Reproducible

DateLine (10/5/05 – Ponce, Puerto Rico)

A few weeks ago I mentioned that I had been reading a book about the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918 – 1919. It’s interesting that the airwaves are full of the news of an avian flu (H5N1) right now which some are comparing to what happened in the early part of the last century. But that’s really not what I wanted to talk about.

While the Spanish Flu pillaged our country and even the world, medical researchers were locked into a deadly race to identify the source and manufacture a cure. Years of research was being compressed into months. Necessity dictated the dishonoring of normal research protocols. Rivalries between researchers who competed for grants and recognition morphed into cooperation. These were disparate times.

While medical research had limited success in 1918, the success that it did have is attributable to a single natural attribute. Quoting from the book, “One key to science is that work be reproducible. Someone in another laboratory doing the same experiment will get the same result. The result then is reliable enough that someone else can build upon it. The most damning condemnation is to dismiss a finding as ‘not reproducible.’”

God has created a tremendous natural order here on earth even in the form that we know it which is stained by sin. It is a reflection of His very nature. Jesus is the same “yesterday, today, and forever;” rock solid dependability; reproducible dependability. Just like those medical heroes from almost 100 years ago, we take it for granted and exploit it everyday to our advantage.

What’s the lesson for us here? God promised that if we renounce our sins and confess Him as Lord He opens the doors of heaven for us to spend eternity with Him. Someone shared the good news with someone who accepted the eternal truth for their own. They shared the good news with someone who accepted the eternal truth for their own. They shared the good new with us and we accepted the eternal truth for our own; reproducible results. God designed it. God built it. God’s saving it. Don’t you want to be a part of God’s natural order? Share the good news today.