Christian came home from North Carolina Friday and we spent time together as a family doing what we all love, watching one or two episodes of our favorite show. Right now we are watching The Flash. We watched one episode that involved bees (that's all I'll say so I don't ruin anything for those who haven't seen it). One character mentions, as a random side note, that jumping into a body of water won't deter a bee; they will wait for you to surface. What! I had an instant flashback to my childhood when myself and about 10 other girls at camp were attacked by bees. We were all stung multiple times and to this day I wished there was a lake to jump into. But hey, what do movies really know anyway. The next time I'm ever being chased down by hundreds of bees, I'll probably still give the lake jump a shot.
Every single night before I go to bed I open my Curiosity app (it's great, go download it right now). It gives you five random articles every day about any subject from science, art, history, etc. and each article has linked YouTube videos about that subject and suggested related stories. I think I mentioned rabbit holes before… anyway, before bed and after watching that episode of The Flash I opened Curiosity to find an article titled, “bumblebees can distinguish each other by their smelly footprints.” That's odd, I had to check it out. In the article I learned how clever bumblebees were. I learned that they can recognize their own scent mark on a flower and tell the difference between a relative and a stranger. Nice article… scrolling down and checking out the videos and suggested related articles and Holy Moly!
Say it isn't so! "Find out how to survive a swarm of killer bees." I must know more. Killer bees, which is what I call every type of bee, are apparently a hybrid of African and Western honey bees. They got their name for a reason, people! I read that these things will follow a victim for a quarter mile or longer. Yikes. But there's good news, Curiosity assures me that the average adult can out run the killer bee; assuming you can run for a quarter mile or longer. These crazed honeymakers were "created" by accident when hives of biologist Warwick E. Kerr's African honey bees escaped and interbred with Western honey bees in the 1950's. From there they spread throughout South America and arrived in North America in the 1980's. There’s more good news. I looked up the spread of the Africanized honey bee in North America and (at least as of 2009) they had not made their way to my current Midwestern home or my future home in North Carolina. I might brush up on my cardio just in case.
Thinking about the creation of the killer bee made me think about our enemy, Satan. I couldn't help but compare the physical attack of the bees to the enemy attacking us in our daily lives. I thought, if new species can be created to destroy, what's to say the devil can't continually create new ways of attacking us in our modern lives. Since the enemy is deliberately advancing his techniques for attack, we need to be progressively seeking our defense; God is our defense. Jumping in a lake won't save us, but running will. Run straight to God everyday and you will out run the enemy. Scripture tells us over and over about the protection of God.
Just a few examples:
2 Thessalonians 3:3 But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen you and protect you from the evil one.
Deuteronomy 31:6 Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.
Isaiah 41:10 So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
I noticed that in those verses the "evil one" and "them" were not clearly defined but I think it is inferred that God is talking about killer bees. Only kidding!
*Disclaimer: I don't actually think bees are bad and I understand how important they are to our ecosystems. I have only demonized these incredibly creepy creatures because of my traumatic childhood experience and my fear of future sting operations.
Stay hungry, friends!
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