Rejoice in the Lord Always

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

(Philippians 4:4-7) ESV

We’re going to take a moment to step back from methodically interleaving the Bible with science, just for a day. This is a snapshot of our life taken this day in 2019.

We’ve been writing about science and the Bible for over 20 years. Things are coming together in a way that makes more sense than ever. Yet today we can pause and reflect before making the next step.

My circumstances changed two weeks before Christmas. I got fired from a job I had been working at for 8 years. I have been evaluating my options for employment and one of them is driving for Uber. The month of January was a trial in which I gave Uber my full-time attention to see if it would be able to meet my minimum financial needs. The good new is, yes, it is part of my ongoing way of life.

My quality of life has improved. This day a year ago when I first wrote this post, for example, I started by taking a rider from Winston-Salem to Charlotte, North Carolina. That’s quite a long ride. I picked up another rider in Charlotte while trying to figure out how to work the airport there. I was due to be in Chapel Hill that afternoon so I began making my way there and in the process picked up riders in Concord and two in Kannapolis.

I was astonished by what looks like a brand new college campus in Kannapolis with streets named after Watson and Crick, the men who hacked the structure of the DNA molecule, and Charles Babbage, the designer of the first computer. It’s okay to recognize human achievement, but who created DNA in the first place? The idolatry in Kannapolis becomes more brazen when you see that the main route through the middle of town is called Dale Earnhardt Boulevard!

I took a look at China Grove which I had always wanted to do, and I stopped by the North Carolina Transportation Museum in Spencer. It turned out that I didn’t have to go to Chapel Hill after all. From there I took secondary routes back to Winston-Salem but even so picked up a rider in Lexington. Once inside the Winston-Salem city limits again I picked up two more riders before I made it home.

I had a wonderful day of meeting people, enjoying the scenic beauty of North Carolina, experiencing a degree of freedom that is unwarranted, and meeting my financial goals for the day ahead of schedule.

I had peace that passes all understanding. It’s one of those days when it would be wrong not to give honor and praise to Lord our God. It is a day for giving thanks. I will pick up the loose threads and get back to weaving them together again tomorrow. Today let us rejoice in the Lord!

---

---