the Blue Jay as predator
Submitted by orcaoid on Wed, 07/18/2007 - 22:41.
after I had parked my business car, behind our parking lot I saw & heard a racket, all these birds were chirping, flying around by some parked cars, then they went under one, as I walked in that direction, they flew off to the middle of the alley, still chirping away
then I saw it, the Blue Jay had a big-headed baby sparrow, it pecked at it & the sparrows finally flew away, knowing that the little one had died, as I got closer, was flying away with it for about 10 feet or so, I guess that it was it was too big & too heavy for it to fly farther than that.
I was reminded of several things right then, as I witnessed the sometimes cruel world of nature, eat or be eaten, predator & prey cycle;
About what Jesus said, not to worry, that even the birds of the fields were fed by His Father in Heaven
To paraphrase Andy Rooney, "ever notice that most plants & animals produce more offspring than are needed to just maintain equilibrium?"
I mean insects in the thousands,
A female German cockroach carries an egg capsule containing around 40 eggs. She drops the capsule prior to hatching. Development from eggs to adults takes 3-4 months. Cockroaches live up to a year. The female may produce up to eight egg cases in a lifetime; in favorable conditions, it can produce 300-400 offspring. Other species of cockroach, however, can produce an extremely high number of eggs in a lifetime. Laying up to 100 eggs in each egg sac, it only needs to be impregnated once to be able to lay eggs for the rest of its life, allowing one single cockroach to lay over a million eggs during its lifespan.
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The cockroach is also one of the hardiest insects on the planet, capable of living for a month without food; being able to survive even on the glue from the back of postage stamps.[2] It can also hold its breath for 45 minutes and has the ability to slow down its heart rate.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cockroach
cats & dogs have so many babies, that they're called 'litters'
John 10:10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have [it] more abundantly.
http://www.blueletterbible.org/cgi-bin/versions.pl?book=Jhn&chapter=10&v...
"Abundant Life", that's my theory of how God made the world to work in our little corner of the universe, where sea-life puts millions of eggs, trees thousands of seeds & where little fishes get eaten by big fishes & to paraphrase 'Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg' from "the 5th Element", "& so on & so on"
Jesus also said about sparrows, that not one falls without Him knowing it
Mat 10:29 Not even a sparrow, worth only half a penny, can fall to the ground without your Father knowing it.
http://www.blueletterbible.org/cgi-bin/tools/printer-friendly.pl?book=Ma...
Mat 6:26
Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?
http://www.blueletterbible.org/cgi-bin/tools/printer-friendly.pl?book=Ma...
there is divine order, -and then there is direction
A good friend of mine, who is sorting out a lot of personal concerns, (and doing so in grande style,) said to me last night, '...well, Eric, you have a Hero complex.'
I protested.
(I know I don't, but what bothered me was why this person thought such things...)
-yes I have spent many lifeteimes in this one 'saving,' people. (When I'm good at something, I'm quite good at it, and want to be of best use, so I strive to be most effective.)
Then it dawns on me.
This person, though a great fellow, hasn't the slightest idea of a God who sincerely not only taught, -but modelled how self-sacrifice, -and putting others first was key, -and how the greatest love one can have is to lay one's life down for another.
-Did Jesus have a martyr complex?
-Did He have a Hero complex?
(..darn, I KNEW it...)
No.
Though I am quite mortified that even the smallest or grandest acts of seeking to aid others will be twisted around to 'you're just doing that for yourself, it's some sort of flaw.'
-in fact, the very nature of the God that inhabits us, is to be close to the insignificant and broken hearted.
(that they are far from insignificant to Him.)
My own father, before coming west a long time ago,
dropped out of school,
and hitchiked across the country and nearly froze to death in the middle of a blizzard in the mid-west.
He made it to SanFrancisco, (he was a Beat, after all,) and decided to join the Marine Corps, figureing that it would make him a man.)
They sent him to Korea.
-but it was over twenty years after that that he came to the Lord, and was so moved by the very passages that you quoted.
Of late?
I had a discussion one afternoon with an old woman who is somewhat senile, -and very much in a state of grace...
She spoke of falling down one time and saying 'I said to God, God, please remember me, God, please think of me.'
I find this coming from Old Russians, old Armenians, Czechs, Jews, Romanians,,,
There is not this arrogant insistance of 'of course God knows me, I'm the greatest thing going,'
-no, it's the simply request of someone who was raised knowing that God was quite big, all powerful, -and that in this life, perhaps the greatest of pleasures, -and what can mean life or death, -is that someone simply remember them or think of them.
Even after death,
-that someone remembers you,
-how wonderful a thing.
Old folks from the old country get this.
And we, all the while observing the harshness and failure of the human race, (and the devestating effects on the rest of nature as well,)
-all have this simple option and grace afforded, -that means so much,
-even when all else has failed,
-such as our life itself.
Just like the thief on the cross, who went from mocking, to realizing who it was who was hanging there next to him.
'Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom.'
-and the most beautiful response that any of us could ever hear.
'Surely this day, you will be with me, in paradise.'
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