Daily Devotional – November 21

Biology

Have you considered the camel’s ability to go days without water, suffer extreme dehydration, and then drink up to 40 gallons at one time? It’s all in their red blood cell design.

Camels have red blood cells that are shaped flat, oval, and much smaller than human red blood cells. Human red blood cells are round. When humans become dehydrated, our blood becomes “sluggish” as the blood cells get stuck; a 5% water loss can result in serious medical problems. For humans, a 12 % water loss can result in death by dehydration; but not so for a camel, with its smaller, flatter, oval-shaped red blood cells. Even as the camel’s water level drops, its blood just keeps ‘a flowin’. A camel can lose up to 40 % of its water and still survive.

The camel also has an enormous ability to store water in its body. Some camels have been documented to drink 40 gallons at one time. If we drink too much water at one sitting (~ ½ gallon or 2 ½ liters), our red blood cells start to swell and can actually burst. The camel’s red blood cells are able to expand up to 240% without rupturing while most animals’ red blood cells are only able to expand up to 150%. How did the camel know it needed to have this type of red blood cell to survive harsh conditions? How would this cell evolve? The red blood cells of a camel were obviously designed by God in order for the camel to survive and thrive in dry desert environments.

The beast of the field shall honour me, the dragons and the owls: because I give waters in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert, to give drink to my people, my chosen.

~ Isaiah 43:20

Source: "Pearls in Paradise" by authors Bruce Malone and Jule Von Vett

References for this devotional.

Daily Devotional – November 18

Biology

What bird did the Wright brothers copy in order to make an airplane? The turkey vulture. More than 100 years ago, Bible-believers Orville and Wilbur Wright spent years studying and working to produce the first motorized airplane. They began by observing birds in flight through their binoculars. One of the many things they noticed were birds changing the shape of their wings as they flew into the wind. The birds would curve the surface of their wings allowing the air to flow over the curved surface - creating lift. The Wright brothers’ first powered flight lasted 12 seconds and flew 120 feet. That same day, they flew several more times; the last flight was 59 seconds and covered 852 feet. Since that cold, wind-swept December day on a beach in North Carolina in 1903, the airplane industry has worked hard to develop well-designed airplanes. Our best design ideas for airplanes have come from observing birds and how they fly. When we see an airplane, we know there must be an airplane designer. When we see a bird, we know there must be a bird designer, and that designer is God.

The way of an eagle in the air… [is] too wonderful for me….

~ Proverbs 30:19, 18

Source: "Pearls in Paradise" by authors Bruce Malone and Jule Von Vett

References for this devotional.

Daily Devotional – November 17

Biology

Frogs go through metamorphosis from egg to tadpole to frog. They begin life in the water like a fish and later develop legs and lungs to live on land and water. This is an amazing body transformation; virtually every organ and body system is radically reworked in a specific order so that a tadpole can survive while it is turning into a frog. A tadpole gets oxygen from the water using gills; it changes to a frog that uses lungs to get oxygen from the air. A tadpole goes from having a tail to a frog with legs and no tail. The tadpole goes from living in the water to a frog living on both land and water. If evolution were true, how would a tadpole, a fish-like creature, mutate with both the ability and the desire to drop its tail, get legs, rid itself of gills and make lungs? Could genetic mistakes rework virtually everything in order to go from a tadpole to a frog? Remember that it is the frog and not the tadpole that makes babies.

If evolution says that the tadpoles evolved—well- -no babies. Frogs and their metamorphosis cry out design; the frog’s life cycle had to work all at once, or it would not have happened. Perhaps God chose this unique and fascinating method for a frog’s development so we would know He exists.

Thou art good, and doest good; teach me thy statutes.

~ Psalm 119:68

Source: "Pearls in Paradise" by authors Bruce Malone and Jule Von Vett

References for this devotional.

Daily Devotional – November 15

Biology

In 1998, a new type of octopus was discovered - the mimic octopus (Thaumoctopus mimicus). It has the amazing ability to change shape, color, texture and swimming patterns in seconds to impersonate poisonous marine animals. This brown and white striped octopus is 2 feet long with pencil thin tentacles about ten inches long. This octopus lives off the sandy shores of the Indonesian islands. Scientists are astounded at the wide variety of marine animals that this mimic octopus can transform itself into within seconds. It can transform itself to look like the poisonous flat fish or the poisonous lion fish. When damselfish are near, it transforms itself to look like the poisonous sea snake; sea snakes are a known predator of damselfish.

