You don't really get a true feeling of wild animals from the other side of a cage. Most of them, apart from a few mad monkeys and the occasional energetic penguin, lead fairly sedentary lives, though what thoughts are filling their minds might involve some relation between me outside the bars and a rather juicy lunch. I suppose it's enough to see the danger but it's hardly an ideal way to really see the true character of any animal. It's a bit like the way we know our colleagues and friends at work or school where they might just be a different person to the one their family sees at home. Anyway, this morning I got a glimpse into the laws of the jungle and how they differ from the laws of the zoo. It was one of those nature programmes centred around a water hole and involved three animals, a lioness, a crocodile and a young hippo. By the time I had joined the programme however, the latter's involvement was purely passive, having lost a brave fight for life with the big cat and it now lay motionless on its back, at the shore of the water hole, with most of the red flesh around its rib cage visible. The lioness for her part, was exhausted after the battle with the young water horse but there was no time to be complacent. For one thing, a grieving mother had waded towards the water edge hinting at some form of revenge or maybe wishful that all hope was not lost but within a few minutes, when reality hit home, she seemed to lose all will to fight and wandered back into deep water, never to return . However another menacing figure had emerged from the water and, observing dinner already waiting, slowly crawled, almost unnoticed towards the still warm meat feast. Except that he had been noticed and the lioness, despite her clear state of exhaustion, was not about to give up a hard earned dinner to a freeloading crocodile. And so the standoff began. The cat, safe in the knowledge that she could easily bite into the side of the reptile to cause lasting damage, but aware that the jaws of her enemy could crush her with one closure, prowled her territory, occasionally sparring with a few jabs of her front paw and a show of teeth. But it was obvious that in her weakened state, she would be no match for her opponent, should the crocodile choose to attack. And that's exactly when the law of the jungle took over, though I prefer to call it God's perfect creation. For there, in the searing heat of an afternoon, the cold-blooded crocodile could no longer control its rising body temperature and was forced to retire to the coolness of the nearby water, leaving the tiring cat to drag her dinner to a more peaceful corner and enjoy.
For me it was more than a lesson in jungle laws and survival but a glimpse into the intricacies of a God who not only designed all of creation but put everything in place so that it all just works, right down to our body temperatures.
So where will you catch a glimpse of God today. As I flew across the ocean, I saw Him in the carpet of clouds that bring rain, in the sun rising above the horizon, heralding a new day, in the intelligence he gave to man to build a jet engine, in the different languages and nationalities that surrounded me. But mostly I see Him in Jesus, who told His disciples, 'If you have seen me, you have seen the Father,' and also reminded them 'I and the Father are one.' You will see God today. Just make sure you recognise Him.
