Monthly Archives: November 2011

Filling the Skies

I started writing this post several weeks ago when I found out the number of radio stations I had been able to track that were playing Straight N Narrow and/or Glorious Savior had reached 40. It’s been such an honor to be included on their playlists. The day just happened to be 40 days before we would be performing at The Living Room in NYC. It made me start thinking about the number 40, and how many times it is found in the Bible. There are several instances of people going away to pray for 40 days and 40 nights, most notably Christ when He fasted in the desert after being baptized. It is not our current custom to do this. I imagine we would get some strange and possibly negative reactions if we told our families or bosses, “See ya in 40 days or so–got some praying to do!”, even though the idea appeals to me.

I had the thought that during the month of November, it would be neat to post at least 40 blessings a day. There would be so many things to include. For example, if I first started by thanking God for life, I would include my physical self.  I might start with my skeletal system, which is comprised of 206 bones. Each is made of tissues, cells, marrow, all of which have their own numerous parts, and I would want to name and thank God for each of these, too. Then I would want to thank Him for all of the functions of the skeletal system; for example, the many ways it protects me and all the things it allows me to do with every move I make. I may next thank God for my muscular system, and name each of the 850 or so muscles, their parts, and what they do. (The eye muscle alone moves approximately 432,000 times a day.) To give thanks for the organ system, starting with my brain, would involve naming each of the 100 billion neurons that are involved in its function. At this point, I would not even be close to finishing my thanks for my physical self, and I would also want to include all of my family, friends, and those I don’t personally know who have impacted my life, and thank God for the countless intricacies that went into making each one of them.

Then there are the material blessings I enjoy each day, like a car (approximately 30,000 parts to make it), a house (just the nail-count: 1000 per 100 square feet), and a computer (one megabyte represents roughly one million bytes). It would take the rest of my life to thank God for everything, and there would be more left to cover. To thank God for the day, for life, for food, for a home, for family, and for friends represents centillions of mini-creations.

To think of how to properly thank God reminds me of a song we sing in church called “The Love of God”. One of the verses says “Could we with ink the ocean fill, and were the skies of parchment made, were every stalk on earth a quill, and every man a scribe by trade; to write the love of God above would drain the ocean dry; nor could the scroll contain the whole, though stretched from sky to sky.” (Song by Frederick M. Lehman; photo of painting by Glenn Ewing)