Scientists have documented the mimic octopus doing 15 different imitations in order to escape its predators. This means that the mimic octopus knows which animals will threaten the predator that is threatening him! How does evolution explain the mimic octopus’s ability to know the predator’s predator and then impersonate it? God gave to the mimic octopus the intelligence to discern which dangerous marine creature to mimic- -so the predator would be afraid--AND the ability to mimic the predator’s predator. The mimic octopus testifies to God’s creativeness and skill!

Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, who only doeth wondrous things.

~ Psalm 72:18

Daily Devotional – November 8

Biology

Every year on hot summer days, the treetops ring with the high pitched sound of an insect called the annual cicada. Its call can be heard more than 400 yards away. The sound you hear is the male calling to the female. They mate and live for only a few weeks. After the eggs hatch, the nymphs drop to the ground, burrow into the soil, and feed on the sap of plant roots until the following year. Then, on hot summer days, they emerge, molt, climb high into a tree, find a mate, and the cycle repeats.

Another type of cicada is called the periodic cicada. The periodic cicadas’ lifecycle is a bit more unusual; they stay underground as nymphs for 17 years (13 years for another species). The 17- year cicadas live in Northeast USA, while the 13-year cicadas live in the Midwest and Southeastern parts of the USA. All of these cicadas emerge from the ground on the same day, either 17 or 13 years after the eggs were laid. Imagine millions of cicadas emerging all at the same time and singing incredibly loudly from the tree tops. Imagine all these insects emerging within a few hours of one another, all timed 17 or 13 years after the eggs were first laid! What a strange and wonderful “alarm clock” built within them that tells millions of nymphs it is time to come out of the ground and mate. How did they get this built-in alarm clock? Clocks do not happen by accident and chance. There had to be a clockmaker, and the cicadas’ clockmaker is God!

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

~ Ecclesiastes 3:1

Source: "Pearls in Paradise" by authors Bruce Malone and Jule Von Vett

References for this devotional.

Daily Devotional – November 6

Biology

Humpback whales, the gentle giants of the deep, are warm-blooded animals. These mammals must maintain a certain body temperature to survive, yet they live continuously in water that can often be ice-cold. These warm-blooded whales must also move between warm, shallow waters and cool, deep waters, which cause them to experience huge temperature differences rapidly. To prevent these mammals from experiencing hypothermia in the cool waters, God gave whales a layer of blubber, which acts like the best winter coat ever designed.

This blubber can be 1½ to 2 feet thick, giving the humpback whale a total of nearly 40,000 pounds of insulating blubber. Think about wearing a huge winter coat outside on a 100oF summer day! You would immediately overheat. So why doesn’t a whale overheat when swimming in warm water? God has solved this problem by building the whale’s fins to act like huge air conditioners. Just like the African elephant with its large ears filled with blood vessels, the whale’s fins contain millions of tiny capillaries that can rapidly either warm or cool the blood. Do we say air conditioners happened by accident and chance, or do we say they were designed? God designed the humpback to survive in both cool and warm ocean waters.

O Lord, how manifold are Your works! In wisdom You have made them all. The earth is full of Your possessions— This great and wide sea, In which are innumerable teeming things, Living things both small and great.

~ Psalm 104:24-25

Source: "Pearls in Paradise" by authors Bruce Malone and Jule Von Vett

References for this devotional.

Daily Devotional – November 2

Biology

A bee has a brain so small you’d need a magnifying glass to see it. This brain, made up of one million neurons (a tiny fraction the size of a human brain) allows this insect to fly, navigate, and pass complex information to other bees.1 Princeton University researchers found bees to be stunningly intelligent.

These researchers wanted to see if bees could find their food source if the food was moved increasingly farther away from the hive. First, the researchers moved their prime food source 150 feet away from the hive. The bees found the food in less than one minute. Next, they moved the food source another 150 feet away in the same direction. Again, the bees took less than a minute to find the food source. They did this two more times, moving it precisely 150 feet each time until it was 600 feet away. Each time, the bees rapidly located the food. But then the astounding happened. While researchers were studying the bees, the bees were studying the researchers!

