Design in Nature - NPR/The State of Things

"Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools." 

Click here to listen: "Design in Nature"

The Answer Is....

Earlier, I posted a question about an amazing little animal. This animal is able to withstand extremes from boiling to near absolute zero, mountaintops to ocean trenches, the vacuum of space to 6 times the pressure of the deepest ocean trench. The question is, what is it?

The answer:

Water Bear

I was unable to find a free for use picture so you can go here to read about this amazing little creature.

We serve such an amazing Creator! While the little water bear is an amazing animal, consider man, made in the image of Almighty God. 

Psalm 8:3-9, "When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour. Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet: All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field; The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas. O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!"

Beautiful Night

Some severe storms just rolled through with lots of close lightning. Unfortunately, it was so rainy and humid, that the lightning lit the whole sky in blinding flashes so no spectacular lightning shots. I did get a couple neat pictures though:

Lightning and city light lit storm clouds.

Lightning lights the sky and reflects off my Crown Vic (used a short flash to light the sign in the first image - unfortunately is is a little distracting, but the background and reflections still look neat).

Lightning flashes in 30 second exposures.

Volcanoes - Mammoth Displays of the Power of God

We have to admit - Mt. St. Helens was a powerful eruption. It was the most destructive in US history and unleashed power equivalent to approximately 20,000 Hiroshima sized atomic bombs. No small feat. But how does this volcano compare in the grand scheme of things? A little diagram might help us to see just what we are looking at a little better.

Mt. St. Helens produced an impressive amount of ash - .25 cubic miles. The ash plume reached 80,000 feet in 15 minutes and the east coast in 3 days.

But in sheer volume of expelled material, is this actually all that much? Not really.

A fissure in Iceland opened up in 1783-1784 that produced a whopping 3.8 cubic miles of basalt lava. Not as violent for sure, but in terms of actual material, that is a huge increase.

But about 1,800 years ago, a New Zealand eruption dwarfed even that.

Mt. Taupo produced 8 cubic miles of ash. That is a lot of ash compared to little old Mt. St. Helens!

But is it the biggest eruption? Not in the least, soon after the flood, our own Yellowstone erupted and produced at least 480 cubic miles of ash producing a hole so big, you have to use satellites to discern its edges. So how does that compare with the above? Well, powerpoint won't let me zoom out that far, so this screen shot is the best I can do.

Mt. St. Helens now is so small we can't even see it. The cube for Yellowstone is 48 inches to a side while poor little Helen is only .025 inches to a side.

The next illustration does not exist because I am incapable of producing it. Imagine the cube for Mt. St. Helens to be only .00025 inch to a side. This is 1,000th of an inch = 1 mile. Then imagine that the Yellowstone cube would be only .48 inches to a side. Then imagine a cube 480 inches to a side - where 1,000th of an inch still = a mile. Now we are talking an eruption! Presumably during the flood, an eruption in Russia covered 130,000 sq. miles with over 480,000 cubic miles (in volume) of basalt lava. Another one in India covered 200,000 sq. miles over a mile deep.

What an awesome God we serve. Shall we not glorify the Great King? Praise the Lord and give Him the glory due His Name.

What Am I? Can you Guess?

I am:

1. One who declares the greatness of God by displaying His creativity and provision in a way distinct from other animals.

2. I am so distinct from other animals that I belong to my own phylum.

3. My kind can be found from the Himalayas to the tropics.

4. Small

5. I can be frozen to almost absolute zero and thawed back out - and live through it.

6. I can be boiled alive - and not die.

7. I can withstand pressures at six times the pressure of the deepest ocean trench.

8. I can be completely dehydrated for nearly 10 years. To resurrect me, just add water.

9. I can survive the absolute vacuum of space and direct exposure to the sun's radiation.

10.  I received my name because I walk in a way similar to my namesake (a land animal) but live in the water.

What am I?