Sometimes, when the world around you is so chaotic and seems nothing but dismal, it’s a good idea to find—or make—some reasons to celebrate. Apparently, that was somebody’s mindset who works for an outlet called “National Day Calendar,” because back in 2017 they decided to celebrate each state, one per week, by setting aside a “National [state] Day” for fifty consecutive weeks. It works out well that New York’s “special day” to celebrate is this week (September 21), because it gives me a chance to introduce you to my Fun Fact about New York’s official state mammal: the beaver.

What is unique about a beaver’s eyes?
A beaver has clear eyelids that close over its eyes when submerged.

Beavers aren’t the only animals with multiple sets of eyelids. Polar bears, camels, and kangaroos are among some of the other species God equipped with multiple layers to cover their peepers. And did you know that since most geckos don’t have any eyelids, they lick their own eyes to clean them?!

When I’ve introduced my animal Fun Facts in the past (such as the giraffe, the bombardier beetle, the chuckwalla lizard, and the woodpecker), I’ve focused on their irreducible complexity which points to an all-or-nothing design plan. When it comes to the beaver, what fascinates me even more is what an inspiration it is! Biomimicry is when engineers, inventors, and other scientists design and produce systems, structures, and processes based on models they observe in nature. Curiously, while it takes a designer to design these “mimicked” productions, many people don’t acknowledge the original Designer behind the inspiring design.

One example of the beaver’s design worth copying is its insulation system which has inspired people to create wetsuits to keep divers and other sea explorers and adventurers warm. Another example is the industry of beavers. Sometimes referred to as “nature’s engineers,” beavers set great examples for bridge building and ecosystem designs.

God’s Word is filled with special revelation for us to learn more about Him and draw closer to Him, but His world is filled with general revelation for us to learn about His creativity in design and to understand Him from what has been made. It all points back to Romans 1:20: “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse” (NKJV). Beavers may be “nature’s engineers,” but we know the Designer made them as an original model for us to follow.
 

Don’t just take my word for it! Visit YouFormedMe.com/animals/beaver.html to read, watch, and listen to supporting research and commentary from scientists, doctors, theologians, and more!
This blog is from a special series of “Creation Fun Facts” by Terri Kammerzell, starting from June 10, 2020. Read the introduction at TruthOfGenesis.com/blogs/building-a-biblical-defense-of-creation.

This Monday the U.S. will observe its 140th annual Labor Day celebration, a holiday born out of the need to celebrate overworked and underpaid laborers during the Industrial Revolution, when “the average American worked 12-hour days and seven-day weeks in order to eke out a basic living.” History.com also explains: “Despite restrictions in some states, children as young as 5 or 6 toiled in mills, factories and mines across the country, earning a fraction of their adult counterparts’ wages.” Working conditions all across the U.S. were so poor, and tensions among workers rose so high, that eventually labor unions arose, and labor laws were made. Nobody knows for certain who gets the credit of the first Labor Day celebration in 1882, but it wasn’t until 1894 that President Grover Cleveland officially signed the holiday into law.[1]

Here’s a question I’m wondering: Why was it a problem for workers to work seven-day work weeks? Hmmm… Could it be that much earlier in history a pattern was established for people to take one day off each week to rest? Indeed! That brings me to this week’s Fun Fact:

What is one verse that tells us both how long it took God to create everything and what He did right after?
Genesis 2:3 tells us that “God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work, which God had created and made” (NKJV).

Those six days were very full days. So full that some people have a really hard time believing God could have done everything listed in Genesis 1 in just six days. They try to impose long ages into the text and try to reinterpret the Hebrew word for day (yom) with a meaning other than a 24-hour day. Scientifically, there is no evidence to support long ages, and when you start with a worldview that God works supernaturally, it is perfectly consistent—even scientifically—that all those miraculous events took place in just about 144 hours! Theologically, there are a lot of problems with trying to reinterpret Genesis 1, with implications that not only undermine but even negate the work of Christ on the cross. We’ll talk about these issues more over the next few weeks when I introduce my Gap Theory and Day-Age Theory Fun Facts.

In the meantime, let’s turn our attention back to Genesis 2:3. By the seventh day, God had already finished His work of Creation. Everything He created was good, and He took a day to rest. We see in other places of the Bible (Exodus 20:8-11; Leviticus 23:3; Hebrews 4:4; etc.) that this seventh day, this day of rest, this Sabbath, was important to God. Today, many Christians observe a weekly day of rest, whether on Saturday or Sunday. This Monday, when you take the day off to reward yourself for your past year of labor, remember to make a little time to appreciate the Creator’s labor during those first six days of history, including the beautiful nature around you. Also make time to thank Him for His omniscience in setting the standard for weekly rest.
 
