"The Skies Proclaim the Work of His Hands"

Photograph by Jeffery Berkes. National Geographic

Tonight I witnessed and realized just how vast and beautiful and beyond all measure God's creations are. I was laying out on my deck starring up at the night sky. Above me were a meteor shower and more stars in the sky than I had ever seen in my life! Not only that, but the stars were twinkling so much that it resembled flashing Christmas lights. I stared up taking in this beautiful canvas of God's handiwork and thought to myself, 'who could possibly look up at this and not see that something or someone created it?'. I was immediately reminded of 2 verses. The first verse is Psalm 19:1 ~ "The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands". The second verse is Romans 1:20 ~ "For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities -his eternal power and divine nature - have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse." 

From an early age I have been fascinated with art. I was always drawing, taking lessons, drawing comic books, and drawing characters from my favorite movies. When I was in High School I studied for 4 years under the best art teacher in the state of Mississippi and learned a great deal about art and a lot about life from this godly man. I saw amazing things happen in that art house, but the most amazing of all things was that the Holy Spirit was alive in there. Inside the art house was a dusty old radio that hadn't been touched in years, and it either played gospel music or modern Christian music. That music filled the whole house and gave the artists a sense of encouragement and peace as they worked on their art. Whether the artists were Christians or not, it still brought peace into the atmosphere. The major aspect of the Holy Spirit in this house was that my professor kept telling the students to focus not on what they wanted to create, but what the Lord wanted them to create. And when these young men and women actually took him seriously and prayed about it and gave their work over to the Lord, AMAZING things took place. Many artists learned to let go of their pride and instead redirect all compliments and praises to the Lord, who gave them the gift.

One of the things that I realized in all my years of doing and studying art is that there is always a creator, an artist that created the painting or  piece of art. When you look at a piece of art, whether good or bad, you automatically think:'who did this piece?'. This question is asked because it is an obvious conclusion to come to: if something was created, then it must have a creator. When I looked up at this beautiful night sky, this masterpiece proclaimed the work of an artist. An artist unlike any other. An artist that literally had the whole of space and time as his canvas. This artist must be whoever created the universe. I believe in the God of Abraham, and have seen Him work amazing things in my life, because of that I am left with no other choice but to believe that He is the one who created the universe and this beautiful starry night.

In art you don't see something so uniquely beautiful and complex come about by accident. If a piece of art is intricate and detailed , there must've been a good artist that did it and poured hours of themselves into it. Ive seen enough to know that this beautiful universe, detailed down to the last atom, was created by a very great artist, an artist that makes Michelangelo and da Vinci's art look like that of a toddler. This great artist just so happens to be the one who took the blame for my sins and paid the full price of the penalty I deserve. This God is the one who is with me every second, of every minute, of every hour, of every day and encourages me and protects me. This is the artist that I admire most. This is the artist that I gladly serve. I am honored to call the great artist of the universe my friend.

Mississippi: First Abortion-free State?

Today's post will be a mixture of joy and annoyance. And in the respective order. 

In effect today is a Mississippi law that requires anyone performing abortions at the state's only clinic to be 1.) a certified OB/GYN, and 2.) a doctor with privileges to admit patients to a local hospital. This very well could lead to Mississippi being the first abortion-free state. 

This is a very good thing, because Mississippi has a very high teen pregnancy rate, which means, with no abortions, girls will give birth to their kids instead of killing them. Thus cutting back the number of deaths each year. 

Now, some of you might be thinking: abortion isn't killing! To that I say: yes, it is. 

Scientifically, we know that from the earliest stages of development, the unborn are distinct and living  human beings. Leading Embryology Text books confirm this
(TW Sadler's "Langman's Embryology", Keith L. Moore's "The Developing Human: Clinically Oriented Embryology", and O'Rahilly,Ronand,and Muller, Pabiola, Human Embryology and Teratology.) Just to name a few.

*So scientifically, abortion is taking the life of a defenseless human.*

Now here comes the annoyed part. 

This made national news and liberals and lawsuits are already flying against it. MSNBC had an interview posted with Dr. Willie Parker, a black OBGYN from Alabama.  He made a statement that shocked me (not really):

 "Abortion is healthcare!"

