Wait. I haven’t written this article yet. Wait. Don’t read it yet. … Okay, now you can! Are you a procrastinator? I know I tend to be. And sometimes I feel like I have good reasons or excuses to be, but then I’m reminded that being a procrastinator is nothing unique. Whether for good reasons or not, it is the way of many. In fact, I have three proverbs on a sticky note on my computer:

• Procrastination is the thief of time.
• The road of by-and-by leads to the house of never.
• The way to hell is paved with good intentions.

And I often recall one that a friend of mine told me years ago: “If it wasn’t for the last minute, I’d never get anything done.”

Well, if you can relate to any of these statements—or if you feel convicted by any of them—this Sunday’s “weird holiday” will be an assurance to you that you are not alone! It’s called “Fight Procrastination Day,” and I thought it would be a good opportunity to introduce you to my Fun Fact about the specialness of the human brain.

What is special about the human brain?
Consisting of billions of neurons that connect with each other via trillions of synapses, just one human brain is far more complex and designed much better than all the computers in the world combined.

Boy, that’s a lot of syllables! Let’s break down that first half. Neurons are the cells in your brain that control the flow of information you take in from the world around you and the flow of information that you send out to your muscles and more for how to respond. You have billions (nine zeroes) of them! Synapses are like the wires that connect the neurons with each other and with other types of cells. You have trillions (twelve zeroes) of them!

Now then, if I took you to a computer store and we browsed the latest and greatest models of PCs and Macs, you’d be pretty impressed with some of the marvelous features: the high-speed processors, the large-capacity hard drives, the super-quality video cards, and the impressive built-in memories. Especially if we did a little historical comparison to computers of the past such as the Eniac, a Tandy, or a Commodore 64. What if I stood there in that store and tried to convince you that those original machines not only came to exist as a random chance accident of a combination of chemical elements, but that every computer from that time until now slowly evolved on its own into a newer and better machine? Pretty silly, huh? We know that behind all the computers—from the very first to the ones we have today—there were engineers and other smarty-pants people who were designing them. In fact, many of them were implementing something called “biomimicry,” which is a way that humans model patterns in nature when designing materials and structures. Many of the world’s computers have been modeled after the brain, which even to this day is still more complex and designed much better than all the computers in the world combined. How silly would it be for someone to try to convince us that that computer—the true “supercomputer”—had no Designer?

Well, I don’t buy that, and hopefully you can use your brain to realize your brain isn’t the result of random chance combinations and millions of years of evolution. But what else are you going to use your brain for today? More intentionally, how are you going to use your mind today? Do you realize there is a difference between the two? Your brain is a part of your physical body, but your mind is a part of your soul and spirit. Did you know you can use your mind to control and repair your brain? Some time you might like to do a little research into the study of neuroplasticity. I’ve only read a little about it myself and am even less of an expert about the topic than I am about any topic, so I’ll just encourage you to do your own research.

But here’s something I do know: God gave us instructions all throughout His Word for how to use our minds! For example, when we consider the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20, how many of them directly instruct us how to behave with our minds? The first is “You shall have no other gods before Me” (v. 3 NKJV). Considering something to be a “god” comes from the mind. When we worship, we worship with our minds. Commandment number four says to “remember the Sabbath day” (v. 8). And Commandment number ten tells us, “You shall not covet . . .” (v. 17). Coveting is an action of the mind, isn’t it?

In the New Testament we see countless exhortations about what to do with our minds as well. Paul tells us in Romans 12:2 not to “be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (NKJV). Again, he says in Ephesians to “be renewed in the spirit of your mind” (4:23 NKJV). James warns us not to be “double-minded” (James 1:7-8). And Peter tells us to be “sober-minded” in 1 Peter 5:8 (ESV).

There are many, many more examples, but this brings us to the most important one for this week: In 1 Corinthians 10:5, Paul exhorts us to “take every thought captive to obey Christ” (NKJV). Every thought. Not the thoughts you’ll have in an hour or in a day. But every thought. That means the thoughts you are having right now. Don’t let them wander. Don’t let them stray. Don’t let them go to waste. Use them! Take them captive and focus them on obeying Christ. Be productive.

God designed us each with a supercomputer built right into our bodies which enables our minds to obey Him, serve Him, and glorify Him. So, what are you waiting for? Go get to it—don’t delay!

Don’t just take my word for it! Visit YouFormedMe.com/humanBody/brain.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.

July 26 is “National All or Nothing Day,” and while the origin of the “holiday” is unclear, the philosophy is “seize the day!” Be all in or be all out. What dream, goal, project, or bucket-list item have you been putting off? This Sunday is the day to commit, make a plan, tell your friends, post it to social media, and get it done!

My goal is to remind my friends, family, and as many others as I can that this world and everything in it is owned by its Creator. (Psalm 24:1)

But the phrase “all or nothing” reminds me of my favorite Fun Fact:
What is irreducible complexity?
Sometimes referred to as “all or nothing,” irreducible complexity is a system of interdependent parts: parts that rely upon each other in order to make the whole function.

In this case, “all or nothing” is about the design of systems that require certain parts that depend on each other in order to function. And, when one or more of those parts are missing, the system cannot operate.

One great example I like goes back to a sermon I heard as a young adult, when my pastor mentioned that an airplane is made up of so many parts—wings, stabilizers, rudders, flaps, engines, etc.—none of which can fly on their own, but when put together, the whole system can transport almost anything you can think of.

God, the creative Engineer, built complex systems too: He designed us, the animals, and most of nature around us, both visible and invisible!

