Unhindered Flight

Across the vast, open flat-lands, the setting sun cast radiant ripples of iridescent orange across the rows of lacy magenta clouds with a background of deepening blue. As I drove down the highway, enamored with the beauty and sense of peace in the stillness, half of me wanted to pull over to get a good picture of the scene. But, the other half of me strongly objected to this idea – this sunset was the kind that was too beautiful for me to truly capture on camera well enough to show just how vast the sky was and just how iridescent the colors were. The grandeur of the experience just couldn’t be appreciated as well by anyone who hadn’t seen it in person – so for nearly an hour, I just enjoyed the vibrant display myself and reflected on the goodness of the God who painted it in the heavens. Then I did pull over and take a picture of the last part. Sometimes the best way to enjoy the beauty and gifts we have been given is not to cling to them, but to hold them in an open hand, enjoying each one for what they are and watching as they come and go.

We are human, and therefore have a tendency to want to control the way things go in the world around us. Right after God created the universe He gave humans dominion over His creation – as trustworthy sub-rulers under His authority. However, this original noble desire has become skewed and misused by the corruption of sin, brought into the world by the disobedience of Adam and Eve. Now we tend to two extremes of either overbearing control or neglect of whatever resources, gifts, and beauty we have been given to take care of.

When I went to the Butterfly Palace in Branson, Missouri this summer, the lady at the entrance to the indoor butterfly aviary gave us her usual short speech on the rules. One of the rules was not to try to handle the butterflies. While touching a butterfly’s wings will not instantly make it unable to fly or live (they frequently loose scales, and some butterfly species naturally have clear sections of their wings with no scales), they are still rather delicate and should not be roughly handled by people who don’t really know how to hold them. While it can be very enlightening to occasionally study a butterfly specimen still and up-close, the point of that is to better understand and appreciate butterflies as a whole so that we can better marvel at the ones that are still flying.

Butterflies were meant to fly and be a glory to God – plain and simple. Sometimes that means letting go and only getting to enjoy that one in particular for a short time. We were all designed to bring glory to God too, and sometimes following wherever He leads means letting go of the people, places, things, or opportunities. There are definitely times when we do need to cling to and fight for what we have or believe, but ultimately we need to release everything God has given us back to Him. Passionately pursue Him and cling to the Person that He is, enjoying the gifts and beauty He gives, even if it’s just for a season.

“I beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service” ~ Romans 12:2

“Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.  In all thy ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy paths” ~ Proverbs 3:5-6

 

Wondrous Wings

Though standing perfectly still, my eyes danced all around the room trying to follow each of the beautiful, delicate creatures fluttering toward the greenhouse-style ceiling of the imitation rainforest.  I drank in the quiet splendor of the scene, watching the many exotic butterflies at a traveling exhibit in my area.  Suddenly, a lady walked up beside me saying, “don’t move – there’s a BIG blue butterfly on your shoulder!” Trying not to move, I strained my eyes trying to look at the magnificent creature perched on the back of my shoulder.  I could see only a little bit of its huge, iridescent blue wings gracefully moving up and down, staying there for longer than I expected.

Copyright Sara J. Bruegel, July 2015
Copyright Sara J. Bruegel, July 2015

I suppose it must have come to the realization that my magenta-pink shirt wasn’t a delicious flower after all, and fluttered its giant wings up and away.  I was able to get a much better look at my new friend as he flew away – his wingspan must have been bigger than the length of my hand and his color was truly spectacular.  Butterfly wings are truly remarkable things – both in their beauty and function. Under the ideas of evolution, there isn’t really any good reason for the spectacular symphony of colors and iridescence we see in butterfly wings.  Actually, the dramatic colors of many butterflies would announce their presence to predators, making it harder for colorful butterflies to survive.  Someone might argue that these colors would benefit the survival of a butterfly species by making them more attractive to a mate, passing on their colorful DNA to the next generation, but that really doesn’t explain where the colors came from in the first place.

