Trees

 

We take trees for granted, but should always be thankful to God for making them and designing them the way He did because trees are special and are necessary for our survival; we are dependent on all types of vegetation but mostly trees as they were designed to store carbon dioxide and respire oxygen into the atmosphere.  Furthermore trees have enabled us to get to where we are: sailing ships were made from wood, trees supplied all our telephone and electricity poles until very recently when some made of concrete or steel have been used, our railway sleepers, our houses, our bridges and our factories and furniture have been made of wood. All the paper we use for letters, tissues, cardboard boxes etc comes from trees. The coal we use to smelt all the steel we have comes from trees buried by Noah’s great flood, and this coal drove our steam trains and still produces most of the electricity in the world, and very cheaply too. 

 In order for trees to grow, their roots absorb moisture; minerals etc. from the soil and take it up to their leaves which could be 105 meters from the ground.  Pacific coast redwoods (Sequoias) in California exceed that height whilst Australian Mountain Ash exceeds 90 meters. The one in the center of the first photo is in the Styx Valley in S.W. Tasmania and is believed to be the tallest hardwood in the world.

 Any engineer would tell you that it takes a very well designed water pump to lift water that high, and uses considerable energy but, because of their design, it is no hassle for the tree. What a clever design engineer our God is. He thought of every detail.

 

  This second photo was taken about 1895; that massive tree butt estimated to be between 600 & 900 years old was hollow and 11 horses could be stabled in it. (The photo is by curtsey of Malcolm May from that area). Gordon Davis, who is currently a resident of Dubbo in N.S.W. has documented that in1961 he was a director of a firm that cleared Mountain Ash trees in the Strzelecki ranges near Balook in Victoria to make way for a power line being constructed, and these trees were about 250 feet high with their lowest limbs 150 feet from the ground. They estimated the fallen logs as well over 100 tons weight. The stumps were 12 feet across (about 4 meters) but didn’t have to be removed.

Just as car manufacturers design cars for different uses e.g. people movers, utilities, trucks etc. so did God design many types of trees; apart from those above he made shade trees of various types, and fruit trees of all varieties for our health and enjoyment. Then there are trees that are apparently mainly for beauty like the Jacarandas and Wattles (acacias). In the drier areas of our land where grass sometimes doesn’t grow for years because of drought, He placed trees that have edible leaves so sheep and cattle could survive; trees like Mulga, Rosewood, Currant bush and Kurrajongs and

(in the photo) the “obese” Bottle tree that can withstand harsh conditions because of the moist pithy material inside its trunk.

 

The Bible tells us in Genesis 1 & John 1:3 that it was Jesus in His original “role” as the “Word of God” who spoke all these trees into existence. Indeed John 1:3 says “Without Him there was nothing made that was made”. Yet when He came to earth in human form the authorities crucified Him on a wooden cross. His great love prevailed however, and He prayed “Father forgive them” and being both a sinless human and Divine, He took on Him the sin of the entire world and died for us. Therefore in God’s sight we are now Righteous providing we repent and humbly ask forgiveness in Jesus name. So of all the trees in the world that “The Word of God” created, the one from which Jesus cross was made was the best tree ever grown as far as we are concerned because as Jesus said “I am the way, the truth and the life and no man cometh onto the Father but by me”. What makes Jesus sacrifice even more wonderful is the fact that he always knew that His earthly life would conclude in that way but didn’t avoid it; You see the Prophet Isaiah had documented it in very great detail 700 years earlier (Isaiah Chapter 9 verse 6 and the whole of chapter 53)

 

Every time you see a tree, thank God for His foresight and Jesus for His loving sacrifice. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth on him shall not perish, but inherit Eternal Life” (John 3:16)… Best wishes as you ponder that, Tom.

Accident or Intelligent Design

 Accident or Design

this photo, taken in Western Australia, shows a very clever partnership.  The honey-eater is being supplied with a breakfast of nectar as a “reward” for spreading the pollen of this kangaroo paw plant.
Note the pollen is being placed on the bird’s head by the plant whilst the bird sips the nectar so that the bird will carry the pollen to another flower and fertilise it. This cunning design and millions of others like it could only have been made by an intelligent mind, there are two separate species here, one animal and one vegetable, co-operating to perfection.   This indicates a wonderfully Intelligent Designer and Creator.  How far do you have to stretch credibility to believe it is an accident that happened over millions of years?

