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Life preservation – 15 September 2009
Obsession with controlling health and extending life expectancy can justify large amounts of spending in stem cell research and new technologies to treat terminal diseases like cancer and other debilitating illnesses. The spending is huge, and there are improvements being made (the survival rates for breast cancer for example are considerably higher now than 15 years ago). How much of this spending and research is funded by the motivation of lost relatives or the desire to keep us alive longer?
Christopher Reeve (who famously played Superman in the movies) became paralyzed from the neck down as a result of an accident when riding a horse – and spent the rest of his life devoted to fundraising and support of research into spinal cord damage and lobbied for funding for stem cell research.
Ultimately, we can forget (and many do not know or believe) that our days are numbered from before we were born – and only God is ultimately in control of when the moment of our death comes. The story of Hezekiah is an interesting one (if you have time, read the whole chapter to learn about the miracle of the shadow moving the wrong way – which we have mentioned before):
In those days Hezekiah became ill and was at the point of death. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz went to him and said, "This is what the LORD says: Put your house in order, because you are going to die; you will not recover."
Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD "Remember, O LORD, how I have walked before you faithfully and with wholehearted devotion and have done what is good in your eyes." And Hezekiah wept bitterly
Before Isaiah had left the middle court, the word of the LORD came to him: "Go back and tell Hezekiah, the leader of my people, 'This is what the LORD, the God of your father David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears; I will heal you. On the third day from now you will go up to the temple of the LORD. I will add fifteen years to your life. And I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria. I will defend this city for my sake and for the sake of my servant David.' "
2 Kings 20:1-6 [NIV]
Lord, you are the healer who can work miracles in our lives. Help us to have your perspective, Amen.
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Dave MacLellan, 15/09/2009 |
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| Mon 28 Sept 2009 - Time | | Time is God’s creation and his gift to us. Unlike money and possessions we each have equal amounts of it. This week’s devotionals will examine how we spend our time....
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| Fri 25 Sept 2009 - Winning and losing | | I often struggle with the fact that some days I seem to start with a list of jobs, achieve none of them, gain a load more and get lost in the process. Does this sound familiar?...
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| Thurs 24 Sept 2009 - Individuality | | We are all individuals, God made us all different and let’s face it, if we were all the same, the world would be a boring place. That said, many take the view that within the grander scheme of things...
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| Wed 23 Sept 2009 - Fine | | I don’t know about you, but I have a fairly standard opening when starting a conversation with people that enquires how they are. Almost always they are ‘fine’ or equivalent words....
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| Tues 22 Sept 2009 - Autopilot | | I find that many of the mundane things that I do, day in, day out are done on autopilot, particularly where it comes to things like chores. Ok, so we engage more when there is something to get excited about....
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| Tues 15 Sep 2009 - Life preservation | | Obsession with controlling health and extending life expectancy can justify large amounts of spending in stem cell research and new technologies to treat terminal diseases like cancer and other debilitating illnesses...
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| Fri 11 Sept 2009 - Your Way of Life | | In our final extract from “A Pilgrim Way” by Ray Simpson he gives further reasons why we should all consider a “Way of Life” and I’m thinking this is something I need to do....
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