A dead monarch found by the author.  Photo copyright Sara J. Bruegel, 2015
A dead monarch found by the author. Photo copyright Sara J. Bruegel, 2015

Butterfly wings get their diverse variety of colors and patterns in two ways: physical coloring of scales (pigmentation) or the manipulation of light through prisms in the scales.   The dull/flat colors, like the orange & black of a monarch come from the chemicals that are physically coloring the scales, while the iridescent colors like blue are the result of white light being bent and separated into colors through prism-like designs in its body.  If you were to look at the scales of a butterfly under a microscope, they would look similar to roofing tiles.   Fairly recent engineering studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology show that mimicking God’s design of scales on a butterfly’s wings makes material more waterproof than previous attempts at waterproof material that were designed similar to the surfaces of plant leaves.

Photo Copyright Sara J. Bruegel, July 2015
Photo Copyright Sara J. Bruegel, July 2015

The most obvious aspect of butterfly wings is that they enable the butterfly to fly.  But, if you’ve ever watched a butterfly for very long, you will notice that they fly very differently from birds – they flutter.  There are several different wing stroke patterns a butterfly will use – often using several different methods back-to-back, which is what causes their “fluttering”.  In some strokes, they will create a vortex by opening their wings in a funnel shape from front to back and folding the very bottom sections of their wings to keep air flowing correctly.  If it weren’t for the way these bottom ends of their wings fold, the butterfly wouldn’t be able to fly.  Our Creator carefully designed the wings of a butterfly to fly in a functionally creative way as well as just being gloriously beautiful!

Copyright Sara J. Bruegel, December 2015

Photo copyright Sara J. Bruegel, July 2015
Photo copyright Sara J. Bruegel, July 2015

References:

Multi-Dimensional Blessings

When asked to count our blessings, the things we probably think of first are those physical blessings that not everyone has, like food, family, health, houses, jobs, etc.  Seeing other people in the world who don’t have those things reminds us not to take them for granted.   But what about those physical blessings that everyone does have?  How many times have you heard something like this over the Thanksgiving dinner table?

“I’m thankful for the molecular structure of water and all that this incredible substance does to keep me alive every day!”

 

“Wow!  I sure am grateful for the moon and all the tides it caused this year, keeping our oceans from becoming stagnant and dead”

 

“Thank God that Earth has a transparent, breathable, and protective atmosphere!”

Moon During a lunar eclipse, copyright Sara J. Bruegel, 2015
Moon During a lunar eclipse, copyright Sara J. Bruegel, 2015

The more I learn about the created physical world around me, the more I find to be thankful for.  Not just provision in the physical world to be thankful for, but also reminders of the character of our Creator, God, placed throughout the physical world, urging us to give thanks for not just what He made but Who He is.  The physical world is not completely separate from the spiritual; rather they are different aspects of reality as a whole.  Just as four dimensions in our physical world, including length, width, depth, and time, can be used to describe the same situation, there are different dimensions to the same reality.  There are spiritual, physical, psychological, mental, and emotional dimensions all woven together into the reality we humans face every day.

There are many lies – vain, deceitful philosophies – that focus too much on one or two of these reality dimensions and ignore the importance of the others.  Lies from the materialistic worldview will focus too much on the physical dimension, while other enticing teachings will get you caught up in only the spiritual side of things.   Much as we all would like to keep work problems at work, home problems at home, and personal problems to ourselves, different aspects of our lives interconnect and influence each other.    Life wasn’t meant to be a chaotic disaster of dissonant sounds coming from a disorganized orchestra, but a spectacular symphony of many separate sounds streaming together, lead by a divine Director.

The next time you start counting your blessings, remember how the physical and spiritual blessings interconnect.  Set up physical reminders of spiritual things, like the faithfulness of the Lord, to give thanks for.  While physical blessings certainly are important, the blessings we should be most grateful for are the ones we can’t see because the spiritual ones last longer.

