Glimpses of Creation: July 2010

Friday, July 30, 2010

A Slug

This morning we had a beautiful break from the searing heat we've been having. The temperature has been in the lower 90s, which may not seem that hot, but the humidity has been around 70%! That brings the heat index up pretty high. However, today we had a VERY welcome relief. It was in the lower 70s for the majority of the day. So this morning, I got outside to do some wildlife photography.

However, I couldn't seem to find any wildlife! Other than butterflies and spiders, I really couldn't find anything. But then . . . I found a VERY fat slug! Unfortunately, I failed to identify him, but I did learn quite a bit about slugs.

(his eyes were retracted in this image. His head is the closer part in focus)

One very peculiar thing I noticed about this slug was that it had a hole on the right side of its head. I found out that this hole is called a pneumostome. It is basically a hole by which air enters into the slug's single lung. I was fascinated when I saw the hole because I wasn't sure if he was supposed to have it. I was afraid he was injured or something. It didn't seem right that I could see inside of him!

I spent twenty-five minutes observing and video taping this guy. I must admit I had never really taken the time to watch a slug, but they truly are AMAZING. They look like a wad of slimy mud, but they move, see, smell, breath, and do all of the other things normal living organisms do!

But they do everything slowly . . .

In this video, you can see one of his eyes (specifically light sensors) pop into and out of his head. I read that if any of his sensory tentacles get cut off, he can re-grow them! Incredible.

Here you can see the slug eating. He is apparently eating a dead fungus on the wood. As I said, the upper two sensory tentacles are light sensors, but the lower two are different. They provide the slug with a sense of smell. They are essentially his "nose"!

Here you can see the whole video in fast-forward. It took a total of 25 minutes to film.

There are so many fascinating things about these "gross" animals. I had never really stopped to see them before, so this was truly amazing. How incredible to see the way God provided this creature with everything it needs in such a unique way. For example, he could never breath through his mouth, because it is constantly surrounded by mucus and slime. So God gave him a hole on the side of his head so that he could breath. Or take a look again at his "eyes" and "nose". How unique! They're retractable! Imagine having retractable eyes! How truly unique is this little slug, yet he is only a mirror of the uniqueness of his Creator. Who else has such creative power?

Friday, July 23, 2010

How Majestic!

O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens. Out of the mouths of babies and infants, you have established strength because of your foes, to still the enemy and the avenger. When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man, that you are mindful of him, and the son of man, that you care for him? Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings, and crowned him with glory and honor. . . . O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! (Psalm 8:1-5, 9)

Psalms 8 is an amazing chapter of the Bible to meditate on. Yet how much more amazing it is to read when you've just returned from observing mighty, towering, powerful storm clouds! That is exactly what happened to me earlier this week.

It had been a rainy day, on and off, like it gets in the summer (in Kentucky, anyway). Tyler and I had observed some large, stormy looking clouds, so that evening we went out to see what there was to see. We had no idea.

For my part, I was blown away. It's so hard to portray how big these clouds looked in reality! (Have I said that before?)

It was simply beautiful, the setting sun and the approaching storm clouds. Very quickly approaching storm clouds. It was an awesome sight.

The clouds came over like a wall. Fortunately, for whatever reason, the cloud that passed over us had very little rain, so we didn't get wet. We got to see the powerful, majestic storm without interruption, and photograph it too! (All safely of course, Mom)

After the cloud had passed over, we got some beautiful shots of the sun set.

This is a wide-angle/panoramic shot. See how the sun lit up the back end of the clouds? It really looked that color. It looked like the clouds were made of mud!

Mud clouds!!! Yikes!

The entire scene (which lasted about 1/2 hour) was absolutely stunning. Then I came in and happened to come across Psalm 8. To read that and understand that God's glory is above these majestic heavens is simply astounding. Oh how great is our God. Yet, He cares for us. He is glorified through feeble folks like us. He establishes His strength through little babies like you and me, and He is glorified by that. Surely the majesty of the glory of God is beyond any earthly comprehension!

Amen!

Cercis canadensis

This is a Redbud. I already had a post called "Redbuds", however, so I had to give this one the scientific name. It's fitting, since this is something of a biological post. Yet aren't these things amazing? At the top we have the whole tree, then it gets narrower and narrower, until we're looking up close at the TINIEST vein of this leaf (I used a microscope). To think of the incredible detail God worked into His creation, and then to realize just how many leaves there are! It is simply unfathomable. What an awesome Creator! Here's some bonus info on Redbuds (Cercis canadensis) for those of you who are interested :)

Kingdom:	Plantae
Division:	Magnoliophyta
Class:	Magnoliopsida
Order:	Fabales
Family:	Fabaceae
Subfamily:	Caesalpinioideae
Tribe:	Cercideae
Genus:	Cercis
Species:	C. canadensis

(For more info, click here).

Thank you for such staggering wonders as leaves, Lord!

Saturday, July 17, 2010

They Shall Speak

On the glorious splendor of Your majesty, and on Your wondrous works, I will meditate. They shall speak of the might of Your awesome deeds, and I will declare Your greatness. They shall pour forth the fame of your abundant goodness and shall sing aloud of your righteousness. (Psalm 145:5-7)

God's works are amazing. God has done many amazing works, the greatest of which was, without a doubt, the saving of sinful souls through the death of His Son. That is His greatest work, but by no means is it His only work. Another one of His works that is absolutely astounding to meditate upon is His glorious creation. God's work in creation is the work I want to focus on in this post.

Lately, the things I've seen in creation have been simply beautiful. Below is a picture I got on a calm afternoon shortly after some rain. Tyler and I went out there and got some pictures. It was peaceful and beautiful, though hot if I remember right.

This is a caterpillar that I found in the woods. Cute little fella'. I think he turns into a Pearly Crescentspot, a butterfly that I have pictures of elsewhere on this blog. (Look for an orange and black butterfly in the "Fliers" post).

This sunset was just over a week ago. Glorious, royal colors, aren't they?

This is a Hickory nut. 'Nuff said. ;)

This was a wide-angle/panoramic shot I got of the horse field south of our house (see map below). It was another hot day, but still beautiful.

This sunset was 1-1/2 weeks ago. A "simple" sunset, yet still gorgeous. The haze on the western horizon made the sun glow BRIGHT orange/red.

This is a picture from the home of some friends of ours that go to our church. They have a beautiful, hilly plot of land, so Tyler and I took our cameras and got some pictures. Beautiful!

This was one of the most beautiful sunsets I have personally ever seen. It was so huge and bright and colorful. This is a tiny point of the whole scene. (More is captured on the photo at the very bottom of this post). It was so amazing. One of those sunsets that almost literally shouts out the praise of God. "God made me! How much greater must He be?"

This was a morning earlier this week. One of the few mornings of the year where the fog is just right to produce sun rays like this. It doesn't happen very often, but it is beautiful when it does.

Photographs truly don't do these scenes justice. They were so much more beautiful. So much more magnificent. Yet to look at them, even if only their photographs, and realize that each and every one of these things was created specifically and intentionally by God. He created all of this! How magnificent are His works! The thunderhead silhouetted by the setting sun declares the might of His awesome deeds. The green life of the early morning declares His abundant goodness. And even the Hickory nut declares, if nothing else, the abundance of God's righteousness :)

Truly all of God's creation declares His glory, majesty, power, goodness, and righteousness. But let us not miss the second half of verse six: "and I will declare Your greatness." Along with creation, we can join in declaring God's greatness. What a privilege! Let us strive both to see God's glory in His mighty works as well as to declare them, for we also are one of His works.