Reptiles are cold-blooded and like to live in warm places. However, there are exceptions to every rule. Turtles are reptiles but live in places like the northern United States where temperatures drop far below freezing.

Some creatures hibernate while others burrow deeply into the ground to survive the cold winters but research has shown that at least some turtles actually freeze during the winter. Studies on the painted turtle, common in the northern United States, show that this species can survive being frozen. The turtles can actually be in water that freezes solid. As long as less than about 54 percent of the water in their bodies freezes solid, they can thaw out and survive quite nicely. How does the turtle get away with this?

First of all, blood sugar levels in the turtles nearly triple when they are frozen, and there is a sharp increase in certain amino acids which act as antifreeze. In addition, glycerol, another antifreeze, triples. Researchers point out that while these changes supply some answers, they don't completely explain the turtle's survival.

Scientists are trying to find out just how painted turtles live through being frozen. They hope to learn how to preserve human organs longer for later transplantation. In effect, they are trying to find out how God enables the painted turtle to survive freezing so they can copy His method.

Prayer: Dear wise heavenly Father, I stand in amazement at the way in which You have created such a variety of creatures and provided for them. Help me to understand that You care for me even more than them. In Jesus' Name. Amen.

References: These Turtles Freeze, But that's Okay. Science News, vol. 134. P. 382.

It has long been known that an African bird known as the honeyguide leads badgers to bees' nests, where the badger tears the nest apart to eat the honey. The badger always leaves more than enough for the honeyguide.

Now it has been learned that the honeyguide has a similar relationship with the Boran people of Kenya. When the bird has found a bees' nest, it will alert the Boran, bidding them to follow it to the honey site. On the other hand, if the Boran want to know where honey is, they know how to whistle and call for a honeyguide.

The honeyguide also calls to the people so that they know which way to go. When the Boran reach the honey, they always make sure that they leave some for the honeyguide. Researchers also reported that they saw honeyguides scouting out bees' nests at night so that they had good sites to lead the Boran to the next day.

While the honeyguide does get its reward of honey in return for its help, the intelligence of the honeyguide in establishing these relationships with human beings is impressive. But while the honeyguide can help teach us that the creation is the Work of an intelligent Creator, it cannot teach us how to have a relationship with Him. For that we must go to the Bible.

Prayer: Dear Lord Jesus Christ, all things were made through You, and for that we give thanks to You. Open the eyes of those who do not know You so that they might see Your Hand in creation, and so be led to find Your love in Scripture. Amen.

References: Honey Hunters Follow Bird to Reach Bees. Science News, vol. 135. P. 172.

It was the largest bird that ever lived. It stood ten- to twelve-feet tall and could easily out run a horse. Being a meat-eater, this fossil bird, which has been nicknamed "terror bird," possibly did chase horses and bring them down with its sharp talons. The only thing that limited this creature's terrible abilities was its inability to fly.

"Terror bird," existed in a world that also included other large birds - one had a wingspread of 17 feet! In the warm climate of long ago ferns towered 150 feet tall, huge alligators, marsupials, and a strange mix of other creatures hid within the forest of fig and sequoia. Where would one find such a place? Of all places, Antarctica! Yes, it was a long time ago, although not as long ago as evolutionists claim. The location of these fossil creatures indicate that the earth was once much warmer. Similar fossil remains have also been found in Siberia, Alaska and the Arctic.

It sounds as if a tropical forest is being described when Genesis talks about mist rising from the ground, watering the plants. If the earth really is warming up, maybe it's just now returning to normal. This is certainly not something that the ancients in the Near East would have made up - offering further evidence of God's authorship of Scripture!

Prayer: Dear Lord Jesus Christ, You are the Word made Flesh for my salvation, for which I thank You. Draw me closer to Yourself through Your Word of Scripture so that I may be even closer to You. Amen.

References: Walter Sullivan. Fossil 'Terror Bird' Offers Clues to Evolution. New York Times, Jan. 31, 1989. P. C11

When King Saul pursued David to kill him, David compared himself to a flea by asking whether the king had come out with soldiers to kill a flea. But just because a flea is small, doesn't mean that God treated it as unimportant when He designed it.

The flea, has an ability to jump many times its own length, and is a miniature marvel of engineering. If you see a flea jump - and that’s not easy to do - you will wonder whether the flea is actually powered by springs. The amazing truth is that the flea is powered by tiny springs. When it jumps, the flea actually releases more than five-and-a-half times as much energy as the most perfect muscle tissue can generate! The flea is able to do this using normal muscle output because he has small pads of natural protein rubber called resilin in his legs. As he slowly depresses the pads, he stores the energy which will be released in his next leap in one-seventh of the time he took to store it!