Don’t just take my word for it! Visit YouFormedMe.com/bibleVerses/genesis23.html to read, watch, and listen to supporting research and commentary from scientists, doctors, theologians, and more!
This blog is from a special series of “Creation Fun Facts” by Terri Kammerzell, starting from June 10, 2020. Read the introduction at TruthOfGenesis.com/blogs/building-a-biblical-defense-of-creation.
[1] https://www.history.com/topics/holidays/labor-day-1

This last week was “Vesuvius Day,” marking the 1942nd anniversary of the recorded date of the historical burial of the city of Pompeii. According to History.com, an estimated 13,000 or more people were killed in this catastrophic event, rated 8th in the deadliest volcanic eruptions measured in history. Although it’s hard to know with great certainty, some historians and paleontologists estimate that at the time of the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius, there were about 195 million people on the earth. While 13,000 is a large number of lives to have lost, that’s just 0.0067 percent of the earth’s population. But it was tragic. And certainly catastrophic. A regional catastrophe.[1]

In comparison, the deadliest recorded volcanic eruption was Indonesia’s Mt. Tambora in 1815. The devastation was so terrible that 1815 became known as “the year without summer,” and it caused a great famine. All told, some people estimate the death toll (from the eruption and its consequences) to be as high as a quarter of a million people. Given the world’s population at the time of that eruption, that meant about 0.024 percent of the earth’s population were victims of that tragic and catastrophic event. It was another regional catastrophe.[2]

But long before either of those catastrophes, there was another event that wiped out almost 100% of the life on earth. Of humans, only eight remained. Of animals, only two of each kind. I am speaking of the global flood of Noah’s day, recorded in Genesis chapters 6-9. Four times in the New Testament, that flood is referred to using the Greek word kataklusmos.[3] This is the origin of our word “cataclysm.” Which brings me to this week’s Fun Fact:

What is the definition of cataclysm?
Cataclysm is a sudden, violent change or disaster.

Although, to be fair, this fact certainly isn’t “fun.” But it is definitely fundamental. Many people (even some professed Christians) argue that the flood of Noah’s day was not a global event and that it did not wipe out almost 100% of the earth’s population. Some say it was a local or regional event. But, from a Scriptural perspective, there are at least two problems with that idea.

First, that idea contradicts the account of Genesis 7:19-23, which describe the flood waters as prevailing “exceedingly on the earth” and the earth as “all the high hills under the whole heaven were covered.” About life on the earth, verse 23 says, “So He destroyed all living things which were on the face of the ground: both man and cattle, creeping thing and bird of the air. They were destroyed from the earth. Only Noah and those who were with him in the ark remained alive” (NKJV). That doesn’t sound like a regional catastrophe to me. That’s the description of a global cataclysm.

Second, that idea contradicts the covenant God made with Noah in Genesis 9:1-17. He set His rainbow in the cloud and told Noah that every time the rainbow is seen in the clouds, He will remember His covenant: “the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh” (v. 15). If the flood of Noah’s day had been a regional event, then God would have broken His promise over and over again since then because there have been many catastrophic and fatal regional floods since that time.

Additionally, as scientists continue to study both observational (current) science and historical (past) science, they have discovered that the flood of Noah was, indeed, a cataclysmic event. The whole earth was in upheaval. In fact, the engineering department at Liberty University is working on building a simulation model of what may have taken place during the Great Flood. They speculate that “the thousands of miles’ worth of seafloor spreading responsible for today’s igneous ocean crust must also have unfolded during the Flood cataclysm,” and that the “Genesis Flood . . . also included rapid and large-scale plate motions that produced thousands of miles of continental displacement.”[4]

Words have meaning. They are important in communication. And equally important is understanding the differences between them, especially when their origin is in the Bible, and used to communicate something very specific. Our word cataclysm comes from the Greek kataklusmos, which is a word so special it was specifically reserved only for mentioning Noah’s flood. This was no ordinary event. This was no regional catastrophe. It was a global cataclysm.

