The Baby is Only One Year Younger Than Her Mom!

• Dear friends:

  
  

  Do you still have doubts about virgin birth of Jesus? If advanced science could have achieved creating baby girl only one year younger than her mom, then, is there anything difficult for God our Creator to do?
• Where did our lives come from? God our Creator is the One who gave us our  lives to start with.
• Jesus is the reason for this season, it is a pity that He is still outside of many people's hearts while they celebrate Christmas! 
• (You may also click the following 2 links in this blog for further thinking)
• 
  
  • Can a Virgin Give Birth?
  • Is Virgin Birth Scientifically Possible?
• Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

Woman Gives Birth to Child Who Is Only a Year Younger Than She Is

BY JIM DENISON

Tina Wren went to the National Embryo Donation Center in Knoxville, Tennessee, where they received a donated embryo. It turns out, that embryo had been created through IVF and frozen 24-years earlier...

Tina and her husband Benjamin married seven years ago, but the couple assumed they could not have biological children because Benjamin has cystic fibrosis, which often results in infertility. They fostered a few children, until Tina's father suggested embryo adoption.

Tina gave birth to the baby she received. She told reporters, "This embryo and I could have been. This is the process by which couples who use in vitro fertilization (IVF) donate unused frozen embryos to other couples. The Wrens went to the National Embryo Donation Center in Knoxville, Tennessee, where they received a donated embryo. It turns out, that embryo had been created through IVF and frozen 24-four years earlier.

...The baby who was born to die

...If it were not necessary for Jesus to be born in Bethlehem's stable and die on Calvary's cross, he would not have done so. Our Savior gave up splendor in heaven beyond our ability to imagine (cf. Revelation 4:2-11) to become a helpless infant born to peasant parents and laid in a rough feed trough. His life on earth was marked by weariness (John 4:6; Matthew 8:24), homelessness (Matthew 8:20), and rejection by his own family (Mark 3:21; John 7:5) and the crowds he served (Matthew 27:23). He suffered horrific torture (John 19:1) and execution (v. 23).

Worst of all, he bore our sins on his sinless soul (2 Corinthians 5:21), a cost none of us can begin to understand.

I fear that we take Christmas for granted. Many in our culture ignore Jesus' birth completely, while others pause only briefly to consider his incarnational sacrifice before proceeding to open presents, eat a meal, and watch football. Even those who are most devoted to him can all too easily overlook the price he paid to become one of us that we might be one with him.

But if there were another way to save our lost souls, Jesus would have taken it. He was the only baby in all of human history who knew His life and death before His birth. And He would be born to die all over again, just for you.When last did you thank Christ for Christmas?

There Are No Atheists in Hell!

There are no Atheists on a sinking ship! All cry out to God!

Why Wasn't Jesus Beheaded? 

BY DAN DELZELL

...There are no atheists in hell, and there are no regrets in heaven. By the time a person reaches his/her eternal home, all misgivings about God and eternity are pushed aside in the face of either intense joy or unrelenting pain.

..Jesus often spoke about heaven and hell as real places where people will indeed spend eternity.

You could state it this way: The eternal God suffered temporary hell on the cross, in order to redeem mortal man from suffering eternally in hell, and to grant eternal perfection in paradise to all who accept the Son of God as Savior.

In addition, no one can rightly say that Jesus doesn't understand what people go through in life when they experience suffering. As the author of Hebrews put it, "We do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are - yet was without sin." (Heb. 4:15)

The crucifixion of Christ speaks volumes about sin, grace, punishment, redemption, heaven, hell, and the Lord's ability to relate to those who suffer today in our fallen world.

While Jesus could have been beheaded, that is not the way God chose for it to play out. As Isaiah foretold, "He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces He was despised, and we esteemed Him not." (Isaiah 53:3)

With that in mind, what will you do in response to Christ's sacrifice on the cross? Will you repent and believe the good news, or will you reject the message of salvation and live your life as though Jesus didn't die for your

So how long will you wait until you take the words of Christ seriously? And is it worth the risk to go another hour without bowing your knee and surrendering your heart to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords?
...
There are no atheists in hell, and there are no regrets in heaven. By the time a person reaches their eternal home, all misgivings about God and eternity are pushed aside in the face of either intense joy or un- relenting pain. There is no middle ground in eternity, but there was a middle cross where the Lord of glory suffered and died for sinners who needed a Savior.
The critical event necessary for our eternal salvation took place 2000 years ago on a hill just outside Jerusalem. Imagine that? The King of Kings suffered, died, and rose again in order to win freedom, peace, and everlasting comfort for everyone who repents of their sin and receives Jesus as their Lord and Savior. (Acts 2:38; John 1:12)

As you reflect upon the intense agony Christ endured on the cross, are you ready to follow the Messiah and believe that Jesus is your Savior from sin, death, and hell?

