MERCY FELT

Jenny: "Dad, I don't feel so good! I was reading about malnourished children in Africa and I got sick to my stomach." Jenny's dad: "That's understandable!" Jenny: "Why?" Dad: "What you read obviously made you upset. Strong emotions can cause your stomach to work poorly." Jenny: "I'm not sure I understand."

Dad: "Your stomach is like a bag that helps you digest food. When you swallow food it goes from your mouth, by way of a tube called the esophagus, into your stomach."
Jenny: "But why did I get a stomachache?"
Dad: "You just finished eating lunch. Your stomach has food in it which your body is trying to digest. As you became upset at the thought of those suffering children, your body automatically shut your stomach down."
Jenny: "You mean my stomach has stopped working?"
Dad: "No, not exactly--it just isn't working as hard as it normally does after a meal. Jesus wired you together so that when you see, smell, or taste food, the juices in your stomach start flowing. Your body is getting ready for digestion. In fact, the thought of food alone will cause the muscles in your stomach to start contracting. That's why your stomach growls when it's hungry. Using special nerves, your brain sends signals to your stomach to get it prepared.
"There are another set of nerves, however, that do the exact opposite. Fear, anxiety, or excitement will trigger these nerves to decrease the activity of your stomach significantly. When you became upset, your body told your stomach to slow down even though you had food in it. All that acid and food just sitting around in your stomach has made you feel sick."
Jenny: "Why would Jesus make it that way?"
Dad: "Well, normally your body has a lot to think about when you get excited or upset. It doesn't have time to digest a cheese sandwich! Once you've dealt with what alarmed you, and calmed down, your stomach goes back to normal and you start feeling better."
Jenny: "How long does food stay in the stomach, Dad?"
Dad: "It depends on what you eat, Jenny. If you drink a glass of fruit juice, it takes less than a second for the liquid to get from your mouth to your stomach after you swallow."
Jenny: "Through the esophagus?"
Dad: "Yes. Often, liquids stay in your stomach only a matter of minutes before they're passed on to your intestines. A bite of a cheese sandwich, on the other hand, takes four to eight seconds to get into your stomach. It may then spend anywhere from two to six hours digesting there."
Jenny: "What happens to the sandwich while it's in my stomach, Dad?"
Dad: "Your stomach is a pouch which God designed to temporarily hold food. Special glands in the wall of your stomach produce large amounts of acid and other chemicals which start digesting the protein in the sandwich.
"The stomach normally absorbs only small amounts of water, salt, and sugar found in food, and it can absorb a few medicines like aspirin, but its biggest job is to begin the process of breaking down the large protein molecules of milk, cheese, or meat into smaller particles. These smaller particles pass from the stomach to the small intestine and there are broken down further and absorbed as amino acids so your body can use them."
Jenny: "Use them for what?"
Dad: "The body uses amino acids to make new proteins, like those in the muscles of your arms. Aside from storing food and digesting proteins, the Lord also created our stomachs with muscles to churn food into a liquid before it passes on to our intestines for further digestion."
Jenny: "A liquid?! How can a cheese sandwich become a liquid?"
Dad: "Your stomach secretes around two quarts of gastric1 juices, including hydrochloric acid, every day. This powerful acid helps digest food, and it kills germs you may swallow. Along with saliva, these juices get thoroughly mixed with any solid food you eat and, given enough time, your lunch turns completely liquid."
Jenny: "Doesn't the acid damage my stomach?"
Dad: "A healthy stomach is constantly creating new cells. The lining of your stomach is entirely replaced every three days! Your stomach is also protected from the corrosive juices by a thin layer of mucus produced by other gastric glands."
Jenny: "What happens to the food after it's been in the stomach awhile?"
Dad: "Pressure builds up in your stomach and the liquid, which is called chyme (pronounced kime), is passed from your stomach to your intestine a small squirt at a time."
Jenny: "You're kidding! My stomach squirts food?"
Dad: "Yep!"
Jenny: "How come it doesn't come back up the esophagus then?"
Dad: "Good question! Located at either end of the stomach is a special valve. Where the esophagus meets the stomach is a valve called the lower esophageal sphincter, but don't worry about remembering its name. When you swallow food, it goes down your esophagus. Just before it reaches your stomach, the valve opens, allows the food in, and then closes automatically."
Jenny: "Wow! God is smart!"
Dad: "He sure is! Normally both valves stay closed so that food doesn't exit the stomach while it's being digested. When the stomach is done digesting your cheese sandwich, it opens the valve between it and the small intestine a little and lets nourishment flow into the intestine."
Jenny: "You mean squirt?"
Dad: "Yes, that's right, squirt!"
Jenny: "What happens to the chyme after it gets into the intestines?"
Dad: "That's kind of complicated, and a discussion best saved for another time."
Jenny: "Daddy, if some of the children in Africa are starving, how come they have such big bellies?"
Dad: "It's a disease called kwashiorkor, which is an African word. It occurs, tragically, when young children don't get enough food to eat, especially food containing protein. The body needs protein to make special chemicals , called enzymes, to digest food. When young children eat diets deficient in protein they are then unable to manufacture enzymes. They lack the enzymes needed to digest meals, and so they become bloated on food they have no way to digest--a vicious cycle!"
Jenny: "How sad!! Isn't there anything that can be done?"
Dad: "Oh, yes! Often the parents are not well-educated and they need someone to teach them about proper nutrition and how to grow food. Of course, too many people simply don't have the money or land to obtain food."
Jenny: "So what else can be done?"
Dad: "The Lord Jesus Christ is the God of mercy! He wants to show all people how much He loves them. He's waiting for people like you and me to allow His truth and His mercy to be revealed through us. Jenny, earlier you felt His mercy in your stomach--now let others feel His love!"

