Daily Devotional – August 23

History

Of all the fish in the world, the ‘o’opu ‘alamo’o (opu) - native only to the island of Hawaii, is one of the most amazing. This fish only lays its eggs far inland from the ocean in the upper reaches of the Kolekole stream. Once the eggs hatch, the larvae are swept downstream by the swift current of the river and flushed into the warm, clear waters of the Pacific Ocean, where they mature into colorful 5-inch-long fish. To produce the next generation of fish, the female must swim back upstream to lay her eggs in the fresh water of the mountain stream. Here is where the miraculous occurs! Between where the mother lays her eggs and her ocean habitat is the Akaka Waterfall - which plummets 440 feet from a narrow opening on a sheer cliff wall. How can a fish swim up a 440 foot waterfall?

Unique to all the fish in the world, this particular species has a special set of fins fused together to form a suction cup directly between its front pectoral fins. The Opu laboriously attaches its suction cup fins to the water-slickened surface of the falls, and drags itself upward against the force of the flowing water, and reattaches itself again. Moving a fraction of an inch at a time, over many days, she literally free-climbs the 440 foot falls against the flow of the water to the top of the stream where she lays her eggs.

The following question arises; how did this fish learn to do this? Without the suction-cup shaped fins, the climb would be impossible! The Opu had to have the ability to climb with suction cups from the beginning or no more Opu fish. God created the Opu fish to delight us in His creative ability. Only God could create a waterfall climbing fish!

For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:

~ Colossians 1:16

Source: "Pearls in Paradise" by authors Bruce Malone and Jule Von Vett

References for this devotional.

Daily Devotional – August 22

Design

One of the most beautiful moths in the world is the Atlas moth (Attacus atlas) from the forests of Southeast Asia. Most people are impressed with this rare moth’s incredible 12-inch wingspan, making it one of the largest living insects of today. The patterns on the moth’s wings are gorgeous. But take a closer look at the moth’s wing tips. They resemble a cobra’s head, complete with staring eyes and a grimacing mouth. What better way to scare off predators than to have a poisonous snake “painted” on your wings!

The Chinese even call this moth “snake’s head moth” in Cantonese. So, here we have a moth scaring off its predators by looking like a cobra. If that’s not amazing enough, the moth even drops to the ground and fans its wings in a movement similar to a snake’s head when threatened. Evolution would have you believe that this moth’s disguise happened by accident and chance over millions of years. Random changes do not produce patterns that look like other animals. So, how do you explain a cobra pattern on a moth? The pattern-maker gave it this defense mechanism from the fall, and that patternmaker is God.

All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made.

~ John 1:3

Source: "Pearls in Paradise" by authors Bruce Malone and Jule Von Vett

References for this devotional.

Daily Devotional – August 21

Geology

If there was a worldwide flood, would not sediments have been transported vast distances? As the Flood waters swept over the continents, they would have deposited sedimentary layers. Let’s look at just one example.

The Grand Canyon has a bright white layer of sandstone near the top lip commonly called “the bathtub ring.” This Coconino sandstone layer consists of pure quartz sand averaging 315 feet thick and covering some 200,000 square miles, containing at least 10,000 cubic miles of sand. Where did all this sand come from? Within the Coconino sandstone are sloping sand “waves” pointing southward, indicating that the water flowed from the north. It has been postulated that the source of this sand was northern Utah or Wyoming.

Higher in the strata sequence above the rim of the Grand Canyon is the Navaho Sandstone. It can be seen in Zion National Park, just north of the Grand Canyon. This sandstone also consists of very pure quartz sand, giving it its brilliant white color, and it also has sand “waves” indicating that the sand came from the northeast. Within this sandstone is the mineral zircon, which is easily traced to its source material. It has been postulated that these sand grains in the Navajo Sandstone could have come from the Appalachians of Pennsylvania and New York and farther north into Canada. These sand grains were transported about 1,250 miles across North America. If there was a world-wide flood, sediments would have been transported vast distances, and that is what we are now discovering. This speaks of a global Flood some 4400 years ago.

Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished.

~ 2 Peter 3:6b

Source: "Pearls in Paradise" by authors Bruce Malone and Jule Von Vett

References for this devotional.