Isaiah prophesied: "He was oppressed and afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth; He was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so He did not open His mouth." (Isaiah 53:7)

When John the Baptist saw Jesus approaching, he said, "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!" (John 1:29)

A well-known hymn written by Charlotte Elliott in 1835 describes the path one takes when coming to Jesus, and perhaps this declaration of faith will become your own:

"Just as I am, without one plea,
But that Thy blood was shed for me,
And that Thou bidd'st me come to Thee,
O Lamb of God, I come, I come."

Where Will You Spend Eternity?

Pastor Whose 14-Y-O Daughter Died in Texas Church Shooting: 'I Don't Understand, but I Know My God Does'

Click this link    
Pastor Whose 14-Y-O Daughter Died in Texas Church Shooting: 'I Don't Understand, but I Know My God Does'

(** I assume God understands this pastor's pains and others who lost their loved ones' pains in this most current church shooting, because God was there when His Son Jesus died for us on the cross, so He knows first hand in person the pains and sufferings of losing one's sons or daughters and loved ones.)

..."After this crazy week of different people passing away it really should tell us life is only for a moment and we're dying everyday and where you spend eternity is the most important thing. Not money, not jobs, not education, not possessions just the ones you love and your relationship with Jesus."

What Santa Rosa Big Fire Has Ignited in Me!

      (* A friend just shared a scary true story of her son's last minute escape from Santa Rosa fire with me and a few friends, the scary escape has touched my heart deeply and here is my email response to her.)

Dear A-fen:

Thank you so much for sharing your son's last minute escape story from Santa Rosa big fire and his good Samaritan act to bring a roadside family to escaping center, that brave sacrificial action to save strangers is worthy of many praises. ( As any delay may hamper his own escape.)

Thank God that your son escaped and hadn't bought that burn down big mansion which he has offered to buy yet.

May he be God's angel to save lots of lives,( his patients)

I'd like to introduce this old hymn "What If It Were Today?" to you, that sums up my feelings with our North Bay big fire which reminds me the Day of the Lord in 2 Peter 3 is coming.

I am constantly worrying about all our friends who haven't known our Lord Jesus and not accepted Him as their Savior yet. I can only pray for them and the victims of this fire, current hurricanes and earthquakes.

Jesus is coming back soon, all the happenings in our world pointing to it. we need to be prepared  and be ready to meet Him as the date is not able to be predicted in advance since Jesus has warned us in Bible.  

( Jesus' 2nd coming will be like a thief, unexpected and unpredictable, though so many people like to predict an exact date of the end of the world to just bring shames to themselves. Indeed those false predictions only bring backfires from unbelievers.and those past predictions have become just laughingstocks.) 

Click the link below for this hymn and other hymns, if you continue to listen to.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JD6Jxt0sZghttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JD6Jxt0sZg

The Day of the Lord(2 Peter 3:10)

10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.[a]

http://barryshymns.blogspot.com/2015/06/what-if-it-were-today.html

No,The World Won't End This Weekend !

Please click their article from Washington Post for the whole article.

"The world as we know it is about to end — again — if you believe this biblical doomsday claim" in the Acts of Faith section.

blob:https://www.washingtonpost.com/087c02e0-b749-484b-9f22-5759453f6bb2

NASA senior scientist David Morrison debunked an apocalyptic claim that a planet called Nibiru is on a collision course with Earth. (NASA)

A few years ago, NASA senior space scientist David Morrison debunked an apocalyptic claim as a hoax.

No, there’s no such thing as a planet called Nibiru, he said. No, it’s not a brown dwarf surrounded by planets, as iterations of the claim suggest. No, it’s not on a collision course toward Earth. And yes, people should “get over it.”

