Saturday, January 30, 2010

What I Learned from Road Kill

I am blessed to spend large chunks of time in different areas of the world. I go to all the really cool places: Germany, Ireland, South Louisiana.Down here on the bayou they are famous for many things, Mardi Gras, great music, and cooking that will make you want to ‘slap yo grandma’ it’s so good. But I have discovered another thing they have in abundance on the bayou and that’s road kill. Every morning I go for a run. And the farther I run the more road kill I see. Now excuse me for being fascinated with this, but back in San Diego, the place I call home, we just don’t have a lot of road kill; at least we don’t have it for long periods of time. When something does get killed, a concerned citizen will call the people who work for the city who’s job it is to come out and remove whatever got hit and within the hour it’s gone. Not so much here on the bayou, I don’t think they have that department. Here the high population of Catholics takes the theory of “dust to dust” very literally. They are a patient people and they can wait for God to clean it up in His own time, waiting for things to turn back into dust.
So I run by road kill that sits and waits to return to dust.
He also could have made puppies have horns...
Does God even make armadillos alive or do they just come dead? So far I’ve only seen dead ones when I run. At first I was annoyed and to be honest quite disgusted. It’s hot and humid down here. Need I say more?
But the more I ran, the more I paid attention to the different things I was sprinting past. I started looking at just how complex these little creatures are. As the days went by I literally got to see more and more of what made them tick, thanks to a process thought up by God. I was fascinated by the diveristy of the road kill. From the turtles to the alligators, it was like I was running past my own natural history museum.
The time and care that went into making armadillos blows my mind. Their coloring, the claws that help them dig, the armor they carry on their back to protect them (but not from cars). God just doesn’t make things willy-nilly, even the tiniest creature in the swamp was made with love. Every detail that makes it unique was thought by and created by God for a reason.
I stopped today because I saw something moving out of the corner of my eye. It was a pleasant surprise that I might see a live animal, so I investigated further. I followed a frog as it jumped into the water and swam. As I kept watching, I saw fish and birds, and before I knew it ten minutes had gone by because I was in awe of God’s creation in this little bit of water. A piece of the bayou that I run by everyday and never thought twice about was teaming with life. An elaborate ecosystem right under my nose. How many other times do I see God’s creations and just run right by them?
The more I thought about it the more I had to smile. That little patch of creation that mesmerized me is just a splash in the sea of the universe that God has created.
How many other countless little patches of His creation are there in this world? The bayou, the desert, the mountains, the oceans, the forests, and the jungle; do you get my drift? God’s love for us is so vast that He made us a world full of beauty. He could have made this a boring looking world. Instead, He filled it with breathtaking landscapes. He also could have made puppies have horns but He didn’t, he made them soft and cuddly and with puppy breath.
How much He loves us to create a world with so much detail in the smallest aspects of it! This week, slow down and look around.
Stop running by God’s creations and take the time to see the beauty in everything, even road kill.
I’ll never see another dead armadillo without smiling.
Matthew10: 29-31

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Eh

I'm going to Canada to escape the cold of San Diego.  Please call me when the weather clears or we fall into the ocean and I can return to my beach front property in Vista.

Friday, January 15, 2010

Let Them Eat It!


With much time on my hands and with the help of my mom but mostly my dad this cake was created.  Now pull your pants up from off the ground and marvel at it.

New blog is baking and has a few more hours to cook.


Thursday, January 07, 2010

Donuts






If donuts were good for me would I love them just as much? Or would I find a way to make them unhealthy like what I do with broccoli & caramel?

Tuesday, January 05, 2010

Jelly Jammie





I took this picture of jelly jars at the Minnesota State Fair about 5 years ago and it's one of my favorite pictures ever. 
I like it because from far away it's beautiful. Up close, it's jelly. 
So deep and yet in the end just sugar.