To our Creator, nothing and no one is unimportant. This is because He is, by nature, a loving and caring Creator. Do you know His love? Do you know that He seeks a personal relationship with you through what Jesus Christ did for you on the cross?

Prayer: Dear Father in heaven, it was Your Son, my Savior Jesus Christ, Who taught me to call You “Father." Help Me not to take Your love for granted, but always to thank You for Your love for me. In Jesus' Name. Amen.

References: Steven Vogel. Life's Devices: The Physical World of Animals and Plants. Princeton University Press, 1988. P. 252

Isn’t it true that when we are very young we think our parents know everything? Then, when we become teenagers we decide that our parents know virtually nothing. Finally, when we become parents ourselves we discover how wise our parents really were! Learning and wisdom are supposed to be products of human evolution and for this reason textbooks usually speak of instinct when referring to animals. But do animal parents teach their children and do they learn?

Biologist Robert R. Warner of the University of California, showed that even adult fish teach their offspring the facts of life. Warner's study involved moving fish called wrasses around to various reefs where they prefer to mate. He discovered that if there were no other wrasses at the reef, the young wrasses would establish their own mating sites. But if there were already adult wrasses at the reef, the young wrasses would share the mating sites that were taught to them by the established adults. In other words, the adults taught their traditional mating sites to the next generation!

The Creation teaches us that the intelligence of a creature has nothing to do with its supposed place in the evolutionary ladder. Even fish teach their young. This teaches us that it is a natural part of God's plan that we learn from the experience of those who are older than ourselves.

Prayer: Dear heavenly Father, I have so much to learn, not only from those around me, but also from You. Help me to desire what You have to teach me in Your Word and to be an eager student. In Jesus' Name. Amen.

References:

Everything in the world is running down - nothing will last forever. It would be quite depressing if we didn’t know the reason for it and what God has done about it.

If glass were perfect, it would be much stronger than steel. But glass is not perfect; its surface is full of tiny cracks, too small for the human eye to see. These cracks slowly creep along the glass. This is why a glass can be dropped several times and not break. Then one day it will shatter into a million pieces. Glass "remembers" every stress it receives. If you jar the glass, the cracks can grow quickly - as fast as 60 miles per hour!

Most amazing is that this behavior is so strange, considering that glass is not really a solid. Glass never truly solidifies from a thick liquid state. Sometimes you can even see the sag caused by the flowing glass on windowpanes that are over a century old.

We encounter the natural degeneration of the world every day. As St. Paul writes, the entire creation groans under the consequences of sin. But thank God that He refused to leave us subject to decay and death - for He sent His only Son to save us from every consequence of sin. In Christ there is no more death and decay!

Prayer: Dear Father in heaven, I thank You that we have not been left to be victims of the degeneration in the world because of sin. I pray that for the sake of Your Son, Jesus Christ, You would help me to always remember this. In His Name. Amen.

References: F. Flam. Window on the Chemistry of Cracking Glass. Science News, March 18, 1989. P. 167

Christians have often been accused of being naïve when they claim to see the evidence of intelligent design in nature. But sometimes even those who believe in evolution concede that we can learn a lot by studying nature.

Dr. Thomas Eisner, of Cornell University, pointed out during an interview that "every single new idea in chemistry has come not from the minds of chemists, but from nature." In other words, even our greatest chemists go to the creation to learn their science.

Take the female assassin bug's use of chemistry, for example. The female assassin bug will rub the resin of the camphor plant on her belly until she has a good store of it on her. Then, when she lays her eggs, she carefully coats them with the resin. It took chemists some time to learn that the resin acts in the same way as do mothballs against moths - it keeps ants from eating her eggs. So the female assassin bug has shown chemists a new ant repellent!

The reason that God's Hand is so evident in the creation is because He wants all people everywhere to know that He exists as a personal, intelligent Being. Once that is established in people's minds, He seeks to draw them to a personal relationship with Himself through His Son, Jesus Christ.

Prayer: Dear heavenly Father, I give thanks to You that You have sought me through the gospel and worked saving faith in Jesus Christ within my heart and mind. In Jesus' Name. Amen.

References: Jane E. Brody. Bug Lover Explores Nature's Subtle Chemistry. The New York Times, Jan. 10, 1989. P. C1.

Modern medicine has increasingly returned to study how nature accomplishes medical miracles to bring the benefits of what they learn to mankind. Man has dreamed for thousands of years of being able to restore a severed spinal cord. Once the nerves running inside our backbones are severed, we permanently lose the use of our limbs below the point of damage.

Medical researchers have learned that the black ghost knife fish, native to South America, is actually able to re-grow its backbone if it is severed. The black ghost knife fish can even re-grow the spinal cord within the backbone and the supporting muscle structure!