But the claim has been getting renewed attention recently. Added to it is the precise date of the astronomical event leading to Earth’s destruction. And that, according to David Meade, is in six days — Sept. 23, 2017. Unsealed, an evangelical Christian publication, foretells the Rapture in a viral, four-minute YouTube video, complete with special effects and ominous doomsday soundtrack. It’s called “September 23, 2017: You Need to See This.”

Why Sept. 23, 2017?

Meade’s prediction is based largely on verses and numerical codes in the Bible. He has homed in one number: 33.

“Jesus lived for 33 years. The name Elohim, which is the name of God to the Jews, was mentioned 33 times [in the Bible],” Meade told The Washington Post. “It’s a very biblically significant, numerologically significant number. I’m talking astronomy. I’m talking the Bible … and merging the two.”

And Sept. 23 is 33 days since the Aug. 21 total solar eclipse, which Meade believes is an omen.

 Play Video 1:33

How did people view solar eclipses in the past?

Capital Weather Gang's Angela Fritz takes us back in time to show how mankind has reacted to eclipses over thousands of years. (Claritza Jimenez, Daron Taylor, Angela Fritz/The Washington Post)

He points to the Book of Revelation, which he said describes the image that will appear in the sky on that day, when Nibiru is supposed to rear its ugly head, eventually bringing fire, storms and other types of destruction.

[Will the mysterious shadow planet Nibiru obliterate Earth in October? No.]

The book describes a woman “clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head” who gives birth to a boy who will “rule all the nations with an iron scepter” while she is threatened by a red seven-headed dragon. The woman then grows the wings of an eagle and is swallowed up by the earth.

The belief, as previously described by Gary Ray, a writer for Unsealed, is that the constellation Virgo — representing the woman — will be clothed in sunlight, in a position that is over the moon and under nine stars and three planets. The planet Jupiter, which will have been inside Virgo — in her womb, in Ray’s interpretation — will move out of Virgo, as though she is giving birth.

To make clear, Meade said he’s not saying the world will end Saturday. Instead, he claims, the prophesies in the Book of Revelation will manifest that day, leading to a series of catastrophic events that will happen over the course of weeks.

“The world is not ending, but the world as we know it is ending,” he said, adding later: “A major part of the world will not be the same the beginning of October.”

...

Ed Stetzer's excellent response in Christianity Today
( Click response for the whole article)

No, the World Won't End Next Week and There's No Such Thing as a Christian Numerologist

If we start speaking up about bad "Christian" reporting, maybe people will do it less. 

ED STETZER

...So let’s take a look and see just how fake this news really is:

First, there is no such thing as a legitimate ‘Christian numerologist.’

Sure, the writers of Scripture do, indeed, use numbers to point to a few things—that’s first-year seminary. But it stops at first-year seminary because there are not secret numerical codes that require a profession called “Christian numerology.”

Seminaries don’t offer this as a formal degree nor do any professional, accredited institutions. David Meade, the man the Fox News article cites as their source for these claims, doesn’t have any formal, academic training in numerology.

That’s right, multiple news outlets are referencing the findings of a man with, according to his website, nothing more than a bachelor’s degree in Economics and Astrology from an unnamed institution.

Furthermore, Meade doesn’t provide us with evidence of any biblical training he has received in order to speak authoritatively about the end times. He is discussing biblical matters of profound significance and making predictions about events of global importance without any real authority on these topics.

To make matters worse, the planetary alignments that Meade is using to support his claims about the end of the world have, according to an Express article, already happened four times in the past 1000 years.

Meade is a made-up leader in a made-up field, and should not be on the front page of anything, let alone Fox News.

And when we remind people of this, maybe they will be less likely to report on it next time.

If we start speaking up about bad "Christian" reporting, maybe people will do it less.

But, before getting carried away, it is important for all of us to look in the mirror for a moment and consider the role we play in the making of this mess. After all, ‘we the people’ bear partial responsibility for allowing Meade and others like him to perpetuate these tall tales.

Until we start calling out these individuals and vocalizing our rejection of their stories, the public will never be empowered to open their eyes and see the truth.

So, I’m doing my part.

Second, while it is true that numbers do have significance in the biblical narrative, making these kinds of broad sweeping predictions about the end of the world simply doesn’t makes sense.

Whenever someone tells you they have found a secret number code in the Bible, end the conversation. Everything else he or she says can be discounted.