“Then Samuel took a stone, and set it between Mizpeh and Shen, and called the name of it Eben-ezer, saying Hitherto hath the Lord helped us” ~ 1 Samuel 7:12

"Balanced Rock" - photo copyright Sara J. Bruegel, 2015
“Balanced Rock” – photo copyright Sara J. Bruegel, 2015

Copyright Sara J, Bruegel, November 2015

Changes – When Things Turn Upside-Down

Life is full of changes.  Sometimes it takes a lot of energy just trying to keep up. There may be seasons we go through when it seems like our whole world just got turned upside-down.  If you feel like you’ve gone through one of those seasons before, don’t worry – you’re not alone.  Every butterfly has had a season when its whole world turned upside-down, everything fell apart, and dramatic changes were happening at a rapid pace.  Yet most all of them seem to have made it through quite splendidly.

Photo Copyright Sara J. Bruegel, July 2015
Photo Copyright Sara J. Bruegel, July 2015

There are many intricate details that go into the grand changing process of metamorphosis for butterflies.   Maybe you’re familiar with the childhood classic book, “The Very Hungry Caterpillar”, by Eric Carle, in which the caterpillar eats a ton of food, wraps himself in a chrysalis when he can’t take another bite, and transforms into a beautiful butterfly.  It’s very true that the main life goal of a caterpillar is to eat and shed its exoskeleton outfits when it starts running out of room.  Monarch butterfly eggs are about the size of a pinhead, but after the caterpillar hatches, it can grow more than three thousand times its size in just a few weeks.  Putting that into a more human perspective, that would be like a sweet little six-pound human baby growing enough to weigh nine tons, which is about the weight of two African elephants combined!

When the time comes for this gluttonous creature to begin moving on to a more graceful calling, the hormones that control the shedding of the caterpillars’ exoskeleton instruct its body to do shedding a little differently this time.  This time when it sheds, the caterpillar finds a nice perch to hang upside-down on, essentially replacing the last exoskeleton with a chrysalis.  The chrysalis of a monarch butterfly is jade green and has a “crown” of twenty-four little gold specks near where the butterfly’s heart is and another twelve of these specks in different places around the chrysalis.  You can also see several other features on the outside of the chrysalis, like the outline of wings forming.  The patterns on the outside hint at what’s going on inside.

Interesting fact: when a caterpillar becomes a chrysalis, it can’t really see because its eye lenses were shed with the last exoskeleton.  It can distinguish between light and dark, but that’s just about it

While in the chrysalis, or pupa stage, most of the caterpillars’ body parts, including vital organs like the stomach, are essentially dissolved so that the whole body can be re-created.  This creature will have a totally different lifestyle when it emerges.  Special groups of cells, called “imaginal discs”, use information from the DNA to form the new body parts, like magnificently beautiful, functional wings.  Instead of a jaw to get big bites of leaves, the butterfly has a proboscis for sucking nectar.  Chunky short legs need to become long and delicate.  Whole body systems for digestion, nerves, muscles, vision, and reproduction need to be formed and organized.  But after 8-14 days, all the right changes have been made and the butterfly is ready to make its debut flight into the world.

Photo copyright Sara J. Bruegel, July 2015
Photo copyright Sara J. Bruegel, July 2015

The butterfly bursts out of the chrysalis quickly by pumping blood through its new body, expanding the body and breaking through the encasement.  After emerging, getting blood pumping through its new wings, and drying those wings for a few hours, the butterfly is ready to fly!  This dramatic change is extremely risky for the caterpillar – getting a complex finely-tuned system that practically destroys and remakes an entire creature to evolve wouldn’t be possible.  You can’t have an “in-between” creature that does parts of metamorphosis, but not all of it.  Metamorphosis is an all-or-nothing package deal, not pick and choose, because if a creature only went through part of metamorphosis, it would not make it to adulthood, and therefore not be able to pass on its genes to the next generation.  You have to have a Mastermind that put all the right information for every detail of metamorphosis into this creature from the beginning.

The Lord – the Creator of all life – knows every detail of history and our personal lives, from the beginning to the end.  He has a plan for your life, and though it may not all make sense to us right now, just like destroying the body of a caterpillar in metamorphosis seems risky, He has a higher call for us in the end.  Before we come to a real, personal relationship with the Lord, we live a lot like the caterpillar, just looking for our next meal – whatever we think will make us happy.   If you choose to let Christ make you into a new creation, you enter into the chrysalis – it may mean some really radical changes and intense breaking down of the things you used to depend on.  When Christ returns, He will make all things new, bursting you out of your old shell and into the new, beautiful creation He has been making you into – like the butterfly, you can burst out of the shell of this world and soar in newness of life.

