Spiritual Lessons from Biology

Recently in biology, the wolves got a new family member.  The Golden Wolf is not exactly a new discovery, it’s been observed by biologists many times.  But biologists had misidentified the creatures as a jackal, naming it the Golden Jackal.  It wasn’t until a genetic conservationist at the Smithsonian Institute began comparing the Golden Jackal to other jackals that the misidentification was found out.  He says that the “two lineages are not even closely related”.  Thus Canis aureus (Golden Jackal) has been renamed Canis anthus (Golden Wolf). It is hard to identify things in this world, especially in the spiritual realm.  Jesus warns us to beware of wolves dressed as something else (Matthew 7v14).  Most people i have met in American college campuses identify as Christian, but when asked if they have ever read the Bible or what the main tenets of Christianity are, these students often cannot answer me.  B.B. Warfield writes, “If everything ...

People find God in the mountains.  Abraham ascended a mountain so he could hear the voice of God.  Moses ascended to see His face, and he came back down with his own face glowing like fire.  As for me, i climb to lose myself in the quietness, to hear the symphony of a trillion pine needles softly strumming the wind. In the seasons when i am stateside, my aunt and i climb a different mountain every week.  She teaches me the names of wildflowers, and i tell her about my adventures.   Not long ago we summited Mount Audubon.  On the way up, as with any peak above 11,000 feet, we came to a great scree field.  It’s a desolate place above the tundra where only lichen grows.  There is no soil, only scorched rocks and slabs of granite.  It’s a place of howling winds and baking sun.  Yet something extraordinary had taken root there.  My aunt called me over to take a peek.  There, among the sterile landscape, grew the most exquisite col...

"Cease listening to instruction, my son, and you will stray from the words of knowledge." (Proverbs 19v21) The largest mammal in the world is the Blue Whale.  But the longest living is the Right Whale.  Eubalaena glacialis is unlike other mammals because of the way it grows.  There are two main types of skeletal structures in the animal kingdom: fused and unfused.  Reptiles have unfused bones, meaning they can grow as big as they need to and, thus, live longer.  Mammals have fused bones and tend to have a set longevity.  Yet the Right Whale, unlike any other mammal, has unfused bones.  Thus they live for nearly 300 years.  And they have a very, very good memory. Unlike other whales, the Northern Right Whale displays no curiosity around human beings.  They will not approach a ship, or call to each other when humans are present.  They vanish just as soon as they are spotted.  And biologists can guess why. “Right Whales” are s...

During my undergraduate years i was learning how to fast.  As i progressed, i decided to try fasting and praying for three full days.   i was still attending classes and working during this time.    By the third day my stomach had stopped grumbling and the hunger pains had subsided.  My last class of the day was a mammalogy lab.  We were learning to stuff animals for taxonomic collections.  Our specimen that day was a mouse. While i was preparing the specimen, something very strange happened.  i cut into the skin of the dead animal, tearing gently to expose the flesh inside.  My eyes widened and my stomach leapt.  All at once i came to the sickening realization that i was hungering for a mouse carcass.  After three days without a scrap of food, my body trembled at the thought of consuming the scrap of meat on the dissecting table in front of me. i composed myself, left the classroom, drank a ton of water, and returned to finish ...

On 5 August 2015, 3 million tons of toxic waste was spilt into the Animas river.  Iron, Lead, Zinc and Copper, deadly heavy metals, filled the water rapidly.  Fish choked in the Arsenic, Beryllium and Cadmium.  A terrible stench filled the air around the river, and just looking at the color of the water was enough to make your stomach turn.  By the end of the first day, the polluted water had reached New Mexico. Who was the culprit?  An atrocity so potent as this was surely the doing of some villain.  Ironically, The Environmental Protection Agency was to blame. The Gold King Mine is a suspended mine; it hasn’t been used for centuries.  Yet the EPA thought they would do some investigating to make sure the mine was ‘secure’.  Yes, indeed, the  mine was secure until the team began digging around to see just how secure it was.  That’s when all hell broke loose and the sleeping monster was unleashed.   It’s not totally clea...

" Those who sow in tears shall reap with joyful shouting.  He who goes to and fro weeping, carrying his bag of seed, Shall indeed come again with a shout of joy, bringing his sheaves with him." -  Psalm 126 v5&6 "You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; You have loosed my sackcloth and girded me with gladness." - Psalm 30:11 "But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus." - 1 Thessalonians 4:13-14 My grandmother came down with a case of pneumonia, and i went to visit her in the hospital.  They kept her in the ICU for days, trying to revive her.  Yet, for all their efforts, she worsened daily.  Eventually they put some kind of helmet over her head to help her breathe.  Trying to speak to her through that contraptio...

"Love one another deeply, from the heart." -  1 Peter 1v22 "Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins." -  1 Peter 4v8 “Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.” - Romans 12v9&10 Traffic in Denver has exploded.  Construction and road maintenance cannot keep up.  Furthermore, many people on the roads have recently moved here from places without snow, making the roads extra dangerous in winter.  Accidents are on the rise, as well as road rage.   Yesterday i was driving somewhere, and i was becoming frustrated.  i kept shaking my head, raising my eyebrows, tsk-ing my tongue, even laughing out loud at the sheer insanity displayed by other cars in front of me.   i was in a hurry, and grumbling to myself wasn't helping.   At one point i found myself in a turn lane at ...