But are there numbers in the Bible? Yep. And they don’t require a numerologist...

...It’s simply fake news that a lot of Christians believe the world will end on September 23. Yet, it is still a reminder that we need to think critically about all news.

We can’t just believe everything we hear the media shouting in our ears; instead, we must think both carefully and critically about what we read at news sites, watch on the news, and hear our peers discussing. We need to consider our sources and, when situations like this arise, be careful to seek out answers from people who actually know what they’re talking about.

Contrary to popular beliefs, these practices don’t necessitate our becoming grumpy skeptics who assume that everyone in the world is out to get us. It is possible to practice the virtues of empathy and understanding while also being diligent to carefully filter the beliefs and ideas being presented to us...

Tolerance Is a 2-Way Street!

• Christian Baker's Lawyers File Opening Brief With Supreme Court: Tolerance Is a 2-Way Street
• ( click the above link for the whole article)
• 
  

Lawyers representing Colorado cake artist Jack Phillips of Masterpiece Cakeshop filed their opening brief with the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday, arguing that tolerance is a two-way street.

"Tolerance should be a two-way street. Phillips gladly serves anyone who walks into his store, but, as is customary practice for many artists, he declines opportunities to design for a variety of events and messages that conflict with his deeply held beliefs. In this case, Jack told the couple suing him he'd sell them anything in the store but just couldn't design a custom cake celebrating their wedding because of his Christian faith," said Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel Kristen Waggoner in a statement Thursday.

"The First Amendment protects Jack's right to create artistic expression that is consistent with his core convictions. Individuals can support both same-sex marriage and Jack, and people should have the right to disagree on critical matters of conscience.

"The same government that can force Jack to violate his faith and conscience can force any one of us to do the same."...

• Christian Baker Jack Phillips Responds to Being Compared to Nazis in the Holocaust
• ( Click the above link for the whole article)

..."That was particularly offensive to me," Phillips said of the commissioner's words, explaining that his dad was a soldier in World War II who landed in Omaha Beach at Normandy and ended up being part of the group that liberated Buchenwald, a Nazi concentration camp Germany.

"I don't have the vocabulary for it but for someone to compare trying to live by your faith to the person who brought on the Holocaust or to slave owners it's just — it's insulting. It's ridiculous. I don't have the word for it, but it's wrong," he told The Daily Signal.

..."My situation has nothing to do with the Nazis. It has nothing to do with racism. I want to run my bakery in a way everyone who comes in is welcome. I don't care what their political persuasions are. God created lots of people. He created every one of them. And He wants us to show His love to them," he added.

In an interview with The Christian Post in 2014, Phillips said he felt as though his constitutional rights were being subverted.

"My First Amendment rights protect my freedom of religion and my freedom of speech. The Supreme Court generally rules that art is speech, and in that way they are trying to take away two of my primary constitutional rights," Phillips said.

He added, "My faith in Jesus Christ comes before my need to bake cakes for a living, and if I have to close down the bakery and pursue another line of work, I would do that before I would compromise my faith."

Is Total Sun Eclipse Just a Coincidence?

  Total Solar Eclipse Is an Encounter With the Creator, Invitation to Discovery: Jay Richards

Total Solar Eclipse Is an Encounter With the Creator, Invitation to Discovery: Jay Richards


By Brandon Showalter , CP Reporter | Aug 20, 2017 2:55 PM
Video Player
(PHOTO: REUTERS, BEAWIHARTA)A total solar eclipse is seen from the beach of Ternate island, Indonesia, March 9, 2016.

The total solar eclipse on Monday Aug.21'2017 will be an invitation to encounter the Creator of the universe and its astounding divine design, says Christian professor Jay Richards at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.

And this celestial phenomenon showcases how planet Earth is one "privileged planet," added Richards, an assistant research professor in the Business and Economics Department at the university and co-author of the 2004 book, The Privileged Planet: How Our Place in the Cosmos is Designed for Discovery, which was subsequently made into a documentary film.

In light of all the buzz about the Aug. 21 Great American Eclipse, Richards believes it has not been sufficiently appreciated how Earth is the one place in the entire solar system where one can observe a total solar eclipse.