Most importantly, the flood of Noah was used in the gospel to reveal the omnipotence of God, as well as both His judgment and mercy. God was merciful to spare Noah and his family and to let the inhabitants of earth have a second chance. God continues to demonstrate that same mercy to us each day by forgiving our sins and patiently waiting for us to turn to Him. But a day will come when we will once again see the wrath of God. A day when, as Paul describes, “at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:10-11). Make sure you’re ready for that judgment day. If you need help, visit this website.
 
Don’t just take my word for it! Visit YouFormedMe.com/theories/cataclysm.html to read, watch, and listen to supporting research and commentary from scientists, doctors, theologians, and more!
This blog is from a special series of “Creation Fun Facts” by Terri Kammerzell, starting from June 10, 2020. Read the introduction at TruthOfGenesis.com/blogs/building-a-biblical-defense-of-creation.

[1] https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/vesuvius-erupts
[2] https://www.volcanodiscovery.com/volcanoes/facts/biggest-eruption.html
[3] Matthew 24:38-39; Luke 17:27; 2 Peter 2:5
[4] https://www.liberty.edu/engineering/research/simulating-genesis-flood/

As I write this week’s edition of my “Fun Fact” blog, I’m living vicariously through friends who are climbing Mt. Saint Helens today as part of the celebration of the brand new Dinosaur & Fossil Museum at the Mt. Saint Helens Creation Center. What views they must be enjoying from their sky-high landings! I, on the other hand, am sitting in my low California valley, enjoying unseasonably cool weather with a nice breeze. I can hear windchimes and the rustling of the wind through the trees. I’m reminded of several things:

First, I keep humming and singing a verse of a song I learned as a child: “The Whistle Song” from Music Machine – The Fruit of the Spirit.
           Pop bottles sing when you blow on the top
           Tug boats, too, and the traffic cop
           Even the wind in the treetops sings
           Songs of praise to the King of Kings.

It also makes me think of the passage in Romans 1 when Paul reminds us that God has revealed Himself to us in nature. (I’ve covered that Fun Fact before.) Even the wind sings His praises, which makes sense because the Bible commands all of creation to praise the Lord. Psalm 148:13 (ESV) “Let them praise the name of the LORD, for his name alone is exalted; his majesty is above earth and heaven”.  And Amos 4:13 tells us He creates the wind: “For behold, he who forms the mountains and creates the wind, and declares to man what is his thought, who makes the morning darkness, and treads on the heights of the earth—the LORD, the God of hosts, is his name!” And in Matthew 8:27 and Mark 4:41, His disciples observed the truth that even the wind obeys the Lord.

I’m also reflecting on the fact that this coming Monday is “National Ride the Wind Day,” the 44th anniversary of the first human-powered flight to win the “Kremer Prize” (a monetary prize given to pioneers of human-powered flight). On August 23, 1977, hang-gliding pilot Bryan Allen successfully navigated a figure-eight course in Shafter, CA, flying the Gossamer Condor built by Dr. Paul B. MacCready. His success has been an inspiration for human adventures and inventions, so that now every year people use the final days of the warm August weather to enjoy “riding the wind.” Here are some ways you can celebrate this year:

• With your young ones, fly a kite, blow bubbles, or have a paper airplane competition.
• Take to the skies for hang gliding, skydiving, or even bungee jumping.
• Take to the water for sailing, parasailing, or windsurfing.
• Go for a drive and find a real windmill to take a selfie or family photo with.
• Were there a road, you could drive to the sun, but even at a rate of 60 mph, it would take you over 150 years. So that’s not very likely an option. Instead, you can explore the resources of my Psalm 19:1 Fun Fact:

What do the heavens declare?
“The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork.” --Psalm 19:1 (NKJV)

According to Gotquestions.org, “The word heavens can be used to refer to different realms. Heavens can refer to the sky and the earth’s atmosphere, making it the “first heaven” (Deuteronomy 11:11; Psalm 104:12; Isaiah 55:10).”  So the wind is a good reminder of His handiwork.

The last thing I’m recalling on this nice breezy day is the first time I heard Dr. Jason Lisle speak. It was January of 2010, and not only had I never heard of him before, but it had been a while since I’d paid much attention to Creation apologetics at all. He was visiting a local church with Ken Ham, and as a new homeschool mom, I wanted to make sure my fifth-grade son got to hear the presentations at the Creation conference. I took him to an evening talk on “The Heavens Declare.” Wow!! do they ever!! I tried to remember as many facts as I could from that presentation, but it wasn’t easy. That’s one of the reasons for the YouFormedMe.com website, so that whenever you need to reference facts to support the beliefs I know to be true, you have an easy place to go. 

