Confirmation

Bluegill

Pandora Sphinx moth

Androgeus Swallowtail

Peppermint

"33 He described plant life, from the cedar of Lebanon to the hyssop that grows out of walls. He also taught about animals and birds, reptiles and fish."
                                                                                       1 Kings 4:33 

The above scripture is talking about King Solomon.  We all know that Solomon was the wisest man in the world, filthy rich, and had more wives than any man could hope to have, or probably want to have.  The one thing I never knew about Solomon until the other day however was that he was also a naturalist.

Frequently I have felt like a fish-out-of-water as a nature enthusiast in the Christian crowd.  So many Christians seem to think that God's instruction to have dominion over the earth meant to do whatever they please to the earth, regardless of the consequences. The idea of somebody approaching the earth with a sense of stewardship and scientific interest was usually labeled as worshiping the earth rather than God.  

For a long time I felt a sense of internal conflict about this.  I really felt that God had hard-wired me to have an inquisitive nature about creation.  At the same time, I had heard many a sermon and many a passing comment that nature enthusiasts were evil and wrong and worshiping the wrong thing.

It wasn't but a few years ago that I finally decided that yes, God had hard-wired me this way, that God had built within me a genuine desire to learn as much as I could about creation.  God had created me to want to learn the names of all of the different plants and animals, and to learn the different stories that made each member of creation special and unique, just like me.

I am so pleased to learn that Solomon was given the same interest in the natural world as I.  I feel like I am in good company, and I feel like it is confirmation that my interest in creation is in fact from the Lord.

Colors of the Rainbow

Today was a very colorful day as I visited a place called Hope Furnace.  Hope Furnace is a historic site where people nearly a century ago would smelt iron ore.  Adjacent to the site is a swamp and stream, which if you go far enough eventually attaches to Lake Hope.

I guess I find it a little ironic that I saw the colors of the rainbow today (or near to it) at a site that is largely covered by water.  Afterall, God's promise that he would never flood the earth again is manifested by the rainbow.

The colors of the rainbow are red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet.  Representing those colors are the red of the Cardinal Flower, the orange of the Sleepy Orange butterfly (the upper wing surface is very orange!), the yellow of the Wingstem (complete with bumble bee!), the green of the not yet ripened Sensitive Fern sporophyll, the blue of the Monkey Flower, and the indigo/violet of the Purple Fringeless Orchid.  I threw in the pink Sweet Water Lily just for fun!

In all honesty, I didn't realize I had all these great colors today until I started looking over my photos tonite. I have to wonder how many really interesting things I miss because my mind is instead on hurrying to get home, or the fact that I forgot to stop at the post office this morning, or that my knee hurts.  I need to do a better job of clearing all that other garbage out of mind, and focusing on the beauty that God has give us.  Do you need to do the same?!

Praising God part 2

The larva that fell from the sky!

Rhododendron

Here a few weeks back I posted Praising God, where I talked about some of my favorite sounds in Creation.  The other day I took my children to Rhododendron Cove south of Lancaster, specifically with the objective of photographing Rhododendron for my One Thousand Flowers project.

As I photographed the beautiful, white-flowered shrub, my children sat down on the moss covered ground and patiently waited for me.  As they sat, a caterpillar fell out of the sky and landed on my son's pants leg.  Actually, I suspect it was a sawfly larva rather than a butterfly caterpillar.  But anyways, I looked up, curious what kind of tree the critter had fallen from.

Above rose a fairly large tree, perhaps 40 feet tall, with toothed, pointy leaves and smooth bark.  Well, there are several different tree species in southern Ohio that fit that description.  The one way to tell for sure was to scratch a twig and smell it.  And when I smelled the scratched twig, I was reminded of one of my favorite smells in Creation, that of Sweet Birch.  Sweet Birch has a very strong wintergreen smell.  I need to research if it is safe to chew on the twigs, because if it tastes like it smells, the flavor would be heavenly.

Out west, my favorite smell was the smell of an approaching rain storm.  In Arizona, as the Creosote bush gets wet it releases a very distinct smell.  The smell is then carried ahead of the storm.  So when one smelled creosote, you knew rain was on the way.  Not only is creosote an appealing smell, it also carried an uplifting message.  While in Ohio we sometimes loathe the rain, especially when it falls everyday for three weeks in a row like it has recently, in Arizona, rain is rejoiced.  The smell of creosote meant something wonderful was about to happen.

What are your favorite smells from Creation?  If you do not have a favorite smell, then you probably need to spend more time in Creation!

Fingerprint of God

The other day I took a trip to Shawnee State Forest in southern Ohio in search of flowers for my One Thousand Flowers project.  In a damp shady spot along Forest Road 5, I found the plant pictured above.  I knew it was a mint of some sort, but otherwise it was unfamiliar to me.

When I returned home later that night, I got busy trying to identify the plant.  It turned out to be Hedge Nettle (Stachys cordata).  While I had been in the field, I had not really paid attention to the purple pattern on the flower, probably because my eyes aren't so good now-a-days.  But as I looked at the photos something suddenly struck me, the purple pattern on the lower lip of the flower looked like an angel.  The lower portion of the design looked like the angel's legs, with the wings reaching up to the top of the petal.  Between the wings, at the throat of the flower, is a pinkish blush (actually a series of very short pink lines), that looks like the angel's head.