We’ve already discussed some examples of irreducible complexity, such as the giraffe and the bombardier beetle. Both are animals that defy evolution because their complex designs could not have gradually evolved to what they are. In the giraffe, if his heart didn’t beat as powerfully as it does, and if the spongy tissue at the base of his brain was missing, and if the valves didn’t have a pressure-check system, then the supposed ancestor of the giraffe we see today would not have survived long enough to produce offspring to evolve. All those features had to be in place at once. All or nothing.

Similarly, the bombardier beetle, with his gas chambers and his high-pressure nozzle sprayer, could not have evolved one part at a time. From the beginning, the complex system had to be designed just that way. In future weeks, we’ll discuss other amazing examples of irreducible complexity, such as the chuckwalla lizard, the woodpecker, and the human eyes, ears, heart, and brain.

But this week, let’s talk more specifically about irreducible complexity in the cells of living beings. Did you know that the average human body is made up of at least 30-40 trillion cells?! And that within each cell are compartments called “organelles.” These compartments are not only carefully organized, but they are interconnected and networked to move calcium, lipids, proteins, sugars, and more to keep you alive! Scientists are discovering that these organelles cannot function independently. Right from the start they had to be designed to work together. Someone had to design them that way!

There are many more examples of irreducible complexity even outside my Fun Facts. I would encourage you to visit the page on my website for this Fun Fact, and explore the links I have gathered that will take you to articles, videos, and audio clips about the complexity found in human tears, the knee joint, hemoglobin, blood clotting, the electrical design of the nervous system, weedy plants, fungi, and even the long-time debate of the chicken vs. the egg.

In my mind, irreducible complexity is just about the strongest evidence for a Creator. Just like engineers have to design an airplane with all its required parts in order for it to be able to fly, the Engineer had to design our cells, our bodies, and countless systems in animals and nature all over the earth in order for them to function properly. That’s why this is my favorite Fun Fact! And that’s why I wanted to seize the opportunity to tell you about it!

Don’t just take my word for it! Visit YouFormedMe.com/humanBody/complexity.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.

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In 2009, God started me on two new paths in my life: homeschooling my fifth-grade son and working for a large retailer. In regard to the first, right from the start I made the choice to not only forego public charter funding, but to pay tuition and out-of-pocket expenses for curriculum so that we could be part of a Christian homeschool advisory program. To me, it was a no-brainer. I didn’t want to just add a Bible class to teach my son about the Lord. I knew, having been a Christian since I was four years old, that God is not only our Savior but also the author of logic and the source of all reason. To truly give my son a Christian education, I wanted him to study curricula that pointed to God’s role in every aspect of learning: the providential guidance of the forming of the United States, the literary devices woven through the Bible, the fact that math is the way God thinks about numbers, and—especially—the science that supports the truths found in the Bible.

I grew up in a church that taught biblical Creation. On multiple occasions I attended conferences with Ken Ham, Dr. Gish, and Dr. Morris.  I learned about Creation. I took notes about the importance of Genesis. And I submitted those notes to my Christian schoolteachers for extra credit. I knew Whom I had believed: I believed in the Creator of the World. He was my Savior, and someday I would spend eternity with Him.

Throughout my adult life, trials and temptations have come and gone, and I’ve had periods of time when my relationship with the Lord and my commitment to Him have struggled, but I’ve never wavered from my faith in His saving grace.

When I worked for the large retailer, my coworkers knew I was a Christian. My coworkers knew I homeschooled my son. My coworkers knew my faith was strong. But the only questions I ever fielded about any of those was why I would homeschool, and boy, was I armed with answers to those questions!

Over the five years working there, I watched the company and my store slide down a scale of trading traditional biblical values for socially acceptable, but very immoral, ideals. I knew it was not just my company, but the country and the world in general. The longer I kept working there, the more I felt my convictions contradicting with those of the company for which I was driving profitable sales. And the longer I had to reconcile this internal conflict, the more unsettled I was, and the less satisfaction I received from any “job well done” remarks I heard from my bosses.

Finally, in 2014, I felt the Lord calling me away from there, to focus on homeschooling my own son more hands-on, and to ministering to other homeschool families through tutoring and teaching co-op classes.

In my last days at the retail store while training my female replacement, I had a rude awakening. She was very outspoken about her disbelief in God and her acceptance of the company’s unbiblical ideals. One day she challenged my faith. She started asking me questions about why I could believe in the Genesis story as truth, when so much “evidence” that contradicted it existed. She had studied her public-school textbooks. She had learned evolution from her public-school textbooks. She believed her public-school textbooks.

And me? A Christian for some three decades? I had no logical answer to give her. And I had attended Creation conferences. I had learned from Ken Ham, Dr. Gish, and Dr. Morris. But I was totally unarmed in this battle. Because even though I studied, learned, and believed, I never took it to the next level. I never comprehended 1 Peter 3:15—to “always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks [me] a reason for the hope that is in [me], with meekness and fear” (NKJV).

And there lay the challenge. What good were my convictions if I couldn’t defend my belief? How was I bringing glory to God or advancing His kingdom if I couldn’t even answer her questions to defend the Word of God and the science that supports it?

Thus, I’ve made it my mission these past six years to study Creation apologetics. And not only to study, but to teach. It’s my desire to make sure my son and the other homeschool students I am entrusted with learn answers to the questions they will encounter like I did.

If you’ve spent some time studying Creation apologetics, you will understand this next truth. There is a lot to learn, and no way to remember it all!

And so, in 2015 I came up with an idea to help my students remember at least some of the key points of design and biblical Creation: 49 Fundamental Facts. Or, for short- “Fun Facts!” I created seven facts for seven categories. They are simple question-answer building blocks that lay a foundation for being able to give a defense for design.
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Those Fun Facts are now displayed on my website, YouFormedMe.com, and presented with clickable links to resources that expound on the truths. Over the next year, it will be my privilege to share them with you, one per week, and to give you a little insight about how we can know they are true.