 

In this particular example the plant can’t think to design itself and the bird can’t shape its beak and head to fit. The plant can’t reproduce without the bird, and the bird needs the nectar. If God didn’t create both these instantaneously as the bible records, then how did the plant reproduce during the millions of years that the bird and plant were getting their act together? And if the plant could reproduce okay without the bird, why did it bother to work out this cunning design? Was it just kind-hearted and wanted to give away free meals?  How does a brainless plant make nectar and design a receptacle to hold it, in exactly the right place for the bird to contact the pollen whilst it sips? The only possibility is that God designed this wonderful partnership as the Bible tells us in Genesis chapter 1.    Best wishes, Tom.  (tomvolkofsky.blogspot.com.au)

Perspective and Faith

 

If you came from another planet where there was no such thing as perspective and was asked to drive a train down this rail line you just wouldn’t attempt it would you? Because that rail line keeps getting narrower as it goes. Indeed you would probably say that whoever the engineer was who supervised the laying of the track needed his head read. And yet, I have heard people say “seeing is believing” and “photos don’t lie”. Absolute rubbish! Of course we learn about perspective from the day we are born and we use that knowledge to “over-ride” what we see in the photo and therefore would be happy to drive a train at high speed down this line believing in faith that the Engineer who designed it would have been a reliable person and our eyesight and the camera got it wrong. Actually faith is a very important element in our every -day lives. For example we flick a switch expecting the light to come on, we turn the tap expecting water to flow out, and we turn the ignition key expecting the car to start, and so on. This sort of faith comes from what we have been taught and experienced.

Jesus was approached by 10 men with Leprosy who were quarantined as outcasts because this disease was contagious, and they asked Him to heal them because they had been told that He could heal people. Jesus gave them a direction that tested their faith by telling them to go and show themselves to the priest (so that the priest could confirm that they were cured and give them permission to return to their families). Now that was lovely of Jesus to do that, the only “catch” being that they were still covered in leprosy as they walked away to see the priest. What a test of faith that was! Most people in a similar situation wouldn’t even bother going, but they did because they had faith in Jesus so “as they were going they were healed”. If they had said “this is ridiculous we are not healed” and sat on the kerb looking at their diseased bodies they would have eventually died of leprosy. Faith is seeing things that are not, as though they were, because you know that the one who gave the instructions is trustworthy. As they made their way to see the priest they “saw” their bodies as healed, after all Jesus implied it, they believed Him, so that settled it. On many occasions Jesus said “your faith has made you whole”.

Farmers probably live by faith more than city people because their business depends on it: They regularly take dried up looking seed and sow it into the soil. Then, after the paddock (or field) is sown the farmer looks at it and visualises the young plants coming up. Indeed he “visualises” a bumper crop with the harvester stripping enough grain to fill his silos, which means he then starts to think about where he will store it all. That is FAITH and is a step in the right direction, but it isn’t the faith I am talking about which is really faith in God.

People can let you down, seasons can let a farmer down, but God is faithful to do what He has promised if we have faith in Him. Indeed “without faith it is impossible to please God” (Hebrews 11:6). And “The just shall live by faith”  (Galatians 3: 11). So no matter what the circumstances appear to be we can “Rejoice evermore, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks because this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you” (1 Thessalonians 5:17). We do that because we believe the “Word of God” by faith when it says that “all things work together for good for those that love God”. Remember, bible prophesy was written by “Holy men of God who were moved by the Holy Spirit” (2 Peter 1:21) and that is why “faith comes from hearing and hearing from the word of God”; when we read scripture our Spirit recognises the Holy Spirit’s instructions because as Romans 3:16 says “The Spirit itself beareth witness with our Spirit that we are children of God”. It is like that young eagle I spoke about in the last article I wrote; it had never heard an eagle “call” because it was incubated under a chook. But when it did hear another eagle screech it instinctively recognised that call. Likewise when we read the New Testament our Spirit recognises the “voice” of the Holy Spirit talking to us through those who wrote the words and that builds faith.   Best wishes, Tom.

As Eagles or Chooks

I photographed this Wedge -Tailed Eagle chick sitting on its platform nest about 7 metres from the ground in a White Cyprus Pine tree on a farm we had in Western N.S.W. This fledgling was born to join the other Eagles and spend a good part of its life gliding up near the clouds so when it is completely feathered its mother will wait for a day when the warm air is rising and will push the young bird off the nest so it can make use of the thermal and circle up to take its rightful place as master of the skies.

There is a story about another farmer in the U.S.A. who climbed a tree to look as I did, but found that the egg in the nest hadn’t hatched yet. So for a joke he took the egg and placed it under a chook he had, that was sitting on eggs. When it hatched out the eagle chick didn’t look anything like the other chickens but apparently the chook didn’t worry and attended to it as best she could, although the farmer had to feed it a bit . As it grew it waddled around the messy chook yard with the chooks and chickens as they scratched in the dirt and ate the scraps the farmer provided.

One day, when it was well grown, it heard a screech above as another eagle circled over the yard. All the chooks took fright and ran for cover, but not so the young eagle; instinctively he recognised that “call” and knew he belonged up there with that circling eagle and when he heard another screech of encouragement he ran down the yard flapping his wings and like an aeroplane on a runway he became airborne and in a hot updraft of air glided up over the chook yard fence and circled up to the one calling him who was very likely his rightful mother. From that height he would have been able to see things in their correct perspective: there was the dirty little chook yard with his associates scratching in the dirt. (most unimpressive), next to their yard was a Lucerne paddock just coming into flower, beside it a magnificent yellow Canola field backed by a lovely green forest, inviting blue hills in the distance, a sparkling river running by, and sheep and cattle grazing contentedly. The thought of living in that degrading mess, would have now horrified him, so one thing we do know and that is that he would never go back there because he now knew where he belonged.

