Why Exactly do Squirrels Bury Acorns?

Grey Squirrel by Kev from Pixabay

As I watched one of this little rascal's cousins trot over to one of my raised beds and quickly bury an acorn I was reminded of a great story about acorns.

Some English naval officers used to carry acorns in their pockets so they could plant oak trees -- so England would never lack for good oak for the masts of her fighting ships. One officer is reported to have planted hundreds of thousands of acorns over his career.

That made me think of the motivations of my sciurid neighbor: Was he storing the acorn? Or is there an deeper motivation?

Can they remember where they put them? Does underground storage make bitter acorns more palatable?

Maybe God built this trick into their brains and then smiled because he knew this food storage method would mean most would become oak trees which would feed many future squirrels.

It's easy to think of these little guys as graceful arboreal rats but not very smart. But honestly, the more I learn about our fellow animal travelers on the Earth the more I realize there is deep wisdom among them. Squirrels know oak trees and the forests in which they grow in ways we will never understand. Perhaps they understand in ways that would not compute to us that some acorns should always be planted so future generations of squirrels yet unborn will always have food.

All I really know for sure is that I am forever pulling yearling oak saplings out of the ground where we live. Those acorns did not get so deep by accident. Squirrels plant a LOT of acorns.

 

 

Apostles: That's What Changed

 

Some years ago, my father sent me the above text on my birthday.   Linda and I left Louisiana in 1972 immediately after our marriage to live in Alaska.  We lived there about 40 achingly wonderful years.  We had learned to thrive in cool and cold weather.  Hot weather was not on our radar.

 

There was no criticism implied.  It was just an honest question.  We had recently moved to become part of the Bethel movement, which has its roots in Redding, California.

 

I had come to adult faith in my mid 30s.  Linda has been a Jesus follower most of her days.  We had in our years in Alaska some great, and a couple of not-so-great experiences, with churches in Alaska.  

After I thought about dad's question for a while, I replied with a very long message. 

 
What changed was, in a word, apostles.  The three apostle-led church communities of which we have been a part since going to Sweden (Word of Life Church in Uppsala, Anchorage City Church, and now Bethel) have changed the course of our lives.

When we took off for Alaska in 1972, it was to pursue a dream of a place and a way of life.....Alaska was the land of our dreams.  In the months before our marriage, we talked much about Alaska.  We read and looked at pictures.  And then we came to Alaska, and it was for decades living inside a dream.  The experiences we had there, the friendships we forged are bright in our memories....and if truth be told, a little painful today, because we miss them.

And then, unexpectedly, we found ourselves in Sweden, at a controversial (to many Swedes, anyway) church that operated in great faith under the leadership of an apostle, Ulf Ekman.  Apostles as a current force in the Church was a new concept to us then, until that time thinking of them only as a part of Biblical history.  What a sea change in our spiritual lives that was!  By the time we left Sweden, our dreams had changed from a place (Alaska) to a mission (the Kingdom).  We almost stayed, you know.

Back in Anchorage after five years of coming and going to Sweden, we connected with  Anchorage City Church, another church led by an apostle, Richard Irwin.  That was another powerful experience and great time of spiritual growth, and a time of intensive pastoral service.  In 2011 Richard turned the church over to his son, Rich, a fine young man with fire in his bones, a leader and a shepherd. 

About that time we were becoming more and more aware of the move of God in an unlikely (to us) place: Northern California.  So......we came here for a one year sabbatical....which turned into something else!

 

This church, Bethel,  also is led by an apostle, Bill Johnson, and interestingly, by a prophet, Kris Vallotton.  The entire five-fold ministry (Ephesians 4:11) is in powerful operation here.  Miracles are common here......real miracles, including cancer being completely healed.  Prophecy is common, even sometimes very accurate foretelling prophecy.  People come to the Lord every week at our church services.....about 10 at the 8am service alone last Sunday.  People are showing up here from all over the earth to be part of this movement.....a few we have met didn't even know about Bethel......they just know the Lord told them to go to Redding......and then they discovered the church.

