Today I ventured out into the nuclear furnace without radioactive protection.  I think I survived fairly well, but while I was out I saw a very unusual site.  A man was on a riding lawnmower bundled up in what looked like a fleece sweater or coat.  The hood of it was covering his capped head, plus he had a pair of thick gloves on his hands.  I don’t see how anyone could survive for more than a couple minutes in that getup.  Perhaps he had some kind of space-age cooling system underneath all that insulation.

Just a quick update on future plans.  In the next few weeks I hope to post podcasts of some of my latest sermons.  Also, I will be moving to bionicpreacher.com soon.  I’ve been trying to do that for a long time and I have no reason to put it off any longer.  Finally, I have a major project that will hopefully be appearing on this blog sometime next year.  Kind of a surprise.  If things work out then you’ll be hearing more about it.

Recently I have really been trying to work on my autobiography.  So far I have worked on it about seven or eight days in a row which is a first.  I am finally getting serious about finishing it.  However it’s a challenge because I feel like my thoughts are going in all sorts of directions.  Also, I start working on one chapter and soon get bored with it, so I start writing on a completely new section.  But I’m sticking with it and it will get done eventually.  Starting to work again on my book as started me thinking that I should just post every day on this blog.  If I have 10 minutes to work on my book, then I have five minutes to just say something on here.  It doesn’t have to be very orderly or make a lot of sense.  Just whatever is on my mind.  Who knows, maybe we share here may end up in my book.

Once again I am trying to end my lengthy blogging hiatus.  Recently it has become clear to me that I need to continue working on this blog.  I have many important things to share, including some new sermons I need to post.  I also have some future projects in mind that require the use of this blog.  So expect to see more things going on.

Like many this week, I have watched with concern the humanitarian disaster occurring in Myanmar (formerly called Burma) after a terrible cyclone.  The dictatorial government has been very stubborn and unwilling to allow any foreign nations or organizations to help with disaster relief.  They are finally beginning to consider receiving aid, but have made it clear that they will get the supplies to the people, even though they are hopelessly incapable of doing that.  It is hard to understand why they are so against getting help.  What benefit do they gain in their refusal, which will certainly claim the lives of thousands of people who survived the actual storm?  Perhaps the leaders believe foreign involvement could have the potential of depriving them of their power.  Whatever the case, this is certainly an example of how pride or the desire for power can cause people to do really ridiculous things.  But before we condemn the despots in Myanmar for being so hardheaded and stupid, we should look at ourselves and consider how many dumb things we do because of pride or selfishness.  I can certainly see many examples in my life of acting like that.

Well, today is the first anniversary of my graduation from college.  I cannot believe an entire year has elapsed since that great day.  It was such an exciting experience, but now life seems rather dull in comparison.  This year’s graduation took place this last weekend, and I was able to attend part of the ceremonies.  It was a very strange feeling witnessing all the excitement of that great event, but only being a spectator this time.  I’m not sure why, but I guess maybe it’s the fact that I won’t experience something like that again.  Somehow you feel like the completion of something as significant as college is the greatest thing you can imagine, but then it quickly comes to an end and then life must go on.  But I must remind myself that something far greater than a graduation will take place, and afterwards life will not go on as usual.  Everything will be radically altered for the better.  That is something to truly be excited about.  And I believe it will happen very soon.

Lately I have been exposed to a lot of information about interplanetary and interstellar space exploration.  These have included television programs about exploring the rings and moons of Saturn, plans for manned missions to the Moon and Mars, and also a very interesting book on plans for sending probes to other stars like Alpha Centauri.  In learning about all of these missions and research projects, I have wondered if there is really any practical benefit.  I have repeatedly heard the scientists and engineers responsible for such plans basically say that what they are really after is evidence for extraterrestrial life.  I really don’t have a big problem with space exploration.  I have always been fascinated by the subject.  But much of what NASA and other agencies are doing is funded by our tax dollars.  So I’m wondering if it is the responsibility for a democratically elected government to fund research that quite often sounds like science fiction.  I’m all for it if it has a practical benefit for life on this planet.  But, I haven’t seen any evidence for that.

If you are looking for an example of the ridiculous nature of evolutionary thinking, the giraffe’s neck is one of the best examples.  I just recently read a very prominent evolutionists description of the evolution of that one of a kind neck.  It is an incredible feat of biological engineering and is made possible by a specially designed skeletal, muscular, and circulatory system of quite a different nature than that of related beasts.  If it doesn’t have those three body systems formed in such a unique way, the giraffe cannot support his neck.  While evolution can try to explain in a convincing way that a long neck could slowly develop inch by inch over hundreds of generations, it has no mechanism to explain why the necessary body systems would slowly adapt to support the growing neck simultaneously.  Evolutionary theory has no goal in mind in the development of changes in different creatures.  Specific situations determine the likelihood that certain adaptations will develop.  For example, in a specific environment, pre-giraffe ancestors with slightly longer necks would survive and pass on their genes.  In each new generation, the ones with longer necks survive better and produce more offspring.  The situation that allows taller creatures to reach food the other creatures cannot access favors neck elongation.  Yet, how does this process account for the required changes in the rest of the giraffe’s body.  It would be the greatest coincidence that each change in different body systems would occur independently of each other yet allow for neck growth.  I am not a scientist, but my logical brain tells me that this is really wishful thinking.  Scientific speculation may be helpful in certain situations, but only when you can later back it up with solid evidence.  But after a century of study on the neck of the giraffe, where is the evidence?

By now I suppose you’ve gotten the impression that I have a rather low view of evolution.  To be totally honest, the more I try to understand this way of thinking, the more I end up thinking how ridiculous many of the fundamentals of evolutionary theory really are.  Do you ever get the same impression?  This lead me to believe that the most ardent supporters of evolution have been so steeped in this scientific approach that they cannot make an honest appraisal of the theory.  It doesn’t seem that ridiculous to them because they have been immersed in a world view shaped by evolution.  But what I am saying cuts both ways since many argue that Christians like myself believe in many ridiculous things and cannot take an honest look at what we believe.  Yet I must also say that ascribing to some hard to believe things of a spiritual nature is much more defensible then accepting some fantastic ideas as actually scientific.

This week in my Internet browsing I discovered two fascinating parasites. The first is a parasite that targets a certain species of ants, and this parasite causes the abdomen of the ants to swell up and turn red, looking like a juicy berry. Birds who feed on bright red berries are tricked into eating the ants, and then release the eggs of the parasite into the environment through their droppings. Subsequently, the ants then consume the waste containing the eggs and the cycle starts all over. What a clever method the parasites use for propagating themselves.

The other parasite I discovered is a crustacean that transforms itself into a tongue. It lives inside the mouth of a fish called the spotted rosesnapper. The parasite sucks on the tongue which is a good source of blood, until the tongue withers and dies. The parasitic crustacean then attaches itself to the stub, and acts like a tongue for the rest of its life. Pretty bizarre, huh?