We’ve all heard the term “Intelligent Design” in reference to creationism, but Jay Schabacker uses the term “Purposeful Design” to go one step further. It takes the concept of Intelligent Design and emphasizes the personal aspects of the way God created everything in our universe. His book, Purposeful Design: Understanding the Creation, is a gorgeous book that not only tells the wonders of God’s creation but shows the beauty and majesty of the world around us. The 94 page book retails for $18.95.

When I first saw Purposeful Design, I thought this bright picture book would be perfect for my second grader. As I started reading, however, I realized that it was better suited for my seventh grader. The colorful pictures appeal to younger students, but the text is written for older students and even adults. I checked a few sample passages and found the reading level to be at least sixth grade; several passages scored at a high school level in terms of readability.

This book is divided into seven chapters, each dealing specifically with a single day of creation. The chapters are packed with examples of how God’s design for our world is perfectly arranged so that life can exist the way we know it. For instance, in Chapter 4, we find that the 23.5 degree tilt of the earth’s spin axis allows us to have seasons the way we know them. In addition, several examples are given to show how the earth orbits the sun in a precise and repeatable way.  The sunrise and sunset times for a specific day and a specific location are constant from year to year, only varying by two or three minutes. The builders of Stonehenge arranged the rocks so that the sunrise would shine through a specific hole in the site on the Summer Solstice (and only on that day).

I am hard pressed to pick a favorite section of this book. Each chapter is packed full of interesting scientific facts that illustrate how perfectly the universe works, how each animal is perfectly suited to its environment, or how perfectly each aspect of the human body is designed. Even after reading through the book from cover to cover, I still found myself picking it back up to reread a section or two—how the human head was designed, why ice floats, or what beautiful stars can be seen through the Hubble Space Telescope.

Purposeful Design: Understanding the Creation would be a beautiful treasure to have in any home, Sunday school classroom, or church library. It wonderfully illustrates the way God took care to design every aspect our universe. Perhaps more importantly, it shows how God loves mankind so much that he created a world to nurture, protect, and bless us.

Product Review by Cristi Schwamb, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, LLC, February, 2014