In all honesty, I am the type of guy who doesn't normally notice shapes or designs in random things.  I am NOT the kid who laid on his back, staring at the sky, looking at the shapes of the clouds.  My mind generally doesn't work that way.  That is why I found it odd that I so quickly noticed this design.  As I write this, the song "Entertaining Angels" by the Newsboys is running through my mind.

I am convinced that God leaves little clues, little fingerprints behind, to remind us of his glory and handiwork. Let me encourage you to take some time to go out into creation, and look for these fingerprints that God has left for us!

Praising God

As I was driving home today from work, watching out for those who change lanes without looking and tailgate at 70 miles per hour, I sought out a happy place in my mind.  This Sunday's sermon will be about praise, but as I drove down US33, I struggled with finding a praiseful attitude.  This has been a tough week for me.   I read news reports that the gun rights battle wages on, even as a gun zealot pulled a handgun on me, just because he didn't like where I parked my truck.  I had other drivers cutting me off and tailgating me on pretty much a per mile basis.

The only happy place I could find was out in creation, out in nature.  And then what came to my mind was my favorite sounds in nature.  I must admit I am not a big bird chirping fan.  Two of my favorite sounds in nature are the bugling of the elk in early autumn and waterfalls.  My favorite sound in nature may very well surprise you.  It is the sound of a gentle breeze blowing past the spines of the Saguaro cactus.

When I worked at the Boyce Thompson Arboretum in Superior, Arizona, I would go hiking on the Arizona Trail after work.  The trail was only a couple miles west of the arboretum.  When I would get to the top of the first big hill I would stand, or sit on a large rock, and listen to the wind.  The hill was far enough away that you could not hear noise from the highway; no airplanes flying overhead.  Just the sound of the wind rushing past the spines of the Saguaro.

When I got home tonight, I looked up in the scriptures if that could count as praising God.  What I found was Romans 14:17-18,  " For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, ¹⁸ because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and receives human approval."  

Being out in creation definitely brings me joy and peace, and this joy is pleasing to God.  So yes, in my Spirit, I am praising God with the joy and peace I am experiencing in my soul.  I do miss my favorite sounds, camping out in my tent as the elk call out in the meadow nearby, or taking a well-deserved rest as the winds kiss the spiny guardians of the desert.  I pray I will discover new favorite sounds here in Ohio.  

I challenge you to find that thing which brings praise to your heart.

Humble Roots

Blue Grama

Bottlebrush grass

Sometimes very important things come in relatively plain packages.  Pictured above is Blue Grama grass and Bottlebrush grass.  There are some grasses that are showy or colorful, but most are relatively dull and unimpressive like the two pictured above.

Yet, the grass family (Poaceae) is probably the most economically important group of plants on Earth.  From the grass family we get oats, rice, wheat, corn, and barley.  For most American families, breakfast and lunch would not exist without a grass.

Jesus is the same way.  He came from very humble roots.  He was born in a manger, surrounded by livestock.  His clothing was not embroidered with gold.  On his final visit to Jerusalem he arrived riding on a colt, not a massive steed ornately decorated.  Yet Jesus was to be the most important person to walk the Earth.

Jesus calls us to be the same.  Not flashy, not calling attention to ourselves, but rather seeking to put others first and to meet the needs of others before pursuing our own needs.  This summer, as you walk through grassy meadows, or drive past them on your various travels, remember what is behind that plain packaging.  It's not a matter of how flashy the packaging, but rather the importance in your life of the gift inside.

What Lurks Beneath the Surface?

Squaw Root

Indian Pipe

Something I have noticed lately is that it is really easy for people to be enticed by pretty packaging, or patriotic rhetoric.  But everything may not be as it seems.  Sometimes as believers we need to step back and dig a little deeper, and research how the packaging or rhetoric stacks up to God's Word.

The Squaw Root and Indian Pipe pictured above, while being attractive plants (or at least I think so), or at least interesting looking plants, are both parasitic.  Meaning they are by some mechanism gaining their nourishment from another plant.  In this case, they are both root parasites, although technically for the Indian Pipe there is a fungus intermediary.  So, while what is above ground is intriguing, what is below ground smells of evil.

We are bombarded with similarly intriguing things in our everyday lives.  But do they stack up to God's Word.  I have a few litmus tests that I use.  First of all, Jesus narrowed all of the commandments down to two (Matthew 22:37-39), love God and love your neighbor.  If the enticement passes the love test, I move on to test number two, found in Philippians 4:8, "Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things."

If the enticement passes this test, then my final litmus test is this, Proverbs 6:16-19, "There are six things the Lord hates,
    seven that are detestable to him:
¹⁷         haughty eyes,
        a lying tongue,
        hands that shed innocent blood,
¹⁸         a heart that devises wicked schemes,
        feet that are quick to rush into evil,
¹⁹         a false witness who pours out lies
        and a person who stirs up conflict in the community."

Once the enticement has passed these three tests, then I am good to go forth and enjoy!  There is a lot floating around our nation right now that is unable to pass these three tests.  Guard yourselves against it and always seek God's truth!