Hail!

We hardly get weather out here in California so the heavy rain has been pretty exciting. The hail, though short lived, is even more exciting. As soon as we heard it tapping on the windows, we ran outside and sure enough, this is what we saw



I don't know why, but I was surprised that they were little round balls like this. Maybe I was expecting random shapes of all sorts.



When we got back inside my husband pointed out Revelation 16:21: "And great hailstones, about one hundred pounds each, fell from heaven on people; and they cursed God for the plague of the hail, because the plague was so severe."

Hmmm... might want to avoid that one!

Iridescence

My husband found this lifeless hummingbird on the street in front of our house today. What a treat! We've always been curious about their brilliant feathers, but have never been able to see them for more than a moment and never close up. He brought it in for us to take a look at and the feathers are nothing short of magnificent. Another one of God's creations that you can't help but just stand in awe at.

Here's what it looks like from the side...




Here's what it looks like head on...



The color is just brilliant. We had to move it back and forth several times to believe our own eyes. I believe it's a male Anna's hummingbird since the iridescent coloring extends to its forehead. If you notice in the picture above, there is some threadlike material coming from its beak, maybe its beak got stuck because of it and it starved to death.

Now look at the body feathers, they look dark and dull from this angle...




From here, they are iridescent green.




So how does it work? Here's an explanation from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology:

Structural Colors

Adding to the diversity of avian colors are colors produced by the structure of the feather. The best known example is the gorget (throat feathers) of many hummingbird species. The iridescent colors of the gorget are the result of the refraction of incident light caused by the microscopic structure of the feathers. The refraction works like a prism, splitting the light into rich, component colors. At certain angles little or no light is reflected back to the viewer and the gorget can appear black. As the viewing angle changes, the refracted light becomes visible in a glowing, shimmering iridescent display.

It also says that during the dive display, he plummets in a near-vertical dive, which on sunny days, the dives are oriented so that the sun is reflected from the iridescent throat and crown directly at the object of the dive.

You Will Know Them By Their Fruit

Have you ever struggled to know whether you should take someone's advice or not? A well-meaning relative, a close friend, a neighbor, a teacher, an adviser?

I was reminded again of this verse last week as we stopped by the young orchard in our neighborhood...

Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit.A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Matthew 7:15-18

Notice that although the verse calls them "ravenous wolves", which brings to mind easily recognizable evil, they are so "inwardly", and so outwardly, they may appear well-intentioned, concerned for your well being,




knowledgeable, reasonable,




helpful, caring, fun and satisfying.



It is only upon closer inspection that you will find the truth.
You will know them by their fruit.




How is the fruit they bear?



Take a good look.
Is it well? Is it good?




In this orchard's case, almost all the fruit has split from over-watering. The fruit plumped too fast for the skin to stretch and a whole year's crop is wasted. So disappointing after waiting all spring and summer for a sweet harvest!

Thanksgiving

A Thanksgiving

For summer rains, and winter's sun,
For autumn breezes crisp and sweet;
For labors doing, to be done,
And labors all complete;
For April, May, and lovely June,
For bud, and bird, and berried vine;
For joys of morning, night, and noon,
My thanks, dear Lord, are Thine!

For loving friends on every side;
For children full of joyous glee;
For all the blessed Heavens wide,
And for the sounding sea;
For mountains, valleys, forests deep;
For maple, oak, and lofty pine;
For rivers on their seaward sweep,
My thanks, dear Lord, are Thine!

For light and air, for sun and shade,
For merry laughter and for cheer;
For music and the glad parade
Of blessings through the year;
For all the fruitful earth's increase,
For home and life, and love divine,
For hope, and faith, and perfect peace,
My thanks, dear Lord, are Thine!

~~John Kendrick Bangs 1862-1922

Thistles

This verse is ever more present for me at this time of year when all the grasses are dry and brittle, and the thistles appear in their twisted, tormenting way.



And to Adam he said,

“Because you have listened to the voice of your wife
and have eaten of the tree
of which I commanded you,
‘You shall not eat of it,’
cursed is the ground because of you;
in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life;
thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you;
and you shall eat the plants of the field.
By the sweat of your face
you shall eat bread,
till you return to the ground,
for out of it you were taken;
for you are dust,
and to dust you shall return.”

Genesis 3:17-19

The Weight of Glory

Our pastor, in discussing Romans 8 this morning, read the following portion from C.S. Lewis' sermon, The Weight of Glory, which was originally preached in the Church of St Mary the Virgin, Oxford, on June 8, 1942.

It so well described what I have often felt within myself when I'm out in nature that I thought I would share it here.



And this brings me to the other sense of
glory—glory as brightness, splendour,
luminosity. We are to shine as the sun, we
are to be given the Morning Star. I think I
begin to see what it means. In one way, of
course, God has given us the Morning Star
already: you can go and enjoy the gift on
many fine mornings if you get up early
enough. What more, you may ask, do we
want? Ah, but we want so much more—
something the books on aesthetics take
little notice of. But the poets and the
mythologies know all about it. We do not
want merely to see beauty, though, God
knows, even that is bounty enough. We
want something else which can hardly be
put into words—to be united with the
beauty we see, to pass into it, to receive it
into ourselves, to bathe in it, to become
part of it. That is why we have peopled air
and earth and water with gods and
goddesses and nymphs and elves—that,
though we cannot, yet these projections
can, enjoy in themselves that beauty grace,
and power of which Nature is the image.
That is why the poets tell us such lovely
falsehoods. They talk as if the west wind
could really sweep into a human soul; but
it can’t. They tell us that “beauty born of
murmuring sound” will pass into a human
face; but it won’t. Or not yet. For if we
take the imagery of Scripture seriously, if
we believe that God will one day give us
the Morning Star and cause us to put on
the splendour of the sun, then we may
surmise that both the ancient myths and
the modern poetry, so false as history, may
be very near the truth as prophecy. At
present we are on the outside of the world,
the wrong side of the door. We discern the
freshness and purity of morning, but they
do not make us fresh and pure. We cannot
mingle with the splendours we see. But all
the leaves of the New Testament are
rustling with the rumour that it will not
always be so. Some day, God willing, we
shall get in. When human souls have
become as perfect in voluntary obedience
as the inanimate creation is in its lifeless
obedience, then they will put on its glory,
or rather that greater glory of which
Nature is only the first sketch.