So, this weekend, take a little time to learn more about the heavens that declare God’s glory and the wind that obeys His commands and sings His praises. Then go out and make use of the beautiful world God has created for you to enjoy!
 
Don’t just take my word for it! Visit YouFormedMe.com/bibleVerses/psalm191.html to read, watch, and listen to supporting research and commentary from scientists, doctors, theologians, and more!
This blog is from a special series of “Creation Fun Facts” by Terri Kammerzell, starting from June 10, 2020. Read the introduction at TruthOfGenesis.com/blogs/building-a-biblical-defense-of-creation.

Cheers to all of you corrie-fisted, sinister-handed southpaws! Today is “International Lefthanders Day,” meant as a day for those whose left hand is their strong one. A day to remember the struggles they face in a world designed for righthanded people. A day to celebrate their uniqueness and triumph in learning to cope and adjust to the challenges many of us overlook.

A day also perfect for remembering how ingenious our Designer was when He created each of our hands!

What makes the human hand a work of wonder?
The human hand has a unique arrangement of bones, tendons, muscles, and nerves which allows it to move fast enough to type over sixty words per minute, and to grasp with both force and delicacy.

If you visit the hand Fun Fact page on my website, you’ll find all sorts of great online resources to learn more about the intricate design, but my favorite tidbits about the hand come from one of my favorite paperback books, called Inspired by Evidence: Only One Reality. Written by Julie Von Velt and Bruce Malone of Search for the Truth, this book is designed as a year-long daily devotional to equip people with knowledge about the truth of God’s design in multiple aspects, including anatomy, Christian truths, microbiology, physics, and more.

The June 27th devotion focuses on the human hand, telling that it “is one of the most wonderful and precise mechanical devices in all of creation.” Among other examples of its amazing design, each hand

• has fine motor control, using more nerves to control fewer muscles. “For example, in our thigh muscle we typically have one nerve controlling over 100 muscle fibers, while in our hands, we typically have one nerve controlling 10 muscle fibers.”
• has a full range of movement, from straight fingers to tightly curved fingers.
• has an opposable thumb, making the human hand very flexible. Try it: each of your fingertips can touch your thumb. “The human thumb and finger are sized and shaped to give a perfect circular pinch grip.”
• is controlled by a larger area in your brain than those of other animals, such as apes. “The purpose of the human hand is completely different from the purpose of the ape hand. Human hands were designed to perform skillful tasks, while the ape’s hands were designed for climbing and ambling.”

​
Most of all, I love this quote they include from “real scientist” Sir Isaac Newton: “In the absence of any other proof, the thumb alone would convince me of God’s existence.”
 

Don’t just take my word for it! Visit YouFormedMe.com/humanBody/hand.html to read, watch, and listen to supporting research and commentary from scientists, doctors, theologians, and more!
This blog is from a special series of “Creation Fun Facts” by Terri Kammerzell, starting from June 10, 2020. Read the introduction at TruthOfGenesis.com/blogs/building-a-biblical-defense-of-creation.

Did you know this Sunday is National Dollar Day? Why? You can learn more at the Library of Congress, but the standard for the U.S. Dollar was set on August 8, 1786. It was declared: “That the money unit of the United States, being by the resolve of Congress of the 6th July, 1785, a dollar, shall contain of fine silver, three hundred and seventy-five grains, and sixty-four hundredths of a grain.” You can also use the #NationalDollarDay hashtag on social media to find trivia about your U.S. dollars, find ways to spend your U.S. dollars, and even find a website to track the traveling history of your U.S. dollars!

But you can also keep reading this post for ideas about what the Lord would have you do with your dollars. And, for that matter, your time and talents. As I’ve been introducing my 49 Fun Facts to you, some have prompted more interesting information to support them, while others have called for more of an application.

In fact, this week I’m only writing for people who believe they were created by the Lord, and that the Bible is true from cover to cover. To people who believe what Genesis 1:28 says, that God gave us dominion over the earth. If that doesn’t describe you, feel free to take a week off. But if it does, let’s keep going:

According to the Psalms, what belongs to the Lord?
“The earth is the Lord’s, and all its fullness, the world and those who dwell therein.” –Psalm 24:1 (NKJV)

If you believe the Bible is true starting with the very first verse, then what about Psalm 24:1? If you believe in a God Who made you for His purpose and made this earth we live on, then do you believe that everything in it belongs to Him and should be used for His glory?