Copyright Sara J. Bruegel, November 2015

Read previous articles in this butterflies series:

References:

Monarch Momma’s Medicine

Little things can make a big difference.   Always remember to say “thank you” to people – even when you don’t really feel like it.  Sometimes a simple smile and “thank you” given to a tired waitress or janitor can really make that person’s day.  A few kind words can turn a foe to a friend.   The little things we choose to do can have big impacts in ways we may never know.  Throughout all of creation in the natural world, there are mountain loads of “little” things that can really mean life or death for a creature.   Our universe is a divinely designed system of finely tuned tiny factors, made with the ability to adapt (within limits) according to the needs around them.  The life of a monarch butterfly is a beautiful example of this.

Photo copyright Sara J. Bruegel, July 2015
Photo copyright Sara J. Bruegel, July 2015

The life of a monarch butterfly, Danaus plexippus, begins when the mother lays her eggs.  Monarchs are picky, purposeful parents, who don’t lay their eggs just anywhere, but on milkweed plants.  One female monarch can lay 500 eggs, one at a time, and each on their own milkweed leaf. Only about 5% of those eggs will make it to adulthood, meaning that if one female laid 500 eggs, just 25 of those would become adult butterflies that still have some perilous times ahead of them.

Monarchs lay each egg on a milkweed leaf, so that when the egg hatches, the larvae eats its egg shell, then the leaf the egg was on.  Milkweed is poisonous to many predators that might be tempted to make a tasty treat of one of these butterflies, so monarchs eat a lot of milkweed early on, which will keep them poisonous, even when they become adults.  Their bright orange color warns predators that they are potentially hazardous to eat.

Sometimes the momma monarch will become infected with a parasite that passes on sickness to her eggs.  If not treated, this parasite often kills the butterflies that hatch from these eggs or at least leaves them extremely weak.   Even though these mommas don’t meet their hatchlings, they still manage to take pretty good care of them by preparing them with the right medicine to fend off this parasite by laying their eggs on more toxic varieties of milkweed.  Milkweed plants come in a variety of different species – some are more toxic and others are not very toxic at all.

The milkweed plants that monarchs lay their eggs on fall under the biological genus, Asclepias.  The name of this genus comes from the name “Asklepios” – the Greek god (idol) of healing and medicine.

Seeing these momma monarchs medicating their babies in this way surprises evolutionary scientists.  It doesn’t benefit the mother to lay her eggs on more or less toxic milkweed – it only benefits her offspring that she will never meet.  It doesn’t make sense for the mother to somehow “evolve” this preference for laying eggs on more toxic plants if she has a parasite.  No, God created female monarchs with the ability to sense danger and respond to it, not just to protect herself, but also the next generation.   The natural world is not totally “dog-eat-dog”  or “every man for himself”.  On the contrary, there are examples, like the mother monarch, of creatures choosing to help another creature, without any benefits attached.

Are you looking out for those who will come after you?  Real, Biblical love is not about feelings, but about selflessly choosing to follow God’s best for the people around you.  Use the little decisions in your life to be a light of love, reflecting the ultimate, selfless love of Christ!

Copyright Sara J. Bruegel, November 2015

References:

 

 

Keeping the Course

How would a road trip without a GPS go for you?  Does navigation come pretty naturally to you or are you more directionally challenged?  Or perhaps you’re more likely to take an accidental detour caused by missing a turn, due to distraction.  While it’s usually easy to navigate familiar places and paths from memory, without any outside help, finding your way around a big city or traveling a new route can make a person feel rather dependent.  We use a lot of external resources like maps, GPS, computers, and directions from other people, but monarch butterflies are specially designed with internal “data” and “software” already programmed into their bodies to help guide them as they migrate south for the winter.

