God's Marvelous Creation

On a table in my office there is a picture of me, along with two dear friends, standing on the banks of the Mekong River in Southwest China. Wild, wonderful terrain. So the report from the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) about the discovery of "new" species in the Mekong Region of Asia caught my attention.

At least 1,068 new species were identified in the Greater Mekong from 1997 to 2007 -- a rate of two per week for the past decade -- along with several thousand tiny invertebrates. Striped rabbits and a spider larger than a dinner plate are among new-found species discovered in this remote wildlife hotspot.

The Greater Mekong covers portions of China, Laos, Vietnam and Thailand and is described as "one of the last scientifically unexplored regions of the world."

Among the most "bizarre" creatures to be discovered were the hot-pink, spiny dragon milipedes laced with cyanide.

I'm one of those crazy creationists who believes in intelligent design and an infinitely intelligent Designer. To me, the beauty, creativity and intricacy of the natural world point to a Creator.

"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..."
(Romans 1:20)

It is amazing to think that these species have been on the planet the entire time and we are just now finding them. I imagine God enjoys watching the scientists find something "new" that He put there long ago; joining in their jubilation over the discovery. All of creation points to the Creator, and the natural world with all its wonders is the grandest of cathedrals.

"The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all people life and breath and everything else.

From one blood he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. 'For in him we live and move and have our being.' As some of your own poets have said, 'We are his offspring.' (Acts 17:24-28)

That we can have a relationship with the God who created us is the most amazing discovery of all.