Such a basic thing, so essential to human survival. Precious water. According to Wikipedia there are 16 dams in 14 states of Malaysia, 13 lakes in 5 states, 58 rivers in West M'sia and 28 in East M'sia. We are surrounded by seas of water... there is the South China Sea dividing Peninsular/East M'sia, the Andaman sea in the north, Straits of Malacca and Straits of Johor in the south, as well as the Sulu and Celebes seas off Sabah. Water water everywhere, and we are facing a protracted water shortage crisis which has seen dry taps in some areas in the Klang Valley for 2 weeks. 2 weeks is an awfully long time to go without something as basic and essential as water, especially in this current heat. Some 2 million M'sians are now having to suffer the inconvenience of water rationing according to a 2 days on, 2 days off schedule which will stretch over a month and likely to be extended. To top it all, the haze is back blanketing our skies with a vengeance. As usual, after blaming this, that or the other, all we can do is sit and wait for the winds to blow it away.
Actually we are not alone. The (so-called) most developed and most powerful nation in the world is facing a water problem in much worse proportion. As of 2012 the US was experiencing its widest-spread drought in 56 years, with 55% of continental US in moderate to extreme drought. CNN that year reported that more than 1000 counties in 26 states were declared a natural disaster areas, meaning it has suffered severe drought for 8 consecutive weeks. And by all accounts what started in 2012 isn't over, as at Feb 2014, 91% of California - the state which grows the most vegetables - is in severe/exceptional drought with parts of the big US of A still in the moderate to extreme drought categories.
For all of humankind's advances in science and technology, it takes just a parched earth to remind us we aren't in fact all that great. Sure we can 'seed' some chemicals into clouds to 'force ' rain to fall. But hey, guess what, we still can't 'make' a teensy-weensy whiff of a rain cloud. From the little I remember of my high school science, there are clouds and there are clouds - only particular types bring rain. Science can produce all the chemicals needed for cloud-seeding, but it can't recreate the specific original raw material needed for rain - a particular fluffy little piece of 'cotton wool' floating in the air. Despite all our sophisticated knowledge of what a cloud is and even how it is formed, we still can't 'do' it. So our weathermen waits for that elusive Cumulus cloud to materialise out of thin air (something which obviously only the Creator of heaven and earth can fashion)....and M'sians buy more pails to store water.
Yet we are ever so proud of the monuments we build to honor ourselves. We congratulate and pat each other on the back as if we are the greatest inventors and innovators of the world and all that's in it. But we fail to acknowledge the One whose Hands fashioned the arch of our eyebrow, the dimple on the face, the curve of our smile, the shape of our fingers and toes, suited to a particular special individual on a case-by-case basis, making each one of us a unique person in the midst of the 7+ billions on this earth. All our grand achievements may be well and good, but I am reminded of Shelley's famous sonnet on a piece of sculpture found in the desert sand, composed of 2 vast trunkless legs of stone and a half-sunk shattered visage, whereupon a pedestal is engraved "My name is Ozymandias, king of kings; Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!" to which the poet fittingly concludes, "Nothing beside remains. Round the decay Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare The lone and level sands stretch far away..." - the irony of an empty boast.
So much for humankind who presume to exalt ourselves and our works. All our boastings, all our doing, all our posturing about our own cleverness..we are the proverbial empty vessels making the most noise. And all go silent when we file past a little box called the coffin. We think it's the scientist, the doctor, the surgery, the medication that's extending a life, but we can't guarantee how long 'we' can make it last. I hear there is now something called cryopreservation, where dead people are in effect deep-frozen at very low temperatures in the hope that future medical advances will make resuscitation possible. There is even a process called 'de-extinction' where scientists are hoping to 're-create' extinct species of animals like the great wooly mammoth, using genome technology. So what, dead is still dead for all intents and purposes.
