The Intelligence Behind Jellyfish

Something To Think About The Intellegence Behind Jellyfish:

Because of the kind generosity of some colleagues here in Palau Kathy and I were privileged to an unforgettable afternoon trip.  We flew over one of the wonders of the world, the Rock Islands of Palau, to the site of a major World War 2 battle, Peleliu.  Again, and again, I and the other three passengers in the little plane asked, “How can you take it all in?”  The answer is, You can’t. One of the wonders we flew over is the “Jellyfish Lake.”  Actually the lake is one of several marine lakes in Palau, each inhabited by a unique strain of jellyfish.  This is the best known of the lakes because it is open to visitors.  Several years ago I was privileged to make the short hike over one of the ridges that separates the Jellyfish Lake from the lagoon, and slip into the quiet water and swim with the strange, beautiful creatures.  It’s not like you see one here or there; the delicate creatures totally surround you.  It’s like swimming in a giant bowl of soggy Cheerios. You can read more about this natural wonder here.  The symbiotic relationship of lake, jellyfish, algae-like creatures, sun, and water is utterly amazing.  The jellyfish derive nourishment from microscopic creatures that inhabit their gelatinous bodies.  To maximize the photo-synthesis of these creatures the jellyfish migrate back and forth across the lake on a daily basis.  They congregate on the sunny side of the shadows cast by the vegetation on the shore, thus avoiding the region where their prime enemy, a breed of anemone, lurks, looking for jelly for lunch.  I figure if you take all the intelligence in that lake and put it together you wouldn’t have enough smarts to learn to not look up in the rain and drown.  Yet, there it is, a precise, beautiful, delicate, complicated dance, repeated day after day, and it works.As we were flying I asked our pilot about the manufacture of the airplane.  He told me that they found it, gassed and ready to fly, on the downwind side of a junkyard after a typhoon had blown through. In case you didn’t catch that, that was a joke—a joke with a point. It’s STTA.

Look around. It's beautiful.

Something To Think About, BEAUTY:

I am privileged to live in an incredibly beautiful place on God's globe.  It is sad that so often I fail to look.  I took a bike ride in the country, yesterday, then my wife and I went to a local lake and sat on the mirror like surface and enjoyed supper.  The mountains around the water turned from green to black silhouettes, rimmed with the last golden light of day.  A flock of birds moving in amazing unison stretched across the sky like a huge ribbon in the wind, twisting, turning, vanishing, returning.  Then today I took a one hundred twenty mile round trip through the mountains and along a couple of streams.  The morning fog turned to blue skies, but patches of mist still clung to some of the ridges. I don't always look at the beauty around me.  Sometimes I'm in a hurry so I rush by.  Other times I'm looking down so I won't stumble, or my focus is inward on my problems.  In the same way that the"worries of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things" choke out the good seed of the Word of God before it bears fruit (Mark 4:19), carrying daily worries around--especially beyond their intended one day shelf-life--blinds one to the beauty of God's world. I'm not your doctor, I'm just a guy who tries to write something worth thinking about from time to time, but here is my prescription:      Take a minute, or two, or three, or a whole hour, look around, and thank God for the beauty of the world. In spite of the blight of sin, it is still wonderful to behold. Then, with the wonder still in your heart, say, "Thank You, Lord." It's STTA.

Where'd I Come From?

I watched the creation/evolution debate last.  It was a well done presentation, though nothing new was presented.

The matter of origins--"Where did I come from?--has become an increasingly controversial matter.  Am I merely the result of eons of random action, or am I "Fearfully and wonderfully made"?

 

If you are a reader of STTA who does not share a commitment to a Biblical Worldview, let me first say, "Thank You."  I really appreciate you hanging out with me.

I go on to encourage you to not reject the grand story you find in God's word based on a disagreement about how all this stuff--me included--got started.  I make that request based on several reasons:

1. What you have heard "the Bible says" may not be what the Bible says at all.  Some of what you have heard is put out there by those who deny the Bible.  It's like evaluating steak houses based on reviews written by vegetarians.
2. Those of us who believe the message of the Bible represent a pretty broad view of origins--all the way from those who believe the world is just over 6,000 years old, to those who find room for billions of years of earth history.  I'm not saying everybody's right.  I am saying that people with a variety of views on origins find the message of the Bible, and in particular the story of Jesus Christ, to be compelling and life-changing.  I'd encourage you to get beyond Genesis, before you reject.
3. All views of origins involve an element of faith.  We weren't there.  We trust evidence, and more importantly the interpretation thereof.  Some of us trust God and His revelation.
4. It's complicated.  Anyone who tells you it isn't, doesn't have an adequate grasp.

If you are still with me, go with me to the point of the absolute beginning, whether you see that beginning as being a mere six millennia ago, or billions of years in the past.  Step back one second before that threshold.  What do you see?  Two places in the Bible give an answer:

"In the beginning God. . . ."  Genesis 1:1, and

"In the beginning was the Word. . . ."  John 1:1  (Later verses identify the Word.)

If, and it is an "if" we reject at our peril, all that is comes from God, then it makes sense to believe that we had better consider Him.

It's STTA.  

You can find out more about God's plan here.

Wondering at the Wonder:

A friend of mine, Matt McLain, can not only tell you more about dinosaurs than you thought there was to know, he can educate us on "not-dinosaurs."  I encourage you to read Matt's post.  It is not only informative, but highly entertaining.  I know Matt well enough to know that he enjoys making people chuckle, but he has more in mind than that.  He wants us to know, "the world is so much more amazing than anything we as humans could have invented. That is marvelous, and speaks to something so much greater than us."

We don't have to be in a graduate program to come to that realization.  Toddlers looking at butterflies and grasshoppers get the concept quite well.  The Psalmists understood it.  Was David lying on his back, staring into the vast sky, after the sheep were safely in the fold, or maybe it was in the desert, when bone weary from fleeing the madman King Saul, David looked at the sky to discern when morning would come, or perhaps it was from the palace roof, a place from whence he later looked on things he shouldn't have been viewing, that David--shepherd, warrior, King--saw the heavens in all their majesty?  Likely it was a composite of all those views that compelled him to say, “The heavens are telling of the glory of God; And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands.” (Psalm 19:1).    On another occasion I imagine David flexing his hand, feeling the tension in his arm, and seeing the fingers move--precise, strong, durable--"I am fearfully and wonderfully made."  (Psalm 139:14) he declared.

In Psalm 107 an unnamed writer observes the inevitable cycle of cause and effect.  His musings include sickness, sadness, storms,  flood, drought, and the wonders of the seas.  His conclusion: “Who is wise? Let him give heed to these things, And consider the lovingkindnesses of the Lord.” (Psalm 107:43)

Romans 1, and Acts 17, tell us that there are still lessons to be learned from the wonders of our world.  Take time to look.  Allow your heart to take on the wonder of a three-year-old, or a Matt McLain.

It's Something to Think About.

 

New American Standard Bible: 1995 update. 1995 (Ps 139:14). LaHabra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.