Daily Devotional – August 20

Biology

There is no need for a bug zapper when a chameleon is around. With stealth and patience, the chameleon moves along a branch. His feet are ideally made to grasp branches with little effort. His tail is ever ready to catch the branch should he fall. His eyes are unique, like turrets on a tank, swiveling independently to see in every direction – a full 360 degrees. Each eye is also like a telephoto lens, adjusting and calculating distances with precise accuracy.

When prey is located, both eyes focus on the bug, and Zap! The chameleon’s catapulting tongue shoots out five times faster than the speed of a jet fighter plane being catapulted from the deck of an aircraft carrier – 16 times the acceleration of gravity (16 g). The tongue itself is about twice as long as his body as it is propelled forward. This long tongue is stored on a bone – similar to how a long, sleeved sweater can be pushed up one’s arm. When the chameleon sees the bug, he takes aim, cocks, and fires his tongue forward with a catapult motion. A fraction of a second before contact, a sticky tongue pad forms into a suction cup at the tip of the tongue – complete with finger-like extensions at the tip (like an elephant’s trunk) to wrap around the bug. The bug is caught and brought in for lunch. All this happens faster than the blink of an eye! How many years did the chameleon stumble along trying to develop his feet, eyes, and specialized tongue in order to catch lunch? What we see is marvelous design that should bring us to our knees in worship of the Designer, God.

And all men shall fear, and shall declare the work of God; for they shall wisely consider of his doing.

~ Psalm 64:9

Source: "Pearls in Paradise" by authors Bruce Malone and Jule Von Vett

References for this devotional.

Daily Devotional – August 19

Botany

Have you considered how seeds get moved around the Earth? Land plants are stuck in one spot by their roots. They can’t move, so God designed their seeds to be moved around. God’s creativity and imagination in this area is astounding. Seeds are dispersed by wind, water, ingestion, hitchhiking, and exploding into the air. They are designed with parachutes, barbs, airfoils, draglines, airbags, wings, hooks, and rocket shapes. If wind is being used to disperse the seed, how would that seed be designed? Lightweight and maybe with a wing or parachute to give it more lift to float it afar. If water is being used to disperse a seed, the seed is designed waterproof and floatable. If animals are used to disperse seeds, they need to eat the fruit first.

The seeds within the fruit must remain undigested as they pass through digestive systems before being deposited in another place. If hitchhiking, then the seed needs hooks and barbs to attach itself to the animals’ skin, feathers, or fur. If the seed is thrown from the plant, it would involve lots of physics. For instance, once the seeds are ripe, a squirting cucumber literally shoots its seeds as much as 40 feet away!

When you go for a walk in the meadows or woods, look to see God’s creativity in how He designed a stationary plant to move around the world.

Then the earth shall yield her increase.

~ Psalm 67:6

Source: "Pearls in Paradise" by authors Bruce Malone and Jule Von Vett

References for this devotional.

Daily Devotional – August 18

Anatomy

The evolutionary idea of vestigial (or useless) organs, as leftovers from our evolutionary past, has produced tragic consequences. For many years, the thyroid gland (which has no duct to release secretions) mystified doctors. So when people had an enlarged thyroid (goiter), it was simply removed. In the 1870s, Dr. Theodore Kocker noticed some of his patients were going insane a few years after their operation. Through examining his surgical notes, he found that if he had left any thyroid behind, the patients did not go mad. However, the operations continued, and it was another 30 years before the function of thyroxine (the secretion from this gland) was discovered.

Today, we know that the thyroid gland is vitally important for making and storing hormones that help regulate such things as heart rate, blood pressure, body temperature, and growth rate. If we do not have enough of this hormone, we can feel overly tired, cold, or otherwise low in energy. If we have too much of this hormone, it is like a car idling too fast - we are likely to become overly nervous/irritated, have trouble concentrating, have trouble sleeping, and so on. The thyroid gland is hardly a useless, leftover organ! The more scientists study the body, the more they become convinced that the body did not happen by accident and chance but was designed by someone of great intelligence; that someone is God.

But now, O LORD, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand.

~ Isaiah 64:8

Source: "Pearls in Paradise" by authors Bruce Malone and Jule Von Vett

References for this devotional.

Daily Devotional – August 17

Christian Truth

What is the greatest commandment? Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength and MIND (Luke 10:27). Christians are not to park their brains at the church door but are called to be thinking Christians. Here are some questions that can help you when discussing issues such as evolution.

