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!

Creation Finds A Way

My son and I went mucking out through a snow covered swamp in southern Fairfield County, Ohio yesterday afternoon looking for Skunk Cabbage flowers as a part of my One Thousand Flowers project.  We did find a few Skunk Cabbage blossoms that were far enough along that they had melted the snow around them so as to be visible to wildflower nerds like me.

After a while my son called out, "Hey dad, check this out."  He brought over to me a Ball jar he had found buried in the snow.  Growing inside the jar was moss, as green and happy as could be.  The jar had been laying on its side.  My bet is that the jar was acting like a little greenhouse, adding just enough heat to make the moss happy!  We returned the jar to its original location.

I guess it reminds me of Proverbs 30: 24-28,

“Four things on earth are small,
    yet they are extremely wise:
²⁵ Ants are creatures of little strength,
    yet they store up their food in the summer;
²⁶ hyraxes are creatures of little power,
    yet they make their home in the crags;
²⁷ locusts have no king,
    yet they advance together in ranks;
²⁸ a lizard can be caught with the hand,
    yet it is found in kings’ palaces."

I find it so interesting how Creation always seems to find a way.  We litter our world with a variety of things, yet Creation is flexible enough to work with it; to make due with the available resources and use those resources to its advantage.  Just like this little moss, taking advantage of an unintended greenhouse.  Perhaps in our own walks through life, we would be well served by exercising a little flexibility and wisdom, much like these smallest members of Creation!

To learn more about my One Thousand Flowers project visit: http://www.gofundme.com/1swe8s

Much Like All of Us!

The blooming of the Skunk Cabbage is on the horizon.  Normally this plant blooms more towards late February.  This year it seems a little ahead of schedule.  I checked my favorite Skunk Cabbage patch last weekend and I estimate that patch is about a 7-10 days away from blooming.

The flowers are quite spectacular, with a large maroon-colored spathe surrounding a short and stubby spadix, where the actual reproductive structures are housed.  Currently the spathe is exposed above the slimy muck of the swamp this plant calls home, but the spathe has not opened quite yet to reveal the spadix.

Skunk Cabbage is called Skunk Cabbage because the vegetative part, which looks all the world like a big leafy cabbage and appears after the blooms fade, smells something awful.  Tear off a piece of leaf and give it a smell.  It will be an experience you will soon not forget!

Back to the flower though, once the spathe opens, the process of decomposition begins at the base of the spathe.  This decomposition, like most decomposition, produces a foul odor.  The reason is to attract pollinators, in this case most likely flies and beetles.  Most bees aren't flying in early February!  This decomposition also generates heat, which of course will also attract flies and beetles trying to get in out of the cold.  Sometime try taking a thermometer and comparing the air temperature to the temperature inside the spathe and you'll see what I mean.

While there is rottenness in the Skunk Cabbage flower, obviously there is some good things about it too.  It provides a home for insects.  It is beautiful to look at.  It adds color to an otherwise dreary Ohio winter day.  The Skunk Cabbage is kind of like people.  Pretty much all of us have some kind of rottenness inside of us (called sin).  But at the same time, we are capable of doing wonderful things for others, and cheering up someone's otherwise dreary day.  I think too often we are guilty of judging folks by their rottenness, rather than trying to build upon their good.  God calls upon us to love each other, despite the stink in our attitudes, words, or clothing. 

Only by focusing on the good will you be able to remove the stink!

From Death, Life

As I have mentioned before, I am obsessed (ok, I'll use the 'O' word!) with all of the many, varied, wonderful forms of life that we can find living around us.  While I do not worship Creation, I am certainly enthralled by it.  Bugs, plants, big animals, little animals, even fungus, I find all of it so very cool!

From a Christian perspective, I view fungus sort of like baptism (now I have your attention, eh!).  Romans 6:4 states, "We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life."  Out of death comes new life, which is the life story of a fungus.  From a dead, rotting piece of wood, some of the most beautiful creations in nature come to life.  I know not everybody agrees on the beauty of a fungus, but you have to admit the coral fungus above is pretty darn cool!

Romans 6:4 is talking about baptism.  As we are dunked in the water, we are symbolizing Christ's death, and resurrected out of the water as a new life.  Just as God uses the fungus above in the grand scheme of things, He uses us as well.  The fungus has the purpose of speeding along decomposition.  He has a purpose too, I would argue uniquely selected by God, for each of us.  And God considers both the fungus and us as beautiful.  Anything that fulfills His will is beautiful.  And it doesn't really matter if we have come from a rotting piece of wood.  God doesn't care about your past, just your future!

By the way, regarding the fungi pics, the top is a Coral Fungus, the middle is Scarlet Cup, and the third is a species of Mycena.  By the way, some Mycena are bioluminescent, meaning, they glow in the dark.  How cool is that!

One Thousand Flowers

Large-flowered Trillium

As my friends know, I am obsessed with learning about nature.  Twenty-seven years ago I was finishing my forestry degree at Northern Arizona University.  At the time I had a collection, one of the few students who did, of all of the trees, shrubs, and grasses that we had been required to learn during the four years of the degree.  I kept these pressed specimens in a big blue binder.

That mentality has not changed over the years.  That one blue binder has now grown to three rubbermaid tubs, about the size of bath tubs, that house nearly 3000 pressed specimens.  In recent years, I have also taken interest in other things, such as moths, grasshoppers, etc, as you know if you have been following this blog.  I now use the camera to document things, rather than collecting specimens.  Over the past couple years I have tried to focus my efforts on studying a particular group of organisms each calendar year.  So, for example, in 2011, that focus was butterflies, and was documented in my book Butterfly Rider.

In 2013, I am going to make my focus on plants in a project I am calling One Thousand Flowers.  I will attempt to photo-document 1000 species of plants, and I am going to focus this search throughout Appalachia.  Much like I did with the butterfly year, I want to write a book and design a calendar as products of the One Thousand Flowers project. 

However, I want to make this something bigger than just me.  I have a real heart for Appalachia.  My family has lived in Appalachia since the 1860's.  My idea of art is the shapes of the cut-outs on the outhouse door!  So I am going to try also to document the Appalachian way of life, and the poverty that is found throughout Appalachia.  In addition, I will donate half the profits from any book/calendar sales to Appalachian ministries that try to help Appalachian people out of poverty.

I am giving people the opportunity to participate in this project in a variety of ways.  I have developed a website where people can donate money to the effort.  To achieve 1000 species, I will need to do some traveling on my days off.  Donations of friends and supporters will help fund this travel.  Visit this website for more information: http://www.gofundme.com/1swe8s

Of course, I understand that times are tough financially for a lot of my friends.  If you cannot support me financially, I would absolutely appreciate your support in the form of encouragement and enthusiasm.  At least four places in the New Testament we are called to encourage one another, and I fully intend to hold my friends to this Christian mandate!  One way you can encourage the project is by sharing about it within your own circle of friends.  I know I am not the ONLY person in this country who is a nature nerd! 

Another way you can show your support will be by staying tuned-in via this blog or my facebook page to my adventures.  Your support really does help encourage me.  One thousand species is a lot, and I will need encouragement.  And, I thank you in advance for your support, whatever form it may come in!