LION'S TEETH: Dandelion

Excuse me, we're looking for eye-openers - not mouth openers!
 
Is there anything special about a lion's mouth apart from his bad breath?
Well...there's no point telling a lion to chew his tucker properly because he can't - he has no molar teeth - but standby (not too close!)... 

Okay, these are dandelion seeds that all little kids like to blow but where are the lion’s teeth we were promised?
 
 Dandelion got its name from the serrated leaves that resemble lions’ teeth, called 'Denta leonis' in Latin or 'Dents de Lion' in French!

 

Ask most gardeners, landscapers, green-keepers, farmers or graziers - they will tell you that Dandelion is just common flatweed in need of a good dose of Roundup or broadleaf herbicide.

What can we say in its favour?

 

•  Dandelion is rich in Vitamins A & C and is possibly the most useful of all herbs. 
• It can be beneficial for eyes, plus liver, kidneys, intestines, spleen, pancreas, gall-bladder, stomach, bladder...(yup…sore guts!) 
• It is useful in treating: jaundice, gallstones, cirrhosis, hepatitis, arthritis, constipation, rheumatism, gout, arteriosclerosis, cellulite, skin and eye disorders...using an extract called Taraxacum.
• Dandelion wine is made from the flowers
• It makes a cleansing tea that is diuretic and blood purifying
• A coffee substitute can be made from Dandelion roots
• Dandelion leaves are useful in salads

 

Okay, that's mighty impressive but is there anything special about the plant itself? The Dandelion flower is highly developed as a composite of 100 or more tiny florets, 'perfect' flowers whose ovaries produce fertile seeds – WITHOUT POLLINATION! Not only that, it is capable of 'vegetative propagation' i.e. it can completely regenerate from ONLY a root.

So, is the Dandelion just a useless prolific weed...or is it one of God's amazing gifts to us as a perennial herb?

Photo credit: Warwick Wells

 

 

 

'BRAINLESS AND FOOT-IN-MOUTH'

Which brainless animal, smaller than a pinhead, extends its undercarriage for a successful landing?

The oyster may have a heart, a stomach, a mouth, 2 kidneys, and 2 rows of tentacles but it has no eyes - not even a brain!

In this part of the world, oysters spawn with king tides at Easter and Christmas, producing larvae called ‘spat’. After 24 hours a bi-valve shell has started to develop so the larva is now called a ‘veliger’, swimming around using tiny hair-like cilia on its gills for propulsion, in its search for a suitable site to settle. The veliger ‘lowers its undercarriage’ by forming a muscular foot that extends from between the valves for testing the different surfaces available. After locating the landing ground, the ‘pediveliger’ (veliger with a foot) now produces a cement for adhering to the chosen site.
How clever is that?! There’s no brain to select ‘undercarriage down’- in fact, the oyster’s whole program has been wired in by the Designer and triggered by the proximity of the new moon and the sun. Clever huh?!
At least that’s one time when a no brainer like putting your foot in your mouth pays off!

Acknowledgements: Glen Dodds, oystergrower, Port Macquarie, NSW

BRAINLESS - WITH FOOT IN MOUTH!

 

Cottontails & Easter bunnies

 

Who needs chocolate Easter bunnies? 
Meet ‘Ballina Bunny’, our very own resident that wanders from lawn to lawn here in Ballina Crescent, sampling a delightful variety of grasses.                                            

Cottontails, European rabbits and hares all belong to the Leporidae family. 
Deep inside its burrow after feeding, the rabbit passes soft droppings of partly digested food which are then re-eaten to extract the maximum nourishment, thanks to a special pouch, the caecum, secreting bacteria into the large intestine. Finally it’s time to pass those hard pellet droppings outside the burrow where they belong.          

By the way, bacteria were first described in the mid-1670’s by amateur scientist Anton van Leeuwenhoek, and it wasn’t until the late 1800’s that Louis Pasteur began to unravel the mysteries of bacteriology, proving that only life can produce life.    

Only life can produce life??  Yes, we have known that for over 200 years. 
So how did life spontaneously first begin?  Supernaturally??  

