Fearfully And Wonderfully Made!

Do you know what is the most amazing, sophisticated and awesome   'machine'   that has ever been created?  Since its creation, no one has ever been able to recreate or duplicate this wonderful 'machine', and it's unlikely that anyone will, ever!  This machine is none other than your own body!

Do you know?....

• You were born with 350 bones in your body, and then some of your bones fused as you grow up, and finally  you have only 206  bones!

• There are more than 600 muscles in your body. You use 47 muscles for a frown, but only 17 muscles for a smile!
• There are about 100,000 hairs on your head. Blondes have more hairs than black or red hairs.
• Your blood vessels. if joined end to end will stretch  60,000 miles!
• The average human body contains enough
• Sulphur to kill all fleas in a dog
• Carbon to make 900 pencils
• Potassium to fire a toy cannon
• Fat to make 7 bars of soap
• Phosphorus to make 2,200 matchheads
• Water to fill 10 gallon tank.

Now, the Systems in brief:  Just to give you an idea of the amazing skill and wondrous creativity of the Creator!

• The Musculo-skeletal system:
• Bones give shape to the body, and they also protect important organs inside the body.
• Muscles are attached to bones, and when the muscles contract, they pull the bones to make movements.
• All moving joints are self-lubricated so that there will be no friction  of bones. The lubricating 'oil' is manufactured within the joint itself!
• Bones are as strong as granite. Matchstick-size bone can support 9 tonnes.
  

Bones & Muscles

Respiratory System:

• 
  
  Normal human breathes 12-15 times/min, breathing 6-8 liters of air per minute, up to 11,500 liters in a day!

• 
  
  Gas exchange takes place in the lungs : Every minute 250ml Oxygen enters and 200 ml CO2 is expelled from the body.

Heart & Blood (Cardio-vascular) System:

• 
  
  Normal healthy adult has about 5 liters of blood.
• 
  
  There are about 4,000-11,000 white blood cells and 5.4 million red blood cells in 1 microlitre of blood.
• 
  
  All red blood cells are replaced with new ones every 4 months!

• 
  
  The heart is a very efficient pump, pumping about 2000 gallons of blood everyday. The whole blood pass through the body every minute! During excercise, it takes only few seconds to do that!
• 
  
  Normally the heart beats 70 – 80 per minute, and  about 40,000,000 times in a year!
• 
  
  Electricity that makes the heart beat is self-generated within the heart itself.

Central Nervous System:

• 
  
  The human brain weighs about 3 pounds.
• 
  
  The brain is the centre of a complex computer system more wonderful than the greatest one ever built by man.
• 
  
  One human brain generates more electrical impulses in a single day than all of the world's telephones put together.
• 
  
  Messages from the brain to the body travel through nerves at a speed up to 248 mile per hour.
• 
  
  43 pairs of nerves are engaged in the whole process out of which 12 pairs of nerves go to and from the brain and the rest 31 pairs go from the spinal cord. 
• 
  
  Our whole body has nerves covering a total distance of approximately 45 miles.
  
  

Digestive System:

• 
  
  The average human produces 10,000 gallons of saliva in a life time. Saliva helps in chewing and swollowing the food.
• 
  
  The tongue has about 9000 taste buds.
• 
  
  The acid in the stomach is so strong it can dissolve zinc.
• 
  
  The stomach lining is changed every 3 to 4 days so that it will not get dissolved by the strong acid.
• 
  
  The liver has more than 500 functions!
• 
  
  The small intestine is about 20 feet long.  It  handles about 9 litres of fluid  everyday, and passes on about 1-2 litres to the large intestine.
• 
  
  Digestion begins in the mouth and ends in small intestine.

Excretory System:

• 
  
  Each kidney has 1 million filters.

• 
  
  They filter 1.3 liters of blood per minute, and expel 1.4 liters of urine every day.

"I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made".

King David made this observation in Psalm 139:14.  The details of all the systems in the body are too vast and too complicated and far too much beyond the scope of our discussion here. However, I  would like to leave just another two points for further consideration about this wonderful 'machine':

1.  The body is made to be healthy and strong:  The body is made to have the capacity for self-defense, self-repair and self-preservation.  It's a known fact that there are millions of germs floating in the  air we breathe, and  that a square inch of human skin contains about 32 million bacteria on it!  Even then, the body has such an amazingly effective defence mechanism that these millions of germs do not cause any harm to the body under normal circumstances. Let us then look at some of the defence mechanisms of the body:

• 
  
  The very anatomical structure: 
• 
  
  The most delicate but most important organ (the brain) is housed within the strongest and hardest bony cavity (skull).  Vital structures like heart and lungs  are protected by ribs, which are strong enough but at the same time movable to allow the lungs to expand during breathing.
• 
  
  It's fortunate that the nostrils do not point upwards like a chimney! (We are not made to smoke cigarettes!)
• 
  
  The intact skin is impenetrable for bacteria!  It also secretes enzymes which easily kills most bacteria and germs.
• 
  
  Body fluids:
• 
  
  Tears, saliva,etc contains enzymes which kill bacteria easily. Even HIV cannot survive for long in tears.
• 
  
  Ear wax traps bacteria, and  mucus secretions from nose traps and flushes our bacteria and viruses from the body.
• 
  
  Reflexes:
• 
  
  The body reacts automatically to preserve itself against dangers. Sometimes these reactions are so fast that you have no time to think!  How quickly your eyes shut/blink if some objects are about to hit your eyes!  Or if you happen to touch something hot or sharp, you will withdraw your hands automatically and quikly away from danger before you even have time to think!
• 
  
  The Immune System:  The immune system is so vast and complex, consisting of various cells,  chemicals and countless inter-related mechanisms and processes.  Let it be just suffice to say that the immune system is the main 'commando force' which defends the body and   fights any invading 'enemies' (disease-causing germs and bacteria).  The immune system is so amazing that once an enemy (bacteria, virus, etc) enters the body,  it produces specific 'bullets' (antibodies) to kill them, and then remembers them and next time they tried to enter the body, they can do no harm because the 'bullets' are ready and waiting for them!

 If the immune system is compromised, for example as in HIV/AIDS, the body is left defenseless and any simple bacteria could now cause serious illnesses.

2. The Body is the temple of the Holy Spirit:

Having seen the wondrous complexities of the human body and its various systems, it is no wonder the Bible says that the body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, and God's Spirit lives in us (1 Corinthians 3:16).  God takes the body very seriously, and the Bible again says, " If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him; for God's temple is holy, and you are that temple" (1 Cor. 3:17). "Therefore, glorify/honour  God with your body" (1 Cor. 6:20).

So, please take good care of the temple of the Holy Spirit of God, because you will be required to give account of what you have done with it!