Come ye into the summer woods;
There entereth no annoy;
All greenly wave the chestnut leaves,
And the earth is full of joy.

Michelangelo Buonardo once said, “My soul can find no staircase to Heaven unless it be through Earth's loveliness.” Even during a hot sticky summer, such as this one, he saw the beauty God planted for us on Earth. Like Michelangelo, when we see God’s gifts around us, we will build that staircase to Heaven. Welcome to the August newsletter.

IS SEEING, BELIEVING?

The following was in an email I received back in March. It kept rolling around in my mind so I saved it to a Word file because I felt there was a need for it, but as they say, “out of sight, out of mind”. It may bother you or delight you but somehow you will read and understand it.

I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg.. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the first and last ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can still raed it wouthit a porbelm. This is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh?

On Seeing is believing, in that context. I never would have believed such a silly sounding idea was possible if I hadn’t read it myself. It was actually cool and I wanted to see more.

For that one moment I understood the feeling Thomas had when he saw Jesus and put his hand on the holes left by the spikes in His wrists. As I read the Bible, I couldn’t understand Thomas’ doubt after all the miracles Jesus performed.

Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed [are] they that have not seen, and [yet] have believed.
John 20:29

I always thought that if I had been there I would have laughed at Thomas and told him he was nuts. I would have said, “Hey Tom, Jesus is the real deal. Why would you doubt any of this?” Any one of the miracles would have made me jump out of my skin and I would have talked the ears off of anyone that would have listened. At least seeing made Thomas want more.

The researchers at Cambridge should do some work on why it’s so easy to doubt what we see. It seems they have a knack for making believers out of us. With one little trick, we believe that the human mind is capable of really cool things. Imagine what they could make us believe in: UFO’s and chimps that can golf! Cool!

Here’s a picture of both. Certainly we can believe what we see. No, huh? Photos can be manipulated and animals can be made to look as human as we want but they are still animals.

Seeing may make some of us staunch believers but a big part of faith and believing is choice.

Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established. Turn not to the right hand nor to the left: remove thy foot from evil.
Proverbs 4:26-27

I’ve never been in space but I believe the Earth is round without traveling past the stratosphere for a look back. The word of an astronaut will suffice. I don’t look for proof that Jesus healed people or walked on water. The Bible is all the proof I will ever need

Wherefore, sirs, be of good cheer: for I believe God, that it shall be even as it was told me.
Acts 27:25