Let’s get back on our rabbit trail…
How long have we known about the rabbit’s eating habits?                             
Here is Moses warning the children of Israel about 3,500 years ago:     

"...and the hare, because he cheweth the cud, but divideth not the hoof; he is unclean unto you."  Leviticus 11:6

Skeptics have scoffed at this strange directive saying that the Bible has got it wrong again – “Come on…everyone knows rabbits don’t chew the cud!”                       
Oh yes they do.                                                                   
Here are the Hebrew words Moses actually used: alah gerah, meaning ‘casts up chewed food’.                                                              
What do ya know!?...it sure looks like the God that Moses was always talking about got it right yet again.

 

Acknowledgements:  
The Creation Answers Book, Creation Book Publishers, 2006, Brisbane                                                    
Wildlife Fact File 
WorldBook,2005,Chicago                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

                                                                               

                                        

                                                                                     

 

 

WHO MADE JACK 'N' JILL?

We once proudly stood at attention to begin the school week with this pledge:

I love God and my country  
I honour the flag  
I will serve the Queen, 
and cheerfully obey my parents, teachers and the laws.                                                                                                                                        

Now when I go back to a primary school classroom, 50 years later, most of the children are not sure if God even exists!                                                               

Now hang on….didn’t I just walk past separate Boys and Girls toilets?...and now that I’m in the classroom, aren’t some girls and boys avoiding sitting next to each other? (Give them a year or two at high school and that might change!)

So we open up our Bibles at Genesis and learn that the Jews called this book: B’resheet, meaning: ‘in the beginning’. 

Who was there, in the beginning? ….the scientists, the theologians or the philosophers? 
No, only God was there – the rest of us were still dust – and He tells us what He did, making people on the same day as all land animals - even dinosaurs!  
So God creates Man in His own image, then the very first thing He mentions about people is…guess what.....SEX!  
“…male and female created He them.”                                                           

How odd! This sex-obsessed world seems to have no plausible explanation for the existence of male and female, hence the survival of the human race and us being in the classroom today, and yet God tells us He invented sex and goes on to explain its honourable role.

So how about that! Just seeing boys and girls sitting in their classroom is clear evidence that our Creator God exists and what’s more, He has given clear instructions on how to provide these kids with stable family life – it’s called marriage between a man and a woman - for life.  

So how did male and female simultaneously develop over millions of years?
Don’t hold your breath while waiting for a scientific explanation.  
Anyway, how long does a may-fly enjoy adult life for?  One day!                      

Oh and by the way, even the children recognise God was telling Job to take a look at the brachiosaurus dinosaur.   (chapter 40)

NEXT: Are you and I just bags of chemicals?
http://discoveryiopna.blogspot.com.au/2014/05/just-bag-of-chemicals.html
 

 Photo credit: army.mil

Smile on the dial of the crocodile

 Meet ‘Stumpy’ the salt-water crocodile (Crocodylus porosus) who thoroughly enjoys the good life with Chris Peberdy’s family at Howard Springs near Darwin N.T. 

She gets to swim in the family pool, wallow in the spa, chomp on chicken wings at barbeques and even pose in wedding photos. A tickle on the neck quickly puts a smile on her dial when you would expect to lose a finger or three.

Chris is a reptile wrangler contracted by the Northern Territory government and has his own theory on Stumpy’s friendly disposition…

“Something has undone millions of years of evolution with this animal.”

…except Chris is forgetting one thing – our Creator God who said to Noah after the Great Flood: “…the fear of you and the dread of you shall be on every beast of the earth…”

So will animals always have this fear of man while preying on each other?

“The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them…” Isaiah 11

So what else puts a smile on the dial of a crocodile? Hatchlings of course!                          

Is there anything we could learn from the crocodile?...like, protecting our children from evil?                                            

Acknowledgements: Ross Bilton, The Weekend Australian Magazine, 30 Nov 2013                                                           

Photo credits:

Stumpy / Nathan Dyer

Hatchling / thesun.co.uk

Hope springs eternal

Following our star show:  Somethin' fishy……
http://discoveryiopna.blogspot.com.au/2013/11/something-fishy.html

 

Andromeda galaxy

Okay Grandad, what was that fishy star show in November all about?                  
Does it tell us any more of the gospel about Jesus?

First of all, can you remember where we got up to in the story, back in July?

