Here is an interesting video about some the Raven family members. They are quite productive. Enjoy! Maybe that is how they were able to accomplish what this verse mentions:
And it will be that you shall drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.” (1 Kings 17:4 NKJV)
Also, read Dr. James J. S. Johnson’s Article “Clever Creatures: ‘Wise from Receiving Wisdom’”.
Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. (2 Corinthians 3:17 KJV)
Today we celebrate the Fourth of July. This is a great telling of what this Pledge should mean to all of us Americans. Our country was founded on Christian Principles, but unfortunately, today many are turning their backs on those principles, wanting to do their own things.
Also, many are turning their backs on our Constitution and Bill of Rights. Again, they are wanting to do their own things. Lord help us to keep America on the right path.
While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage. For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. (2 Peter 2:19-20 KJV)
But take heed lest by any means this liberty of yours become a stumblingblock to them that are weak. (1 Corinthians 8:9 KJV)
One of the birders that I follow, has a Channel on YouTube, VideoBirder of their birdwatching videos. This Prothontary Warbler, shows the difficulty that photographers and videographers have of trying to catch a bird. They flit all over the place and if your lucky or blessed, you may get a brief view. In this video, this beautiful bird sings, and then off he goes again.
But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. (Matthew 6:33-34 KJV)
As I was watching that video and thinking about the verse above, why do we worry or fret? Sometimes life is like that bird. We are busy going from here to there. Some times you can see him clearly and so in life things seem clear and we have “smooth sailing.” Other times, that bird is hidden behind the branches and you can’t see it so clear. In our lives things can have “bumps in the road” or problems that show up. Yet, the Lord knows all about it and guides us through those rough parts of our walk through life.
Right now, Dan and I have been dealing with health issues. One reason you have not seen very few, if any “birdwatching adventures” lately, is because we haven’t been on any adventures. At least not that kind. I am so thankful for James J. S. Johnson and Emma Forster for helping supply articles for the blog. Others have sent emails with birds which we have placed on the blog. Even the daily devotionals have helped keep this blog active. Dr. Jim, (James Johnson) as I call him, has even been helping with ideas for the devotionals.
Prothonotary Warbler (Protonotaria citrea) In a cavity nest ©WikiC
So, if you have wondered where the “adventures” have been, now you know.
First I slipped the disc in my back, back in the fall, and I have been living with that. Made it almost through the winter and caught Bronchitis, which usually last longer than I would like. Now Dan, who is our main photographer, at least the better one, has been dealing with something for almost the last two months. Even spent time in the hospital last week, and we are still dealing with tests and Doctor visits.
Prothonotary Warbler (Protonotaria citrea) Neal Addy Gallery
Like the bird, we are flitting here and there, yet, we can still sing. We have a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who knows all about our issues and none of this is catching Him by surprise. He knows what the outcome will be of the tests, diagnosis, and cure. Dan has lost quite a bit of weight and is still weak, plus other issues. We are just resting and trusting in Him. Many of our friends are praying to us and your prayers will also be appreciated.
If a day gets missed and no blog comes out, this may give you an idea why. We are looking forward to getting back out there birdwatching and trying to catch a photo of birds like that Prothontary Warbler, or a Warbler we see here. Lord’s Blessings on all of you.
Palm Warbler by Dan
“Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.” (Matthew 10:31 KJV)
Prothonotary Warbler – All About Birds
Prothonotary Warbler – Wikipedia
Black-chinned Hummingbird (Archilochus alexandri) ©WikiC
“The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and dust shall be the serpent’s meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the LORD.” (Isaiah 65:25 KJV) (emphasis mine)
Here are two very interesting videos about a hummingbird and a dog getting along very well. It reminded me of these verses.
“And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof. And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him.” (Genesis 2:19-20 KJV)
“The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, 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. The cow and the bear shall graze; Their young ones shall lie down together; And the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play by the cobra’s hole, And the weaned child shall put his hand in the viper’s den.” (Isaiah 11:6-8 NKJV)
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Wordless Birds – With Hummingbirds
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Barreleyes (Opisthoproctus soleatus) ©WikiC
“Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh: is there any thing too hard for me?” (Jeremiah 32:27)
Almost all sighted animals that aren’t insects see with eyeballs. But that is not true of a fish named barreleyes, and that’s for a good reason.
