Wednesday

God's GPS

Jeremiah 8:7 Yea, the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times; and the turtle and the crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming; but my people know not the judgment of the LORD.

Centuries ago the prophet Jeremiah used the migratory nature of birds for this illustration. For thousands of years observers have been curious about the capability of these creatures to cover large areas of the earth without getting lost. Homing pigeons can find home from hundreds of miles away. How can migratory birds fly over unfamiliar territory to a specific destination? Recently scientists discovered this God designed navigation system.

Scientists hypothesized that a bird could somehow use the earth’s magnetic field like a compass. But now we know it is much more complex and exact. Instead of being similar to a compass it is more like GPS! Some birds not only know which direction they are going, but their exact location with reference to their destination! I quote the Discovery article: “subcellular particles of maghemite and magnetite were found in sensory nerve cells of the skin lining the upper beak of homing pigeons. These nerve cells are arranged in a complex three-dimensional pattern with different spatial orientation designed to analyze the three components of the magnetic field vector separately thus acting as a three-axis magnetometer.”

This triple-axis magnetometer is not the only complex part of this system. Scientists are baffled at how the birds can process the information, and then reference that information to a location. The birds must have a reference map of some sort encoded in their brain. How they generate this map is another startling problem.

In my creation writings I focus on complex systems. I do this for two reasons. One, God is glorified by the complexity of His creation. Two, it is one thing for atheistic evolutionists to point at slight changes within species, and quite another to assert that complex biological systems developed by chance. With every complex system the probability of chance development becomes more outrageously small. There is a third reason: my awareness of the biological world around me first opened my mind to the reality of God.

As a boy I could almost sense Him in what I observed. What I couldn't see in this magnificent creation, because it was too far away or too small, I read about in books and periodicals. I am still as much amazed and enamored by it all as I was as a boy. Then I met the Creator. He actually reached across the expanse of His creation from His transcendent existence to let me know He cares... He cares about me. Wow... and yet from what I have seen of His creation it is not surprising that He would and could keep track of every individual detail of what He clearly loves.

Isn’t He amazing! If you don't know Him you should. All the answers are in the Gospel.

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