For centuries astronomers considered this celestial phenomenon as an interesting coincidence, he noted. The moon is 400 times smaller than the sun but 400 times closer to the Earth, thereby creating this perfect match when an eclipse happens. But such a perfect match isn't merely coincidental and is in fact directly connected to two key things that make the Earth habitable.

"You have to be the right distance from your host star, in the 'goldilocks zone' in order to have liquid water on the planet, so that's going to set the size of your host star in the sky," Richards said.

"You also have to have a large, well-placed moon like we have, for all sorts of reasons. If we didn't have a moon the Earth would wobble around erratically on its axis."

Those two independent factors are needed to build a habitable planet. And when put together it produces solar eclipses that can be seen from the planet's surface.

"By itself that would just be sort of neat, but when you realize the profound role that eclipses have played in the history of scientific discovery, I think you get a hint that there's something else going on there," he said.
...

"We know in Scripture, it says in Genesis 1, that the heavenly bodies can be used for signs. God uses them for signs," Richards said, mentioning the star of Bethlehem. "And the heavens declare the glory of God," he continued, referencing Psalm 19.

if you look at the way people actually respond to eclipses, they respond to it with gratitude and awe," Richards offered.

The more one studies how precisely tuned and orderly the universe is, the more it also sets up the conditions for discovery, he went on to explain.

"The natural world is like a book that is written with the signature of the Creator. If we learn how to read it, we read through it like we read through a book, to the meanings of its author. I think we should look at the created order as we look at literal Scripture as types of revelation," Richards said.

"Why couldn't [Monday's eclipse] be a really good well-timed blessing for millions of people to stop thinking about themselves and to look up at the heavens and think for a minute that there's something more than us out there?" he asked.

Total Sun Eclipse & Our Creator God

Zweerink, who earned his Ph.D. in astrophysics from Iowa State University, and is a project scientist at UCLA and research scholar for the apologetics ministry Reasons to Believe, told The Christian Post in a phone interview that he's been anticipating the eclipse for nearly 10 years, as it will be the first total solar eclipse he has ever seen.

"God has made a pretty spectacular creation for us to live in," Zweerink said, calling the upcoming celestial event "beautiful" and "awesome."

Because of how spectacular this is, and the fact that many people are wanting to talk about the total eclipse...

"And Creation is remarkably reliable," Zweerink added.

Naturally occurring phenomena can be predicted and talked about thousands of years into the future as well as in the past because of its reliability.

"That's a very biblical principle," Zweerink said. "God's reliability in keeping His promises is likened to how Creation behaves."

Such remarkable order to the cosmos is anchored in God's character, he went on to explain, and it's His character that upholds creation so reliably.

"From a scientific perspective, the first big experimental test of Einstein's theory of general relativity explicitly codifies the idea that the laws of physics are constant throughout the universe."

"And if that were not the case," Zweerink continued, "we would not be able to do science and understand how far away are things, and how old are things, and how do they operate, how do galaxies form, and what are neutrons, stars, and black holes. We just couldn't do that because what we do here doesn't have any relation as to what goes on out in the universe."

This reliability and the ability to predict solar eclipses and how awesome they appear and what they communicate about how the world works is deeply connection to the God of the Bible. And Zweerink considers this a conversation starter with non-Christians who are interested in celestial phenomena.

...

Total solar eclipses occur at least once every two years, Zweerink explained, and while spectacular to behold, there's nothing out of the ordinary about them.

"These have happened since the dawn of human civilization and they will happen until the end of humanity is here," he said, adding that the idea that the Aug. 21 eclipse is somehow a sign of the End Times "just doesn't resonate."

"This is a great opportunity for Christians to engage in conversations with people and to share the Gospel," he reiterated. "It's just a neat opportunity to go out and talk to people about the physics that goes on. The sun is so much larger than the moon, so much further away, but yet they take up the same size on the sky so that we can have solar eclipses like this to make the scientific measurements and actually, just see the beauty of it — I'm just excited about it."

(Read more from clicking following link)

Astrophysicist Explains How Total Solar Eclipse Is an Opportunity to Share the Gospel

Grave's Disease and Some Insights I Got

...On his way from Genoa to Sicily, Dr. Robert James Graves saved a ship and its mutinous crew by assuming command during a storm in the Mediterranean. During a gale the vessel sprang a leak, the pumps failed, and the crew attempted to abandon ship: Graves holed the one lifeboat with an axe, declaring to the crew, "let us all be drowned together, it is a pity to part good company", he then proceeded to repair the pumps with leather from his own shoes, so saving the ship and all aboard.

