Blog – Page 6

Ceiling Surprise

August 22, 2016

Imagine how my nephew Jon must have felt when he walked into the house I rent in Arizona and saw this! The home belongs to my sister and her husband who live in California, and Jon keeps an eye on it when it’s not rented out. He was there earlier that day, and everything looked fine. Little did any of us know an air conditioner drainpipe had come apart at a seam, allowing water to drip onto the ceiling below. Eventually the water-logged plaster collapsed and fell to the floor, ceiling fan and all. Who knows how long the pipe had been like that? It was probably broken while I was living there last winter, but since I only ran the AC for a few hours a day, the plaster had time to dry out between times and the damage went undetected.

Ordinarily the AC isn’t running while the house is vacant, but my sister and her husband had been there three weeks before, meeting with contractors to arrange a face-lift for the house. Because workmen would be in and out, they kept the AC turned on when they left. If it hadn’t been running for those three weeks, the damage wouldn’t have occurred until after I arrived in November, ruining some of the work that was done during the summer, and I would have had to find a place to stay while repairs were completed. The original plans didn’t include replacing the carpet or the ceiling, so now the house I’ll return to in November will be even nicer than what was originally planned. Fortunately they have good insurance, so it wasn’t a financial disaster, and no one was in the house when the ceiling fell, so there were no injuries.

Romans 8:28 comes to mind. “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” While a collapsed ceiling is not a good thing, much good came from the situation, and it’s easy to see God’s timing and protection. However, another verse spoke to me even louder as I thought about what had occurred: “Catch us the foxes, the little foxes that spoil the vines, for our vines have tender grapes” (Song of Solomon 2:15). These were just little drops of water – drip, drip, drip – but because no one stopped them, they accumulated till eventually a whole big ceiling was ruined, causing major destruction.

How does this apply to our lives? One way is in our thinking patterns. If we allow small, seemingly harmless, negative thoughts to stay in our minds instead of catching them, “bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5), they can fester and accumulate in our hearts, waterlogging our attitudes and emotions. Left unchecked, those attitudes and emotions will lead to wrong actions, causing serious damage to our own lives and those of the people around us.

Destructive emotions like anger, envy, and depression do not just happen. They are the results of thinking patterns we have allowed to develop over time. We need to guard our hearts. If we find any little foxes that have managed to sneak in, we must catch and kill them! God is ready to help us with the killing if we bring those foxes to Him.

(No real animals were killed – nor was such a thing advocated – in the writing of this post.)

Butterflies — What Really Goes on in that Cocoon?

July 21, 2016

Butterflies have fascinated me since fourth grade when our teacher brought caterpillars into the classroom so we could observe their change into amazingly beautiful winged beings. What fascinates me, however, is not the beauty of the final product, but the process of metamorphosis. Until recently this change from the creepy, crawly creature to a brilliantly colored thing of of beauty has been a mystery even to scientists. Now, thanks to modern technology, though there are still many unknowns, they have learned much more about what really happens in that cocoon. Not surprisingly, the process is far more complex than anyone had imagined.

Rather than trying to explain it, I’m sharing this video of the Creation in the 21st Century TV program. I hope you’ll take the time to watch it. It’s a half-hour show. The part about metamorphosis starts about 5 minutes into the video and lasts about 20 minutes. CLICK HERE to see the show. You may need to scroll down a bit to get to the video.

The point they’re making in the video is that the amazing process of changing from a caterpillar to a butterfly could not have come about accidentally. This is awesome, but in addition, seeing how thoroughly new the butterfly really is gave me a greater appreciation for what truly new creations we are in Christ Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:17). I love the way objects in nature reflect spiritual truths from the Bible.

If you’re interested in hummingbirds, there’s a fascinating short segment about them also, starting at the 2:15 point.

Baby Hummingbird is Off to See the World

July 9, 2016

Last spring my sister took fascinating videos of the baby hummingbird outside her window. We watched Baby’s wings grow stronger as he practiced flapping them, and we watched him turn around in the nest at Mama’s direction. He learned something new every day. This final video was taken the day before he flew away, leaving the nest behind. Though he returned to the yard after that, he never revisited the nest.

My sister wasn’t there with her camera to record his virgin flight, but it’s obvious from this video that it was due to happen any moment. If you don’t see the video, click HERE.

Hummingbirds are amazing creatures. They fly thousands of miles to Mexico and Central America in the winter, and when they return in the spring they come back to the exact same yard they left from. And they don’t fly in groups like most other birds. It’s a solo journey.

We can learn many life lessons by observing Baby’s progress – lessons about teaching by example, the importance of practice, and not jumping out of the nest till your wings are strong enough to carry you. And there are Bible verses to go along with each of these lessons. But as I observed the process, one thought stood out most clearly: this is evidence of God’s creation.

According to Romans 1:20 “since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made…” Information about how to build a nest, lay eggs, then teach and prepare her baby to fly, was programmed into Mama’s DNA. Baby’s desire to fly was programmed into his, as well as the migration route he will take in a few months. He didn’t learn that route from Mama. She won’t be flying with him.

To think molecular strands of proteins carrying all this information could have come together through some random process – seems to me it takes way more faith to believe that than to believe in God the Creator, who designed the DNA of not only Mama and Baby Hummingbird, but of every living thing, including all of us.

Yes, it takes faith to believe in a God we cannot see. But He has given us plenty of evidence in the world around us. The writer of Hebrews defined faith as “the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1). I think this hummingbird and her baby provide excellent evidence of the unseen God. What do you think?

Fulfilling the Vision

June 30, 2016

Another cool video!

This video was taken a few days after Baby’s first attempt at flapping his wings. The Saga of Baby Bird is filled with lessons about our walk with God. For example, it teaches us about vision. When Mama flew and flapped her wings in front of Baby, as seen in the previous blog post, she was showing him the possibilities, imparting a vision for what he was to do and become. (See Come On, You Can Do It if you missed the first video).

But Baby needed more than a vision. At first, he simply sat in the nest, watching Mama flapping and flying. Even after he caught the vision, he wasn’t ready to jump out of the nest and fly away. There was a process. He began by responding to Mama’s gentle tapping on his wings by moving them. How exciting it must have been to discover his flapping capabilities!

Over the next few days baby periodically came out of the nest and practiced flapping, tentatively at first. He no longer waited for Mama to tell him to do it. He came out and practiced even when she was nowhere around. Each day he increased in strength until the time came for him to fly away from the protection of the nest to live the life he had been created for.

We humans also need a vision for where we’re headed. The Bible says, “Without a vision the people perish” (Proverbs 29:18). Lewis Carroll’s Cheshire Cat told Alice in Wonderland, “If you don’t know where you are going, any road will take you there.”

Sometimes when we catch a glimpse of what God has for us, we get so excited about it that we try to jump out of the nest and fly away without taking the necessary steps to strengthen our wings and develop our flapping skills. Let’s face it. Flapping practice is not as much fun as flying. But usually when God gives us a view of our destiny, He doesn’t mean for us to jump into it right now. Steps of preparation are needed to help us grow into the vision.

Instead of being in a hurry to see the fulfillment of what I believe God is showing me He has planned for me, I want to remember to ask Him, “What’s the next step you want me to take?” and then follow through on that. Keeping the vision in mind provides incentive, energizes our walk, and gives purpose and direction to our decisions; but our walk with God is just that – a walk. And a walk consists of steps.

The writer of Hebrews tells us, “We do not want you to become lazy, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised” (Hebrews 6:12). Faith and patience are just what we need as we learn to enjoy each step along the way. I plan to focus on developing that faith and patience. Then when it’s time to fly, I’ll be ready!