As I read the News Paper or watch T.V. it upsets me to see so many young people settling for a messy “Chook Yard” type of life because they don’t realise that they are rightly “Children of God, and if children then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ”(Romans 8:17) and fail to hear God’s “call” or realise that Jesus not only offers them forgiveness for any sin they have committed so they can claim that inheritance mentioned above,(if they believe on Him), but he has also “Gone to prepare a place for them” in Heaven. He said “There are many mansions there” designed to be our Eternal home; so the future is assured for those who are prepared to claim their inheritance.

What about the here and now? Well “all things work together for good for those that love God” and commit themselves to Christ: Isaiah in chapter 40 and verses 29, 30, and 31 says: “He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increases strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: but they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall rise up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.”

The words that I have highlighted here indicate what we can expect when we sincerely put our faith in God; and I know it works because I claim it every day; whilst the un- highlighted sentence in the middle of the quote is what we can expect if God is left out of our lives. Before I close let me quote from the Epistle of James (who was apparently Jesus earthly brother).Chapter 1, Verse 5: “If any of you lack wisdom. Let him ask of God.....and it shall be given him...but let him ask in faith, nothing wavering”. Of course “Faith comes from hearing, and hearing from the Word of God”. So we need to read the New Testament and “hear” what it is saying.   Best wishes with that,   Tom.

 

Monkeys and Peanuts

When I saw this Coconut in the grocery shop I thought of Spider Monkeys; not that it looks like one, although there is a resemblance and it might pass if you attached a body to it. But it reminded me of the story that I have told some of you before regarding one of the ways that people apparently catch Spider Monkeys. You go to a forest where these quaint creatures live and are watching you from the treetop. Then you attach the Coconut to a tree stump with a chain, and then cut a hole in it just big enough for a

monkey to squeeze its hand in. Having done that you partly fill the Coconut with Peanuts and remove yourself from the scene and watch the proceedings from a distance. The inquisitive little creature will come down and look the Coconut over, and when it sees the nuts inside the hole it will squeeze its hand in and grab a hand full. Then you can go and collect the Monkey because it will not let go of the nuts and its hand full of nuts is too big to come out through the small hole.

How ridiculous it is that this creature would surrender its freedom and future for what it sees as a short term gain (a hand full of peanuts). Yet I believe many of us humans behave in a similar manner.

 On the 10^th of January in 1950 I very nearly did the “Spider Monkey Thing” myself and that would have been the greatest mistake that I could have made because the commitment I made that day was the turning point in my life.

Up to that time I believed that I was a Christian because I lived in a Christian country and was not a Buddhist or some other religion. However on that day It was pointed out to me that I didn’t qualify as a Christian either as I had not accepted the forgiveness for sin, that was being offered to me by God because of Christ’s crucifixion, which would in effect “delete” every wrong thing that I had said, done, or thought. To receive this forgiveness and “qualify” I had to commit myself to Jesus because that is what a Christian is: “A believer in Christ” and a follower of His ways, (which are also God’s ways). Part of the problem was that like many others I did not fully understand what the New Testament meant when it said “Believer in Jesus”. You see the Devil “believes in Jesus”, because Jesus was a real person here on earth, but that doesn’t make the Devil a Christian!  So “believe” here means more than just recognising that someone exists; it means to trust that person, to rely on what they say, and do what they suggest.  This “Christian Life” being given to me by “believing in Christ” meant my sins were “deleted” and therefore Eternal Life in Heaven, when my time here is over, becomes my inheritance again, provided that in the meantime I seek a new type of life in accordance with New Testament teaching which would have the backing of God’s guidance, (“in all thy ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy paths”).(Proverbs 3:6).

To do this meant a change of direction in my thinking (repentance) and to gain this freedom I needed to let go of the “peanuts” (old ideas or habits I wanted to cling on to), remove my hand from the “Coconut”, as it were, so that I could then be free to pursue this new life (it was like being born again in my spirit). The Apostle John writing in the 8^th chapter of his gospel and the 36^th verse said: “If the Son (Jesus) therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed”.

Having committed myself, I had an urge to learn more so read the New Testament until it fell to pieces, attached myself to a Christian church, to learn more and find fellowship with people of like mind and get involved, and that was where I met my beautiful wife Audrey, and made another commitment. (That’s her “looking at you”).

From personal experience and all my studies I can assure you that Commitment is essential if we want to succeed in anything, whether it be our job or our marriage and it applies more so to being a Christian. Jesus said “Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and do not the things I say?   There is no such thing as a “lukewarm” Christian either: Jesus told John that He will not accept them. (Revelations 3: 16).

Well I don’t know how you are situated, but this is very serious so please make sure that you have got it right!     Best wishes, Tom.