What's more, scientists have identified the layer of cells responsible for this re-growth. And the best news is that human beings also have the same layer of cells. Unfortunately, the layer becomes dormant by the time we reach adulthood. Researchers are currently trying to learn how that layer of cells, with its wonderful abilities, might be stimulated back into action if needed to repair a severed spinal cord.

This shows us that when we Christians talk about the clear evidence of God's intelligence in the universe, we are not engaging in wishful thinking. Even our best medical researchers recognize the intelligence with which the creation is made and desire to learn from that intelligence!

Prayer: Dear heavenly Father, I thank You that we can learn and benefit from studying how You designed things to work. But help me to never forget that Your most important work was my salvation through Jesus Christ. In His Name. Amen.

References: Regrowth of Spinal Cord Studied. Feb. 19, 1989.

Most people are aware that it is only the female mosquito that feeds on blood. The male feeds on plant juices. It is also easy to see the difference between males and females in most species. The male has a distinctive pair of antennae. While the female mosquito's antennae are difficult to see, the male's looks like a pair of branched feathers coming out of its head. And if it weren't for a very special feature, these large, feathery antennae would make it difficult for him to fly.

Each antenna is planted in a socket, next to which there is a pad, made out of special protein. This pad is actually a water-powered engine. When flying, the mosquito's antennae are flattened against its head. But when he lands, he raises the antennae so that he can hear. To raise the antennae, a small amount of water from his system is pumped into the pad which increases its size by 25 percent and causes the pad to unfold, raising the antennae.

Nature is full of so many wonders that it would be easy for us to get lost in them. But every one of these wonders is designed by God to lead us to desire to learn more about Him - especially to learn from His Word that He wants a relationship with you through His Son, Jesus Christ.

Prayer: Dear heavenly Father, fill me with wonder and thanksgiving for all Your marvelous works, and especially for Your forgiveness for me through Jesus Christ. In His Name. Amen.

References: Steven Vogel. Life's Devices: The Physical World of Animals and Plants. Princeton University Press, 1988. P. 255.

The human brain is the most complex arrangement of matter in the universe and modern brain research is adding to this wonder.

But medical researchers are learning that if the part of the brain that controls your left hand, for example, is damaged beyond repair, other parts of the brain will take over for the injured part. This doesn't always happen automatically, however. It takes effort on your part.

If you don't use the hand, the brain won't work very hard to re-assign its function to another part of the brain. It also works the other way. Even if the brain isn't damaged, failure to use your left arm will result in a shrinkage of the brain area that controls it. So pianists, for example, will have a growth in the area of the brain controlling their skills, if they practice.

These discoveries fill us with more wonder over the incredible abilities of the brain. But they also tell us something about ourselves. We are not, as many think, locked into certain bad habits or sins. We are learning that the transformation of our minds by God's power is not only something that happens spiritually - physical changes take place in our brains as a result of our behavior. Is your mind being transformed by the power of God, or is it being conformed to the world.

Prayer: Dear heavenly Father, I thank You for the wonderful gifts You have given me. Transform me by the power of Your Word so that I may be more like my Savior, Jesus Christ. In His name. Amen.

References: How Plastic is the Brain? Science Digest, May 1983. P. 85.

One of the most difficult problems for those who believe in evolution is to explain the origin of life without reference to God.

Science is now aware that even the elementary living cell is, in reality, extremely complex and it has become increasingly difficult to explain this without a Creator God. The most popular explanation says that the early earth had an atmosphere of ammonia, methane, hydrogen, and water. Oxygen had to be absent because it pretty much ruins the chemical reactions that are needed to form even simple biological molecules. It was also important that this early earth be protected from ultraviolet radiation, which also ruins the chemistry.

But this picture of the early earth has been shown to be totally inaccurate. For one thing, geologists can see from the oldest rocks that the earth has always had plenty of oxygen in its atmosphere. Then astronomers have pointed out that a younger sun would be turning out l0,000 times more ultraviolet radiation than it does now.

Modern science is finding out that what the Bible says is true. Scientists just won't admit it. The earth has always had oxygen, since life needing oxygen has been around from the first week that the earth existed. And life can only be explained as the work of the Source and Author of life, our Creator God.

Prayer: Dear Father, I thank You that as the worldly wise are confused by their own false wisdom, You have made the Wisdom of the Ages in Jesus Christ available to the simple through the Bible. In Jesus' Name. Amen.

References: Patrick Huyghe. New Recipe for Cosmic Soup. Science Digest, May 1983. P. 42-44.

When you look at a tall tree with good green leaves on the topmost branches and it hasn’t rained in a week, did you ever wonder how those leaves get their water in order to stay green?

