Let Creation Speak! An Invitation to Awe and Wonder by Michael Guillen, PhDSample

A LUSH RELATIONSHIP

In the high mountains of eastern New Guinea, you’ll find various members of a very unusual family of true weevils (family Curculionidae) crawling among the leaf litter. The weevils are hard to spot because they’re small—the largest one only about an inch-and-a-half long—and because miniature forests growing on their backs help mask their presence.

Amazingly, just like the vast mossy, humid forest, the weevils call home, their tiny “backpack” forests are teeming with life. Not just tiny plant life—for example, mosses, lichens, liverworts, and baby ferns—but other tiny life-​forms such as mites, nematodes, and bacteria, as well.

It all begins with the sticky, mucosal ridges on the weevil’s shell. These ridges are very effective at catching hold of spores, pollen, mites, and other minuscule plant and animal material blowing in the wind.

Because the weevils don’t move very fast or very far, and because they live a relatively long time—up to five years—the progenitors of their tiny forests aren’t easily shaken off. They have plenty of time to mature into full-fledged, miniature, arboreal ecosystems.

Scientists call this rare phenomenon epizoic symbiosis, a fancy way of describing a mutually beneficial relationship between plants and animals. The weevils offer plants (and their tiny animal companions) a safe space to thrive; the plants, in turn, provide weevils with lifesaving camouflage.

REFLECTION

The concept that a mere mortal can have a personal relationship with the spiritual being who created the universe is phenomenal—some might say beyond belief. Yet it’s at the very core of the Christian worldview.

In its own way, this core concept is akin to the epizoic symbiosis between New Guinean weevils and the forest life they tote on their tiny backs. In the case of Christianity, however, it’s God who totes us on his back.

Also according to the Christian worldview, God will never force himself on you. You must choose to climb aboard and then remain there with sincerity and perseverance.

If you do that—if you hop aboard and hang on—the experiences you’ll have atop God’s back will forever change your life. In return, God will revel in your love for and trust in him.