I know this is kind of an uncomfortable question for a lot of us, myself included. But if we believe in a God Who created us and to Whom everyone and everything belongs, what will we do with that? After all, everything means everything. Doesn’t it? Your Energy, your Vision, your Ears, your Riches, Yourself, your Talents, your Health, your Investments, your Nutrition, and your Gross income. EVERYTHING.

A few weeks ago, in my reintroduction blog post, I mentioned the fact that everything God gives us in this life, He makes us the stewards of. Oftentimes, we think of this in terms of finances and wealth, but we are the stewards of more than that. We are the stewards of our children, our relationships, our time, our talents, our health, etc. God, in His benevolent grace and wisdom, has allowed us to have these things to bring glory to Him. Are we doing that? In honor of National Dollar Day, let’s talk more specifically about the finances over which we are each stewards.

I have a good friend who is a financial advisor and believes very strongly in Biblically Responsible Investing (BRI). Similar to its secular counterpart of Socially Responsible Investing (SRI), BRI is a strategy in which an investor only allows his money to be invested in companies which align with his principles. However, SRI is a method that adapts to the whims and tides of culture and moral relativity. With BRI, investors align their investments with the unchanging principles of God’s Word. That means they don’t buy shares in companies that promote or fund the devaluation of human life (abortion, euthanasia, etc.), the dismantling of the biblically established “nuclear” family, etc. BRI is a great strategy for Christians to follow. If you haven’t heard of it or aren’t already set up with a Christian financial advisor who assists you with BRI, you can learn more about the investment approach here. In fact, I recently helped my same financial advisor friend create a board game to teach not just BRI, but Christian financial stewardship. Called “YAH’s Money Counts,” the game teaches families what the Bible says about our resources and how, since they all belong to the Lord (Psalm 24:1), we should use them for His glory. You can learn more about the YMC board game here.

But how about spending? Do your spending habits also reflect the fact that you are a steward of resources that belong to the Lord? When you go shopping, are you giving money to a company that uses their money to openly support and advocate for the socialist goal to dismantle the nuclear family?** Are you getting your caffeine fix at a company that funds the murder of the unborn? Are you paying for streaming services that have no qualms about including programming to indoctrinate children to normalize unbiblical, sinful lifestyles? Are you making your purchases or sending money through a company that is actively working to silence Christians from speaking the truth of His Word?

For some of us, some of these choices are easier to make than others. After all, it’s easy not to visit Disneyland when you can’t afford to. My friend told me this week that he cancelled his PayPal account, but admitted it wasn’t hard to do since he doesn’t use it much. For me, never buying Starbucks is easy since the world and I can’t handle myself on that much caffeine anyway.

But there are some that are more challenging. It was a sacrifice for me to give up Netflix since there are shows exclusive to their network that I really enjoyed watching. As a Star Wars fan, I’ve felt a little left out on the sidelines hearing people talk about the great series streaming on Disney+. And where do we draw the line between being a good steward with our time when it comes to the convenience of Amazon subscriptions?

So here are my challenges to you (and to myself!):

1. Pray for wisdom and discernment when it comes to using your time, talent, and treasure. You are the stewards of these things, and while God is the ultimate owner of them, He has trusted you with them.
2. Use Philippians 4:8 as a guide: “Finally brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable—if there is any moral excellence and if there is any praise—dwell on these things” (HCSB). . . . Is that really a movie or show or book which is deserving of the time God has given you? Do you need to see that movie or subscribe to that streaming service, or are there better options?
3. Educate yourself. Make sure you know what the people you’re giving your money to are doing with it. You can start by visiting 2ndVote.com to check company scores which are rated based on six criteria that usually matter to Christians: education, environment, life, basic freedoms, 2nd Amendment, and border security/immigration. If the information you need isn’t there, you can also visit the websites of individual companies; scroll to the bottom and find their corporate info links. Usually, you can find something about the impact they are making in their communities.
4. Make small changes. Maybe this week you make your own Folgers Coffee instead of ordering your drive-through Grande mocha (you’ll probably even save time and money!). Or next week, try Papa John’s pizza instead of Pizza Hut. Or when Christmas approaches, see if some of the gifts on your list could come from Hobby Lobby instead of Target. Plan your next vacation to the Ark Encounter or a local Creation learning center. Eventually, you’ll get into the habit. (Can you imagine the impact Christians could have on this world if they really channeled their collective pocketbook voting power?!)
5. Give yourself grace. Let’s admit it, this is a fallen world, and it’s probably impossible for Christians to never ever spend any dollar in a way that it won’t end up contributing to some anti-biblical cause. And sometimes we do have to weigh our stewardship responsibilities of time vs. money. There isn’t always a perfect option, or the same perfect option for each person. In that case, refer to #1.

