Perfect

Biochemistry brings strange revelations.

All right, so I'm not one for smooth transitions. It's been another week for reflection and whatnot, and that includes while I'm in class.

Have you ever taken a look back at yourself and realized how completely and totally different you are now than you were X number of years ago? I guess I'm thinking specifically of my college-aged readers ... Take, for instance, you in high school versus you now. I know I've changed; I look roughly the same, but just about everything else is different, especially my thought processes.

I am a Christian scientist. Well, Christian engineer (this semester, more scientist some days). Those two sides don't always get along very well. But today, in biochemistry, the intricacy of the glycolysis pathway hit me and my "inner response" was something like, "Holy cow."

Okay, so maybe that last sentence didn't make much sense to anyone but me. Let me rephrase. We were talking about the way any and all living organisms break sugar molecules down to generate energy. Now, to understand why this hit me so hard, you have to understand that, in order for this to occur correctly, about twelve different enzymes have to be simultaneously present, you have to have the right conditions for all of them to remain intact, and you have to have the right initial molecule.

The cool part is that, not only does this happen, it happens constantly. Your body, regardless of whether you're eating, sleeping, walking your dog, dozing in class, or chasing a squirrel in the park, is doing this right now. (I hope you're not chasing a squirrel while reading my blog. That may damage whatever version of computer you're reading from, or your head when you run into a tree.) If it ceases to happen, you cease to happen.

Tell me, when was the last time you saw a human coordinate something like that, something that intricate, for up to 100 years without fail?

I realize, of course, that the human body fails sometimes, and eventually we all reach the ultimate equilibrium. But at the same time, there are six billion bodies, all functioning on some level, with processes like glycolysis and others, right now, at this moment in time.

It's for things like these that I will never understand Atheism. I cannot convince even my logical, engineering brain, that any form of randomness made that just happen. Even with an infinite universe, even with however many situations where things are aaaaalmost perfect but not quite right for things to work out like they do here on Earth, I can't believe that there isn't someone behind it all.

I also don't believe randomness would support other things within our "system" -- things like emotion and consideration, things that would actually hinder the ideal situation. Things that must be instilled in us on some level.

But once again, a different argument for a different day.

Anyway, sitting in biochemistry today, I couldn't help but go, "Wow. Good job, God."

And for once, my Christian and scientific sides agreed.