I have a question: How? I was under the impression that healthcare was to help your health be better. 

According to a medical dictionary Healthcare is:

"the prevention, treatment, and management of illness and the preservation of mental and physical well-being through the services offered by the medical and allied health professions."

So, from a strictly scientific & medical perspective, abortion is NOT healthcare.

It is, in fact, the complete opposite. 

You also might have wondered why I specified the man's race. Well, he is a black man, and I find it ironic that a black man is supporting abortion in America, when the sole purpose of its starting in the US was to eradicate the black race from Harlem and then the rest of the US. Margaret Sanger (Planned Parenthood founder & American abortion advocate) was a racist with ties to the Klu Klux Klan. Many times she talked about how blacks were a lower class of humans and didn't deserve to live. Other Planned Parenthood  directors and board members had ties to and were admirers of Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany. One even was invited to speak to Nazis about abortion and eugenics and how to "weed out" the undesirable classes of humans(Jews, Blacks, ect...). Since then, Planned Parenthood has tried many different ways to carry on their racist agenda. 

What black person in their right mind would support abortion? 

Well, as you can see, I'm joyful about the law being passed. One reason being that the Governor that passed it, Phil Bryant, was the man I voted for in my first real election. 

But I'm also annoyed that so many people are upset and against this. 

Whether they know it or not, the people against it,  are supporting the slaughtering of many innocent human beings.  
 
 I pray that Mississippi will stand strong against them! 

Life is Short, Good Samaritans, & State Farm

Yesterday I was reminded of 3 things.
1. Life is short and can be taken from us at any moment unexpectedly. 
2. There are still good people in the world
3. Some State Farm agents are still true to their slogan.

Around 4 pm our house phone rang and my mom answered it in the kitchen. I was 2 rooms away, but could still hear her. "What?! Where?! Are y'all okay?!" I ran in the kitchen and she was still on the phone. I asked her what happened and she said that my grandparents had been in a bad wreck in Macon, MS (about 45 minutes from my house). They were both okay but the car was torn up. We jumped in our SUV and quickly drove to pick them up. It was the year anniversary of my great aunt Bobbie's death. My grandparents had gone down to my grandfather's hometown to put flowers on her grave. They were driving home on a 4 lane highway. There was an intersection in the highway, but only the crossing road had a stop sign. My grandparents were on the highway, when all of a sudden, from the crossing road, come a car flying past the stop sign. Not only did the car run the stop sign, he sped across 3 lanes of traffic, hit my grandparents car, and finally hit & knocked over the stop sign on the opposite side of the highway!

Luckily, my grandfather was able to swerve to avoid any further damage. He and my grandmother were both okay, save for a bruise on my grandmother's arm. While they were standing outside their car after the wreck, a nice lady drove up and let my grandmother sit in her car with her and then drove her to the hotel (the wreck was right in front of a hotel), got her some water, and stayed with her until my grandfather had finished business with the insurance and police. The lady did not know them, yet stopped and helped out of the kindness of her heart. A genuine "good Samaritan"! When my grandfather and the State Farm Insurance agent got to the hotel, the lady left. The State Farm agent stayed with my grandparents until my mom and I arrived. The agent was the nicest and most helpful old insurance agent that I've ever met! He treated them like he knew them, which he didn't. I guess their motto is correct: "Like a Good Neighbor, State Farm Is There" =)

Even though nobody was seriously injured, it was a shocking jolt of reality that made me realize that no matter what we do or how safe we think we are, our lives can be unpredictably taken. It makes me think about the important things in life, and what I want to accomplish before I die. When I die, I want my life to have meant something. I want to have made a difference in people's lives. I know that if I continue to live my life for my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, then I can accomplish those goals. We needn't worry about the little things, for we need to focus on God.

Matthew 6:19-34 talks about where our focus should be and what we shouldn't worry about. 

• 6:19-21 says:

  “Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be."

• 6:30-33 says:

  "And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith?So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need." 

In conclusion, I was reminded of 3 things: life is short and can be taken from us at anytime, there are still good people in the world that do good things to help others, and some State Farm agents really o stick to the motto!