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I hope this has been a helpful eye-opener to get us all thinking about the fact that everything (every dollar, every moment, every thing) belongs to the Lord. Next week, we’ll turn our attention to something a little more fun: what makes the human hand a work of wonder.
 
Don’t just take my word for it! Visit YouFormedMe.com/bibleVerses/psalm241.html to read, watch, and listen to supporting research and commentary from scientists, doctors, theologians, and more!
This blog is from a special series of “Creation Fun Facts” by Terri Kammerzell, starting from June 10, 2020. Read the introduction at TruthOfGenesis.com/blogs/building-a-biblical-defense-of-creation.

A little over a year ago, I started writing a blog for the Truth of Genesis website at the request of my friend Dave Powell. I was happy to introduce to the world my evidence-based Creation “Fun Facts:” 49 fundamental facts that demonstrate evidence for the biblical account of Creation as recorded in the straightforward reading of Genesis. In my first post, I explained how I came to understand why we need to be ready to give a biblical defense for Creation.

If you followed along for the next six months, you may know I explained that Darwinian evolution doesn’t even qualify as a scientific “theory” and why the observations he made of the finches in the Galapagos actually just supported the biblical command we see for animals to produce “after their kind.” I introduced you to the truth of irreducible complexity and how we can observe it in the giraffe, the bombardier beetle, the chuckwalla lizard, the woodpecker, and the human brain, heart, and eye. I demonstrated how the observable processes of gene depletion and entropy support Creation and not evolution. Similarly, I showed that the fossil record and laying down of sedimentary rock also go against evolutionary ideas. I debunked the ideas of the “hopeful monster theory”, that the Big Bang could be compatible with the Bible, and I discussed the uniqueness of Earth’s atmosphere opposed to the possibility that intelligent life could exist on other planets. I also talked about the fact that while we’re living in a Romans 1 world, we need to keep up our guard and hold to our faith, remembering that the same God Who could have brought all the animals--even the dinosaurs—onto Noah’s Ark could also keep and protect us from the storms we’re facing now.  Our hope in the Lord’s salvation can be just as strong today as it was for Noah. Finally, I introduced you to “real scientists” Johannes Kepler and Louis Pasteur and also pointed out the dire consequences of the fraudulent work of scientists of the past, such as Ernst Haeckel. But most importantly, I shared how Jesus’ own words in the New Testament confirmed the Creation account as found in Genesis chapters 1 and 2.

And then I took what I thought was going to be a short sabbatical. But just as Proverbs 16:9 says, “A man’s heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps” (NKJV), God had other plans for my time. So what I thought would be about a month turned into seven.

During that time I have had some health struggles and was diagnosed with a chronic illness. I had to learn about how to take care of myself, what was necessary to get myself through the flare-up I was having, and now how to do my part to prevent another flare-up. It’s been an educational time for me, but it has also come with some struggles, both physical and emotional, as well as a time of great blessings which reminded me of God’s faithfulness: directly to me and also indirectly using other people in the family of God to help encourage and support when needed.

Briefly, I wanted to share three things I have learned these past seven months:

God is still in control. This past year and a half have been full of such a bizarre turn of events. In some ways, I have felt like God used the pandemic as our own modern-day Tower of Babel. For a time, He redrew the boundaries of countries and made sure we stayed (for the most part) within our lines. But I also have this image in my mind of God gathering us (within each country) all into a giant paper bag, shaking it up real hard, and then pouring us back out. Some people came through it bruised and beaten, some resilient and ready to take on the world. But new lines have been drawn. People have learned which of their beliefs are actually convictions. In the marketplace of commerce and industry, jobs we once esteemed as prestigious have been found to be unessential, while some “grunt” workers have proven to be a much-needed part of society. Families and friends have had to face the realities of different worldviews and reassess their relationships. Some churches have learned the hard truth of the consequences of taking up our crosses and following Jesus. But in the end, no matter what has happened in 2020 and 2021, whether related to the pandemic or not, one thing we can all know to be true: God is still in control. Not one thing that has happened has surprised Him. He is the Creator of us, and He will be the Judge. Neither those truths nor His faithful, consistent nature from the beginning of time to the end, have changed.

