Hello friend of Faith Free,
How are you? I pray that God is helping you to do the best you can in these uncertain and difficult days. Recently I read a story that caused me to think differently regarding one of my least favorite tiny creatures, arachnids (a.k.a. spiders).
I don’t know why I’m not a spider fan, maybe it’s their eight hairy legs, the sticky webs they create, how painful their bite is or just how they feel when crawling on your body. Unfortunately with the kind of siding on our home, spiders often show up and make their abode with us. Oh well, I guess it could be worse.
Anyways, back in early October, Julie Borg of World Magazine wrote an article about an Amazon spider that amazes scientists. According to the article researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology went deep into the Amazon rainforest to learn how slingshot spiders work. Apparently this “one millimeter long (spider) is able to stretch its web back and fling it forward at an acceleration rate 100 times that of a cheetah.” Putting it another way, “when the arachnids release the tension on their webs, they snap them forward at a speed of 13 feet per second and withstand 130 G’s of force—10 times what a fighter pilot can tolerate before blacking out. The slingshot action likely “gives the spider the advantage of speed and surprise” needed to catch and maybe even stun its much bigger flying prey. Once the spider catches its prey it quickly wraps it in silk and then resets the web. That’s simply incredible!
Perhaps what researcher Saad Bhamla said is the most interesting part of the article, “if you compare this natural silk spring (spider’s web) to carbon nanotubes or other human-made materials in terms of power density or energy density, it is orders of magnitude more powerful,” Wow! Spiders are able create something more powerful than humans can.
The author of Psalm 19:1-4 says “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge. They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them. Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.”
Spiders, although I may not want one as a pet, they are a part of God’s creation and have an important role in testifying to His existence. So the next time I see a spider I’m going to thank God for it. How about you? What aspect in God’s creation points you to the reality of God? Think about it and thank Him.
Blessings,
Pastor Tom