other, more qualified, people to do the job, I’d be glad to let them have it, but I have learned a lot from doing things outside my comfort zone.
Sometimes a job just needs to get done. It takes a willing servant’s heart to step up and fill a gap that isn’t really your forte. You must choose to humble yourself according to the task or your community may suffer from the service gap. In our world, it’s easy to get wrapped up in ourselves and thinking that we are the ones who are doing this ministry or that service project, but if that were really the case, we would all be pretty pathetic and hopeless. The truth is that it’s not about what we can do or give, but about how God works and gives, lovingly choosing to use us to be His messengers and servants. It’s not about my strength or my talents, but about God’s strength and His unfathomable grace. Is God calling you to fill a gap serving Him? Are you willing to say “yes” to whatever work He gives you to do, or are you going to let your pride and fear of failure get in the way of letting God use you in His mighty work? Just some things to think about.
Posted on April 22, 2014
Planning Patiently
Do you ever wish you could be in control of your own life – to not only have things nicely planned out, but for those plans to always work out? I’ll confess that sometimes I do. Attempting to plan my own life is a bit like a sport to me, as I am constantly coming up with new colleges I might attend, different specialties I could have, places I want to travel to, or ministries I might get involved in. My family members have learned to brace themselves a little when I announce, “I have an idea . . .” However, if I look back on the ways God has actually worked in my life, I realize that the experiences I have learned to most from or enjoyed were not really things I planned, but just “happened”.
For example, some of my favorite trips were my Grand Canyon excursion (obviously, due to the great quantity of posts I’ve written about it), the 30-hour vacation to California one spring in the middle of the week, and the quick trip to Woodward Oklahoma to see the Stegosaurus project I had contributed to where nothing really went according to plan. Of course, the Grand Canyon excursion had to be planned well in advance, but what most people who know me don’t know about this excursion is that it was actually a “Plan B” that turned out to be way better than my silly “Plan A” ever could have been. A day trip to California from Texas, really? Yes – it was the most fun least sleep I have ever had on a family vacation. As for the Woodward trip, which I did not intend to even go on until two days before I left, we laughed a lot about all the silly little plights we managed to get ourselves into within just 24-hours.
The same concept usually applies to my bigger “plans” that determine the course of my life. I am often puzzled when God shuts a door, but later realize that it was all a part of a much bigger plan than I could have ever imagined. As I have begun to encounter intimidating crossroads, realizing that the decisions I make now will probably influence me for the rest of my life, I have come to understand that the only plan I want for my life is God’s plan. Yes, I enjoy coming up with ideas and plans (perhaps you do too) and God often uses those ideas, but I have learned (and am still learning!) to hold my dreams with an open hand. Yes, it’s a scary thought not knowing what is around the corner, but it is also an opportunity to trust God, pray, and remember His goodness in the past. I hope that my stories encourage you to trust God with your plans, whether they be for a summer vacation or the rest of your life.
Posted on April 7, 2014
The Bigger Picture
It’s spring and my life has been a hustle and bustle of studying, writing, tutoring, social obligations, and working on projects. I start getting overwhelmed, knowing that I have less than a month left before finals, which will also mean preparing for graduation and planning where I want to continue my education in addition to scheduling my travels for the year. It’s easy for all of us to get absorbed in the activities of our own little daily lives and miss the whole reason we are doing the things we do. We get stuck in the stress of today and forget the bigger picture of what God is doing in our lives and in the world around us.
During this semester of college, I have been taking a golf class (required PE credit for science majors) that conveniently happened to be held at the golf course at the end of my block. Since all the other things I seem to get myself into tend to be a bit of a drive, including most of my college classes, I jumped at the chance for a two-minute commute to a class. Sometimes while on the golf course, I’ll look out and see my house in the distance – the house I’ve lived in for the past fourteen years with the backyard I played in as a child – and think of how small, plain, and insignificant it looks from a distance.
We tend to get so caught up in the details of our own lives and all the problems that accompany them in this fallen, sin-cursed world we live in so much that we miss the beautiful things God is doing around us. It is as if I chose one cellist in the orchestra to focus on and faded the sound coming from the rest of the orchestra. Since the melody is rarely the primary objective in the cello part, you might be confused and find it hard to figure out why the music suddenly stopped for a few seconds, started suddenly, and ended on a flat note. Looking at the individual puzzle piece of the details of our own lives, it is sometimes hard to see how it connects to all the other things around us and ultimately makes a bigger and more beautiful picture than we would have ever dreamed.
I was on one of my longer drives to another class and as I looked out of my windshield, the thought occurred to me that spring had finally come and there really were green things out there, in spite of the persistent drought conditions. In spite of the droughts in your life – whether they are struggles with relationships, finances, work, etc., – God is still working on creating something big and beautiful for the greater goal of His glory. We are not the key players or the main characters in this story of life; rather, it is all about God and His glory. We may not be able to truly see the real big picture until we reach Heaven, but by God’s grace we can see things a little bit beyond our own lives every day.
Posted on March 16, 2014
What’s Wrong With the Christians?
Why is it that Christians in leadership so often fall into the very sins they preach against or become corrupt by the desire for money and power? This is a question that has been prodding my mind recently. It has been hard for me to see some of the Christians I looked up to and admired growing up fall very hard. As a Christian young woman who might some day be involved in ministry leadership, I have frequently wondered how (and if) I can keep from the terrible sins that have destroyed so many ministries and great Chrstians.