Notes:
1 -"Gastric" is an adjective which means "stomach."

REFLECTIONS OF A SOUR STOMACH

Two men busily adjust settings on a strange-looking instrument strapped to the abdomen of Peanut, a six-month-old Gordon Setter. The dog looks unconcerned as the men scurry around the examination table. Peanut seems content to sit quietly as veterinarian Dr. John Stedman listens to her stomach with Professor Seismo's latest invention.

Professor Seismo: "What's her stomach saying, John?"
Dr. Stedman: "I can't quite make it out. I thought I heard the word "help"!? Hans, why don't you turn up the gain on the amplifier and switch to external speakers?"
Peanut's Stomach: "I'm going nuts, Doc! GET ME OUTTA HERE!"

Professor Seismo's face turns bright red.

Peanut's Stomach: "Just this morning she ate a bar of soap! Now, how am I supposed to digest that? You should see all the bubbles in here."

Dr. Stedman barely suppresses his laughter.

Dr. Stedman: "Well, the Lord Jesus has given many animals unusual appetites. Lugworms eat sand, pandas eat bamboo, and numbats eat termites. However, I'm sure the Lord doesn't expect you to digest a...a bar of soap. How long has Peanut been eating such strange things?"
Peanut's Stomach: "All her life. I'm being abused, Doc. She drinks out of the toilet, she digs through the garbage, and she eats whatever looks yucky or smells bad. Yesterday, I was quietly trying to digest a dog biscuit when all of a sudden I smelled something really awful. Peanut was licking someone's feet--AGAIN! Doesn't this puppy have any pride?"
Dr. Stedman: "Remember, God made the vulture. It's capable of eating just about anything. A vulture can dine on a diseased carcass and stay perfectly healthy. The Creator placed strong acids in its stomach to kill almost every germ! Say, speaking of weird meals, did you know that scientists once found a roll of tar paper, a keg of nails, and a carpenter's square in the stomach of a shark?"
Peanut's Stomach: "That's not very comforting, Doc! You get to eat people food, I get to digest bugs."
Dr. Stedman: "What do you mean?"
Peanut's Stomach: "One day I smell dirt! Now, I knew what that meant: Peanut had just eaten another grub2--gross! I almost got sick! Later that same day I realized it had been several hours since Peanut had a decent meal. I was getting really hungry, but I was afraid to let Peanut know. I thought to myself, 'I guess I'll have to take my chances.' So I called out, 'HEY PEANUT, I'M REALLY HUNGRY! CAN YOU FIND SOME FOOD TO EAT--REAL FOOD?!' An hour later I'm staring at two grasshoppers, a spider, several pieces of tree bark, and a chewed-up lid to a plastic milk jug. I know that some animals can survive by eating only wood, but Peanut's not one of them, Doc!"

Keeping his composure, Dr. Stedman gives a glance toward Peanut's face as he listens to her stomach. She has a blank, but happy, puppy grin, tongue hanging out. He can't believe he's actually talking with her stomach!