A dead monarch found by the author. Photo copyright Sara J. Bruegel, 2015
A dead monarch found by the author. Photo copyright Sara J. Bruegel, 2015

Monarch butterflies, scientifically called Danaus plexippus, are very unique for their migration. They hold the record for the longest known insect migration every year.  These seemingly delicate little creatures travel long and hard over North America every year, using a relay of 3-4 butterfly generations.   Monarchs on the eastern side of the Rockies have an epic journey from near the Canadian border to their special wintering grounds near Mexico City.  However, monarchs west of the Rocky Mountains generally just have a relatively short, simple migration from cooler states to California, and these butterflies don’t migrate in some other areas around the world.  It’s the monarch butterflies of eastern North America that are known for their amazing migration.

In the spring, these special butterflies start out in Texas, hatching from eggs laid on milkweed plants.  This first generation of the year starts traveling north as the spring progresses, following the milkweed bloom and laying the next generation of eggs farther north.  One female monarch can lay up to 500 eggs one at a time on a single milkweed leaf, only about 5% of which will make it to adulthood. The next generation matures and continues flying north toward their summer homes in southern Canada. The leisurely trip north takes two or three butterfly generations, with each butterfly living about 4-6 weeks.

As the last generation of the year develops, the change in seasons triggers special information in the DNA for the longest part of migration.  These special monarchs, known by scientists as the “migratory generation”, travel all the way from Canada south to Mexico, about a 3,000 mile journey, where they meet in the Sierra Madre mountains.  On these few secluded, humid peeks, these butterflies cluster together on oyamel evergreen trees – it makes scientists wonder how all these butterflies “know” to concentrate to this very specific location.  Tens of thousands of butterflies will cluster together on one tree to keep warm while they hibernate for a few months.   When spring starts to come back, these same butterflies make the final leg of their journey, this time heading north to Texas to lay their eggs that will begin the yearly cycle again.

The Spanish word for butterfly is “mariposa”

Since this migratory generation has such a long trip to make and needs to live all the way through the winter before they lay their eggs, these butterflies have to live up to eight or nine months – much longer than the normal 4-6 weeks.  The DNA triggered in this special generation also causes them to wait until after winter and migration are complete to mate and lay eggs.  Every monarch has this DNA potential, but it isn’t used unless triggered by the environment. God originally created these butterflies with the potential to adapt as needed.  He has equipped them with all the right information to know when and where to migrate – even when blown off course! In Christ, you have everything you need to get where you should go and get back on track when you take a detour. Like frail butterflies made strong and courageous for a long, hard flight, the Lord can take people – frail children of dust – and make us strong and courageous for the battles each of us will face.

You can read the first article in the Creation Clues Butterflies series Monarch of the Garden

Copyright Sara J. Bruegel, 2015

References:

 

Monarch of the Garden

Lifeless monarch amid the flowers.  Photo copyright Sara J. Bruegel, October 2015
Lifeless monarch amid the flowers. Photo copyright Sara J. Bruegel, October 2015

I suddenly caught my breath and froze when I noticed the flash of bright orange and black fluttering above the pure, white flowers. There was a huge, pristine Monarch butterfly perched perfectly on a flower.  After quickly tip-toeing inside for my camera, I carefully snuck up on the photogenic butterfly that was cooperating surprisingly well.  Just one tiny step forward would perfectly capture the beauty of the moment . . . “Meowww!” one of the cats rudely interrupted.  He and the butterfly noticed each other in the same instant and my moment was over.  “Mud Puddle!  Leave the pretty butterfly alone!” I scolded the rascally cat as I tickled his tummy and he tried to attack my hand.

Though my butterfly was gone, I lingered a few moments, enjoying the fragrant flower. Another colorful set of Monarch wings caught my eye – this time a little more hidden among the foliage.  To my surprise, this butterfly didn’t move even when I got very close with my camera.  When I gently brushed aside some of the leaves, I found out why – this butterfly had died and a large, black spider was making a meal out of it.  I was struck with a tinge of sadness, knowing of the amazing migration journey of the monarch (more about monarchs and migration next week) and wondering if it had completed its part of the grand relay.  After finding a different occupation for Mud Puddle, the cat, I went about the delicate task of chasing off the spider and collecting the butterfly specimen to be preserved.

