Whales

Cont’d from page 3

How amazing that a few men in small canoes could paddle close enough to throw spears into this giant creature. It might take a whole day to kill one and bring the body home, but when successful they had supplies to last a long time. And they only took what they needed. The whaling industry of the 1800’s and early 1900’s was not nearly so responsible; thousands upon thousands of whales were slaughtered. Whole species were wiped out and many more brought to the brink of extinction.

Finally people began to realize that a world without whales would be a lesser world indeed. It’s still a fragile truce, and some species may not be able to recover. But it is now recognized that whale watching is a huge tourist industry and may be as economically important as killing the whales. What a gift that is—to have the chance to see a huge whale in the open ocean and realize how very small we are in comparison.

When a whale breaches, it explodes out of the water, sometimes almost raising its entire body above

the surface of the water and then crashes down in a spectacular flop. It’s an amazing display. I had the privilege of watching one whale breach seven times in a row. Our naturalist was asked why whales breach. She offered a couple of plausible explanations, while noting that no one really knew why. Then she came up with the answer I could identify with; she said that she personally felt that whales breach because they can. I believe it may be their own personal form of glorifying God.

Glorifying Him are the seven universes, the earth, and everyone in them.

There is nothing that does not glorify Him, but you do not understand their glorification. (17:44)

Lydia