Dr. Stedman: "The Creator is sovereign--you're testimony of that."
Peanut's Stomach: "You mean He wants me to survive on soap and plastic?"
Dr. Stedman: "Well, no, but He made you and the rest of Peanut the way He made you. You can't change that. In fact, He made each of His creatures unique in every way. Let me explain while you enjoy the suds."
Peanut's Stomach: "Very funny!"
Dr. Stedman: "The Lord Jesus Christ created stomachs in all different shapes and sizes, from the tiniest insect stomachs to the stomach of an elephant. He could have made the stomachs of all animals the same, but He didn't. Like I said, He's sovereign!
"Most creatures have just one stomach, but the honeybee has two, the whale, three, and the cow, four. In some beaked whales the third stomach is divided into twelve compartments for a total of fourteen stomachs!
"God is sovereign when it comes to gastric size, as well. The stomachs of some insects are so small, you can barely see them upon dissection. In contrast, the stomach of an adult elephant can be over four feet long and weigh 100 pounds! The stomach of a blue whale is so big it can hold one ton of food.
"Normally, a dog's stomach can hold about a half gallon of liquid. Even when you're full, you make up only a small part of Peanut's entire body. Not so with mosquitoes and ticks, however. A female mosquito can drink an amount of fluid equal to her body weight, and certain female ticks can consume 600 times their weight in blood! That would be like Peanut ballooning to the size of a dinosaur while she ate.
"The abdomen is the usual location for most stomachs; however, Jesus placed the stomach of a lobster in its head, right next to its brain.

"Not all stomachs function the same way. One of the most unusual belongs to the starfish. It has two stomachs, and when hungry, the starfish turns one of them inside-out and pushes it outside its body. "Peanut's Stomach: "Oh, that makes me hurt just to think about it!"

Dr. Stedman: "At mealtime the starfish wraps itself around a clam or oyster and is able to push its stomach through the tiny crack separating the two halves of the clam shell. As a result, it's able to digest food outside its body. Other creatures, like spiders, flies, and scorpions, can digest food outside their bodies by secreting digestive juices from their mouths, but none of them can push its stomach out. A spider, however, has what's called a 'pumping stomach,' which helps it to suck in liquid nutrients from its prey.
"God designed most stomachs primarily to digest food, but the blowfish can use its stomach to scare off enemies, as well. When frightened, the blowfish increases the size of its body immensely by sucking a large amount of water into its elastic stomach."
Peanut's Stomach: "That's amazing! Say, I know many animals eat bugs, but this bark in here doesn't seem very nutritious!"
Dr. Stedman: "Normally, it isn't. In Christ's sovereignty, He created some animals which can digest cellulose, the tough material found in bark, wood, grass, and leaves. In this way, the cow and the termite share something in common. Both possess special microorganisms in their stomachs which produce an enzyme (cellulase) that is capable of digesting cellulose. Thus, the termite can eat wood, and the cow can consume grass without starving!

"Unlike Peanut, who will eat just about anything, some creatures are very picky eaters. The Everglade Kite (Snail Kite), which is a bird that lives in southern Florida, and Central and South America, will eat only one type of freshwater snail.3 Some animals eat only ants. In God's wisdom, He gave the anteater a stomach with a generous coating of keratin, the same material He used to make fingernails."

Peanut's Stomach: "Why did He do that?"
Dr. Stedman: "The tough lining of keratin allows the animal to eat thousands of ants without being harmed by the caustic formic acid they produce.
"The Lord's design of bird stomachs is also fascinating. Most birds have a crop, located in their throat, plus two stomachs. The crop is actually part of the esophagus and functions as a pouch in which the bird can store seeds or other food. This is especially important when food is scarce. When needed, food then passes from its crop to its stomachs, the proventriculus and the gizzard. The first stomach, the proventriculus, is like you--it produces acid and digestive enzymes. The problem is that many birds eat seeds which are hard to digest, so the Lord also gave them a gizzard. The gizzard is a muscular organ with a hard lining. In addition, the gizzard of seed-eating birds contains grit or fine stones. The stones act as the bird's "teeth," and the gizzard grinds seeds and grain so that they can be digested. It takes only a few minutes for seed to be ground up and passed to the proventriculus for further digestion."
Peanut's Stomach: "So bird stomachs contain rocks?"
Dr. Stedman: "Oh, yes, many animals have stones in their digestive tracts. For instance, crocodile and seal stomachs usually possess pebbles or stones. It is thought that several dinosaurs, like Apatosaurus (Brontosaurus) had large stones in their stomachs to help grind up tough plant material."
Peanut's Stomach: "Boy, even Peanut has never eaten rocks!"