When the researchers moved the food a fifth time to a location 750 feet away from the hive, they found the bees already at the new location waiting for them! The bees saw the pattern, calculated the next move, anticipated the actions of the researchers, and beat them to the new location!2 Evolutionists believe intelligence evolved by accident and chance over millions of years. The ability of bees to learn quickly, actually shows the hand of the Creator, not accident and chance.

Forasmuch as there is none like unto thee, O Lord; thou art great, and thy name is great in might.

~ Jeremiah 10:6

Source: "Pearls in Paradise" by authors Bruce Malone and Jule Von Vett

References for this devotional.

Daily Devotional – October 29

Biology

On a cold winter day, you may notice a duck walking on ice and another walking in snow. How is it possible that their feet don’t freeze and fall off - given their bare legs and feet? Like many birds, ducks have a unique warming system called a “countercurrent” heat exchanger inside their legs and feet.

Engineers have long understood that when two pipes are touching each other with the fluid flowing in the same direction, half the heat is transferred to the other pipe’s fluid. If, however, the two fluids move in opposite directions, nearly 100% of the heat can move from the warmer pipe to the colder pipe. That is what happens in ducks! The pipe (artery) carrying warm blood runs down to the feet and passes next to the pipe (vein) with the cold blood coming from the feet. When the exchange takes place the heated blood transfers about 95% of its heat before it reaches the feet. In engineering design, this is called a counter current heat exchanger. Combine this with the legs and feet made mostly of bones/ hard parts, and you get feet that neither freeze nor waste heat energy. God in His wisdom created the counter current heat exchanger long before engineers discovered the principle.

The next time you see a duck or bird standing in snow, tell your friend why birds do not have to wear winter boots. God built into these creatures a counter current heat exchanger!

If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.

~ James 1:5

Source: "Pearls in Paradise" by authors Bruce Malone and Jule Von Vett

References for this devotional.

Daily Devotional – October 28

Biology

Brittle stars, a relative of the star fish or sea star, have 5 arms around a disc. They received their name because they seem to be brittle. If a brittle star is picked up, one of the arms may fall off to help it escape, but later it will regenerate the missing arm. Scientists were surprised to find that even though brittle stars do not seem to have any eyes, they can flee from predators, catch prey, and change color from dark brown during the daytime to grey at night. How are they able to do these things without eyes?

Biologists found an array of spherical structures made of calcite covering this organism’s body. These spherical structures act as a micro-lens to focus light onto a tiny area the size of a dust speck. The resulting image is then focused onto nerve fibers that feed into nerve bundles; in other words, the entire body of a Brittle Star functions as one huge compound eye! What seemed to be an eyeless creature turned out to be all eye! Researchers have even commented that this visual system is far superior to anything man has made.1 When you are visiting an ocean, take a look under rocks - you may find a Brittle Star staring back at you with its big compound eye.

The hearing ear, and the seeing eye, the Lord hath made even both of them.

~ Proverbs 20:12

Source: "Pearls in Paradise" by authors Bruce Malone and Jule Von Vett

References for this devotional.

Daily Devotional – October 27

Biology

Imagine developing an artificial sweetener so potent that a single drop could make a lime taste as sweet as candy and transform fiery tabasco sauce to the sweetness of honey. The chemist who discovers such a miracle sweetener will find both fame and fortune. Such a sweetener has already been invented by God, but He seldom receives either appreciation or credit for His brilliance.

Europeans visiting West Africa in the 1700s noticed the locals chewing on the fruit of a local shrub (later named Synsepalum dulcificum) and discovered that the fleshy pulp around the seed completely transformed the taste of bitter, sour, or spicy foods to sweetness. After years of study, it was discovered that a chemical called miraculin (apparently in honor of its miraculous taste transforming properties) binds to the tongue’s taste buds, and under acidic conditions, it magnifies a person’s sweetness receptors a thousand-fold. Since even spicy, sour, or bitter foods have some sugar, the enhanced sweetness is all that is tasted!

What a God we serve who can take even the bitter and make it sweet. If He can do this with something as complex as the chemistry of taste, He can do the same with the sorrow and bitter circumstances of our life.

How sweet are thy words unto my taste! Yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!

~ Psalm 119:103

Source: "Pearls in Paradise" by authors Bruce Malone and Jule Von Vett

References for this devotional.