SAXON SEEDS, TRANSPLANTED ACROSS THE POND

SAXON  SEEDS,  TRANSPLANTED  ACROSS  THE  POND

Dr. James J. S. Johnson

I will praise Thee [O God]; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are Thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well;  my substance was not hid from Thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought [the literal Hebrew verb RAQAM means “knitted together like embroidery”] in the lowest parts of the earth.  Thine eyes did see my substance,  yet being unperfected [i.e., not fully formed];  and in Thy book all my members were written,  which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.  How precious also are Thy thoughts unto me, O God! How great is the sum of them!   (Psalm 139:14-17)

This Scripture reminds me that my physical body is developmentally constructed according to the DNA blueprint that God selected for my body’s informationally unique genotype, which is biochemically built into the body which now physiologically houses me, starting from when my then-microscopic body was constructed within my mother’s womb.

But that is just my physical body — because my soul/spirit/personality/life was created, apart from any physical materials, by God Himself (directly), when He chose to give me human life  —  housed by my pre-birth body.

Yet the specific DNA-based  informational programming, that is both stored and transported via my genes, is the biogenetic outcome of many, many, many prior procreations of my many, many, many biogenetic ancestors.

And some of those ancestors migrated to America, many years ago — including some who left the German-speaking parts of Europe, many centuries ago.

BIOGENETIC  SEEDS  FROM  SAXON  WARS,  IN  TIME,  TRANSPLANTED  INTO  THE  LONE  STAR  STATE

Dr. James J. S. Johnson

Saxon seeds mixed, to germinate;

Family lines left home, to emigrate;

Transplanting genes, to the Lone Star State,

God then blessed  —  we now celebrate!

(originally penned July 28th AD2006)

Thus, the above-posted poem points to my appreciation for God’s providential guidance of the parts of my family heritage that trace roots back to lands of ancient “Saxland” (i.e., the lands in Europe where the German language dominated, during the Viking Age).

For one such documented lineage, for which I thank God, see “From Hohenstaufen to Texas, a Long Journey: From German Roots, through Many ‘Begats’, Now into the Lone Star State”, Journal of the German-Texan Heritage Society, 33(1):50-60 (spring 2011).

And, by God’s grace, my life intertwined with that of my wife [see pic below, visiting Scotland, during July AD2019], whose ancestral roots also trace back to Saxland of old  —  see “From Germany’s Rhine to the East Texas Pine:  How an Immigrating Line of German-Speaking Glattfelders Stretched to East Texas’s Piney Woods”, Journal of the German-Texan Heritage Society, 28(3):246-254 (fall 2005).

In short, if God had not created made each of my ancestors, I would not be here  —  much less would I now be who I now am!

This biogenetic reality has, thanks to God, provided my immaterial soul with the genetic-biological housing I now reside in (compare Psalm 139:14-17 with Psalm 102:18).  For more on this providential miracle, see “Biblical Truth in High Definition”, ACTS & FACTS, 41(8): 8-10 (August 2012), posted at https://www.icr.org/article/biblical-truth-high-definition/    —   as well as “People Yet to be Created”, ACTS & FACTS, 43(11):20 (November 2014), posted at https://www.icr.org/article/people-yet-be-created  .  And, I might add, God could have made me different; He could have made me a grackle!  Thankfully God did not do that!  —   see “Of Grackles and Gratitude”, ACTS & FACTS, 41(7):8-10), posted at https://www.icr.org/article/grackles-gratitude  .