A daily, Bible-based message of hope and encouragement.
A daily, Bible-based message of hope, encouragement and exhortation. The online Bible teaching ministry of Stephen & Brooksyne Weber. <Previous Message · Archive edition Monday, September 17, 2012 The Pierce family with a creative announcement. Listen to this message on your audio player. "Knit Together" "For You created my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Your works are wonderful, I know that full well" (Psalm 139:13,14). When we walked into our church yesterday we greeted friends and visitors and then caught sight of little two year old Seth. He was wearing an interesting shirt bearing the statement, "I Am a Big Brother!" Initially Brooksyne thought the boys had reversed their shirts since Seth's older brother, David, is actually the big brother, but we soon heard "the rest of the story". Ken and Nila used Seth's T-shirt to make the exciting announcement that they are expecting their 3rd child. Indeed Seth is now a big brother although the child in Nila's womb is not yet born. David and Seth's brother (or sister) began to develop as a separate human being at the time of conception. Each of us, at the time of our conception, began as a separate single cell. For nine months, while being knit together in our mother's womb, we received nothing more than oxygen and nutrition. In God's miraculous plan our entire genetic makeup was contained in that single cell. We are indeed fearfully and wonderfully made! Thankfully for each one reading our message, this process was not interrupted. After nine months of being knit together in your mother's womb you were born. You have never existed before and there will never be another you, contrary to what false religions might teach about reincarnation. From my study I understand that the initial fertilized cell from whence we all developed only weighs around .0000000015 pounds. And yet by the time we are born this one single cell became two hundred million cells and at birth we weigh six billion times more than the fertilized egg. If this rate of growth continued by our first birthday we would have weighed 72,000,000,000 pounds! That would have been an extremely "heavy" burden for our mothers. In addition I also consider if I'd continued to grow at this rate what would I look like. I don't think there would be a mirror big enough for my reflection. Kind of makes me feel like I've done a good job after all in maintaining my weight! (Brooksyne's edit: NOT!) Although David had little knowledge of modern science he did have the inspiration of the Holy Spirit in declaring a statement modern science recognizes: "For You created my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Your works are wonderful, I know that full well" (Psalm 139:13,14). Today, let us marvel at the wonder of life, our conception, development and birth. Let us marvel even more that our Lord Jesus Christ willingly condescended to humankind, taking on flesh which enabled Him to take on the sin of the world. What wondrous, incomprehensible love is that, even more incomprehensible than the supernatural process of our birth! Be encouraged today, Stephen & Brooksyne Weber Daily prayer: Father, we are amazed at Your creative process and marvel at the beauty of life. You knit us together in our mother's womb and provided everything we had need of before our birth and have done so as well all the years we have lived following our birth. You will do so until You call us home and there we will lack for nothing as we receive the inheritance that is waiting for us which can never perish, spoil or fade. Thank You for giving us life and providing for all our needs; physical, material, relational, and spiritual. In the name of Jesus we pray. Amen. Stephen's Note: This weekend we had a visit from my cousin, Richard and his wife Pat (left), who stopped by with their RV on the way back home to Florida. Friday evening my brother, Pat and his wife Laverne (right), joined us for dinner. Pat and Richard are the same age but I am 8 years younger and they tormented me mercilessly when I was a child. But now it's feels pretty good being the younger one! On Saturday morning we went for a long walk on our favorite trail which begins across from our house. We went over to Donegal Springs and the Cameron Inn Estate with the Mayberrys. On the way we passed this one room schoolhouse about 1 mile west of our home which now is a meetinghouse for boy scouts. Richard worked on getting Mollie to settle down using techniques he has seen on the dog whisperer program. He is very patient and firm which is what Mollie needs! On Friday we shared a message about the blessing of guardrails and referred to a railroad bridge in northern Pennsylvania that is now a rail to trail route for offroad vehicles. Margie, an alert reader and ATV enthusiast, who uses the trail sent me the following photos. Here's the approach to the Snowshoe rail to trail bridge. Notice you have to get on the bridge where there is not a guardrail although I can't tell how steep the drop-off is at that point. Yesterday I told Fred, a friend I mentioned in Friday's message, that I would like to go riding on that trail sometime but I think I would let someone else take the ATV over the bridge and I would walk across on the guardrail side! View from Snowshoe rail to trail bridge. View of I-80 from the Snowshoe rail to trail bridge with Moshannon Creek below. I recall seeing the old railroad bridge many times from the bridge on I-80 but this is the first time I have seen this view. This railroad trestle (now rail to trail) is located here. (Google map) We have had a very