1. What do you mean by__(Evolution or other terms)____?
2. How do you know what you are saying is true?
3. What difference does that make in your life? Or, So What?
4. What if you’re wrong?
5. What would you accept as evidence that you may be wrong?

Use these questions wisely. You can use them in two ways - as a hammer or pry bar. We want the pry bar. In 2 Corinthians 10:5, we are called to destroy speculations, not people!

We, as Christians, need to be soft-hearted toward people and hard-headed in our thinking.

Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;

~ 2 Corinthians 10:5

Source: "Pearls in Paradise" by authors Bruce Malone and Jule Von Vett

References for this devotional.

Daily Devotional – August 16

Biology

A hermit crab cannot make its own shell to live in but has to find an empty shell to occupy. Once found, he backs into the shell; his twisted body is ideally designed to fit into a spiral shell. The crab uses his two back legs to grip the inside of the shell, keeping him firmly in place. The two front legs are used for walking, with the right one being much larger than the left. This right claw can be used as a “door” when he wants to blockade himself inside the shell. When the hermit crab gets too large for his shell, he leaves it and finds another larger shell to live in.

Often, a hermit crab carries a sea anemone on his shell. Sea anemones are covered with stinging cells, which release poison and kill the crab’s enemies when touched. When a hermit crab has to move to a new home, he will “plant” the anemone on his new shell. How did the hermit crab get his spirally curved body that fits perfectly in a shell? How did he get his extra-large right claw that acts as a door to his home? And how did he discover that it was good to have a sea anemone living on his shell? How does evolution explain these features? It is much easier to explain them if we accept that God created the hermit crab with these special features.

The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests…

~ Matthew 8:20a

Source: "Pearls in Paradise" by authors Bruce Malone and Jule Von Vett

References for this devotional.

Daily Devotional – August 15

Paleontology

Noah took two of every kind of land animal on board the Ark, including dinosaurs. After getting off the Ark, these dinosaurs spread around the world. The ancient histories of many cultures document dinosaur encounters.

Britain’s history contains hundreds of stories about large reptiles called dragons.

• According to one account, a large reptile killed and ate King Morvidus in 336 B.C.
• Just over 100 years ago, elderly Welsh folk told of a colony of winged serpents (pterosaurs?) that lived in the woods around Penllin Castle in Glamorgan. These “winged serpents were the terror of old and young alike…they were described as very beautiful,… looked as if they were covered with jewels of all sorts…when angry, they flew over people’s heads… they were as bad for poultry as foxes...they were terrors in farmyards.”
• In 1405, after an unsuccessful attempt by local archers to kill the dragon with its impenetrable hide, the villagers near Sudbury drove into a swamp a “dragon vast in body with a crested head, teeth like a saw, and a tail extending to an enormous length. Having slaughtered the shepherd of a flock, it devoured many sheep.” After the Flood, people also spread across the Earth, but who would want these terrifying creatures living near their village? Many dinosaurs likely went extinct due to human expansion. When we put on our biblical glasses, it is no surprise to find these types of widespread “dragon” reports. Dinosaurs definitely did not go extinct 65 million years ago!

Every beast, every creeping thing, and every fowl, and whatsoever creepeth upon the earth, after their kinds, went forth out of the ark.

~ Genesis 8:19

Source: "Pearls in Paradise" by authors Bruce Malone and Jule Von Vett

References for this devotional.

Daily Devotional – August 14

Biology

Freshwater mussels have a very unusual and complex life cycle. One part of their life cycle requires the use of a fish as a host. But how does the mussel get its larvae into the fish? One mussel found in the waters of North America, the “snuff box mussel,” uses an amazing method. This mussel does what many sport fishermen do; it catches a fish, and then releases it.

When the mussel is ready to release its larvae for the next stage in its reproductive life cycle, it catches a host fish by closing its shell on its head or snout and holds onto the fish until the larvae are released and attach themselves to the fish’s gills. Then the mussel releases the fish. Weeks later, the larvae have grown and dropped off the fish to continue the mussel’s life cycle. How does evolution explain this? How does a mussel that has no eyes grab a logperch fish? The best explanation is that God designed this specific life cycle to reveal His cleverness to us.

For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised….

~ 1 Chronicles 16:25

Source: "Pearls in Paradise" by authors Bruce Malone and Jule Von Vett

References for this devotional.