28 April 2005

Evolution? Maybe, maybe NOT!

Spring is wonderful! Everything coming back to life.....turning green. Lotsa great smells from blossoms trying to attract attention from my fellow flying thingys.
We have lots of trees on our property.....several of them are Maples.
Positives: Good shade, beautiful leaves.
Negatives: Exposed roots that wreak havoc on mowers, the wood is a little soft and breaks in strong wind or when weighted with a load of ice, and in the Spring....."helicopter" seeds.
Every year, the seeds get me to thinkin'......how can anyone deny the existence of a higher power?

The evolution argument goes something like this, right?........Maple tree says to itself, "Self!, in order to survive in the long term, I gotta find a way to cast my seeds to the wind!" So one Spring it produces seeds the size and weight of bowling balls, complete with three finger holes. They fall and cover the ground right beneath the tree and don't get enough sun to sprout. So our Maple thinks to itself, "Darn! Maybe if they had four holes?"
What now? Does our tree, (and all Maples), die because of this initial failure? Evolution supposedly takes (in your best Carl Sagan voice now) BILLIONS and BILLIONS of years! How does our line of Maple trees survive during this evolving?
For readers that don't live where Maples grow, you may have another example of God's brilliance........the Cottonwood, for instance. Ever see it snow in late Spring when the temperature outside is 85 degrees? I have!
Maple seeds are autogyros. They are perfect little airfoils! When they drop from their parent tree, they do the "Leonardo DaVinci" thing.......airscrew themselves slowly to the ground. The wind can carry them for unbelievable distances if it is strong and gusty. This "flying seed" has a wonderful chance of finding itself with its' little head stuck in soil that will be conducive to strong growth.....away from the parent!
Did this perfect example of engineering happen in stages.....one failure after another until, EUREKA!? The survival of the Maple tree line was depending on the success of getting seeds to grow and trees to multiply.
I admit we see living things change and improve, so I think evolution plays an important part in life. (I think this was also God's plan!) But some things, like the Maple seed, are so perfect, it's easier for me to believe Mother Nature had timely help!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Another example is the beautiful cactus that grows in Arizona. They are tall and stately at full growth. However, before they become an independent cactus, they grow under the shade of the oshua tree. The only way that cactus can survive is under the wing of the joshua tree - and you do not see the joshua tree without a cactus under it. Another wonderful design by our Creator.