My mind is spinning. It hasn't stopped since I arrived on campus last
night at Liberty University for another week of doctoral intensives.
This is my second course and at times I find it difficult to relate back
to a world I hadn't been much a part of since 1985 when I graduated from
seminary. Life on campus and the campus has definitely changed since
then. In 1985 there were a few people using computers to do
assignments, but it was not hooked up to the internet and most
professors then would not accept a paper printed on a "daisywheel"
printer. I did have an electric typewriter with a self-correcting
ribbon. I thought I was way ahead of my classmates on that one. Still,
I could not save my work, and often I had to type it over again. If I
wanted to make a duplicate, I had to use messy carbon paper. When I
started college in 1978, it was the first time I had ever seen a
computer. It was so large it took up a room the size of half a basket
ball court.
Today we have modern classrooms with video monitors and projectors
flashing notes up on the screen. That means that 76 year old Dr. Elmer
Towns can go faster in his lectures than ever! He keeps up with the
times better than guys my age. He is remarkable. The stuff he can
rattle off the top of his head without looking at notes is amazing.
Speaking of being rattled. Today he called me up in front of the class-
impromptu, to give an oral presentation on the pros and cons of the
housechurch movement from a chapter in a book we read. I thought I had
read the book pretty well until I stammered out a few lame statements,
then listened to him correct me and quote an entire section of the book
verbatim without even looking at it! My body language must have begged,
"Can I go sit back down now?"
The point I am making is this: While technology is indeed moving at a
rapid pace, it still cannot compete with a well-trained, intelligent
human mind. If that is the case, how much greater is God's mind than ours?
The Psalmist reflected upon all this in Psalm 8- one of my favorites-
which reflects upon man's minuteness with respect the entire universe.
The psalm shows us, that as mighty and malleable as we are, God is
greater and never needs to change:
"When I consider Your heavens. the work of Your fingers. The moon and
stars which You have ordained, What is man that You are mindful of him,
and the son of man that You visit him? For You have made him a little
lower than the angels, and You have crowned him with glory and honor.
You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You
have put all things under his feet, All sheep and oxen-even the beasts
of the field, The birds of the air, and the fish of the sea
That pass through the paths of the seas. O Lord, our Lord, how
excellent is Your name in all the earth." Psalm 8:3-9
When we take time to reflect upon the vast expanse of our universe, it
might make us look small. But it also demonstrates just how great and
how mighty God is. What is more, while He is bigger and greater than
the universe which He has made- and it goes on forever- God still finds
time to care for us and to love us. He calls us so special that we are
the apple of His eye. It causes us to open up our hearts of love and
faith to Him.
Speaking of faith, Dr. Towns proposed this thought to us as we were
beginning to conclude the class. He said: "It takes more faith to be
an atheist than it does a believer in Christ. Ponder on that one till
you come back tomorrow!"
Have a blessed day!
Have a blessed day.
No comments:
Post a Comment