Barreleyes has that name because instead of eyeballs, the fish sees through tubes. The fish live a third of a mile below the surface, so studying them in detail was not possible until the last few decades. Barreleyes can move its eyetubes in different directions, depending on what it wants to look at. Even stranger, the eyetubes are inside the forehead and do not come into contact with the water at all. How can it see if its vision organs are inside its head? It has a transparent forehead filled with transparent liquid. What is the purpose of such a strange arrangement? Scientists believe that barreleyes eat siphonophores, which are jellyfish-like creatures that sting. The transparent forehead protects its eyes from getting stung.
Barreleyes’ uniquely designed eyes are impossible to explain with gradual evolutionary modifications of regular fish eyes. Yet, they are well designed for barreleye’s unusual way of making a living. As Scripture reminds us several times, nothing is too hard for God. As we read Scripture’s record of what God has done in the past and what He has promised He still will do, especially for His people, this reminder is a comfort.
Prayer:
Father, when I read of what You have promised me, remind me that nothing is too hard for You. Amen.
Notes:
Susan Millius, “Barreleye peers at the world like a fighter pilot does through a windshield.”
©Creation Moments 2016
Lee’s Addition:
Barreleye Fish ©Bit.ly
Is that amazing or what? Here is a YouTube I found for you to see this amazingly created critter from our Fabulous Creator:
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“In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
(1 Corinthians 15:52)
YouTube ~ Aleksandr Voropaev
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A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; (Ecclesiastes 3:4 KJV)
Thought you might enjoy these. I really like the American kestrel whose head stays still.
Anna’s Hummingbird (Calypte anna) by Ian
“Which doeth great things past finding out; yea, and wonders without number.” (Job 9:10)
Peregrine Falcon in Flight by Raymond Barlow
A peregrine falcon diving toward its prey reaches a relative speed of 200 body-lengths per second. This is close to the 207 body-lengths that the space shuttle travels as it enters our atmosphere. Thus, the peregrine falcon was thought to easily be the fastest dare-devil bird on Earth.
Anna’s Hummingbird (Calypte anna) Desert Museum-Tuscon by Dan
Scientists have now discovered that a little pink male hummingbird called Anna’s Hummingbird is the real Top Gun among the birds. As part of its mating ritual, a male hummingbird will try to impress a female with his speed and acrobatics. First, the male will fly up to about 90 feet above the ground. Then, he begins a power dive. As he nears the female, he pulls up, ascending again. During that near-miss pull-up he experiences more than nine times the force of gravity. His relative speed during descent is 385 body-lengths per second. That’s almost twice the peregrine falcon’s relative speed. It’s faster than the space shuttle entering the Earth’s atmosphere and is more than twice the relative speed of a jet fighter running with afterburners!
The wonders of God’s creation are still being discovered, and Creation Moments still loves to make them known to our listeners. But God’s greatest wonder is His love for us though His Son, Jesus Christ. We are thankful that this wonder is revealed to us in the Bible.
Prayer:
Father, I give You thanks for the wonders You create, but I especially give You thanks for the wonder of salvation. Amen.
Notes:
Science News, 7/4/09, p. 7, Susan Millius, “Hummingbird pulls Top Gun stunts.” Photo: Male Anna’s hummingbird. Courtesy of Kevin Cole. (CC BY 2.0)
New Avian Speed Champion Discovered ©Creation Moments 2016
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“What is man, that thou shouldest magnify him? and that thou shouldest set thine heart upon him?” (Job 7:17)
You can see the written copy of this article here – CLICK.
“And ye have not his word abiding in you: for whom he hath sent, him ye believe not. Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.” (John 5:38-40 KJV)
Here is another Creation Moments Minute about a Baby With A Tail.
You can see this written copy here – CLICK
“Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness. And their word will eat as doth a canker:” (2 Timothy 2:15-17a KJV)
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Birds’ Unique Leg Structure Says No Evolution – From Creation Moments
“And God created … every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good.” (Genesis 1:21)
Countless television programs, museums, textbooks, and popular articles tell us that the birds evolved from dinosaurs. It now appears that this claim is even less credible!
Researchers at Oregon State University have made a fundamental discovery about how birds breathe. Unlike land animals, birds have immovable thigh bones, and they walk and run by bending their knees. All land creatures can move both their thigh bone as well as bend their knees to walk and run. This included the dinosaurs and other theropods from which birds supposedly evolved.