Peanut's Stomach: "Whoa, I'm sure glad God doesn't make me do that!"
Dr. Stedman: "There are other animals that regurgitate food stored in their stomachs so that it can be shared with the rest of their family. Birds such as pigeons are famous for doing this with their chicks. Honeybees are probably the most altruistic of animals when it comes to sharing food. The Lord God wants people to be willing to share the food they have in their homes; a honeybee shares the food it has eaten. In fact, one of its two stomachs was designed by Jesus specifically to store nectar, to be eaten later by its brothers and sisters back at the hive.4 We call it the bee's social stomach.
"I know you don't always enjoy what Peanut eats, but at least you have a job. If Peanut were a type of fish called a lamprey, you wouldn't even exist!"
Peanut's Stomach: "You mean the lamprey doesn't have a stomach?"
Dr. Stedman: "Yes, that's right."
Peanut's Stomach: "I feel pretty bad that I've complained about what Peanut has been eating!"
Dr. Stedman: "Well, I'm going to recommend to Peanut's owners that they feed her a slightly different dog food, one higher in protein and calcium. I hope that will decrease her craving for 'unusual food.'"
Peanut's Stomach: "Oh, thank you , Dr. Stedman, thank you!!"
Dr. Stedman: "Remember, you're a unique creation of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the way He made you reflects His sovereignty! Come on, Hans, let's get lunch."

Notes:
2 - A grub is the worm-like larva of a beetle.
3 - Pomacea, commonly known as the apple snail.
4 - Bee hives are composed mainly of female (sister) bees.

HEALTHY LIVES

Do you worry about what you eat? "You are what you eat," exclaims the popular media. At first glance this may seem overstated, but there is truth in this claim. Consider, however, what God says; " Listen and understand. What goes into a man's mouth does not make him 'unclean,' but what comes out of his mouth, that is what makes him 'unclean'.... Don't you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man 'unclean'" (Matthew 15:10-11 & 17-18). Here, God is not talking about food, but something else.

"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes" (Luke 12:22-23). Is God concerned about our health and our needs? YES, BY ALL MEANS, but He goes on to say, "Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?... But seek His kingdom, and these things (food and clothing) will be given to you as well" (Luke 12:25-26 & 31, parenthesis added).

What makes a person 'unclean' or unhealthy before God? Not a high cholesterol level or eating moldy food, but sin! The first people to sin against God did so by eating something that they were told not to eat (Genesis 3). Putting food in their stomachs was not what angered God; what angered Him was that they disobeyed. Adam and Eve rebelled against God and decided to live independently of Him. They sinned by what came out of their hearts-- disobedience toward their Heavenly Father!

After sin came into the world it could not be easily removed. In order for a person's sins to be forgiven, God required that a life be sacrificed. This was true for Adam and Eve, and this is true for us. It is critical that we recognize that we have all sinned (Roman 3:23) and that our sin cannot be removed unless our life is replaced by another. For many years God allowed His people to sacrifice animals for their sins. Unfortunately, they kept on disobeying Him, and more and more animals had to be killed. There was no end to the sacrifices.

There is, however, one life, and only one life, that is pure enough to remove all our sins, permanently. God's life --the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross! Jesus put it this way, "I am the living Bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this Bread, he will live forever. This Bread is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world" (John 6:51). In other words, God uses Himself, through His Son, to feed us and change us completely, inside-out, if we will let Him.

It is thus true that we are what we eat. If we nourish ourselves on sin, we become robbed of our strength, and we begin to rot spiritually. If left untreated, sin will eternally separate us from God's love. If we take Christ into our lives, then we will be renewed, reborn--we will have His life inside us!

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, Who reconciled us to Himself through Christ.... (2 Corinthians 5:17-18).

The Lord Jesus Christ died on a cross to take away all your sins. Do you believe that? Nothing in life is more important! If a well-fed man dies having rejected Christ, and a poor, hungry man dies rejecting Christ, they both have the same destiny-- hell! God deeply cares about our physical needs, BUT He is infinitely more concerned about our spiritual needs and our eternal destiny. Have you ever made a commitment to believe in Christ and trust Him with your life? If not, please take a moment, right now, to pray this simple prayer.

Dear God, I recognize that I have lived my life independently of you and you consider this sin. Please forgive me through your Son, Jesus Christ-through His death on the cross. Jesus, please come into my heart right now and become my King and my God. I accept your gift of eternal life. Show me how to live the way you want me to live. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray, Amen.