Mary's special Son paid our penalty with His blood by dying for us …..but it looked like the baddies had won.

Ah!...we need to know if that sacrifice was a tragic defeat or a victorious achievement. Well like I told you, Capricornus may be a dying goat struggling to get up but remember its fishy tail is very much alive...

...so life is going to come out of death after all, hey?

Yep!  Now these constellations may have been especially intended for God's earthly people, Israel, so let me tell you about goat sacrifices in the Bible. A goat was sacrificed for the ‘sin offering’ and two goats were used on Yom Kippur - the Day of Atonement, when one was sacrificed and the other was released into the desert – one died but one lived. Can you think of any more examples in the Bible?

Joseph's big brothers dipped his fancy jacket in the blood of a kid goat so their dad would think he had been killed by a wild animal.

How heartless that was!...but in the end Joseph could say:                            
"you meant it for evil against me; but God meant it for good..."                             
The baddies aren't going to win after all.

Just as well!  The next one was Aquarius pouring out all that water for the fish.

Yes and remember fish were the first animals God made, they weren't in Noah's ark but lived thru the great flood and they're always there for the eating - if we can catch them!  
So what can you tell me about water?

We use it for washing but we really can't survive without water - it's like the fuel of life. I think Jesus said: "come to me and drink" and then water came out of His side when He died.

There you are...life out of death!..."a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life". Of course water features many times: the Rock in the desert, the Red Sea, the Sea of Galilee, the Jordan river, Jesus walking on water....

…and Peter nearly drowning!  
The fish aren't watered in Pisces - they're trapped by this monster.

Well, the Israel people found out what it’s like to be trapped by the monster - 70 years captivity for Judah in Babylon and finally ‘scattered among all peoples’ just as Moses warned. Amos even warned Israel they would be taken away with fish-hooks and sure enough, that's how Assyrians controlled their prisoners - joined together using fish-hooks through their noses.

Ouch!  Too bad if someone fell over or needed to go to the toilet!

That for sure.  Finally there is Aries the ram…so what does that remind you of?

Lots of stories – Abel, Abraham and Isaac on Mt. Moriah, the Passover…

… a lamb was sacrificed at the temple every morning and evening and remember what John the Baptist called Jesus: “Look! the Lamb of God!”

There might be life out of death but with a dying goat, hooked fish, and a sacrificed lamb, where’s ‘Hope’ come into it?

The apostle John sobbed over nobody being found worthy to open the Revelation until ‘The Lamb’ came along – the Lion of the tribe of Judah.               

See the bright link in Andromeda's chain?

Not only that, associated with these 4 constellations is another: the princess Andromeda in the north, chained to a rock. Can you see the beautiful Andromeda nebula is the bright link in her ugly chain, Andromeda also being the name of the spiral galaxy closest to the Milky Way….even visible to the naked eye!
I wonder if that’s meant to be a sign of hope? 
Like Jeremiah said long ago: “Therefore I hope in Him!”    

Yeah, I wonder…..  Thanks, Grandad. It must be nearly time to look for the last 4 constellations, hey?                                             

                                               

Image credits:                                                                                  

Andromeda / Rogelio Bernal Andreo / deepskycolours.com                                                   

Stellarium

Tribute to Zac Young

In among our IOPNA's let's have a tribute to my 19 year old friend, Zac Young, who tragically died yesterday (Saturday 30th) on a beach at Coffs Harbour, NSW, after being mauled by a shark while body-boarding.

I met Zac for the first and only time on Wednesday at a Youth for Christ seminar for years 9 & 10 at Westport High School, Port Macquarie. As a local YFC intern he was boldly sharing with current students that Jesus Christ had turned his life around and later he told me his story...

Not one for tears, it all came undone for Zac after a wild party when he fell to his knees in the shower and sobbed, begging God to forgive him. Realizing that only God could have done this he then dedicated the rest of his (short) life to serving our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. He later gave testimony in a local church, predicting it may need a tragedy to occur for us to wake up and get real about this 'Jesus business'.

Farewell Zac. We will miss you but we know you are in safe hands and your death will not be in vain after touching so many lives in your brief Christian walk.                 
You're a hard act to follow, mate!

 

Acknowledgements: theaustralian.com.au