Spirit was a band that featured a father/son combination. So it was with us, I was the Dad, my oldest four kids and three that grew up with them in various combinations. Me, four boys and three girls. Man, we could really do the harmonies when we were together! Usually there were just five or six of us at one time, it was a fluid situation. One daughter got married. One young friend went into the military. Eventually they all grew up and we disbanded.
But we had fun in our day! We sang a cappella and with accompaniment. We sang mostly stuff like DC Talk and Newsboys and Imperials and Petra, singing in churches officially and continually in my van wherever we would go. Yes, I always had a full-sized van back then to fit all the people that we would carry around. Life was a concert on wheels and, at home we often had the music going instead of the television. White Heart, Whitecross, Third Day, Skillet, Guardian and so many other great Christian rock bands. We went to concerts, usually taking the entire youth group with me, sometimes even to something like Alivefest in Ohio where we camped out and, as youth pastor, I got to meet lots of musicians and hear their vision for winning people to Christ. Good times!
Our attempt to add guitar and drum and keyboards and have a genuine band with all the instruments lasted about a week, as our lead guitarist got himself a girlfriend and didn't want to practice. I had a son who could handle the keyboards and I could drum if necessary. We hadn't even found a bass player before we were dead in the water. Back to being a vocal band, oh well. Got to sing with a church-centric rock band for awhile so that was fun. But another Spirit? Nope, not even close!
There were and are secular rock bands I listened to and still do. Have been to lots of concerts since I was a kid. Still love Led Zep and Jethro Tull and King Crimson and Yes and old Clapton and Hendrix and etc. Funny how people like to classify Christians and paint them with one brush, but we are all different people and different strokes for different folks is doable and within the context of Christianity. The guy who led me to Christ loves to listen to Bill Gaither and that is definitely NOT ME! He'd probably hate going to a Creed concert but me and my family? We'd love it (we have not seen them live yet) for sure! I would really love a Muse concert, too, and I am sure my wife would pick Muse over Creed. I guess I would choose Creed over Muse? There is no official Christian Cookie Cutter. God didn't make anyone exactly alike. Even identical twins have different fingerprints and irises. Check it out if you don't believe me? No two organisms in the entire world are alike. No two snowflakes are alike! God loves variety...
Some Christians think drinking alcohol is wrong, some say that Jesus turned water into wine so drink away as long as you do not get drunk.
Some believe you need to get dressed up for church. Me? I wear a Paul Konerko #14 White Sox shirt a lot and almost never get spiffed up for church.
To me, church is family and more time with God. Jesus doesn't need to see me in a shirt tie to hang out with me and vice-versa. I think the last time I wore a jacket and tie to church I was preaching so that has been awhile!
When teaching the teenagers or in a science class I just wear comfortable clothes. There is no such thing as a mold Christians need to fit into other than just joining the God family. You receive forgiveness of sins and accept Christ as your Savior, you walk with God and life gets more interesting. Way more interesting! In truth, people get to be children of God when they get saved but to be a Christian you need to seek to follow Christ and do what He wants you to do. It is a journey and you know what they say about journeys? Well, the end really is the point but I am going to enjoy the trip while on the way to Heaven, yup!
Next featured YEC website is Answers in Genesis, the one that is headed up by Ken Ham. Here you go concerning the fantastic and amazing DESIGN of the largest organ of the human body, the skin:
Skin
Only a few millimeters of skin separate our bodies from the dangers of the outside world. Yet skin’s multilayered design provides us with the perfect combination of strength, flexibility, and durability. Unlike any spacesuit or body armor designed by man, this protective covering is alive, constantly repairing and renewing itself.
You have perhaps heard that “beauty is more than skin deep.” While that is certainly true, the skin itself is beautiful and tells us a lot about people. For example, we recognize one another mostly by the skin on our face.The skin’s blood supply and facial muscles even permit us to tell on sight when people are happy, sad, angry, or embarrassed. The skin is the largest organ in our body (weighing about 10 pounds [4.5 kg] in the adult) and covers the entire surface of our body, including our eyes, where the skin covering is conveniently transparent. Being on the surface, skin is the most accessible organ of our body, and thus must be marvelously resistant to our vain efforts to “improve” it with pigments, chemicals, punctures, and tattoos.
Skin, Thick and Thin
Skin is generally classified as thick skin (on our palms and soles) and thin skin (on the rest of our body). With callouses, thick skin can reach thicknesses of nearly half an inch (13 mm). Thin skin varies in thickness from about 0.5 mm on the eyelid to about 2 mm on the back (1 mm is about the thickness of a dime). Skin is made up of three major layers called the epidermis, dermis, and hypodermis. Each of these layers serves its own vitally important functions.