The brightly colored butterfly remains, being consumed by the black spider and resting amid the pure, white flowers made me think. It was innocence and pure beauty now brought to a halt by corruption and death.  What was the story behind what I found?  Did the butterfly just die naturally and fall under these flowers where the spider found a free meal?  Or had the spider ensnared this beautiful creature, weaving a deceptive trap right by the pure, fragrant flowers?  One can never really know for sure, but the position of the butterfly tends to make me lean towards the deceptive spider theory.

Deception that happened in a garden, amid purity and life: deception that leads to death. Innocence dies.  Doesn’t that sound familiar?  It sounds a lot like the Biblical account of Eve, the first woman, in the Garden of Eden.  She was deceived (Adam was not), and made a choice that lead to death for all of mankind and all of creation – it’s the reason why people, butterflies, and everything else in our world is dying.   They were responsible for taking care of creation – we are sub-rulers of creation under the authority of the Creator.  Adam and Eve were the “monarchs” over the Garden of Eden and their choice made future generations and all of their “subjects” in creation suffer for it.

Their purity and innocence died when Adam and Eve disobeyed God.  Jesus was both God and man – He was tempted in all the ways that we are, yet without sin.  He is the picture of purity and innocence.  He chose to die, taking a punishment He did not deserve, so that we might have the same purity and innocence He has so that we can stand blameless before God.  Jesus died, but He also rose again, conquering death, and offering to make us into a new, uncorrupted creation.   He makes the new creation first in our hearts, and some day He will make a new heaven and earth, free from death and corruption.

Mole Day

Happy Mole Day! Have you ever heard of “Mole Day” before?  It’s actually a chemistry holiday –not a holiday to celebrate furry burrowing pests or unique dark spots on your skin.  In chemistry, a mole is a very special unit of measure used to count individual atoms or molecules.  One mole is equal to 6.02×1023 atoms or molecules of something.  October 23rd (10-23, like 1023) is celebrated as mole day, traditionally from 6:02am to 6:02pm.  This number is also called “Avogadro’s Number” after the scientist, Amedeo Avogadro, who discovered it.  The best way to celebrate Mole Day is simply to celebrate chemistry and math, remembering the amazing ways our Creator has designed the bare building blocks of our world and precisely orchestrated the atomic world.

When it comes to moles, we’re talking about measuring atoms – which are so tiny we can hardly comprehend them. Since one atom is extremely tiny, a mole has to be extremely large to have anything really manageable in the lab and calculations.  Like I said, 1 mole= 6.02×1023 atoms or molecules.  That’s a HUGE number.  It’s six-hundred-two sextillion, which can also be written as: 602,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 (very roughly, a six with 23 zeros).  To give you some perspective on just how enormous this number is, let’s measure some astronomical distances – in inches.

Estimating, the distance between Earth and the sun is about 5.89 trillion inches, which can also be written as: 5.89×1012 or 5,890,000,000,000 inches.  Just a drop in the bucket compared to six hundred sextillion. Now, let’s go beyond our “little” solar system, and try measuring our galaxy in inches.  The circumference of the Milky Way, measuring from the center to the edge of the galaxy, is very roughly 1.17×1023 inches, making the total width (diameter) of our galaxy about 2.34×1023 inches, which is 234 sextillion inches.  That’s less than half of the number of atoms it takes to make one mole.

The measurement of a mole can be extremely useful in chemistry, especially since you can directly convert a number of moles to a number of grams, which are much more practical to work with than cumbersome, astronomical numbers of atoms.  A mole of any atom (or molecule) is equal to its atomic mass in grams.  You can find the atomic mass of an atom on the periodic chart.  For example, if I have a mole of hydrogen atoms, that means that I have 6.02×1023 hydrogen atoms, which is about 1.01 grams of hydrogen (atomic mass of hydrogen is 1.01 atomic units).   If you hold a paperclip in your hand, that’s about what a gram is, and about how much a mole of hydrogen would be.  A mole of oxygen atoms is 16.00 grams and one mole of lead is 207.2 grams, so how many grams there are in a mole really depend on what you have one mole of.

