"Animal Crackers"

OK, I know the last two days have been a little strange, even by my standards! But, sometimes some stuff just catches my attention and God speaks to me. Barnum’s Animal Crackers just happen to be that thing today. I had a box the other day. It just seemed like a “good” snack at the time. As I was eating them I started looking at the various animal shapes. I wondered how many there were? So, I did a little research. I know you are thinking that I have WAY too much time on my hands, but stay with me. They first were produced in 1902. Some claim that there have been a total of 53 different animals while others place the number at 37. Regardless, the current cookie-count regarding different animal shapes in boxes today is 19. These include: 2 bears (one sitting and one standing), a bison, a camel, a cougar, an elephant, a giraffe, a gorilla, a hippo, a hyena, a kangaroo, a koala bear, a lion, a monkey, a rhinoceros, a seal, a sheep, a tiger and a zebra. By the way, the only animals to make it through the entire lifetime of Barnum’s Animal Crackers are bears, elephants, lions and tigers. Some species have seemingly gone extinct over the years. There were only eighteen for the longest time, but for the cracker’s 100th anniversary, a survey was asked as to which animal shape the public would like to see added into the mix. The choices were: koala bear, penguin, walrus or cobra. Thank goodness the koala bear won and the cobra came in last place. As bad as I hate snakes, I’d never be able to open another box if it were included! And here’s the point: When man creates, it will always fall miserably short of God’s work. Here’s our Scripture reading today:

God spoke: "Swarm, Ocean, with fish and all sea life! Birds, fly through the sky over Earth!" God created the huge whales, all the swarm of life in the waters, and every kind and species of flying birds. God saw that it was good. God spoke: "Earth, generate life! Every sort and kind: cattle and reptiles and wild animals—all kinds." And there it was: wild animals of every kind, cattle of all kinds, every sort of reptile and bug. God saw that it was good. (Genesis 1:20-25 The Message).

Without getting into a deep discussion of how many and how, let me just say that today conservative estimates of the number of species of animal life numbers somewhere around 1.25 million! I’m amazed by that. God, who created everything, more than we can see, know, or imagine, reached down to me and reconciled me to Himself by the blood of His only Son. To think that God cared so much about me is amazing. To realize that God could have just as easily started over, but didn’t, is grace!

Now, if God cares that much about me to redeem me by this indescribable work of grace how can I ever doubt that He will care for my every need? Nothing escapes His attention. He knows before I even ask. But, when I ask, He answers! What do you need to ask today?