Meet Marvin

My graduate work, many years ago, was with a little bug called Ameletus tarteri (First, don't click that link. It's a pdf file of our publication, and the only link I could find to my bug -- but it's big, and ugly, and not very exciting. Plus, yes, I know, mayflies aren't TRUE bugs, but you and I know what bugs are, and it is a bug). I spent two years learning everything I could about its life habits. Where it lived, how it survived the winter in a creek whose temperature – while running – measured freezing on a thermometer, and how it was adapted to live in an acidic environment. I chased it in the dark, I brought many of them home in the car with me – alive in the trunk, and I tried to tempt it to emerge into its adult form. I counted them, I measured them, and I weighed them. Like a forensic scientist, I examined their stomach contents to see what they liked to eat. Aren’t you glad you stopped by today?

In short, I spent a lot of time learning about a tiny little creature.

We spend our lifetime trying to learn about God. It’s not nearly as easy as chasing a mayfly around for 12 months.

Meet Marvin. Marvin (short for marvelous) is a dragonfly. For the past couple of days, Marvin has been flirting with me. When I get to work, he divebombs my car. I get out, bringing my camera, and begin the hunt for a photograph of Marvin. He never sits still, but he keeps coming back. Zip Zip – all around me, pretending that he is going to park for a moment on the car hood or on a nearby plant, but he never does. I can’t see many of his details, but I know that he is beautiful. Sometimes God is like that. We just can’t get a “handle” on him, or get him to stand still long enough for a really good photograph. It’s frustrating, especially since we know how wonderful it would be to get a little bit closer, and to see a little bit more clearly.

That’s my only photo of Marvin. Terrible, but it’s proof that he does flirt with me.

After I took that picture, I walked into the building, and saw this moth. She was perched on the brick of the building, and never moved. Sometimes, for a few moments, God is like that. He stands still, and reveals Himself to us. We get just a moment, just a short time to stand and gasp.

If you think about it, Jesus was our greatest opportunity to know God. Jesus was God revealing himself, as best as we can understand Him, for just a moment in time – for all time.

Good luck bug hunting.

Images: The first one is not MY bug, but it is an Ameletus, and it looks like MY bug. The other two photos were taken yesterday -- Marvin and the Moth. Just know for scale, that those are "brick-sized" bricks. The moth is one large moth.