Time with the Lord is essential. During these past seven months, my concentration and focus have taken a beating. There have been numerous days when—to my own disappointment and sometimes to the disappointment of others who rely on me—I have been reduced to the very basic of essentials: sleeping, eating, and time with the Lord. Not one of those three things is indispensable. We know that Jesus told us in Matthew 4:4, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God” (NKJV). Let me tell you, from an emotional and psychological point of view, there were times that, had it not been for my time with the Lord, I wouldn’t have been able to keep going. My hope would have failed, and my faith would have fallen apart. Our emotional and physical health are so intertwined. When one suffers, so does the other. God has the answer. He is the answer.

Even our struggles belong to Him. There were times, early in these seven months, when I didn’t have answers. Even now, there are a few questions I have which will probably never be answered this side of Heaven. During the time that I knew something was wrong but had no idea what it was or what I could do about it, it would have been easy to ask, “Why is this happening to me?” But all I kept thinking about were Paul’s word in 2 Corinthians 1, when he says that God “comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God” (v.4 NKJV). Taking out the self-pity, I still asked, “Why is this happening to me?” Except my emphasis was, “How can I use this struggle to help other people in the future?” Psalm 24:1 says, “The earth is the Lord’s and all its fullness, the world and those who dwell therein” (NKJV).  Just as God makes us stewards over our finances, possessions, children, etc., He gives us struggles to steward as well.  In His great grace and mercy, He allows us to endure trials and tribulations so that we can become more patient and perseverant (James 1, Romans 5).

Now that I’m ready to get back to it, I’m looking forward to sharing the rest of my 49 Fun Facts with you over the coming months. I hope you’ll stick with me as I continue to keep the Lord and the truth of His Word in focus!
 
This blog is from a special series of “Creation Fun Facts” by Terri Kammerzell, starting from June 10, 2020. Read the introduction at TruthOfGenesis.com/blogs/building-a-biblical-defense-of-creation.

This month, as we celebrate black history, we would like to commemorate a black scientist who was a person of God as well as a person of science—George Washington Carver.  Carver was born into slavery near the town of Diamond, Missouri July 12th, 1864.1  An interesting and tragic fact is that the infant George and his mother were kidnapped by civil war guerillas, like William Quantrill or Jesse James.  These men fought against union or anti-slavery sympathizers like George’s future foster father Moses Carver.  Moses sent a Union scout after the pair to rescue them from the bandits.  Only George was able to be found, and his mother’s fate was never known.  The Carvers took George and his brother Jim into their home and raised them as their own.
 
George was a sickly child and spent time helping his foster mother Susan Carver around the house and in the garden.  George became known around the village of Diamond as the “Plant Doctor.”2  The Carvers recognized George’s special gift for learning and applying his inquisitive nature.  They did what they could to educate him and nurture his interests.  However, George felt the need to pursue learning and life elsewhere beginning at the age of 14.  Despite his foster parents’ objections, he set out on an adventure that would find him meandering around Kansas.
 
His path was not a straight one.  He did many things to support himself over the next decade including cooking, housework, laundry service, working at a grocery, homesteading etc.  He seemed to find encouragement and assistance most everywhere he went and wrote affectionately of the people in the places he lived.  But he also ran into the harsh reality of racism and mob justice during an instance where he witnessed the lynching of a black man who had been pulled out of jail after being arrested for the rape of a 12-year-old white girl.  He left town immediately afterward.  During his time in Kansas, he took a brief trip back home to see his family.  A short time later, his brother Jim (the stronger and healthier of the two brothers) died of smallpox.  Gone was his only known blood relative.

About five years after being rejected by a college because of his skin color, he was encouraged by a Christian family, who he met attending a church in Winterset, Iowa to apply again to another school.  Thankfully, he was accepted with open arms into Simpson College in Indianola, Iowa in 1890.  He enjoyed his time there and studied piano and art for which he had a talent.  He took no science classes.  His art teacher noticed his affection for botany because he was always drawing plants. “As it happened, she was the daughter of a horticulture professor at Iowa State College of Agriculture and Mechanical Arts…”3 and as the story goes, the rest is history.

