Diving for his supper
And God said, “Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens.” - Genesis 1:20 (ESV)
As a person who loves nature, I am fascinated by the skills and antics that so many of the animals in our world can perform. It often looks effortless and it is hard to understand how they do the things they do. Take the pelican for example. Sitting on a piling they look strange, some even might say ugly with their long beak tucked in as they rest. They also seem as if they are slow and listless until they take flight. Once they do, however, they display a grace, skill and cunning which is worthy of a fighter pilot. As the picture shows, they attack the water and the prey they've spotted by surprise and once the prey is captured, they have won the battle for lunch.
When they cruise just above the water level along the shore, it appears that the next wave approached will catch them off guard, yet they quickly rise over the crest and return to flight mere inches above the water. They are truly amazing to watch and they present a skill set and a natural athleticism that defies their appearance. It's kind of like the football player who, after the big play, aimlessly walks back to the huddle, receives the call, and returns to the line of scrimmage like he can hardly make it. Then, on the snap of the ball, he is off in a dash and makes another great play. I think the parallel to the exploits of the pelican is a good one.
Now you are probably asking yourself a question right now. What does the pelican have to do with my faith in God? And it's a fair question so I'll answer it and I will do so very simply. Every creature on this earth is unique, including each individual one, be it man or bird or beast. Each is put together with meticulous expertise and skill with thousands of parts that must work in sync with one another to make the whole perform properly. There are not even two blades of grass or two leaves that are exactly alike and, at least in this humble writer's opinion, it make one thing very clear and it's this. No Creation could be put together with such care, such beauty and such utility as all the living and even not living parts of earth without the handiwork of someone so brilliant, so magnanimous and loving as our Heavenly Father. Nothing else makes any sense if you think it all the way through.
And so, my friends, I ask my own question of each of you? How can you experience the wonders of life, will all its beauty and all its interconnected parts that combine to make the living world and not believe there is a Heavenly Father? I for one cannot doubt His reality, but I also know that it has to be believed by faith. Even though there is plenty of evidence of His existence in our Creation and in the passing down over time of His Word, it takes the opening of the heart and the use of faith to dispel all doubt and that's what I know to be true. I am comfortable and secure knowing that His love and grace will offer me a grand welcome into His Kingdom after my earthly life is done. And that can be accomplished only through my belief in Him through faith.
What about you? What do you think is true?
Dear Lord, We thank you for the wonderful creatures, like the pelican, that you have given us in this world and the wonder that they offer us as they go about their lives. Help us to use our knowledge of creatures like this to further our belief in you, for we know they didn't come by happenstance, they came as evidence of you which we need to take directly to our heart. Amen.
As a person who loves nature, I am fascinated by the skills and antics that so many of the animals in our world can perform. It often looks effortless and it is hard to understand how they do the things they do. Take the pelican for example. Sitting on a piling they look strange, some even might say ugly with their long beak tucked in as they rest. They also seem as if they are slow and listless until they take flight. Once they do, however, they display a grace, skill and cunning which is worthy of a fighter pilot. As the picture shows, they attack the water and the prey they've spotted by surprise and once the prey is captured, they have won the battle for lunch.
When they cruise just above the water level along the shore, it appears that the next wave approached will catch them off guard, yet they quickly rise over the crest and return to flight mere inches above the water. They are truly amazing to watch and they present a skill set and a natural athleticism that defies their appearance. It's kind of like the football player who, after the big play, aimlessly walks back to the huddle, receives the call, and returns to the line of scrimmage like he can hardly make it. Then, on the snap of the ball, he is off in a dash and makes another great play. I think the parallel to the exploits of the pelican is a good one.
Now you are probably asking yourself a question right now. What does the pelican have to do with my faith in God? And it's a fair question so I'll answer it and I will do so very simply. Every creature on this earth is unique, including each individual one, be it man or bird or beast. Each is put together with meticulous expertise and skill with thousands of parts that must work in sync with one another to make the whole perform properly. There are not even two blades of grass or two leaves that are exactly alike and, at least in this humble writer's opinion, it make one thing very clear and it's this. No Creation could be put together with such care, such beauty and such utility as all the living and even not living parts of earth without the handiwork of someone so brilliant, so magnanimous and loving as our Heavenly Father. Nothing else makes any sense if you think it all the way through.
And so, my friends, I ask my own question of each of you? How can you experience the wonders of life, will all its beauty and all its interconnected parts that combine to make the living world and not believe there is a Heavenly Father? I for one cannot doubt His reality, but I also know that it has to be believed by faith. Even though there is plenty of evidence of His existence in our Creation and in the passing down over time of His Word, it takes the opening of the heart and the use of faith to dispel all doubt and that's what I know to be true. I am comfortable and secure knowing that His love and grace will offer me a grand welcome into His Kingdom after my earthly life is done. And that can be accomplished only through my belief in Him through faith.
What about you? What do you think is true?
Dear Lord, We thank you for the wonderful creatures, like the pelican, that you have given us in this world and the wonder that they offer us as they go about their lives. Help us to use our knowledge of creatures like this to further our belief in you, for we know they didn't come by happenstance, they came as evidence of you which we need to take directly to our heart. Amen.
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