As I was pondering this terrible phenomenon, one question stuck in my mind: “Are all people just corrupt?” Of course, the answer is a definite “yes”. Whether we are great Christian leaders, church-goers, atheists, politicians, drug addicts, terrorists, or do-gooders we are all susceptible to sin and corruption. In Romans 3, it says that ” . . . there is none righteous, no, not one” (verse 10) and “all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (verse 23). Sin is a problem for all people, not just the unsaved, because we are all descendants of Adam and Eve, therefore we all inherit a sinful nature.
Does this mean that we’re all hopeless and bound to make dreadful mistakes that will destroy our ministries and offend unbelievers?Romans 5:19 says, “For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.” Because of Jesus’ grace we no longer have to live under the power of sin – we are free, no longer slaves to sin but servants and children of God.
But what about all those people who have been hurt or betrayed by these sinning Christian leaders? Our hurts cannot be erased, but as individuals we can choose to forgive these people, letting go of bitterness that will only drag us down and hurt us more. With God’s help, we can choose to follow the lead of Jesus and love those who hurt us, offering them grace and forgiveness. Who am I to not forgive another sinner who Christ has also forgiven?
Maybe you still struggle with trying to forgive these people. Here’s a question to ask yourself: did you read books and articles, listen to sermons, and go to conferences to hear what _______ (fill in the blank) had to say or did you do those things because you were seeking God with His glory and righteousness? Go live and forgive, remembering Who this is all about.
Posted on March 8, 2014
“Let it Go” – A Creationists Thoughts on “Frozen”
It was a chilly evening in early January and I was sitting in the back of my friend’s car with the lift-gate wide open, huddling under a pile of blankets and jackets. It may not have seemed like an ideal drive-in movie theater experience, but the chilly winds made a very appropriate setting for the movie Frozen. That evening I had several thoughts about some of the elements in the movie –thoughts from a creationist perspective – that I wanted to share with y’all here.
Frozen is the story of two princess sisters, Elsa and Anna, and their relationship with each other. Elsa, the older sister, was apparently born with strange magical powers – when she touches things or moves her hands, it makes creations in ice and snow. At the beginning of the movie, Elsa and Anna are little girls who love playing together, but their world completely changes when Elsa accidentally hurts Anna with her powers. Although Anna recovers and forgets about the accident, Elsa and her parents are overwhelmed by the fear of her hurting someone else worse, so they decide to isolate Elsa from everyone (including Anna).
I do not endorse the use of magic in this movie, or really in any movie or book. The reason I wanted to write about this movie is not because of its deviation from reality, but because of how relatable the story is. Like Elsa, we have each been specially created with unique gifts, abilities, or talents. Just as Elsa’s “powers” could harm – even kill – other people, our talents can either be used for good or for evil. Sometimes we are paralyzed by the fear of wrongly using these gifts so much that we try to suppress our talents, hide ourselves, and even cut the people we love most out of our lives. It takes balance to learn to use our gifts for good.
In Matthew 25, Jesus tells the parable of a master who left his servants, loaning them each a certain amount of money, expecting them each to invest their money wisely until he returned. God expects us to use what He has given us for His glory. He also expects us to love one another as He has loved us – not isolating ourselves and hiding our gifts. When Elsa learned to find a balance between “letting it go” and loving others she was able to make beautiful things that helped her community and her relationship with Anna. The same can be true for each one of us.
Posted on February 23, 2014
More Than Anything Else: A Simple Poem
This simple little poem just came to me this weekend – hope you enjoy it. Don’t worry though, there will be more articles in the Plate Tectonics series soon.
More Than Anything Else
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So many things call for my attention;
So many are saying “look here!” or “listen!”
So many things are consuming my time;
So many dreams pull my heart different ways;
So many desires and longings in heart.
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And yet there is One above everything;
One Who gave His life that I may live;
One I live for and give my all;
One Who makes new dreams in my heart;
One Who’s glory and love I long for – more than anything else
Posted on February 14, 2014
Deep Earthquakes, Part 3
Last time we talked about the incredibly deep earthquake below the Sea of Okhotsk (north of Japan). This time we are going to dig a little bit deeper into this earthquake and the implications it has for the global flood mentioned in Genesis. Archimedes is well known for his discoveries in displacement – when we put an object in water, the water rises up higher because the object is essentially taking the place of some of the water. Well, when one of earth’s plates sinks under another (causing an earthquake), the same thing happens – rock from underneath the earth has to be shoved up to the surface to make room for the plate that just pushed its way down. Geologists measure this displacement to better understand how deep and intense the plate movement was.
The highest measured displacement for the Sea of Okhotsk earthquake event was 32.5 feet. However, there is good evidence that much greater displacements (over 328 feet) from “super-faults” happened in the past during and shortly after the global flood. When a plate moves very quickly during a “super-quake”, it creates a special kind of rock form called PST (stands for “psudotachylyte”). This PST and their “super-faults” have been found in many places around the world. PST has been found on Kodiak Island, Alaska, that has 12 inch thick layers (one inch of PST indicates more than 30 feet of plate movement). This means that we have had some very dramatic and catastrophic plate movement in the past–nothing like we see today.
This science of incredible earthquake movement helps support what the Bible says about the global flood and young earth. It is also a reminder to us of God’s righteous wrath in judgment. Yes, God is love, but He is also just and good. He does not exist to let us do whatever we want without suffering the consequences; He gives us freedom to make our own choices, but that freedom comes with a heavy responsibility. Although this extreme plate movement and catastrophe of a flood shows God’s wrath, it also shows His mercy and grace. The same plate movements that helped drown the sinful world in the days of Noah re-shaped the earth, giving us beautiful mountains, canyons, and islands.
Reference: Clarey, Tim. (2014, January). Runaway Subduction and Deep Catastropic Earthquakes. Acts & Facts 43(1), 18-19. Institute for Creation Research. Dallas, TX.