Dear friends: I bet you may not know what is "Graves' disease", or you do?

It is a disease if left untreated will bring one to the grave. Just kidding! However, it used to be not treatable in ancient years.

It was named after an Irish surgeon Robert James Graves who was the first doctor reporting it. It is an autoimmune disease that your immune system turns against yourself.（自己跟自己過不去）

Well, after losing 10 lbs in 2 months last Spring. I knew something had to be very wrong with my body and went to have a regular check up. A week later,  I went to see the specialist who ordered another blood test to check antibody counts in my blood. I was found to have this Thyroid autoimmune disease, Graves' disease.(hyperthyroidism).

I then just started to realize in details how our Thyroid gland (甲狀腺) has played such an important function in our bodies, although it is only very small size. (approximately 15 to 25 g, with each lobe 4 to 6 cm in length and 1.3 to 1.8 cm in thickness.The Thyroid gland looks like a butterfly.) Along with Subcutaneous gland 腦下腺 ( size as a pea, very very small) they both control all over most important functions of our bodies--metabolism, heart rate, body temperature control...etc. They work together to achieve the delicate balance of Thyroid hormones.

Within one week, my pulse has increased to 109 at the time I saw the endocrinologist, and he prescribed a Beta blocker to block the Thyroid hormone from speeding up my heart beats. After reading the many possible side effects of the Beta blocker( a common drug for high blood pressure but I am usually having low blood pressure, so I never use it before.), I was scared and decided I was not going to take it yet, thinking my pulse was only a little bit faster than normal range and my hands were only slightly trembling. Besides, I was foolish to have Pneumonia vaccine last Wednesday when I went to see my eye doctor because that vaccine was long overdue and I wanted to get it done with. That caused some slight pain too. All a sudden, that night, my pulse was up, up , up to 116. and I couldn't sleep. So I swallowed the pill to stop this crazy upward march of my heart beats. There is no room for me to argue not taking the pill any more. I had to, I have to swallow the pill right then..

Well, I have learned my lesson and have some insight to share with you through this short ordeal. First of all, our Creator God has made such a small gland work so well for us. For more than 71 yrs, my Thyroid gland serves me well. it is so small, yet it is a control center of the body. Isn't it amazing? When it serves us well, we never appreciate its existence. Now that I have autoimmune problem, then I have just realized what a big contribution of Thyroid gland did to me in all these past years and I am full of thankfulness to God.

Secondly, though I don't know how and why my own immune system has turned against myself, ( gene or stress as most articles suggest??) Yet I do know I am sick when I lost weight rapidly and suddenly my pulse rate increases, . The reality is I am sick and need to take medicines prescribed to me by an authentic specialist whether I like it or not, regardless if  that particular medicine may give me terrible side effects or not. In a word, there is no time for me to keep arguing for the unknown causes of this disease, I better took action to take the remedy pills. Thank God, after taking the pills two times, my pulse went back to normal.

Dear friends, generally speaking, don't you realize humankind's souls( or minds) are sick? You may not like or understand the reasons Bible gave us about the cause or root of human sinful nature. Perhaps in this side of heavens, we may not have the perfect answer because we are very limited in our understanding. Yet the reality is humans are sinful in our fallen nature. So called the dark side of human mind/heart, by many people, right? Look around our world, so many evil things are going on, we simply can't deny human nature is fallen, right? We are also running out of time for those who hit 70 years plus like me. There is a sense of urgency, don't you realize that?  I don't know how long I have left to have the chance to tell you the good news of Jesus. Please don't let many biases keep you from knowing our Creator God! Just because we don't understand God's mind and His way of doing things, shouldn't make us to deny His existence and His offer of eternal life through Jesus Christ, the eternal God. 

May God give us wisdom to count our days and hurry up to be connected with Him!

Note:

What Causes Graves' Disease?