Today, the church is about 9,000 people, but even more significant than the large numbers is the global reach of the church: thousands of churches are influenced by the ministry of this church, and if you count the ministry of music and praise song writing, the influence in the lives of men and women reaches into the millions.  Bethel Music songs are some of the most popular in churches around the world today.  

So....what changed is the influence of apostles in our lives.  Living in the context of apostleships changed our dreams from an amazing place (Alaska) to an amazing Kingdom.  Our dreams now are of the increase of His government and His Kingdom which brings all the good gifts of Heaven to Earth for all people.

It DOES feel strange to me sometimes to be in this seasonally very hot place.  But I know why we are here.....and the powerful impact this apostleship has had not just on Linda and I, but also in the spiritual lives of our family.

It also feels like the favor of God that the really hot days are relatively few, and even they begin with lovely mornings in the 70s.....and 2/3 of the year is generally pleasant.  And then there is this beautiful natural landscape of Northern California with wild country abounding, waterfalls, tall mountains, rivers, wildlife, friendly people.....we didn't expect it, but we love it!

You started this, you know.  It all began when you invited me at the turn of the century to go to Sweden with you and mom to see the land of my ancestors.  :)

I know you weren't asking for a treatise....but THAT is what changed.

Honorable Men

How does an honorable man handle pain and disappointment?  Stephen Mansfield writing in Mansfield's Book of Manly Men has some suggestions worth sharing: 

Honorable men refuse to wallow in the small and the bitter. 

Honorable men refuse to hate life because something once went wrong. 

Honorable men don’t build monuments to their disappointments, nor do they let others brand them and curse them to their destruction. 

Honorable men seek out the highest definition of their lives, the nobler meaning granted by heritage, by their ancestors’ dreams and their parents’ hopes. 

Honorable men cry out to God until curses are broken and a grander purpose is achieved. 

Honorable men don’t settle for lives of regret.

It's easy to let the difficulties of life wear us down.  Life can be hard and painful.  But the path of honor leads us always upward.

Lord, let my heart seek always the grander purpose written in your heart for me.

Breaking Chains

There was a time in the history of the world when people were sold for the value they could provide to the buyers.  Even children and teens were ripped from their childhood and sold.  Millions of souls were denied freedom, good health, and simply normal life.

 

This evil wasn’t hidden.  While both victims and buyers were a small part of the overall population, the evil could be easily seen.  But just as it could be easily seen, it was also easy to look away.  It must have felt like just a part of life.

Some raised their voices against this evil trade in souls.  Organizations arose to fight it.  Some of the victims were rescued, often at risk of death for the rescuers.    Legislative actions to stop the trade were proposed with little success. Those making fortunes from the trade had money and influence, and used that in legislatures, in the media of the day, and in the court of public opinion.

Capturing humans and selling them is an old and evil human practice.  The victims have come from every continent and race.

But the time in history I am writing about is today.

 

It is going on right here and right now in America, and elsewhere in the world.  In our country, millions of women and girls are captives of an evil industry that cares nothing for their lives except how well their bodies provide sexual release for their customers.

Many, many Americans are unwittingly contributing to this evil --pornography use is epidemic in our country. Consuming pornography can lead to paying for pornography, which can lead to demand for prostitution, which leads to more enslavement of women and girls.  The modern day slavers walk among us.

We Americans fought the bloodiest war of our history to free the slaves in the 19th century.  What will it take for us to metaphorically take up arms again today to fight for the women and girls who are enslaved right now? 

 

A noble rebellion against this darkness is rising to free them.  We can join the fight.

• We can inform ourselves
• We can quit using pornography 
• We can raise our voices against the evil industry that enslaves women and girls 
• We can join with or contribute to organizations fighting modern slavery
• We can advocate for changes in laws
• We can support organizations that offer loving pathways out of sex slavery.

I support Exodus Cry. There are other organizations doing good work. Whether we provide a monthly donation, prayer cover, or physically participate....we can all do be part of this.  Please add your strength in the fight for the daughters of Eve and the sons of Adam ensnared by the hellish forces behind the evil sex industry!