Is anybody out there?
Is anybody out there?
Is anybody out there?
Is anybody out there?
I originally had a different path for this blog in relation to these four words, which I'll share at the end, but I think God is leading be down a different road.
You may remember that a week ago I had a faith testing experience with a Monarch butterfly but that experience (which you can read at your leisure) revealed something else to me. I have a number of people close to me, people I care about, who deny the existence of a creator God. They have answered the question "Is anybody out there?" with a resounding "No!" No God is out there. I have written a couple blogs posts pondering the evolution-creation debate but as I thought about the butterfly I remembered its AMAZING life cycle.
Please read this carefully and let it sink in.
In March and April Monarchs lay an egg the size of a pinhead. The egg sits on the leaf of a milkweed plant and four days later it hatches into a tiny caterpillar which eats and grows for two weeks. It attaches itself to the leaf with silk and it's skin peels off as it is transformed into a chrysalis (like the cocoon of a moth). Over the course of 10 days a mysterious process we call metamorphosis (change of form) takes place and out comes a beautiful and graceful adult monarch butterfly. That in itself is amazing but read on!
This butterfly will lay similar eggs just before it dies only 2-6 weeks after being born. The first butterfly is generation number one and the eggs just laid will be generation two. The second generation of monarch butterflies is born in May and June, and then the third generation will be born in July and August. These monarch butterflies will go through exactly the same four stage life cycle as the first and second generations did, dying two to six weeks after it becomes a beautiful monarch butterfly, laying eggs for the fourth generation butterflies. Still with me?
Here is where it gets really crazy. This fourth generation Monarch, born around September doesn't die in a few weeks but instead takes flight, heading to the warm weather of the south. It flies 2500 miles to Mexico or California and will live 6-8 months before migrating 2500 miles back up north where it will lay eggs in March and April for the first generation of new Monarchs.
"Is anybody out there?" Hmmm? I think that as I have shed my Godless view of evolution from the primordial soup of the cooling earth, the Monarch stands as a monument to the creativity of God. If you doubt that God exists or that there is a designer of life please think hard about the Monarch and how it could have come to pass by slow steady changes over time. I think you will have to cling to your atheism only with the strength of your pride. I had the gift of having my pride stripped from me so that my eyes could see clearly the hand of God. It is easier to lay it down rather than having it stripped but whatever works!
Lastly, I was going to use the words, "Is anybody out there?" as a reaction to the lack of response to my last post asking for questions or comments but God let me know today that it is His business who reads this blog, not mine. Whether 0 or 1,000,000 it matters not.... I just need to keep writing. God will take it from there. My pride got in the way. So that's why this is out on Monday and not Saturday. I was pouting....... :)
John 1:2-4
He was with God in the beginning.
Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men.
Here is a link to a time lapse video of a Monarch life cycle.. facts above where from monarch-butterfly.com
Monarch Butterfly
Peace in Christ,
David
David,
ReplyDeleteI always read your posts, usually more than once. I continue to pray for you and this ministry God has given you. I don't always comment, or have a question, but I'm still here.
hugs,
Liz
p.s. Loved relearning about the monarch butterflies! We serve an amazing God, don't we?
Liz,
ReplyDeleteYour faithful prayers are probably the very thing that has kept this blog alive. I am (and have been for a long time) blessed by you. Peace
Story of Bamboo
ReplyDeleteIf you don’t know the story of the Bamboo tree, it is a great metaphorical lesson.
Unlike normal crops that you can harvest annually, the Chinese Bamboo tree takes a little longer. The process goes like this: You take a little seed, plant it, water it, and fertilize it for a whole year, and nothing happens. The second year you water and fertilize it, and nothing happens. The third year you water and fertilize it, and again nothing happens. How discouraging this becomes!
The fourth year, you continue to water and fertilize the seed and then—take note. Sometime during the fourth year, the Chinese bamboo tree sprouts and grows NINETY FEET IN SIX WEEKS!
The story of the Bamboo tree is much like growing a company- you have to have faith, belief and persistence. Additionally, it is a story of stability, structure, and maturity. What do you think the tree is doing all those years? Laying down and growing the ROOTS that will become the FOUNDATION to support MASSIVE growth.
In becoming an entrepreneur, growing companies, or growing as a person, remember to always be watering your tree, planting roots, and building your foundation.
Life is much akin to the growing process of the Chinese bamboo tree. It is often discouraging. We seemingly do things right, and nothing happens But for those who do things right and are not discouraged and are persistent things will happen. Finally we begin to receive the rewards
Keep watering the tree that you planted and it will grow. God asks that we keep the faith even when we cannot see the roots growing. We will continue to pray for you and your passion.
David,
ReplyDeleteI too read and reread your thoughts many times each week. It (and you) has been a wonderful blessing in my life. There are times at church when I have left a service feeling as the sermon had nothing for me, but then I read your blog and it is right on.
Monarchs have a special place in my heart. Grandma was an armchair entymologist. When she died, a few years back, there were many glass cases full of pinned butterflies. I love it when someone understands the difference between a cacoon and chrysalis. (You wouldn't believe how many books get that wrong.) I wear a butterfly ring to remind me daily of Grandma.
Friday night I went hot air ballooning and for 25 minutes of our hour flight there was a monarch with us flying around the balloon. That was one unique thing about the flight.
I find it interesting that God has brought up monarchs a couple of times this past week. Thus, I have also been thinking a lot about Grandma.