In my weekly Works & Wonders column, I combine a brief devotional with other interesting and uplifting bits and pieces I gleaned throughout the week. I hope you enjoy this week’s collection! It includes:
- Devotional: At All Times and in All Circumstances
- Sounds of the Forest
- Claude
- Honey
- Big Boy
- The Last Kākāpō
1.
At All Times and in All Circumstances
There is much to admire in human beings. Because we are made in the image of God, we can imitate God—we can love and rejoice, invent and create, make peace and grant grace, display mercy and extend pardon. We can display a host of precious traits of character and do a world of good. Yet all the while we remain aware that “the best of men are but men at best.” The best of us have failures that tag along with all our successes, sins that accompany all our graces, vices that mix with every virtue. The humblest is still at times prideful; the most gracious is still at times practically barbaric. In God and God alone do we see virtues that are unalloyed by iniquity, goodness that is untouched by any ill motive. At all times and in all circumstances, God acts according to all his virtues and abilities so that he is never more or less wise, never more or less powerful, never more or less holy, good, just, or true. William Childs Robinson says it well: “In God’s being there are the same virtues that we admire in men, only in God they are in perfect or full measure without any limit. And God always acts according to every one of his virtues.” What a God we serve, and what a God we worship!
2.
Sounds of the Forest
I love the creative ideas people come up with—ideas like Sounds of the Forest. What is it? Simply user-submitted recordings of forests from all around the world. God made this world to have a great variety of sounds, and it is surprisingly satisfying to click through and hear them. It makes me ponder how much of this world I miss when I don’t pause to just listen. Of course, as I type these very words, a helicopter is flying by above my house, and that is not a very nice sound! Anyway, here’s hoping the collection continues to grow.
3.
Claude
There are lots of very good uses for AI, and lots of very bad ones. One good use I’ve found is recreating apps or programs that no longer exist. There are several apps I used and enjoyed once upon a time, but that are no longer available. I have been able to instruct Claude to research those apps, pull together the data, and simply recreate them. It has been a marvel to see it come through. Advanced AI continues to shock me with its abilities, and that’s especially true in cases like this.
4.
Honey
Creation Ministries International wants to be sure we understand the marvel that is honey. Yes, honey, as in bee juice. Honey is just the kind of wonder we grow accustomed to. So why not read about it?
Most of us know that bees make honey. But did you know that there are over 20,000 species of bee? Yet only seven of these species are honeybees.
First, the honeybee must seek and collect nectar from suitable flowers—a massive undertaking in itself. The nectar, a thin, easily spoiled, sweet liquid, is transformed (‘ripened’) by the honeybee to a stable, high-density, high-energy food.
Honeybees have two stomachs, a honey stomach, which is used to hold nectar, and the regular stomach. When full, the honey stomach holds approximately 70 mg of nectar [about three rice grains in weight] and weighs almost as much as the bee. Honeybees visit as many as 1,500 flowers in order to fill their honey stomachs. On the way back to the hive, they add enzymes to the nectar which begins its conversion to honey.
The honey we eat is essentially nectar that honeybees have repeatedly regurgitated (sometimes into another bee’s mouth, or directly into the honeycomb) and dehydrated. This drying process in the honeycomb is accelerated through worker bees flapping their wings to drive off moisture.
5.
Big Boy
I’m not a train guy, though I have known some who are. I’m pretty sure my dad would have been, had he had a bit more time for leisure. I enjoyed reading Wall Street Journal’s report on Big Boy, a massive old locomotive that is making a coast-to-coast tour.
Along the route, families arrive with lawn chairs, tents and tripods. Some wave the American flag. Others wait on bikes, ready to track the train as it barrels forward. On stretches of waterfront, people linger in boats, kayaks and pool floats.
A whistle sounds in the distance, and the ground rattles as the train comes into view, plumes of steam billowing out. Union Pacific warns rail fans to stay at least 25 feet back; few follow the guidance.
As the din of clanking metal dims, the smell of grease and exhaust lingers. No one seems to mind the industrial grime.
The public isn’t generally allowed to touch the locomotive, but the crew makes exceptions during stops. “There are several people who just want to touch it, and when they do they break down,” said Dickens.
The engineer—who looks like he stepped out of central casting with his dimpled grin, 6’2” frame, striped shirt and Dickies denim overalls—has been known to shed a tear of his own. “I get emotional sometimes when I experience the sheer crowd size.”
6.
The Last Kākāpō
In the 1970s, New Zealand thought that the Kākāpō, a species of parrot, had become extinct. When a concerted search eventually found around 50 birds, the nation began a program to save them. And they needed saving because they are big, flightless, and nocturnal, and their response to danger is to simply freeze. This makes them easy prey to animals introduced to New Zealand like cats and weasels. It has been slow work that involved moving them to a location where they would be safe from predators, but there are now a couple of hundred of them. You’ll need to tolerate some evolutionary gobbledygook, but I think you’ll enjoy watching this video that tells the story.
