Monthly Archives: November 2017

Stress Test

I have always known this but facing heart surgery brings out my inner theologian and philosopher.  The body is an intricately designed machine. All parts must work together for the body to function. From limbs and organs to the smallest part of the cell, every cell, when a piece of the body does not function properly then the whole body is compromised. I am not doctor. I am a Librarian. I will not give medical advice. I will describe what I have learned and be corrected by those who know better.

You’ve heard the mantra: diet and exercise and you will stay healthy. There are foods you should eat and stuff you should never put in your body. For me, it was not the diet, I still eat healthily, but the exercise. If I had not exercised my present condition would be substantially worse. Genetics played more of a part of my heart shutting down than anything else.

For over six weeks I felt minor chest pain. Not debilitating chest pain but a pressure in my throat and what I identified as bronchial tubes. We had been in Yosemite in August during some serious fires. Plus, because of the fires in Northern California I thought my throat was burned. I could ride a bicycle for a mile and then have to stop and relax, then ride farther and stop. Once everything was warmed up I could finish my ride without a problem. My thinking was I had either GERD without the reflux and exercise induced asthma. I know about my family history but had ruled out coronary problems.

Then I had an episode November 7th that suggested either really bad acid reflux, heart burn, or heart attack. On the way to the ER everything settled down and we didn’t finish the trip. The next day I made an urgent doctor’s appointment, blood work, chest x-ray and an EKG. The chest x-ray showed nothing. There were no elevated enzyme markers in my blood that accompany heart attack. My cholesterol was low and the EKG showed no problems. All of the indications suggest there was no heart damage. I was experiencing something other than coronary issues.

Every blood cell, and every cell in the body, is an intricately designed machine. Within blood cells are enzymes, which are proteins, that promote specific functions like helping the heart muscles contract and expand and help manage energy. Cardiac enzymes are found mostly in the heart. A blood test will find low levels if these enzymes when the heart is working correctly. High levels of the enzymes and the heart has had to work harder than in should for some reason. These enzymes generally show up in the blood hours after a heart attack, unless you take blood directly from the heart.

All of the evidence I have seen draws me to the conclusion I am a created being, not an evolved organism. As I ride the American River Park Way I see and photograph an array of wildlife, flora and fauna. Everything I see has the mark of an Intelligent Designer, from the natural to the man-made. I ride upon a ribbon of asphalt. It did not evolve. I see the gold tailings that did not just happen but are the evidence of the direct environmental manipulation of people. I also see the intricacy of the creatures. While I understand, kind of, how some may see only natural selection and evolution, I do not.

I should be dead. I am not dead. My being alive has nothing to do with luck or karma. I am alive because of the direction intervention of the God who created me.







I will be out riding as soon as I can.

Thanksgiving 2017

I am thankful to be alive!














Studies in Genesis 3

And to Adam he said, … “By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” (Genesis 3:19 ESV)

God told the man that when he ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil he would die. Adam ate the fruit from the tree but he did not immediately, physically die. God’s command states that when he dies (physically) he will die (spiritually) (“you will die die” Genesis 2:17).

Now God tells Adam that he will live his physical life by hard, frustrating work, and that when it is his time to die he will become dust, or dirt. The very ground he works to grow food to live will claim him and he will become indistinguishable from it as his body deteriorates back to dirt. “Then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature” (Genesis 2:7 ESV). God used dirt to make the man and to dirt the man will return when his body dies.

What happened to Adam happens to all who follow him. Had he obeyed God then those who followed would have received God’s blessing. That he disobeyed God, rebelling against Him, means he was sentenced to separation from God and the earth was cursed. We are not going to speculate about the probability of whether people would have individually rebelled against God if Adam had not. We do not know and cannot know the answer to that question. We do know sin infected all of humanity because of Adam’s rebellion. We do know all people die and their bodies become dirt after a time. Once the body is dead it cannot be made alive again by natural means.

Scripture does not use the term “federal headship.” Yet, Scripture is filled with historical examples of the children and citizens bearing the consequences of the actions of their fathers or leaders. “Federal” is a system of government where the leaders speak for the people. It is not a democracy where each has an equal voice but a system where the leaders are charged with the responsibility of implementing the will of those they represent. It is not fair but it is just.

Adam died. His body, after his life was no longer sustained, returned to the earth from which he was made and over which he was to have control, or dominion. He kept dominion as part of the image of God but lost the ability to exercise dominion. Before the fall, he was God’s representative over the earth. After the fall, the war began between those who hate God, even as they were created to know Him intimately, and everything pointing to God.

God makes it clear to Adam, and to all who follow him, that though they work and fulfill their responsibilities, they are still wholly dependent upon Him for their lives. Yes, people have to work and their work is both painful and stressful. God, after the rebellion of the first man, calls people to turn either toward Him or allows them to run away from Him. Those who turn away from God will work in their own effort and accomplish only what lasts a short, unfulfilling time. Those who turn toward God, acknowledge their inability to accomplish anything without God’s direct intervention. Physical death becomes the great equalizer among all people. Either there is a truthful and honest admission of separation from God because of sin or there is an attitude of not needing God, which is rebellion.

Thorns and Thistles

Studies in Genesis 3


Because Adam ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which God had said he was to not eat from, sustaining his life and the lives of his family by growing food would now become difficult and even painful. God cursed the ground, not Adam. This is a serious consequence for everyone who comes after Adam.

God had already told the man the ultimate consequence of eating the fruit from the forbidden tree would be death. Not just physical death but spiritual separation from that which sustains life. The man would be separated from God. When God cursed the ground His declaration was on top of the absolute justified sentence of death and separation. Yet, by not cursing the man, and all men, God leaves open a way for reconciliation, just as He did with the woman’s sentence. The consequence of her rebellion was pain in childbirth, with sorrow in raising children, with the knowledge that a child would come who would crush the head of the serpent. God, while holding them accountable for their rebellion, takes upon Himself the ultimate consequences of their actions.

When Adam prepares the ground to plant, then plants the seed so a crop will grow, thorns and thistles, weeds, will also grow. A weed is a plant growing where it is not supposed to grow. If Adam plants wheat and flowers grow among the crop, the flowers are weeds, taking up soil and nutrients meant for food. God says that “thorns and thistles” will grow where Adam wants food to grow. There will always be weeds, making Adam’s job more difficult. He will have to constantly pull the weeds so his crop will continue to grow.

Thorns and thistles are a constant reminder of the rebellion of Adam and the presence of sin. Adam will wage a constant war against sin as he works to sustain his life. So, too, all who follow, as they work will have to wage a uncompromising war against sin, while sin is waging an unrelenting war against them. The weeds want to take over the crops just as sin controls every thought, motive, action and consequence and wants to take over the life.

Work, to keep the thorns and thistles at bay, becomes hard. Adam will sweat as he works to get food for himself and his family. Perspiration is not evil. Avoiding perspiration by avoiding work, is rebellion. Is it not the intent of everyone who works to come to a time in life where they no longer have to put an abundance of effort into sustaining life? Those who do not have the discipline of work will not have the discipline to wage war against the sin which continually assaults.