by Chris Steele

July 16, 2006

Maybe you saw it in the newspaper this past week? There were a couple of articles that caught my attention. The first revealed some interesting research that was done by a statistician and a computer scientist using a supercomputer. Wow, aren’t we impressed already! They calculated that if you go back 5,000 to 7,000 years, everybody living today has exactly the same set of ancestors. The article went on to say that if we keep going further back in time, we would find that in all of the billions of family lineages, there will be a person who appears at least once on everybody’s tree!

Now I am a family tree buff and appreciate the intriguing study of my genealogy and ancestors. Even though I may not be able to put names on all the branches of my tree, I have always known my roots. Anyone can use the "supercomputer" that God gave us in the human brain, and come to the conclusion that we all have exactly the same common ancestors in Adam and Eve (Genesis 1:27; 1 Corinthians 15:45).

On a different note, there was an article that told of an insurance company that offers benefits to non-drinking church-goers. If you have an accident in the insured vehicle while going to or from worship, they will waive the deductible and pay double medical payments if you are injured in an accident — again, while going to or from church services.

If you think about it, God offers everyone a kind of life insurance policy (Romans 6:23; Titus 2:11-14). To qualify we must agree not to consume beverage alcohol (Proverbs 20:1; Ephesians 5:18) and to attend the services of the church (Hebrews 10:24, 25). Basically we must remain faithful to all of the conditions of God’s policies (2 Timothy 4:6-8; Revelation 2:10). There are great dividends and rewards for those who are faithful to His insurance plan.