Finding Significance in Creation

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." As you follow the account of the creation story we know that God created everything in six days. Each day the Bible records that He spoke and whatever He spoke came to be, animals, plants, solar system, etc.... But as I was studying the creation account I could not help but notice the difference between how God created humanity and how he created everything else. Everything came as a result of God speaking and it came to be with the exception of man (Genesis 2:7) and animals (Genesis 2:19) But the creation of man and woman was different. Genesis 2:7 says that God formed man from the dust of the earth and breathed into him life and man became a living soul. Also when He created woman we caused Adam to fall into a deep sleep and performed surgery on him by taking a rib and then formed woman (Genesis 2:22). The word formed or made means to squeeze into shape. It carries with it the idea of a potter carefully squeezing and molding a lump of clay to make a masterpiece. I think its safe to assume that God got His hands dirty and created humanity. But before you go off and say something like well He also formed the animals so how r we different? The answer lies in the last part of verse 7, "He breathed into man the breath of life and man became a living soul." God not only formed us but gives us the breath of life that only human beings have, sorry all dogs don't go to heaven. But as you think about this I find great value in knowing God created us with His own hands and to me that means God looks on us with great love and value. Before you go all skeptic on me and say well this applies great to Adam and Eve but not me maybe you should read Psalm 139. You are loved and loved so much that God created you to be with Him, to have a relationship with Him.

Long Time No Write

Hey hope you all have a had a great week. I have not been able to write because we just got back from spending a week in Georgia with our middle school students (you guys rock, ILOVEU). We served a ministry called "Hope for the Inner City" check out their myspace in "my friends". Hope is a ministry to inner city youth, children and adults. They are driven by their passion to reach the physical needs of people who are desperately in need of spiritual healing and through these avenues share Christ in many ways. One of things that stood out to be was right of the bat was how off my rural upbringing causes me to fear the inner city and completely misjudge them. What I found was that they are much like me, needy, longing for acceptance, desiring to know God. They were loving, compassionate, considerate. I was throughly impressed with the kids and youth as they would open doors for each other, say things like "Yes Mam or Sir", full of life and passion. I want to encourage you to pray for the inner city of Chattanooga and pray for Hope as they bring the good news of Christ to that area and abroad. Love in Christ, PJ