"Halfway through the Pilgrims’ journey across the Atlantic Ocean, an overstressed beam bowed and cracked. The screw jack was used to “save the day.” Think of how American history would have changed if the Pilgrims had all perished at sea, never to reach Plymouth in 1620.
Originally this giant screw device was used for clamping inked typesetting fonts onto printing press paper, but on the Mayflower it was re-tasked to raise a midship beam back into place after it had faltered, followed by buttressing the compromised beam with subjacent support.
Available machinery capable of versatile applications, combined with quick-thinking Pilgrim passengers, solved a life-or-death crisis that the Mayflower’s professional crew hadn’t anticipated. This providential detail is part of the Pilgrims’ progress in America—and thus is something we can appreciate during the Thanksgiving season.
We can also appreciate how God has programmed so much of His great creation with versatile engineering traits, including multitasking features within our own bodies such as our appendix, nose, ears, and hair.
Likewise, we should revere God’s genius when we see it displayed in animals’ multitasking body parts. Even the inanimate sun, moon, and stars were made by God for multipurpose tasks (Genesis 1:14-18).
God’s bioengineering always outshines manmade mechanical marvels, so we should give God due credit for how He designed and constructed His diverse creation, especially ourselves, with multitasking potentials that show design genius far beyond mere “irreducible complexity.” As always, we have a lot to be thankful for, so let us be grateful to our God for His many providences, including those that provided political and religious freedoms and opportunities." ICR
Originally this giant screw device was used for clamping inked typesetting fonts onto printing press paper, but on the Mayflower it was re-tasked to raise a midship beam back into place after it had faltered, followed by buttressing the compromised beam with subjacent support.
[The Mayflower] encountered many times with cross winds and met with many fierce storms…and one of the main beams in the midships was bowed and cracked, which put them in fear that the ship could not be able to perform the [remainder of the] voyage.…[So] there was a great iron screw the passengers brought out of Holland [i.e., the screw press Brewster used in Leiden], which would raise the beam into [its] place; the which being done, the carpenter and [ship] master affirmed [i.e., buttressed] that with a post put under it, set firm in the lower deck and other[wise] bound, he would make it sufficient.
Available machinery capable of versatile applications, combined with quick-thinking Pilgrim passengers, solved a life-or-death crisis that the Mayflower’s professional crew hadn’t anticipated. This providential detail is part of the Pilgrims’ progress in America—and thus is something we can appreciate during the Thanksgiving season.
We can also appreciate how God has programmed so much of His great creation with versatile engineering traits, including multitasking features within our own bodies such as our appendix, nose, ears, and hair.
Likewise, we should revere God’s genius when we see it displayed in animals’ multitasking body parts. Even the inanimate sun, moon, and stars were made by God for multipurpose tasks (Genesis 1:14-18).
God’s bioengineering always outshines manmade mechanical marvels, so we should give God due credit for how He designed and constructed His diverse creation, especially ourselves, with multitasking potentials that show design genius far beyond mere “irreducible complexity.” As always, we have a lot to be thankful for, so let us be grateful to our God for His many providences, including those that provided political and religious freedoms and opportunities." ICR
Know that the LORD, He is God;
It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves;
We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.
Enter into His gates with thanksgiving,
And into His courts with praise.
Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.
It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves;
We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.
Enter into His gates with thanksgiving,
And into His courts with praise.
Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.
Psalm 100:3,4
