It has been now, just over a year when I was at work and stepped off the stand up reach truck I drove. For a few days I felt like I did not feel right, I had attributed it to a head cold that I had, but it seemed to be slowly getting worse. Then there came a time I could not operate my lift safely, so I stopped and went to the doctors.

That began me going to many other doctors, people thought I was having a stroke but they could not prove I was having one. They tested me in many different ways; I had a MRI, EKG, an ultra sound of my neck arteries, blood work and so on.

No one could figure me out. During this whole time, I stayed in contact with my work and from time to time I went by to let them know what was going on. During one of my visits to work one day, one of my supervisors recommended a Neurologist that his son had used. He told me that he was an out the box thinker. I had nothing to loose, noone else could figure out what was going on with me. My wife sat in the car and called him immediately and they set me up an appointment to come and see him.

After meeting him for a short time, he performed a few test and had me walk down the hallway for him, he stopped me and had me cancel all my other appointments and come and see him.

In that short of time he was able to diagnose me Cerebellar Ataxia, and begin with treatments that would help me recover. Mostly it consisted on some diet change, brain exercises and physical exercises, no medications. He was a God send.

In most cases Cerebellar Ataxia was hereditary, alcohol abuse, or head injury. Which no of these in my case was an issue, so I was an enigma to him. My brain in the cerebral part went into some kind of a shut down mode – I lost motor skills balance, speech and there was nothing that the doctor could say that caused it.

To me, I knew, it was the Creator turning something off in my head for a reason and I would be forever changed for it. It made me more aware of the humanity around me and mental illnesses.

Going through this has heightened my desire to know more about the brain and brain issues.

I was passing through a bookstore the other day when I saw a book on the brain that caught my eye. So in my desire to learn more, I got it and just from reading the Forward and Introduction, I knew it was the one for me. Early on the amazing information about how our brain works and is made, stopped me to ponder the awesomeness of our Creator and inspired this blog.

Psalms 139:14a
I will give thanks unto You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

Here are just a few things I have begun to read about the brain that shows how amazing our Creator is.

A. “There are so many connections in the average adult human brain that if you counted one each second it would take you more than 3 million years to finish.”

B. “There are 21/2 miles (4km) of neural network interconnections packed into every cubic millimeter of gray matter.”

C. “The brain is just 2% of your body weight but consumes 20% of your daily energy needs.” (No wonder I am always tired, I am always thinking so my brain energy use must be higher, LOL)

I have always found a certain remark that the Creator had to say about the people of the Tower of Babel. For a long time I have felt that it was applicable to mankind as a whole in every generation.

Genesis 11:6
God Said, “They are a single people, all having one language, and this is the first thing they do! Now nothing they plan to do will be unattainable for them!” (The Living Torah by Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan)

This passage came back to mind as I read something in the Forward section of the book, 30 Second Brain

“One of the glories of the brain is that it enables us to share thoughts. Our understanding is built on the thinking of our predecessors as well as our contemporaries and far transcends the abilities of any single brain.” (Chris Frith)

Today we just have about broken the language barrier that was put upon us so many millennia ago by our Creator – showing that what He said is so true even today.

nothing they plan to do will be unattainable for them!

One look at our technological advances in science, medical and so on is proof positive.
If we would just apply the same drive to human relationships we would produce an almost Utopian world.

Just like in my case, my Neurologist is among a group of others who study the brain and many of his treatments he helped me with was from a collaboration of brain power on the subject.

The Jewish people have really capitalized in this area, they constantly build their knowledge using the past teachers understanding as a foundation, building on it with modern thinkers. They pass on the knowledge of ages past. The thoughts of yesterday coupled with the thoughts of today enriches their lives on a daily basis.

One of the lessons I learned during my brain illness was that I was not only a soul. Being raised in a certain religion caused me to be so spiritual minded I was not any earthly good. I was constantly studying to feed and improve my soul.

This illness made it clear to me that my soul was only part of what I was made off. My body too was a gift from the Creator. My body contained within it many, many miracles.

Praising the Creator with the physical:

On my way to work one morning  I was pondering the subject of this blog, I had a thought about how many times we are told in the Psalms to praise and worship the Creator with the physical side of our life. So many times we concern our selves with our spiritual side. So I set out to make a list, and incomplete list but a list of Psalms that tell us to praise the Creator with our physical side.

Psalms 5:3
Hearken unto the voice of my cry, my King, and my God; for unto Thee do I pray.

Psalms 28:2
Hear the voice of my supplications, when I cry unto Thee, {N}
when I lift up my hands toward Thy holy Sanctuary.

Psalms 134:2
Lift up your hands to the sanctuary, and bless ye the Creator.

Psalms 47:2
O clap your hands, all ye peoples; shout unto God with the voice of triumph.

Psalms 149:3,6a
Let them praise His name in the dance; let them sing praises unto Him with the timbrel and harp. Let the high praises of God be in their mouth,

Psalms 150: 1-6
Hallelujah.
Praise God in His sanctuary; praise Him in the firmament of His power. Praise Him for His mighty acts; praise Him according to His abundant greatness. Praise Him with the blast of the horn; praise Him with the psaltery and harp. Praise Him with the timbrel and dance; praise Him with stringed instruments and the pipe. Praise Him with the loud-sounding cymbals; praise Him with the clanging cymbals. Let every thing that hath breath praise the Creator. Hallelujah.

I think with these few, you see the picture.

Yes, we are awesomely made and when we take a closer look at how we are made we then will never run out of things to give thanks and praise to our Creator.

The ex-preacher in me want to shout and do a jig when I ponder such a subject.

I hope this blog in a small way will cause you to stop and ponder our amazing Creator. What an opportunity we have to be able to use our whole being spiritual and physical to worship and praise Him.

Terry W. Hayes – ben Noach
9/19/18

Photo Credit:
Photo by Alexis Huertas on Unsplash