Increasing Faith

As I have been pondering Job 38 – 40 this week and the way that God addresses Job it has kept my attention. Then I opened the new National Geographic Magazine to an article about hummingbirds. Wow!

Did you know that their heart is the size of a cranberry and that in a perched position it still beats at 500 beats a minute? That heart beat jumps a little to reach about 1200 when in full flight chasing another hummingbird. But it can slow to just 30 beats a minute when cold or scarce food conditions.

I ask the question … who was able to count the beats in a minute or hold the little bird still enough to read the rate?

Did you know that there are no fossils yet found for this little creature in that its bones are basically hollow to provide for better flight?

Did you know that seven tenths of the wing consist of hand like bones with fused joints for strength. The upper wing bone can rotate more than 180 degrees in the shoulder socket, enabling hummers to hover and instantly change direction. This all happens within the flapping of the wing at 80 times a second and rev up to almost 100 per second in short bursts.

For those of us with arthritic joints in our bodies… a joint that requires that much action is amazing – let alone that some hummingbirds are known to live up to 17 years in captivity.

Add to that the heart would have beat four and a half billion times in 17 years of working in that small area… twice the number of beats that a 70 year old human heart has beat in its life time. Our heart wears out and theirs doesn’t.

This ultimate flying machine designed by our God is amazing. One of the species travels each year from Mexico to Alaska – both ways – a 2500 miles journey one way… and may do it many years before it dies.

A Long While Ago…
While living in south-east Asia we traveled to Thailand. While in the Chiang Mai area we visited an Elephant compound. It was amazing to see these huge creatures up close. It was even more amazing when the folks in charge invited my wife and me to sit on the back of the Elephant and go for a long ride. We sat cross wise on his back on a bench apparatus. Our feet were on his great shoulders. As I he walked you could feel the massive bones moving up and down under that thick skin. I think that had to be the most amazing machine I have ever traveled on. This gentle giant searched my pockets for a banana after we dismounted and he did that with an amazing, delicate trunk that could pick up anything.

This morning as I read God’s words to Job I am speechless along with Job. God is amazing!

A God that is able to create such unbelievable variety cares for me too. That is a faith builder… the kind that God offered Job.

Wow!

~ Pastor Murray ~

You might like to check out National Graphic Magazine at http://www7.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0701/ to watch a video on Hummingbirds… Wow! What a Faith Builder