Ocean Lakes

For those of you who don’t know, Sunday, April 22nd marks the 42 nd year of observing Earth Day. When you think about it, it’s really ironic that we had to set aside a day 42 years ago to celebrate the Earth we rely on for our survival.   So when we asked our very own Nature Center curator and retired minister, Leonard Raker about his thoughts on a special day set aside for the Earth…well…we just had to share it with you… “Earth Day? Did you really ever think about it? Maybe that could be the problem with this old world! We live in it daily. We see all that’s around us. We walk on it, we look at it, we play on it and we even walk by the mess that others leave. It is kind of funny that we have to have a day to appreciate all that God gave us to live in, when it really needs to be appreciated every day. Thank God for every day! God when I see your wonders…I really love you. Thanks!” So, Leonard inspired us to come up with some easy things we could all do to that would help...

By Leonard Raker Could an ugly old Catfish have an Easter message for us? The answer is “yes” if it happens to be the Sail Cat. Ugly as it may be, the story is ever so beautiful. Like all of our thoughts, reality gets lost as we overlook the truth of the God of Easter. As you begin to clean the fish in preparation for dinner, you begin to find signs of a heavenly message. That message fully appears when you finish the enjoyment of your dinner. There is something so very different to that backbone. There before you is the story of the Crucifixion, plain as the nose on your face. Looking upon the top of that bone, plain as day, you notice the stripes that Jesus received. As you partially turn the bone, there lies a puncture; the spear in the side while on the cross. Completing the turn you see the shape of the Cross on which Jesus died, and if you want to get a “wow” moment, just shake the bone and you will hear the rattle of the dice thrown for His Robe. Yes, y...