Birds need twenty times as much oxygen as cold-blooded animals. To supply this need, birds are designed with unique lungs and supporting musculature. Researchers found that if birds had the usual muscle structures and could move their thighs, their high-performance lungs would collapse. Even the evolutionists at Oregon State University said that this makes it unlikely that birds evolved from dinosaurs, and they added that birds appear earlier in the fossil record than the theropods from which they supposedly evolved!
There are other transition problems associated with bird evolution that are seldom mentioned. For example, reptiles are cold-blooded and birds are warm-blooded; yet, this major transition has seemingly been overlooked.
Of course, the Bible has always taught that birds were specially made by God and did not evolve from any other creature.
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Ernesto Carrasco’s Noah’s Ark Model – Noah’s Ark Model
By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith. (Hebrews 11:7 KJV)
We will continue on with the Birds of the Bible – Foundation series.
If you have not read the previous blogs:
Foundation #1 Updated – Foundation #2 Updated – Foundation #3 Updated – Foundation #4 Updated
(These articles are being updated because they were written back in 2009 and needed a little dusting off. The Truths are the same, just updating the photos, etc.) This article about the Ark is a new one. It needs to go between #4 and #5, but I didn’t want to call it #4.5.
Ark with Animals ©CreationWiki
What this Foundation article is about, is the Ark itself. We read about the birds going into and out of the ark in the other Birds of the Bible Foundation articles. But what about the Ark?
Noah’s Ark © SketchPort
How did Noah, his family, the animals and our birds all fit in the ark? Was it like you see depicted many times in drawings with of a small boat with a giraffe sticking his head out?
Giraffe at Lowry Park Zoo by Lee
If it was a small ark, as some suppose, it is because they do not believe God’s Word. God said He was going to destroy all flesh except those on the Ark.
And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die. But with thee will I establish my covenant; and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons’ wives with thee. And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male and female. Of fowls after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the earth after his kind, two of every sort shall come unto thee, to keep them alive. (Genesis 6:17-20 KJV) (emphasis mine)
They don’t believe those verses. They think that it was only a local flood. If it were, why did the birds have to come on board? They could have just flown off to some other part of the earth. So, for those that only believe in a partial flood, a small ark with a giraffe sticking out is sufficient.
But, did those verses not say that “flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh” and “every thing that is in the earth shall die”? Is God a liar? The exception, of course, are those with Noah in the Ark.
Ark Model at Creation Museum ©Flickr Daniel Tuttle
And it came to pass in the six hundredth and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried up from off the earth: and Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and, behold, the face of the ground was dry. (Genesis 8:13 KJV)
So, we need a big Ark, one that the Giraffes and birds don’t have to hang out the windows. Right? So, how big was the Ark?
“Make yourself an ark of gopherwood; make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and outside with pitch. And this is how you shall make it: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits. You shall make a window for the ark, and you shall finish it to a cubit from above; and set the door of the ark in its side. You shall make it with lower, second, and third decks.” (Genesis 6:14-16 NKJV)
The reason for this article is that, today, there is construction of a life size Ark underway. It is being built by the Answers in Genesis organization. The Ark Encounter, as the location will be known as, is in Williamstown, Kentucky. The planned opening is July 7, 2016. We will be going to Indiana this summer and are planning to visit the Ark during the trip.
Here are two videos showing the ark under construction. They have all those men and great technology. Noah took 120 years. During that time he was preaching and trying to get others to join him and his family.
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I trust those videos will give you a new perspective of how large the Ark actually was. There was even more room for more people to be saved, had they only believed God’s Word. We have the same issue today. John 3:16 is right before our eyes almost daily. Even ball games have banners reminding people of this promise of salvation. If they would only believe.
That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. (John 3:15-19 KJV)
If I took verse 19 and changed it thus; “And this is the condemnation, that AN ARK WAS come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.“ (John 3:19) (My paraphrase) This is why they didn’t seek to join Noah. That is the same reason sinners refuse to be saved today.
Continue to Birds of the Bible – Foundation #5 (Updated version coming soon)
Some links to some informative articles about the flood and the Ark:
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For every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind: (James 3:7 KJV)
Yesterday, we saw this Goose at Lake Morton in Lakeland, Florida. Looks like it has a nice stride, but not sure it would want to be one of these Belgium parading Geese. Then again, what do I know what that bird would like to do.
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Lee's Birdwatching Adventures Plus 