Everything around us is made of atoms – although we really don’t know how big the universe really is, scientists estimate that there are somewhere between 1×1078 and 1×1080 atoms in the universe.  Going with the lower end of this incomprehensible number, that would give us a very rough estimate of about 1×1055 (which is over one septendecillion) moles of atoms in the universe.  Extremely small things and extremely large numbers are what moles are all about. Seeing the vastness of the universe, and yet the precise design in minuscule atoms should point our minds back to God.  His character – His power, eternity, and knowledge, etc. – is so far beyond our grasp.    Yet, at the same time, He wants a personal relationship with each one of us and cares about the tiniest details of our lives.  He knows the number of the hairs on your head.  He knows everything about you and loves you anyway – and He wants you to love Him back, and let Him be your everything!

O Lord, You have searched me and known me. You know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thought afar off. You comprehend my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word on my tongue, but behold, O Lord, You know it altogether. You have hedged me behind and before, and laid Your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is high, I cannot attain it . . . How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand; When I awake, I am still with You.

A Gracious Stand for Truth

Sometimes standing up for young earth creation can become a sticky mess. Maybe you’ve read books, watched videos, or been to some talks so that you know what information is out there supporting the ideas that Earth is about six thousand years old, the catastrophic global flood reshaped our planet, humans are specially made in the image of God, and that all things are created “after their kind” instead of evolving from a common ancestor. It all makes a lot of sense and strengthens your faith in God and His Word.  Then you mention something about it to your pastor, youth pastor, teacher, or someone else you respect and come to realize that they don’t all agree with you on this issue.  How do you handle it when some of the people you love and respect disagree with you on a Biblical issue – or any issue?

First of all, it’s important to note that there are a lot of really good, godly Christians who may be right on a lot of issues, but don’t take the young-earth view. But, can’t good people sometimes make mistakes and bad choices? Remember, no matter how good or smart the Christian, they are all still human and imperfect.  Thankfully, we don’t have to rely on other Christians, whether pastors, mentors, or speakers, to feed us truth.  Because of what Christ did on the cross, we don’t have to go through any other “middle-man” between the individual person and God.  He is the Way, Truth, and Life – an open relationship with the Lord and an open Bible should be your primary tools in determining Truth.  God is perfect; His Word never fails, lies, or has any kind of imperfections.  You can trust Him and you can trust the Bible, plain and simple without other people to try and explain what it is saying.

Knowing the Truth is only part of the battle. Information is pointless unless you do something with it.  With knowledge comes responsibility: both the responsibilities to act on it and share it.  King Solomon knew what he was talking about when he wrote, “For in much wisdom is much grief, and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow” (Ecclesiastes 1:18, NKJV).  Of course, when you start wielding truth, you have to be very careful not to become destructive with it.  Truth and grace – righteousness and peace – must not be separated.  Jesus is both the truth-filled, righteous Lion of Judah and the gracious, innocent Lamb of God.  I think there’s a reason why the Armor of God in Ephesians 6 tells us to be girded with truth and shod with peace.  Instead of trampling with truth we should walk in peace, while truth keeps us from stumbling and allows us to fight better.

So the next time you find that a leader, teacher, or family member does not see eye-to-eye with you on the issue of young earth creation (or another Biblical issue), don’t become discouraged. Just remember that the Bible is more reliable than any human and that it’s your responsibility to gracefully use the information you’ve been given.  People don’t usually respond well to truth that is spoken in an attitude of pride, but will often at least hear out a humble, gracious appeal.

“Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one” ~ Colossians 4:6

Creepy Crawly Creatures – Creation Clues for Kids Vol. 4 No.4

Creepy, Crawly, Critters!

Do you have any pets?  Maybe you have a friendly furry friend like a dog or cat.  Or you could have something like a hamster, lizard, bird, or fish.  But, what do you think about keeping a snake or giant cockroaches for pets?  Those could be some creatures that you or your family might not be too excited about having in the house.  Whether you want to feed them or squash them, all creatures ranging from dogs to bugs (and other things) are very complex and are specially designed by God.

