Things in nature that make me believe in God

Mimicry

by Peter Illyn, Director

One thing that makes me believe in God is mimicry. This is when a species looks like or "mimics" something else in nature. For example, a leaf-hopper that looks like the thorns of the plant that it lives on, and a caterpillar that looks like a slimy wad of bird poop lying on a leaf.

But the most amazing mimicry I have ever seen was a bug in the tropical rainforest. At first glance, I thought it was a an ant carrying a leaf - green, with a stem (its snoot) and veins. I was in the jungles of southern Papua New Guinea, holding seminars for a group of tribal pastors whom had gathered to talk about the struggle of keeping the historic love of their land in connection to their new found love of Jesus.  Most missionaries and Bible materials had little or no mention of the land-ethic that had been a value of their people for eons.

The background story:  Two days before, I had flown over one of the largest and last unbroken tracts of rainforest in the world. I was on a plane bringing in a new crew of workers for the Chevron oil refinery.  Tensions were high because, just a few days before, a large group of village warriors, their faces covered in white war-paint, had blocked the airport runway brandishing spears, bows and arrows protesting the changes that were happening in their communities.

Knowing that the money, jobs and tinned foods from the oil refinery were a temporary phenomenon, Chevron and World Wildlife Fund had teamed together in a novel project to work to limit the negative aspects of a cash-based economy upon this once pristine ecosystem. They sponsored the pastors' gathering and asked me to fly in and speak. Always ready for an adventure, I willingly agreed to fly into their airstrip and the take a four hour ride through the jungle to the outstation.

On the airplane, I met a fellow passenger and discovered he was Stanley “Head Hunter” Nandex, Papua New Guinea’s world champion kick-boxer, flying in to do an anti-smoking program.  (I later read in the Post-Courier, the national newspaper, that Stanley had gotten into a bar-fight and put five people in the hospital but emerged unscathed.)

I met with the village pastors to study how a biblical land ethic is much closer to a tribal land ethic than to the western utilitarian ethic that came in with the Gospel message.  Some pastors walked barefoot through the jungle to arrive, but an even larger group had paddled two days down the crocodile-filled Kikori River in hand carved dugout canoes.

The sun had already set, when the pastors and I sat outside (with a translator) to discuss theology of environmental stewardship and the struggles of the emerging new cash economy.  The men had brought dinner – mostly sago palm, coconut rice and mashed bananas, smoked fish and fresh steamed crab all wrapped in banana leaves – and we sat on the ground and ate together.

We had four or five kerosene lanterns set up in a circle around us. There was a moment when a group of pastors moved their heads in front of the lanterns and I saw a flash of lantern-light coming through the holes in the septum of their fiercely hooked noses where they put the bones, leaves and feathers for their traditional tribal ceremonies and dances. I realized how close to the land these pastors still are.

The next day I was also privileged to speak at a rural church to a crowd of a hundreds of brightly dressed villagers sitting on the dirt floor. After I got done speaking, a little grandmother came up to me a pushed a 10 kina note into my hand as a love offering. While to me it was only worth $3, for her it represented days of work, pounding sago to sell in the market. I was touched.

But back to the bug….. I was back at the lodge where I was staying when I looked at the wall and noticed  a leaf was casually moving across it. When I mentioned it to my host, he nonchalantly said, “No, that is a leaf bug,” as if it was no big deal. For me, it was another moment of awe and wonder.

Take a hard look at the photo – that is one amazing bug.  Looking at it, I knew there was a wise and good God helping all this work itself out. And sorry to all my friends who believe that the miracle life is just an expression of random evolution. That bug revealed to me a God who is a Creator, a Designer and a Sustainer of life.