A NEWSLETTER FOR THE MEMBERS OF THE GREENWOOD CHURCH OF CHRIST

VOLUME 2 NO. 35                                         October 16, 2005

ON MY OWN!!!

BY STEVE NIEMEIER

Can you remember when you were a youngster at home and thinking about how you could not wait to be out “on your own”?  There was something magical about wanting to be on my own, maybe it was the freedom from my parents or the idea that I could stay up later or even stay out later.  Maybe it was the thought that I would never have to be “forced” to eat liver and onions again.  Maybe it was the idea that I would become my own “boss” and could do whatever I wanted to.  OH---those thoughts of my youth---seem so foolish now!

It did not take long when the time came for me to be on my own that the thoughts of “how good it was back at home” would ring through my mind.  Why I never knew how lonely it could be being on my own.  When I went for my first job interview ---where were my parents when I needed them?  Was it going to be okay for me to work third shift?  I remember calling home from college and telling my folks that I had met this girl (now my wife) and when I talked about her, they did not know who she was or what she looked like.  How were they going to make my mind up about her---they knew nothing about her.  Marriage---why I did not know that one could sweat and worry so much about asking a person to spend their life with you.  For the first time in my life (out on my own) I had to get up and check out those strange noises you hear during the night.

Being “on my own” was not all it was hyped up to be.  That word “responsibility” seemed to be everywhere.  Now looking back and seeing my three children grown and married, grandchildren at our feet, a bald head in the mirror, gray hair in the beard, listening to the bones crack as I get up in the morning and a “catch in the get along” ever so often, I once again have those thoughts of “being on my own”.  But this time it is in a different light---I am closer to the Day of Judgment than I have ever been and so are you!  One day soon we will be standing there in front of God and His Son Jesus---listening to the history of our life being read aloud---waiting for the verdict of where we will spend eternity---standing alone “on our own”!  Am I ready? Are you ready?

BONES - THE STEEL OF THE BODY

A SELECTED ARTICLE

In Psalm 139:14 the writer said, “I will praise thee Lord for I am fearfully and wonderfully made."  One of the most marvelous examples of design is the construction of the human body and one of the most complex and amazing parts of the human body is the skeletal system.  The skeleton of the human body, inch for inch, is about 4 times stronger than steel and yet every year Americans break or crack 2 million of these bones.  Bones contain about 2 pounds of calcium, which is 99% of the body's calcium.  When you are born you start out with 350 bones but when you die you have only 206.  The reason for this is that many bones fuse together as your body matures.  The bones are really not dead tissue; they consist of living cells that completely renew themselves every two years.

Not only does the skeletal structure of the body demonstrate incredible strength and remarkable design, but it is also the source of the red blood cells that are contained within the human body to carry oxygen throughout the body.  The bone marrow of a human being produces more than 200 billion red blood cells every day.  It is important to realize that in the structure of the human body there are an enormous number of things that work together, truly as David said, “We are fearfully and wonderfully made."  To suggest that such an incredible structure be produced by chance and could carry on all the different functions it does, providing not only strength and support but also producing the red blood cell population of the body on a totally chance basis stretches credibility very thin.  God's wisdom and the design of the body is an incredible example of intelligence of the Creator of the universe.