Thursday, October 14, 2004

Thursday, October 14, 2004

Welcome to our world....


Micah Steven Hoskins, above with parents Mitch and Jenny, entered the world Wednesday afternoon at 5 p.m. in Chattanooga at Parkridge East Hospital. Jenny was enduced into labor late Tuesday night/early Wednesday morning, but said the experience wasn't nearly as bad as she thought it would be. She reportedly didn't even curse, despite my encouragement, telling her that it might be the only sure time that she could get away with it. As far as Micah's dimensions go and all that stuff, I'm a guy and that means that I'm still trying to digest the fact that two people made another smaller person. Give me time. I think he was around 8 lbs. or so. You can send Mitch, Jenny and Micah a congratulatory email if you like at mitchhoskins@hotmail.com.

Sitting in the room with the Hoskins family and Davio (thegreatknock) around 11 p.m. last night, I was reminded of a recent fascination with genetics. Due to our vast realm of knowledge about seemingly everything, it seems almost trivial to ponder the fact that the offspring of humans bears resemblance to its heirs. That's just the way it works. Yet, no individual looks the same, and I can't help but think that here is an incredible example of the intimacy of God.

Genesis 1:26-27 says, "Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them."

I've always known that we are made in the likeness of God, yet I fear I take this knowledge for granted. Such a truth means that I'm not simply just another part of creation, but that I'm set apart and made by a different standard, such that the Creator lends his image to my being. This means that our God is an incredibly intimate God and not a distant, silent puppeteer pulling the strings that dangle from space. He's active and powerful, purposeful (for no one would lend their name to a lost cause) and dare I say, loving.

If God didn't care and was unloving, or if there was no God, I really don't see why we'd bear any resemblance to each other, while still retaining our individuality. Life without a Creator would simply boil down to practicality and zero creativity. We'd simply be clones. Bodies without souls. Simple hollow shells of flesh.

Hallelujah we're more than that, and not only does God make us in his image, he furthers the trend by allowing us to reproduce likenesses of ourselves—pointing back to Himself again. I'm not even sure I'm making sense to myself anymore. God's love is just a huge concept to try and throw your arms around.

No one really knows who Micah looks like yet. I suppose part of me was really expecting him to pop out with a buzzcut and a dark goatee, while whistling the University of Michigan fight song. One thing we do know though—he bears striking resemblance to his Creator who gave both he and his parents life.

"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.
My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be."
~ Psalm 139: 13-16

Currently Playing New Way to Be Human By Switchfoot