Lessons at the Aquarium

Genesis 1:21 (HCSB)
So God created the large sea-creatures and every living creature that moves and swarms in the water, according to their kinds. He also created every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.  

Psalm 104:25 (HCSB)
Here is the sea, vast and wide, teeming with creatures beyond number— living things both large and small.

  Recently Weyburn and I spent a morning discovering some of the wonders of God’s creation at the new Ripley’s Aquarium Canada.  We are treating some of our children and grandchildren to this experience for their Christmas gift.  This was our second trip to the aquarium in two months and I saw things that I had not noticed the time before. I look forward to discovering something new during each of our next two visits. The beauty and complexity of God’s creations are truly amazing.  

As we walked among the dozens of displays viewing God’s handiwork, our son Don said something like: “…and to think that some believe there was no plan to this, it just happened; that the variety and complexity of the sea life we are seeing was not created by God.”  

Weyburn and Don later sat down as the children were engaged in the interactive displays.  They began to talk about the improbability of the millions of species all evolving from one cell.  They were having a special conversation between father and son sharing their thoughts and their faith.  However, that was not all that God had in mind. A young man, unknown to Don and Weyburn, “happened” to be standing beside them listening, and he joined the conversation saying, “They dropped out of grade 10.” I think he was trying to say that the life form, instead of continuing to evolve to the next stage, stopped, or “dropped out of grade 10.”  That’s as much as I heard.  If you know me, you know that I hate confrontation. I walked away, knowing my men could handle this discussion of creation vs evolution.   If you know the Snider men, they do not step away from any theological challenge or discussion.  As it turned out, this special young man is Jewish.  They bantered back and forth for quite a while.  As I walked around taking pictures of our grandchildren, I watched and prayed from across the very busy room.  God was at work.  It was a very friendly discussion, each one speaking and then listening to the other. As the discussion came to a close, Weyburn challenged the young man to read his Torah asking God to show him the truth.  Weyburn also challenged him to read Isaiah 53.  The young man promised that he would.  

That morning, as the seven of us gathered in the SUV to leave for Toronto, Don asked me to pray and ask for God’s blessing on the day.  I thanked God for this time we were going to have together, I asked Him for safety, and then I asked Him to help us all to be a shining light for Him.  I’ve prayed this many times before, but have rarely seen God answer is such an obvious way.

Needless to say, we are praying for this man.  I’m not sure if Weyburn and Don were planting the seed or watering seed that had already been planted, but we are praying that soon God will bring in the harvest of this soul. 

I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.  1 Corinthians 3:6  (KJV)

Have you planted seed lately?  Have you watered?

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