Consider Creation.

For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. 

(Romans 1:20)

The heavens declare the glory of God;

the skies proclaim the work of his hands.

Day after day they pour forth speech;

night after night they reveal knowledge.

They have no speech, they use no words;

no sound is heard from them.

Yet their voice goes out into all the earth,

their words to the ends of the world.

(Psalm 19:1-4)

Outdoor Ed season is here at The Oaks! As Jared focuses on teaching the kids some pretty interesting things about our little corner of Creation, we wanted to share a few of them with you.

Read, thank Him, laugh at the humorous details of these creatures, acknowledge His fingerprints all over them, and let yourself be amazed by Him.

The Tarantula Hawk

Yes, we have tarantulas here at The Oaks.  I actually don't mind them--after all, they don't pose any kind of threat to humans.  But I do have a problem with these interesting, creepy wasps.  They sometimes swarm toward me while I'm running, and twice we've even had them in our house (although thankfully they haven't been as large as the one in the photo to the right)! Not only do they have one of the most painful stings of any insect, but the type of life God has chosen for these wasps is strange, to say the least.

The female tarantula hawk preys on female tarantulas. She captures, stings, and paralyzes the spider, then either drags the spider back into her own burrow or transports her prey to a specially prepared nest where a single egg is laid on the spider’s body, and the entrance is covered. When the wasp larva hatches, it rips a small hole in the spider's abdomen, then plunges into the spider's belly and feeds voraciously, avoiding vital organs for as long as possible to keep it fresh. After several weeks, the larva pupates. Finally, the wasp becomes an adult, and tears open the spider's belly to get out. The wasp emerges from the nest to continue the life cycle. 

Velvet Ants or "Cow Killers"

Sometimes we see these when we are out hiking on the trails.  They look kind of like little red walking cotton balls.  Although they look like fuzzy ants and are often called "velvet ants," they are actually not ants at all--they are in the wasp family.  Jared has experienced their intensely painful sting a couple of times, which is supposedly strong enough to kill a cow!  The ones we have seen have been about a half an inch long.

Jewl Beetles or "Fire Beetles"

These beetles are fascinating!  We have yet to see them around here but we have heard about them from local firefighters.  Instead of flying AWAY from wildfires, like most "normal" creatures do, these bugs fly straight toward the fires! In fact, their very existence depends on forest fires.  The fire beetle breeds in and eats the bark of smoldering coniferous trees.

The fire beetle is equipped with super-sensitive receptors that help it to sense infrared radiation, allowing it to detect a forest fire from up to 50 miles away.  As soon as a forest fire is detected, the beetle (along with swarms of other fire beetles) makes a bee-line for it.  Once they arrive on the scene of the fire, the female uses her infrared detectors to find a still-smoldering tree in which to lay her eggs. The beetles don't have to worry about predators, since all other creatures are quick to flee the scene of the fire.  They are also protected from tree sap and toxins which would normally harm them--since a burning tree is left defenseless.

Scientists are fascinated by these beetles and have been researching them for years in hopes of mimicking their infrared radiation detection for military and fire-detection purposes.  Its interesting how humans can work so hard to try to "copy" elements of God's creation...and how effortlessly He created them!

Horned Lizard

I like to call these "miniature dinosaurs."  They are so small and cute.  But if they were large they would be quite scary! These are fairly common around The Oaks. The photo to the right is one that Jared found while on a hike with some campers last summer.  The most distinctive attributes of these lizards is that when threatened, they inflate their bodies so as to look like spiny balloons.  Or, as a last resort (campers think this is SO COOL), they will squirt blood out of the corners of their eyes for a distance of up to five feet.  This confuses their predators and tastes bad to some of them.  Of all the ways God could have chosen to protect the horned lizard from predators, this has got to be the most creative!

There are many other interesting things I could share about our "neck of the woods," but we don't want to scare you all away!  I guess its true that many of the creatures here are not cute and cuddly...but they do reflect the awesome creativity of God, and should lead us to pursue a greater respect and awe of Him.

Short Update

Thanks for praying!

• Our two newest full-time staff members, Robert and Dave, are moving here this month and will be filling our Youth Ministries and Adventure Director positions (respectively). We're so thankful for God's hand in guiding as these two men were interviewed and chosen for the positions.  

• Three more weeks of Outdoor Ed, and then...summer staff arrive! Almost all of our summer positions have been filled.  Pray for Jared and the program team as they face another "transition summer" of having new staff overseeing the summer program.  Pray for all the kids as they register for camp...for God to nudge the hearts of those kids He wants to come.

• Please pray for wisdom as we try to balance family life and ministry.  Spring and summer are always a difficult transition here in that there are always increasing demands and opportunities to serve...we often feel pulled in a thousand different directions!  Pray for a healthy balance of working and resting, as well as spending time together.

We'll leave you with a couple of recent photos of Micah and Joey.