We can know so much about babies and diseases, but we can't programme even one little babe's growth into a perfectly healthy adult. We can try to postpone death but we could be here 1 minute, and gone in the next blink of the eye. Sure, we can produce clones, but no matter how perfect the duplication, we can never beat the original, as we are not the Originator. After all, there can only be 1 real Mona Lisa, painted by 1 real Leonardo Da Vinci. How audacious that finite man presumes to be able to control life's mysterious workings according to our own circumscribed knowledge. We reduce God to a philosophical question mark. But we are forever playing 'little gods', tinkering in the laboratories of our minds, sitting on thrones of our own making, feeding our own pets of independence and freedom. Who are we fooling? Certainly not (the real, one and only living God). Heck, like I said, we can't even conjure up a rain cloud or a wisp of wind.
Yet, we are considered "fearfully and wonderfully made" (Psalm 139:14). That's an amazing statement, for if I am so 'made', there must be a Maker who takes a lot of care in the making of 'me'. And I am not talking about my mum and dad. The real me is more than a combination of my parents' genes, as much as Mona Lisa is more than random splashes of paint on a canvass. To know that I am created by Someone who has 'me' on His mind does something to my heart. Like someone puts it, science can explain the 'what' of life, but it can never explain the 'why'. Sure, we can all find (lots of) hope, meaning, even love, in a life without God, but we would never know what we are missing if we just stop short there.
The Bible tells the story of a born-cripple sitting daily in front of the temple gate as 2 of Jesus' disciples passed by. For umpteen years, he's been there, begging for alms. But on that day, along comes Peter who tells him to look up, and instead of dropping coins into his hands, like everybody else, he declares, " Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk" And a cripple gets more than he ever expected or desired in his life, as his once-dead legs come alive .(Acts 3:1-8) . Short-sighted beggars that we are, we can only think of just 'coins, silver or gold ' in our hands and the hope of such to come....when God wants to give us so much more....more than just rain, more than just a mortal life, if only we would 'look up'.
I am not content with having 'just'... - I want the 'more'.
“In the beginning, Lord, You laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands. They will perish, but You remain; they will all wear out like a garment. You will roll them up like a robe; like a garment they will be changed. But You remain the same, and Your years will never end".... Hebrews 1:10-12
The
state of California, which produces the most vegetables in the U.S, is
going through its worst drought ever, with 91.6% of the state experiencing
severe to exceptional drought. 2013 was its worst year ever and there has
been no improvement so far in 2014. According to CNBC, it is being
projected that California farmers are going to let half a million acres of
farmland sit idle this year because of the crippling drought. Much of the
western U.S. has been exceedingly dry for an extended period of time, and
this is hurting huge numbers of farmers and ranchers all the way from
Texas to the west coast.”
Read more at http://www.prophecynewswatch.com/2014/February19/192.html#pZQLi6vj4mlmIIUP.99
Read more at http://www.prophecynewswatch.com/2014/February19/192.html#pZQLi6vj4mlmIIUP.99
The
state of California, which produces the most vegetables in the U.S, is
going through its worst drought ever, with 91.6% of the state experiencing
severe to exceptional drought. 2013 was its worst year ever and there has
been no improvement so far in 2014. According to CNBC, it is being
projected that California farmers are going to let half a million acres of
farmland sit idle this year because of the crippling drought. Much of the
western U.S. has been exceedingly dry for an extended period of time, and
this is hurting huge numbers of farmers and ranchers all the way from
Texas to the west coast.”
Read more at http://www.prophecynewswatch.com/2014/February19/192.html#pZQLi6vj4mlmIIUP.99
Read more at http://www.prophecynewswatch.com/2014/February19/192.html#pZQLi6vj4mlmIIUP.99
“The
state of California, which produces the most vegetables in the U.S, is
going through its worst drought ever, with 91.6% of the state experiencing
severe to exceptional drought. 2013 was its worst year ever and there has
been no improvement so far in 2014
Read more at http://www.prophecynewswatch.com/2014/February19/192.html#pZQLi6vj4mlmIIUP.99
Read more at http://www.prophecynewswatch.com/2014/February19/192.html#pZQLi6vj4mlmIIUP.99
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