Epidermis—The Skin’s Outermost Layer
The body’s “miracle wrap”
Figures 1 and 2: Thin Skin
Most of our body is covered with a type of skin called “thin skin.” It is made of special cells (above) that are designed to die and lock together into precisely arranged columns (bottom). Each cell is tightly attached to its neighbor by over one hundred little “spot welds,” called desmosomes, which give the skin amazing strength.
If we suddenly lost our stratum corneum, death would quickly follow from massive fluid loss and bacterial invasion. Amazingly, over most of the surface of our body, this critically important dead layer measures less than half the thickness of refrigerator shrink wrap. Indeed, we might call the stratum corneum “miracle wrap.”
In thin skin, the dead cells are flattened like thin pancakes and are stacked on top of one another in precise columns (Figures 1 and 2). Each cell is tightly attached to its neighbors on top and bottom by over a hundred little “spot welds” called desmosomes. This tight bond is necessary for the dead layer to resist wear and tear.
In the thick skin on our palms and soles, the epidermis, and particularly the stratum corneum, is much thicker than thin skin. Here the corneocytes themselves are thicker and interlock like jigsaw puzzle pieces (Figure 3). Thick skin is designed to provide high resistance to wear and shearing on the much-used surfaces of our palms and soles.
Cell turnover in the epidermis
Figure 3: Thick Skin The palms of our hands and soles of our feet experience much more wear and tear than thin skin. So they have a special type of skin called “thick skin,” made of much thicker cells that lock together like a jigsaw puzzle.
Every minute we lose about 30 to 40 thousand dead skin cells from the surface of our skin, which equals about 9 pounds of dead cells every year!If the epidermis just kept adding new cells, our skin would grow thicker and thicker. To prevent this, the dead cells on the outer surface must regularly loosen their tight bonds and fall off the surface of the skin in a precisely controlled manner. In fact, every minute we lose about 30,000 to 40,000 dead corneocytes from the surface of our skin. That comes to about 9 pounds (4 kg) of dead cells every year! We are not aware of the loss because normally these cells fall off individually.
The outer cells can’t fall off too quickly, however. If cell loss exceeded cell production by only a few percent, we would quickly lose our stratum corneum and die. Amazingly, cell loss precisely matches cell production.
Dermis—The Second Layer of Skin
The body’s “leather”
The dermis, which lies just below the epidermis, is comprised of very strong fibers made of a protein called collagen. The collagen fibers are exquisitely woven into a very complex tissue that in animals, such as cows, serves as our source of leather. The dermis accounts for most of the skin’s strength and is highly resistant to tearing. While the dermis must be strong, it must also be elastic and flexible to permit us to move comfortably. Though the collagen fibers themselves are very inelastic, the way they are woven permits the skin to stretch much like a double-knit fabric. Special elastic fibers woven through the dermis help restore stretched skin back to its relaxed condition, much like the rubber strands in the elastic waistband of underwear.
The body’s “radiator”
Figure 4: Heat Regulation The second layer of skin, the dermis, is filled with a complex network of blood vessels and valves. They allow the body to divert blood near the skin to release heat and cool the body. The many loops increase the surface area, like an efficient radiator. Photo courtesy of David N. Menton
Hypodermis—The Skin’s Deepest Layer
The hypodermis, the skin’s deepest layer, can vary immensely in thickness. Most of this layer is body fat that serves as the principal source of energy when we are deprived of food. Strands of collagen pass through the fat of the hypodermis, anchoring the skin to underlying muscle and bone, limiting the mobility of our skin.
Most of the length of our hair follicles and sweat glands resides in the hypodermis. Indeed, it is here that hair grows and the sweat glands produce their sweat. When we lose skin in a deep abrasion, the surviving sweat ducts and hair follicles serve as a source of new skin. Without these numerous sources of new skin cells, we would require a skin transplant for even a skinned knee.
Conclusion
God’s handiwork is evident in all creation—even our skin. Let us thank God for our skin, which is so essential for our very lives.
God’s handiwork in creation is evident in everything He has made—even our skin. Like so many other things, we take the protective functions of skin for granted. But let us thank God for our skin, which is so essential for our very lives. Most of all, let us thank our Lord and Savior who endured those who pressed a crown of thorns through the skin of His brow and lashed the skin of His back to shreds. By His stripes we are healed from sin, death, and hell (1 Peter 2:24).
“For I know that my Redeemer lives, and He shall stand at last on the earth; and after my skin is destroyed, this I know, that in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!” (Job 19:25–27).
holds his PhD in cell biology from Brown University and is a well-respected author and teacher. He is Professor Emeritus at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. Dr. Menton has many published works and is one of the most popular speakers for Answers in Genesis–USA.