He continued to paint at Iowa state, with one of his paintings being chosen to represent the state in the 1893 fair called, the “World’s Columbian Exposition”, also known as the “Chicago World’s Fair”.  But he felt as if God was calling him to greater things.  He worked with an expert on plant disease and co-authored several scholarly papers while at Iowa State.  Carver graduated with a bachelor’s degree in 1894 and then a master’s degree in Agriculture two years later.  As a master’s student they gave George a graduate teaching position with freshman as he had a gift for teaching.  Iowa State didn’t want to lose him, but he had several job offers.
 
The one he accepted was from Booker T. Washington of the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute, now known as Tuskegee University.  The reason was clear.  He wanted to help black Americans gain economic prosperity.  According to Adair, “He believed that the sort of education Tuskegee provided ‘is the key to unlock the Golden door of freedom to our people.’”4 Washington had started an annual conference to help farmers.  Carver turned it, the results of his study, and work at the Tuskegee experiment station into a monthly “Farmers Institute”.5

Carver excelled as a teacher, wanting his students to be actively involved in their learning and discover for themselves, stating, “each individual, no matter of what his color or creed, has his particular task to do in life”.6 He linked his Christian beliefs with his work as a scientist. “He talked about the way ‘the Creator’ was revealed in the wonders of nature.  He believed that science and religion in no way contradicted one another. “‘We get closer to God’, he wrote years later, ‘as we get more intimately and understandingly acquainted with the things he has created.’”7  

As a scientist, he made a tremendous impact upon the time in which he lived and thereafter.  He designed a mobile demonstration lab which was known as the “Jesup Wagon” after Morris K. Jesup, a New York banker who helped fund the project.  The project became so successful that it took the notice of the USDA who later took over the project.  A student of Carver’s became the USDA’s first black demonstration agent.

Dr. Carver (honorary degree) had a servant’s heart, which manifested itself in doing everything he could for the poorest and most vulnerable farmers.  He set up trainings, extensions and wrote pamphlets.  He knew that the subsistence farmer was very vulnerable to weather, crop disease, and poor soil as well as lack of nutrition.  It is one reason he promoted crops other than cotton, which robbed the soil of nutrients, replacing it with crops such as soybeans, peanuts, and sweet potatoes.
 
Those crops and their promotion took him away from his teaching, spending more time in the lab trying to help people by extending the market for their products with 300 or so uses for the peanut and 100 for the sweet potato.  This is where he gained his fame and notoriety.  His efforts took him so far away that one day he ended up testifying before congress in Washington, D.C.  They told him he had ten minutes to speak.  He so captivated them with his wit and wisdom that the Republican Chairman of the committee said, “Go ahead brother, your time is unlimited.”8 Carver’s testimony helped the committee decide to implement a tariff on imported peanuts.

Yet, despite a drastically reduced classroom teaching influence he continued a close relationship with his students and those he mentored.  Passing on what he learned was part of that servant’s heart.  He taught his “boys,” as he called them, more than agriculture and science.  It should be noted that “In many cases, it is clear that Carver's personal example did indeed change minds that had previously held to prejudiced notions of black inferiority.  ‘You have shown me the one race, the human race’, one of his boys wrote.  ‘Color of skin or form of hair mean nothing to me now’.”9  Believing deeply in the Golden rule, Carver felt that love would win out over racial prejudice in the end.
 
While Carver is most famous as an agricultural scientist and inventor, especially for uses of the peanut (he did not invent peanut butter) and sweet potato, he impressed me most for his character and service to those in need.  And despite conditions and experiences that could have left him bitter and resentful, he was known for his Godly character.  According to author Gene Adair, “In his speeches and interviews, he almost always referred to the Bible and divine guidance. His accomplishments, he was fond of saying, were not his doing but we're the work of God.”10

Born into slavery, a teacher, school administrator, scientist and science ambassador, George Washington Carver was a man that all Americans should know about because he exemplified Christ to many…I know he did to me.





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1 Tuskegee University “The Legacy of George Washington Carver.” https://www.tuskegee.edu/support-tu/george-washington-carver
2George Washington Carver National Monument “Not Just The Peanut Man”.  George Washington Carver National Monument (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov)
3Adair, Gene “George Washington Carver. pp33-34
4 Ibid, p. 41
5 Ibid, p. 59
6 Ibid, p. 85
7 Ibid, p. 54
8 Ibid, p.14
9 Ibid, p. 87
10 Ibid, p. 83
Morris, Henry "Men of Science Men of God"