Bearded Dragons

Have you ever seen a Bearded Dragon?  It’s a type of lizard that comes from the deserts of Australia.  They are usually pretty gentle, making them good pets.  While you don’t have to worry about fire-breathing tempers from these dragons, sometimes they will puff up the spiky-looking “beards” that they’re famous for if they become afraid or upset.  You’re more likely to see a male bearded dragon puffing out his beard than a female puffing out her beard.  The beard is a defense tactic to make them look bigger and scarier than they really are to other creatures that might want them for lunch.  In the same way, they look pretty prickly for protection, but they’re actually a lot softer than you might expect.

The word “dinosaur” wasn’t invented until 1841 and the word people used before then was probably “dragon”.  The bombardier beetle shoots fire out of its body, so the idea of a creature making fire is definitely possible.  The Bible even mentions a fire-breathing dragon in Job 41

Lulu
Lulu

Meet Miss Lulu

I made a few new friends while traveling this summer.  Lulu was pretty small and eyed me like she wasn’t really sure if she trusted me.  Lulu the bearded dragon squirmed a little, complaining about my cold hands, the first time I tried to hold her.   She liked to sit on her rock to soak in the heat of her lamp and sometimes go on field trips outside to sun.  Lulu liked eating crickets and vegetables.

"Don't Step on it!" Drawing by Anna B., age 9
“Don’t Step on it!”
Drawing by Anna B., age 9

Don’t Step On It!!!

Besides Miss Lulu the Bearded Dragon, I also made friends with some giant hissing cockroaches from Madagascar.  Would you hold a giant roach if you could? I was a little nervous the first time I picked one up, but figured out that they are actually quite nice and beautiful in their own way as I watched my new friends crawl around my fingers.  Once, as I was trying to hand a roach to someone else it fell on the floor and started running.  “Oh!  Hold still!  Don’t step on it!  He’s scared,”  I said.  I’ve stepped on roaches tons of times, so it was a rather funny thing to say.  However, these roaches seemed pretty special – and they were my friends!

These roaches can hang on pretty tightly with their special feet that work similar to little suction-cups.  You can turn them upside-down and they usually hang on, unless they want down.  They can also climb up walls

Giant hissing cockroach
Giant hissing cockroach

Giant Roaches

The most interesting thing about giant Madagascar hissing cockroaches is the hissing sound that they make to protect themselves when they’re scared.  There are other bugs that make hissing noises, but most of them use vibration, rubbing body parts together to make the noise.  However, this roach hisses by suddenly making air move through its breathing holes and along the ridges of its abdomen.

Insects, including roaches, flies, and many other things, have three main sections of their body:

1) Head

2) Thorax – middle section, and

3) Abdomen – back end section

Made for Defense

Both the bearded dragon and giant hissing cockroach have special ways of defending themselves against other creatures that would want to hurt or eat them.  When God originally created everything, none of the animals or people killed each other.  God said that everything He made was “very good” – nothing died or was hurt. It wasn’t until the first people chose to disobey God that all the bad things came into the world.  But, because God is full of grace and all-knowing, He designed animals with the ability to defend themselves, even in the middle of all the pain and death.  By sending Jesus to take our punishment, God made a way to save us from the awful fate, too.  And just like the bearded dragon and hissing cockroach, God has given you everything you need to live the life He wants you to live.

Thoughts From Readers

CCK is written by Sara J. Bruegel.  Many thanks to Anna B. (age 9) for her drawing.  If you have a question, comment, cartoon, or drawing about God’s creation that you would like to share, please write to Sara at: CreationCluesForKids@gmail.com and it may get published in the next issue.  Also, you can visit www.CreationClues.com to read a new clue each week or read & print past issues of CCK.

We encourage you to print as many copies as you like for yourself, friends, church, private school, ministry, or other groups, free of charge.  All we ask is that you respect the author’s copyright by 1)giving full credit to the author, 2)DO NOT charge for this newsletter or in any way try to make money off of Creation Clues for Kids, and     3) DO NOT change any of the content

This is the October-December 2015 Issue – Vol. 4 No. 4

Print Friendly Version Here: Vol 4 No 4 – October- December 2015

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