This week I’m praising God:

1). For the privilege of celebrating 14 years with Nicholas Drew Nielson. I love being his mom.

2). For God’s grace

3). For God’s omniscience

4). That He is trustworthy

5). For rest

6). For Jason, who helped my husband get back into the kayak after he flipped it in the Pacific Ocean.

7).  That we are all created with a choice-the choice to accept God or reject Him; the choice to trust Him or not trust Him. Every day we are presented with choices. We have more control than we think.

This week I’m praising God for:

1). Beautiful sea creatures

2). Vacation and the friends who made it possible

3). Morning coffee by the ocean

4). Family time

5). Much-needed rest

6). The friends and life waiting for me back home

7). The fact that He knows my future

This week I have a lot to praise God for:

1). We were able to trade our gas-guzzling truck and 20-year old car in for a small, cheap, fuel efficient little number for our daughter.

2). We made $1,189 on this deal.

3). A very generous client gave my husband and me a gorgeous van; so now we are both tooling around town in minivans!

4). For almost 16 years (T-18 hours and counting) I have had the privilege of raising an amazing kid that’s really not much of a kid anymore. It has been a privilege that I don’t deserve.

5). Yesterday and today felt/tasted/smelled/sounded like spring.

6). I hear the distant call of the ocean on the western side of the country beckoning me to come and visit. I will be answering that call in 72 hours.

7). The only reason that anything in life works and works well is because Jesus works. No amount of planning, saving, organizing, thinking ahead, or following a formula can accomplish what Jesus alone can accomplish. Yes, I’ve had a great week, but it’s only because of the grace of God and because all good gifts come from Him.

A couple of weeks ago I watched a debate between Bill Nye, engineer, entertainer, scientist, and most notably creator of his own show, Bill Nye, the Science Guy and Ken Ham, president/CEO and founder of Answers in Genesis, president of the Creation Museum, and a young-earth creationist. The debate, live streamed from the Creation Museum in Kentucky, centered on origins, more specifically “Is creation a viable model in today’s modern, scientific era?”  Your basic creation vs. evolution debate. Admittedly, I’m not well versed on the arguments of an evolutionist. I know that their worldview is much different from mine. I know they believe that the earth and life as we know it is the result of a cosmic boom, a boom that happened millions of years ago. And I realize most of them are obviously atheists.

What struck me most during the debate was a statement Bill Nye made and one I’ve been pondering ever since:

“Mr. Ham and his followers have this remarkable view of a worldwide flood that influenced everything we know now. A 500-foot wooden boat, eight zookeepers, 14,000 individuals, every land plant in the world under water for a full year. I ask us all, is that really reasonable?”

I could counter with is it really reasonable to believe that I am a result of a boom somewhere far out in space? Both are an issue of faith when you get right down to it. Frankly, I don’t have any more faith to believe this view than the average evolutionist does to believe that we are the result of intelligent design. The debate that night, like all the others before it, left the two sides at an impasse.

But the question that has haunted me everyday since then is this idea of reason. Is God reasonable? Is Jesus reasonable? Is Christianity reasonable? Is it reasonable to believe that, not only are we the result of intelligent design, but that this Creator craved a relationship with humans so much so that He created them and a world for them to live in with the knowledge that they would disobey? Is it reasonable to believe the Son of God would willingly come to earth only to have His stay ended in one of the most savage forms of death in human history because of this disobedience?

A couple of months ago a mom from school called me and asked if I would be interested in getting our daughters together for a night of dinner and hanging out by the fire. She’s Italian, and she was cooking. All I had to do was bring Abigail and an appetite. I think we all know what my response was! We settled on a date that worked for both of us and decided to keep it as a surprise for the girls.

What I didn’t know is that God had put my daughter on that mom’s mind to pray for her. She didn’t know why, but she sensed that Abigail needed it. She ended up turning that night into a celebration of Abigail’s upcoming 16^th birthday complete with homemade lasagna, roasted garlic, homemade bread, salad (for which she apologized for not having time to make her own dressing) homemade tiramisu, gourmet coffee with fresh whipped cream and chocolate shavings. After dinner, in a stupor of carbohydrate drunkenness, we lumbered over to the fireplace where they presented my daughter with 16 gifts for her 16^th birthday. They weren’t big expensive gifts, but each one was exactly something Abigail would have purchased for herself-her favorite snacks, a twelve-stone necklace representing the twelve tribes of Israel, hair and beauty products, and a devotional. Each one spoke her language. I’ve known this mom and her daughter since our girls were in preschool together, but it’s not as if we have spent hordes of time together. We haven’t. So it was stunning, to say the least, to have this amount of kindness poured out on us because “we just wanted to bless you.” Mission accomplished.

If reason is about applying logic and making sense of things, coming to a conclusion based on logic, then no, nothing we believe is reasonable. Though I had known this mom for years and believed her to be kind, I didn’t know her well enough to believe it reasonable for her to lavish us with such love and kindness. I had no collected data to support any idea that she would behave this way.

Here are my thoughts on reason and proof:

1). The merits of engaging an evolutionist/atheist with sound apologetics cannot be overstated. However, if it’s proof the other side wants, then I would ask us as believers where our actions fall in this category. James 2 is very clear about backing up our words with actions. Anybody can say anything, but if our claims aren’t backed up by actions it’s about as impressive as a failed science experiment.

2). The battle cry of the evolutionist has always been “show me the scientific proof!” If it cannot be proven by science than it’s unreasonable to call it truth. First, there is no amount of scientific data that can explain the loving actions of a person moved by the Holy Spirit. This doesn’t mean the kindness doesn’t exist. Second, what Christians forget and atheists don’t acknowledge is that the science the evolutionist holds so dear to their cause as proof, has been authored by the same Person we use as our proof. Oh the irony.

3). Is Jesus unreasonable? To the human mind, yes. We trip ourselves up every time we try to explain or understand Him from a human perspective. We forget that we are made in His image, not He in ours. As soon as we can’t explain the “why” of a situation, we write Him off as unreasonable. The only unreasonable thing about Jesus was His willingness to die for a race of depraved people for the sole purpose of having a relationship with them. I don’t know about you, but I don’t love anyone enough to go to a cross for them especially an entire planet of pagans! But I see glimpses of His reasoning through the loving acts of the Body of Christ like my friend and her daughter.

“Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth
 does not become weary or tired.
 His understanding is inscrutable” (Isaiah 40:28, NASB).

Is Jesus unreasonable? Yes. Humanly speaking, Jesus is unreasonable.

This week I’m praising God:

1). That He walks with us through our calling. How great is that?

2).  That despite what’s going on in the world, none of it is a surprise to Him.

3).  That He is not limited by mathematics. Again, how great!

4).  For neighbors who let us borrow their car at 6:00 in the morning to jump the car of our guests because NOT ONE of our THREE cars was able to get the job done.

5).  For the privilege of watching the Body of Christ fulfill its function right in front of my eyes.

6).  For being able to watch my kids grow in their relationship with God.

7).  That today I got to see the beautiful faces of friends I’ve missed seeing for a couple of weeks.