Wednesday, July
26, 2017
You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me
together in my mother’s womb. Thank
you for making me so wonderfully complex!
Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it. You watched me as I was being formed in
utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your
book. Every moment was laid out before a
single day had passed. How
precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered! I can’t even count them; they outnumber
the grains of sand! And when I wake up, you
are still with me! Psalm 139:13-18(NLT)
We wandered,
my bride and I, into the sandwich shop unknowing we were going to be running
smack into a Subway sermon! We went through the process of ordering. Elizabeth chose her sandwich, low calorie, low fat, healthy
stuff (naturally), and the preacher opted for his normal stuff too…stuff as much stuff as possible on that
big ol’ hunk of bread! While
the server used a backhoe to load up my sandwich, I slipped over to the drink
cooler to grab a Diet Coke™ to go with my diet sandwich.
And there
it was!! Or rather, there was RUSSELL!
I couldn’t
believe the Subway people knew I would be there that day, and were nice enough
to put my monogrammed Diet Russell Coke right up front!
Wow, what
service!
Now, I’m
not certain the Subway folks had really planned for my visit, making that one
bottle with “Russell” on it because they knew I’d be there. It was one of perhaps a thousand bottles of
Diet Coke I’ve had, and have never seen a Russell bottle!
But the
coincidence of finding your name staring back at you is kind of cool, and
really interesting, as it reminded me of the Psalmist’s awe when he recalled
just how intimately God had known him from before he was a gleam in his earthly
father’s eye.
This leads
me quite naturally to the whole idea of what many call a fetus. Now, I know that’s the technical name for the
little person being formed in the womb of a woman; I prefer, however, to call
that little person a baby.
And that
Diet Coke bottle is a little example of contrast as to why a fetus is a baby to
me. In the manufacturing buildings of
Coca Cola, some marketing genius thought it would be a good idea to put names
on the bottles. Great strategy, that…people
love to be recognized…even if it’s only an impersonal printed label with their
name. They put thousands, perhaps millions
of Janes, Johns, Bills, Harrys and Joans…and perhaps a few Russells on cases
and cases of Cokes. The chances are some
crossed paths with people who had those names.
Right place, right time, and the coincidence made Coke fans!
Contrast
that with a God who knows not only the possibilities of how many Russells might
be out there, but actually knows all the Russells, personally, and even better
than Russell knows Russell. In fact,
before Russell was born, this God knew all about what he would be named, what
he would look like, and what his whole life would be about. And this God knows all the Janes, Johns,
Bills and all the rest just that intimately.
He knows our rising and our lying down, our goodness and the blackest
thought we’ve ever entertained. He knows
all about us, and loves us deeply; in fact God is so mad in love with each of
us He was willing to die for us, so we could experience eternal life.
Somehow,
that’s a whole lot better than coming face to face with a marketing scheme
coincidence in a sandwich shop!
For You Today
It’s
no coincidence that He knows your name; he’s the one who inspired your parents
to put that name on you!
NOTES