active weekend and will share mote photos in the next couple of days. Today's Suggested Music and Supplemental Resources Here's an interesting website dealing with the chronology of a new life. While waiting as Brooksyne edited today's message I came across a more than usual assortment of related songs. If you have the time these songs will touch your heart! "You Knit Me Together" Video Steve Green This video was used a in a baby dedication in a local church and was a favorite of ours when Ester was a young child. "Just Another Birthday" Video Casting Crowns includes a testimony from Mark Hall who writes most of their songs. "Life Inside You" Video Matthew West "Personhood" Audio download Tony Funderburk "The Miracle of Life" Video Matt Weaber is a friend of mine who has a wonderful testimony. Read it here. Please note: I have noticed that YouTube increasingly uses ads that proceed the video. These ads have nothing to do with our ministry or viewpoint and as best as I can determine with the person that places the video up. I also was very disgusted the other day when I watched a meritorious video but afterwards a screen popped up with supposedly related videos, including some I would never direct our readers to. Again neither I nor the video poster has anything to do with this. Send a message to Stephen & Brooksyne. |
Stephen and Brooksyne Weber (Click on photo to enlarge) "We want to encourage you daily in your walk with Christ!" Personal Ministry Update (Revised 4/12) Are our daily encouragement messages a blessing to you? Each weekday morning Brooksyne and I prepare these messages and distribute them at no cost to you and many others all over the world. We ask you to consider supporting Daily Encouragement Net so that we can continue to prepare and provide this daily resource which is accessed by believers and seekers all over the world. Daily Encouragement Net relies solely on the generosity and financial support of its readers and podcast listeners. See here for more information on supporting this ministry. Gifts are tax deductible. 2012 financial offerings to Daily Encouragement Net as of 9/16/12: $12,126.00. We express thanks to all who support our ministry! SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION Cancel: We respect and value your time and privacy. If you no longer desire to receive these messages you can remove your address from the list by merely using the link automatically inserted by the mailing list software at the very bottom of each email message. (To change addresses cancel your old address and then join again using your new address.) Weekly Version: The weekly version is intended for those who may not check their email regularly or who may desire less frequent mailings. It is Friday's message with a link to previous messages. To receive the free weekly version, send a blank email to this address. Daily Encouragement on Facebook and Twitter: The daily message and prayer on Facebook. The daily message and prayer on Twitter. Reader Survey: Please take a few minutes to assist us in improving our ministry effectiveness by filling out this online reader survey. To take the survey click here. Please feel free to pass these messages on! Our other blogs: "A Daily Prayer" - A blog simply posting the daily prayer. We keep this up each day since it's merely the prayer from the Daily Encouragement Net message! "A Little Foolishness" - Humor/satire blog (a great outlet for non-serious writing but at times with a subtle message!) (Note: This material is satire!) "Clear Minded" - Longer, periodic articles on specific issues impacting the faithful believer and church. (Actually this is my intent but I haven't done much with it!) "Hymns of Hope" - Brooksyne along with two friends made a CD using classic hymns. Brooksyne tells the background story of the 11 hymns. All of these songs are also available for download on the site. Personal Mission Statement "I am created by God to bring Him glory. Through God's Son Jesus Christ I have been redeemed and I make it my life's goal to please the Lord. My mission in life is to honor God through my faith and obedience and to prepare myself and all whom I may influence for eternity." How to become a child of God Scripture references are from The Holy Bible: New International Version. © 1984 by International Bible Society; NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, New King James Version (NKJV) Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. and the King James Version. © Copyright 2012 Stephen C. Weber - All Rights Reserved Daily Encouragement Net Stephen & Brooksyne Weber 495 Kraybill Church Road - Mount Joy, PA 17552 Contact us Endorsed chaplain "Living securely today anchored in God's solid foundation" www.dailyencouragement.net |
Daily Encouragement is issued Monday-Friday. To make sure you continue to receive these e-mails in your Inbox (so they're not sent to a junk folder), please add scweber@dailyencouragement.net to your address book or safe sender list. You are receiving these recurring messages as a subscriber to Daily Encouragement Net because you signed up on our website or otherwise requested it unless someone forwarded the message to you. If you desire to unsubscribe use the link below. However, please do not use this link unless your address is the subscribed address below as you will otherwise unsubscribe the person who forwarded it to you!
You are currently subscribed to dailyencouragement as: stephencweber.dailyencouragement@blogger.com Add scweber@dailyencouragement.net to your email address book to ensure delivery Forward to a Friend | Manage Subscription | Subscribe | Unsubscribe |