Summit Stewards

– Base Camp: Environmental Stewards-R-Us
– Spiritual Importance of Wilderness 
– Access vs. Overuse
– Gunks Historic Site
– Creation Corner: “Seeds and the Word of God” (June 2006)
– Creation Corner: “Of Divine Stills and Living Water” (July 2006) 
– Creation Corner: “Aspens and the Body of Christ” (Aug. 2006)
– Creation Corner: “God's Majestic Mountains” (Sept. 2006)
– Creation Corner: “Metamorphosis” (Oct. 2006)
– Creation Corner: “The Heart of the Matter” (Nov. 2006) 
– Creation Corner: “True Light” (Jan. 2007)
– Creation Quotes
– Biblical Principles
– Five Misconceptions
– Who and Whose is Behemoth
– God's Pleasure
– Respecting Creation
– Doo-doo-ronomy
– Hymns of Creation
– Cumulative Impacts
– Caring for Creation: Service to the Poor

Creation Corner

Aspens and the Body of Christ

By Jim Doenges
Monthly Series: August 2006

Unlike the varied palette of fall colors in  most of the eastern United States, the autumn deciduous scene in subalpine zone of the Rocky Mountains is dominated by single color — yellow. That yellow is from the dominant — and sometimes only — deciduous tree in that elevation zone: the quaking aspen.

God puts on an awesome color show! Ever wonder why the aspen leaves turn golden yellow in the fall? The answer lies in the preceding color — green. The green color of leaves comes from a plant pigment called chlorophyll. The color of chlorophyll masks the colors of other pigments that are also present in the leaves. Chlorophyll allows for photosynthesis to occur in Kingdom Plantae:

In the fall, the shorter length of the days causes aspens to stop producing chlorophyll. Other pigments are unmasked and we see the beautiful yellows and reds. This is all God’s doing; He created the earth and ordained the seasons.

The brief growing season in the mountains often prevents aspen seeds from germinating. So, their lateral roots send up vertical shoots that form new trees. Sometimes a large network of aspens can be produced — all genetically identical and interconnected. Some scientists believe the largest living things are huge stands of interconnected aspens. However, the largest living organism does not belong to the Plant Kingdom — it belongs to the Kingdom of God: the BODY OF CHRIST!

There are over a billion Christians, and our combined mass easily outweighs the largest aspen stands!  Just as an aspen stand is connected together by roots that are out of sight, Christians are also connected together by something not visible to the eye — the Holy Spirit, and every Christian comes from a single root — Jesus Christ.

Unlike photosynthesis above, the equation for a changed life in the Kingdom of God looks like:

Instead of just existing on bread and water, members of the Body can live abundantly through Christ Jesus, nourished by living water and the bread of life! And unlike aspen clones, each of us has been uniquely created and gifted in order to edify the Body and glorify God!

The Word