on being human (part II)

You might have noticed two significant digs happening simultaneously this week. First, archaeologists in Kenya discovered a Homo hablis jawbone and a Homo erectus skull in the same region. What's the significance? Traditional evolutionary theories of the genus Homo suggest a successive progression: Homo habilis gave rise to Homo erectus, which then begat modern humans, Homo sapiens. However, now it appears possible that the first two co-existed. One didn't evolve from the other. [see the full article here]

At the same time, a second dig continued in the mountains of Huntington, Utah. Workers are drilling frantically trying to reach six miners trapped by a cave-in on Monday morning. News reports this morning were bittersweet: Signs that the cavity where the miners could be located had fresh oxygen, but also no signs of carbon dioxide--a sign of human life.

Both digs converge in one important fact: If human beings were nothing more than glorified primates that evolved from single-cell organisms, hundreds of workers wouldn't be pressing on through night hours to rescue them hundreds of feet below. But they do. And, the watching world waits anxiously, hoping that they will be found alive. Because human beings are more than just physical stuff. Made in the image of God, we are precious. And, we are worth the dig.