I was listening to the radio while driving my wife to work this morning when I heard a program about digital imaging and the things that are in process to prevent counterfeiting of paper money.  Although the subject of counterfeiting is not of deep interest to me, the ability of man to design and develop is.

This story will be mind boggling to you if you were born in or after 1982.  I bought my first computer in 1982.  Computers were not new, but they were now being introduced as Personal Computers that anyone could use in their home or business.  I decided to take the plunge.  By time I purchased the equipment and software my cost was nearly $9,300.  The 12 megabyte hard drive alone was $2,500 installed. A 120 gigabyte external hard drive today is about $100.  To further grasp the magnitude of this - $9,300 in 1982 is the equivalent of $21,111 today (2007) based on actual inflation.  The 12 megabyte hard drive that cost $2,500 back then would be $5,675 inflated to today (2007) and the $100 today for the 120 gigabyte external hard drive would have been $44 back then. 

Take a trip into the unbelievable world of Univac @  http://www.gourmilab.ch/documents/univac/.  Here is one small quote – “People who have used a 100 megabyte hard drive that weighed two and a quarter tons and cost more than US$130,000 in 1968 experience a special sense of wonder when tucking one of today's 2.1 gigabyte drives, just purchased for less than US$1000 and weighing less than half a kilo, into their pocket.”  

At http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer#History_of_computing you can read that it took from 1801,  when the first programmable device for the textile industry was invented, until 1941, when the first operative digital computer came into being.  It took another 41 years to bring us to the PCs.  From 1982 to 1990 was fascinating, but from 1990 to the present has been phenomenal.  The predictions for the future are overwhelming.

So why am I presenting all of this?  Surely, you don’t think this is man doing this on his own do you?  We have a creator who has designed this very small part of His creation and has given it to us to explore and expand all while he is working it into his master plan to spread the Gospel to every nation on earth – Matthew 24:14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.  I am convinced that the Internet is how this is going to be accomplished.  I suspect a large number of computer inventors, builders, and programmers have not seen themselves as a part of this plan.

This Great Creator who created and established our solar system is so amazing that these inadequate words seem insignificant as I write them, but I am who I am – a created being using the mind He has given me and the tools He has provided to the best of my ability.  I am sitting here in a small room, which is minuscule compared to the planet it is on, while rotating at 1,000 miles per hour, while moving around the sun at nearly 67,000 miles an hour, while the Sun is traveling around the Milky Way Galaxy at some 500,000 miles per hour, and the tea in my cup doesn’t show a ripple of the movement.

Take just a moment and look at everything that surrounds you.  Everything you see was an idea in someone’s mind.  It was placed in their mind before the creation of the world by The Creator of the world and those some ones, most of whom we don’t even know their names, took the idea and brought it forth with the talents God gave to them.  Then we, taking everything for granted as we do, use it to benefit ourselves without even giving it a thought.  We simply go to the mall or get on the Internet and purchase these things for a few dollars compared to their actual value in our lives and then complain about the cost.  It all seems ironic to me. 

A pound of banana’s for $.48 per pound, maybe on sale for $.25, at the store.  Something God created for my health, grown by someone in Jamaica,  harvested by some people trying to provide for themselves and their family, shipped to America, trucked to the store,  placed on the shelf, and placed on my kitchen counter for $.25 - $.48 per pound!  I act as if those bananas grew on that shelf as I pick them up and put them in my cart.  Hopefully I remember to thank God before I gobble one down for breakfast, but most times not.

God has done such a magnificent job of setting up a self-growing system of provision.  I sometimes sit on the swing in the back yard and think about all the jobs provided just because we have hair.  The barbers and beauticians, the shampoos and conditioners,  the dyes, gels, and sprays, not to mention all the equipment.  The same can be said for the industry created by finger nails, eyes, ears, feet, hands, and the rest of the body.   There’s the huge industries created by our health needs and the food we require.  Ever wonder about how much Shrimp it takes to make sure you have some available whenever you walk into Red Lobster?  I won’t even get into transportation and all that is involved there.  Just a little higher level than the horses of yesterday with the feed, bridles, saddles, bags, blankets, horseshoes, wagons, blacksmiths, and Veterinarians.   I wonder if they complained, back then, about the cost of feed or horseshoes while taking a Sunday ride to church?

This writing has taken a different turn, as my writings usually do.  I start out with an idea, but God usually directs me in a different direction.  I understand it more clearly since discovering Proverbs 16:9 - In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps and Proverbs 19:21 - Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the LORD's purpose that prevails.

Have you ever wondered what idea or multiple ideas God has placed in your mind that He would like to see you develop?  Psalm 139 is a fascinating read.  Did you know He has written a book about you and he has placed every day of your life in it?  Not a book of what you have done, but a book of what He planned for you before the foundation of the world. 

Psalm 139:16 your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. 

How awesome is that?