Dear People Who Keep Company With God,
Maybe it is the engineer in me, but I love the concept of a renaissance church. When I say renaissance think this verse, I wisdom dwell with prudence and find out knowledge of witty inventions. Proverbs 8:12 KJV
One of my heroes is George Washington Carver. He was a true renaissance man. He was born a slave in 1864 and became one of our nation’s greatest scientists. He developed 325 different products from the peanut and 100 from the sweet potato. His products are used in cosmetics, medicine, paint, plastic, rubber, paper, and even gasoline. He developed the practice of crop rotation that revolutionized farming.
In 1921 he spoke to the U.S. Senate about all his discoveries and what he told the amazed Senators that day was that his discoveries came from God. The cornerstone of Carver’s faith was that he found God as most intriguing.
Carver explained, “I went into my laboratory and said ‘Dear Mr. Creator, please tell me what the universe was made for?’ The Creator answered, ‘You want to know too much for that little mind of yours. Ask for something more your size.’” “Then I asked, ‘Dear Mr. Creator, tell me what man was made for?’” Again the great Creator replied, ‘Little man, you are still asking too much. Cut down the extent of your request, and improve the intent.’”
“So then I asked, ‘Please, Mr. Creator, will you tell me why the peanut was made?’” “‘That’s better, but even that is infinite. What do you want to know about the peanut?’” “‘Mr. Creator, can I make milk out of the peanut?’” “‘What kind of milk do you want? Good jersey milk or just plain boarding house milk?’” “‘ Good jersey milk.’” And then the Great Creator taught me how to take the peanut apart and put it back together again. And out of that process has come forth all these products.”
Clearly, God taught Carver to dig deeper, to find the right questions to ask. This is because when a deep question gets hold of us, it has a way of stimulating our spiritual and intellectual hunger. Also, this intense questioning has a way of creating a dependency inside of us. It makes us aware of the fact that we do not know everything. This is what drove Carver to find God in the first place.
Jim Hardwick told about one of Carver’s lectures, “One day he came to the town where I lived and gave an address on his discoveries of the peanut. I went to the lecture expecting to learn about science and came away knowing more about prayer than I had ever learned in the theological schools.”
We have been divinely designed to be curious, to enjoy solving mysteries, to love deciphering secrets. I think this is a a real key to becoming a renaissance people, but love must be the real heart of it.
Carver said the secret of his incredible inventive genius came from love. “When I touch a flower, I am not merely touching that flower, I am touching infinity.” He also said, “You have to love it enough. Anything will give up its secrets if you love it enough. Not only have I found that when I talk to the little flower or to the peanut they will give up their secrets, but I have found that when I silently commune with people they give up their secrets also if you love them enough.”
Let’s see how inventive we can be in encouraging love and helping out (Hebrews 10:24 The Message).
Many Blessings, BW