On a nice warm summer day a large tree may pump over a thousand gallons - that's four tons - of water from the ground up to its leaves. The water is collected by the roots, a drop at a time. But the real work of pumping tons of water 30, 60 or 100 feet into the air comes from the top of the tree. As water is pulled toward the treetop, it passes through vessels that have negative pressure in them, pulling the water up. Negative pressure in these vessels, high in a tree, has been measured as low as negative 20 atmospheres. This very low pressure is created as water evaporates from the leaves of the tree, creating a vacant space in the vessel that must be filled with more water from below. The pump in every tree can pull water up from more than 32 feet, which is the limit for man-made pumps.

The engineering excellence and power of the silent pump that delivers water within the tree is a witness for our Creator God and against chance evolution!

Prayer: Dear Father in heaven, surely even the unnoticed things of the creation bear witness to You. Help me to be a witness of Your forgiveness for us through Your Son, Jesus Christ. In His Name. Amen.

References: Steven Vogel. Life's Devices: The Physical World of Animals and Plants. Princeton University Press, 1988. P. 94

While science has yet to find a human mother with eyes in the back of her head, it turns out that there is a species of shrimp that comes pretty close with extra eyes on its back.

The shrimp goes only by its Latin name - exoculata for short. It lives beneath two miles of water in the mid-Atlantic Ridge, near geological formations called black smokers. Black smokers continuously shoot out thick black clouds of water, at a temperature of 660 degrees F. No trace of sunlight ever penetrates to such depths. So why do these shrimp need eyes at all? Scientists learned that the super heated water coming out of black smokers is so hot that it actually glows. The glow isn't all that bright, which is why exoculata needs such large eyes that they will fit only on the shrimp's back. And what do the shrimp see? They make their living within inches of the hot stream of water. If they get too close to the super-heated water they could become instant shrimp cocktail!

Nothing escapes the Creator's notice. Not these shrimp, nor a life that is in trouble due to difficulty or sin. But we need to remember both His genius in solving problems and that His mind toward us is one of love because of the sacrifice of His Son for us.

Prayer: Dear heavenly Father, there is no problem that is too hard for You. Because I trust in Your forgiving love to me through Jesus Christ, I give all my problems and needs to You. In Jesus' Name. Amen.

References: Richard Monastersky. Deep-Sea Shrimp. Science News, vol. 135. Feb. 11, 1989. P. 90-93.

Let's take a moment today to look at your body's incredible system for repairing itself. Suppose you accidentally cut your finger. Almost instantly, a series of precisely ordered steps begins to repair your finger.

First the bleeding must be stopped. While the scab is forming over the surface of the wound, the blood below is making another kind of clot out of blood platelets and protein. With the bleeding stopped, your body increases the flow of blood enriched with white blood cells. These not only search out and kill germs, but they clean the wound of damaged cellular tissue. Skin cells begin to increase the rate at which they make new cells in order to bridge the cut with new skin. Underneath, cells called fibroblasts fill the wound to strengthen the tender new tissue, and contract to pull the wound closed. Now blood vessels and nerves complete their repairs as the fibroblasts position themselves along the lines of stress to prevent future damage.

The intelligence in the order in which the steps to healing take place, as well as the advanced biochemistry involved in making those steps happen, makes the healing of a cut finger no less of a miracle than Jesus' healing of the high priest's servant's ear. Healing is clearly His doing, whether it happens slowly or instantly!

Prayer: Dear Father, I confess that I am often too busy to notice how evident Your working is around me. Open my eyes to Your activity and increase my faith. In Jesus' Name. Amen.

References: How a Wound Mends. Science Digest, May 1983. P. 86.

God created this world but He did not then stand back and let it and all life on it spin off into space. No, He supervises this old world and He is concerned with every day to day detail.

Most living things move or change shape in response to high-speed wind or water movement. Take leaves, for example. As the wind increases, leaves automatically change shape with respect to the wind direction so that they offer less wind resistance. Holly leaves, fold up and over each other along the branch, cutting the area exposed to the wind by over 50 percent. The same is true of an entire tree. As the old saying goes, the tree that bends with the wind is less likely to break.

Even people, when faced with a strong wind, walk and move differently than in a light breeze. Recent scientific studies on the amount of drag which living things have has shown that living things generally offer less than half as much drag as non-streamlined objects like buildings. In fact, living things have 30 percent less drag than modern streamlined automobiles.

God has not missed any details in His design of the creation. Modern technology has yet to come up with better designs, even in this simple area of engineering. Nothing has been left to chance!

Prayer: Dear heavenly Father, I am thankful that there is no such thing as chance. Help me to remember that You remain as involved in the creation as ever. In Jesus' Name. Amen.

References: