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Sitting beside my wife at her recent orthopedic appointment, I noticed the plastic model of a human spine on the counter. That simple replica sparked a chain of thoughts that left me marveling at one of the greatest miracles in all of creation…. the connection of the spine to a cheeseburger. Allow me to explain.

You see, we were sitting quietly in the orthopedic exam room waiting to see her doctor for my wife’s pre-op appointment. She is having cervical spine surgery on July 23. As I thought about her upcoming surgery, my eyes wandered to a skeletal model of the human spine on the table. You have likely seen one: clean, clinical, with interlocking vertebrae and rubbery discs to mimic the real thing. But for some reason, that day it struck me differently. I found myself marveling at it, not as a piece of plastic used to explain my wife’s degenerative disks and pinched nerves, but as a window into the magnificent design of God.

That spine isn’t just a column of bones. It’s an architectural masterpiece. It balances strength and flexibility. It protects the spinal cord while allowing movement in nearly every direction. Muscles attach to it. Nerves shoot out from it. It’s one of countless systems in the human body, all formed from… what exactly?

That’s when the awe really hit me.

Two microscopic cells—one from the father, one from the mother—join together at conception. From that tiny zygote, an entire human being begins to take shape. And while all of this is happening, what’s the expectant mother doing?

Well, she’s eating of course.

Her diet might include some of the following foods: chicken, salad, vegetables, and fruits. She might enjoy a desert of ice cream, or a slice of cake. And of course, pickles for the expecting mother. She might enjoy a coffee in the morning and a soda in the afternoon. She might indulge in a late-night bowl of cereal. And yes, there might be an occasional cheeseburger. Nothing about these dietary delights suggests a recipe for a human spine, or for that matter, a liver, lungs, eyes, a beating heart, or an entire brain capable of wondering how such things come to be. And yet, that’s exactly what happens.

Imagine putting the world’s greatest team of chemists and biologists in a lab. Give them nine months. Give them all the same foods the mother consumed. Give them any tools they want. Then say, “Build me a human.” You and I both know the outcome. They couldn’t do it.

They might extract vitamins. They might synthesize proteins. But they couldn’t transform a bowl of mac and cheese into 206 bones, a billion neural connections, and a soul.

But God can!

That’s the wonder of it all. That’s the miracle that happens in every womb, every time, hidden from sight yet fully known by God. Psalm 139:13–14 says it perfectly: “You formed my inmost being; you knit me in my mother’s womb. I praise you, because I am wonderfully made; wonderful are your works!”

We often speak of God’s majesty in the sweep of the heavens or the thunder of a storm. But the quiet miracle of human development—out of everyday food and unseen cells—is perhaps even more astonishing. Who else but God could orchestrate such complexity from such ordinary raw materials?

Science can describe the process, but only faith reveals the Artist behind the blueprint. Too often, we become numb to the miraculous because we see it so often. We hold babies without considering the molecular symphony that brought them into being. We eat food without considering how it becomes skin and tissue and thought. We suffer backaches without realizing how brilliantly our spines were designed in the first place.

That little model spine on the table reminded me that even what we take for granted is shouting praise to its Creator. Romans 1:20 tells us: “Ever since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes of eternal power and divinity have been able to be understood in what he has made.”

So the next time you sit in a waiting room or see a pregnant woman shopping for groceries, take a moment to let the wonder sink in. From tacos to tendons, from milkshakes to marrow—God is at work in hidden places, turning the ordinary into the extraordinary.

And maybe, just maybe, He’s still doing that in our lives too. Even when all we see are the raw ingredients of struggle or uncertainty, God sees the masterpiece He’s forming.

We are all fearfully and wonderfully made.

Let’s not forget it.

Heavenly Father, never let me loose the awe and amazement that I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Never let me fail to see that with each human being you knit together two cells, one from the father and one from the mother and fashioned them into a person made in Your image. Your wonders and miracles surround me everyday Lord. How wonderful are your works Lord! Amen!  

AMDG 

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Brian Pusateri

Brian is a Christian author and speaker. Brian, a lifelong Catholic, felt his life was forever changed when God spoke to his heart while attending an eight day silent Christian retreat in November of 2011. Soon after that retreat Brian founded 4th Day Letters and Broken Door Ministries. With the God inspired message of mercy and unconditional love that was placed on his heart during that retreat, Brian has been impacting others all over the country and around the world with his weekly letters, his talks, and his all day Christian retreats. In June of 2014, Brian’s life was again impacted in a very dramatic way when his eyesight suddenly became permanently impaired. The initial diagnosis was Multiple Scleroses (MS) but in December of 2019 the diagnosis was corrected to MOG antibody disease, a rare neurological disease. This health challenge has only served to draw Brian closer to God and bolster the importance of this timely yet ageless message.

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