Hormones secreted by the thyroid gland control metabolism, or the speed at which the body converts food into energy. Metabolism is directly linked to the amount of hormones that circulate in the bloodstream. If, for some reason, the thyroid gland secretes an overabundance of these hormones, the body's metabolism goes into high gear, producing the pounding heart, sweating, trembling, andweight loss typically experienced by hyperthyroid people. Normally, the thyroid gets its production orders through another chemical called thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), released by the pituitary gland in the brain. But in Graves' disease, a malfunction in the body's immune system releases abnormal antibodies that mimic TSH. Spurred by these false signals to produce, the thyroid's hormone factories work overtime and exceed their normal quota.

Exactly why the immune system begins to produce these aberrant antibodies is unclear. Heredity and other characteristics seem to play a role in determining susceptibility. Studies show, for example, that if one identical twin contracts Graves' disease, there is a 20% likelihood that the other twin will get it, too. Also, women are more likely than men to develop the disease. And smokers who develop Graves' disease are more prone to eye problems than nonsmokers with the disease. No single gene causes Graves’ disease. It is thought to be triggered by both genetics and environmental factors, such as stress.

On Eagle's Wings

Dear friends:

Have you ever wondered if a mother eagle can catch its eaglet in time for its first few flights?
Can a mother eagle or father eagle beat the free falling gravity to let its eaglet land on its spreading wings? I've dug out a couple articles with eyewitness account for you below.

On Eagle’s Wings

Dr. Loye Miller (1918) published the following account, as given to him by one of his students:

Last summer while my father and I were extracting honey at the apiary about a mile southeast of Thacher School, Ojai, California, we noticed a golden eagle teaching its young one to fly. It was about ten o’clock. The mother started from the nest in the crags, and roughly handling the young one, she allowed him to drop, I should say, about ninety feet, then she would swoop down under him, wings spread, and he would alight on her back. She would soar to the top of the range with him and repeat the process. One time she waited perhaps fifteen minutes between flights. I should say the farthest she let him fall was 150 feet.

My father and I watched this, spellbound, for over an hour. I do not know whether the young one gained confidence by this method or not. A few days later father and I rode to the cliff and out on Overhanging Rock. The eagle’s nest was empty. (Miss F.E. Shuman)

Deuteronomy 32:11-12 says this:

As an eagle stirs up its nest,
Hovers over its young,
Spreading out its wings, taking them up,
Carrying them on its wings,
12 So the Lord alone led him,
And there was no foreign god with him.

In Exodus 19:4 God says this:

4 ‘You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Myself.’

(For more, click this link http://zootorah.blogspot.com/2009/05/on-eagles-wings.html)

...Reports do indeed exist of eagles carrying their young on their backs. One ornithologist writes as follows:

"Many ornithologists have thought that the Bible picture of an eagle carrying her young was merely figurative, but in recent years certain reliable observers have actually seen a parent bird let its young rest for a moment on the feathered back - especially when there was no other roosting place in sight. When an eagle nests on the ledge of a sheer-walled canyon, many feet above the earth, with no jutting tree or protruding rock to break the fall, the quick movement of a mother bird to offer her own back to a frightened fledgling may be the only way to let it live to try its wings again." (V.C. Holmgren, Bird Walk Through The Bible [New York: Dover Publications 1988] p. 98)

One report of this behavior is as follows:

"Our guide was one of the small company who have seen the golden eagle teaching the young to fly. He could support the belief that the parent birds, after urging and sometimes shoving the youngster into the air, will swoop underneath and rest the struggler for a moment on their wings and back. ... Our guide, when questioned, said that every phrase of the verse [Deut. xxxii, I I] (which was new to him) was accurate, save the first; he had seen it all except the stirring up of the nest." (W.B. Thomas, Yeoman's England [1934], pp. 135-6)

Another report concerning the golden eagle comes from Arthur Cleveland Bent, one of America's greatest ornithologists, on the authority of Dr. L. Miller:

"The mother started from the nest in the crags and, roughly hand-ling the youngster, she allowed him to drop, I should say, about ninety feet; then she would swoop down under him, wings spread, and he would alight on her back. She would soar to the top of the range with him and repeat the process. Once perhaps she waited fifteen minutes between flights. I should say the farthest she let him fall was a hundred and fifty feet. My father and I watched him, spellbound, for over an hour." (A. C. Bent, Bulletin of the Smithsonian Institution CLXVII [1937], 302) (Note to the reader: I would be indebted to anyone who can obtain a copy of this article for me, or who knows of any other reliable reports of such behavior.)