QUARANTINE BLOG # 297

January 21, 2021

The Xerces Society is a non-profit environmental organization that focuses on the conservation of invertebrates considered to be essential to biological diversity and ecosystem health. The name is in honor of the extinct California butterfly, the Xerces blue.

An annual winter count by the Society recorded fewer than 2,000 Western monarch  butterflies, a massive decline from the tens of thousands tallied in recent years and the millions that clustered in trees from Northern California’s Marin County to San Diego County in the south in the 1980s.

Western monarch butterflies head south from the Pacific Northwest to California each winter, returning to the same places and even the same trees, where they cluster to keep warm.  

In December, federal officials declared the monarch butterfly “a candidate” for threatened or endangered status but said no action would be taken for several years because of the many other species awaiting that designation.

Let’s see.  2,000 left this year.  How many years do they have to wait?  Ooops.  Too long.

👉  Italian police have recovered a 500-year-old copy of Leonardo da Vinci’s 16th century “Salvator Mundi” painting of Jesus Christ that was stolen from a Naples church during the pandemic.  The discovery was made when Naples police working on a bigger operation found the painting hidden in an apartment.

The painting is a copy of the “Salvator Mundi” (Savior of the World) by Leonardo that sold for a record $450 million at a Christie’s auction in 2017.  The copy, attributed to the Leonardo school but not the Renaissance artist himself, had been housed in a small museum in a side chapel of the Basilica of San Domenico Maggiore in Naples, which had been closed during the coronavirus pandemic.  Police said the discovery was particularly satisfying “because we resolved a case before it was created.”  The priests did not realize it was gone.

👉  Things are not at their best here in the U.S., but you could be in Thailand.  A court in Thailand on Tuesday sentenced a former civil servant – on the right in the adjacent photograph – to a record prison term of 43 years and six months for breaching the country’s strict law on insulting or defaming the monarchy.  The woman, identified only by her first name, Anchan, was found guilty on 29 counts of sharing audio clips deemed critical of the monarchy.  The court initially announced her sentence as 87 years, but reduced it by half because she pleaded guilty to the offenses.

👉  Here are some observations from the “Perfessor.”

👉  President Joe Biden on his first day in office signed a range of executive actions, including implementing a national mask mandate on federal property.  The actions are intended to signal a more aggressive approach to the coronavirus pandemic.  While the new president will take specific aim at some of former President Trump’s actions, “his focus is on moving the country forward.”

👉  The Beach Boys were formed in Hawthorne, California in 1961.  The group’s original lineup consisted of brothers Brian, Dennis, and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and friend Al Jardine.  Distinguished by their vocal harmonies, adolescent themes, and musical ingenuity, they are one of the most influential acts of the rock era.  Today the jukebox is playing three tunes for a quarter, so here are three of their hot rod songs.

First, “Fun, Fun, Fun.”

And “Little Deuce Coup.”

And “409.”

👉   “Evidence of Prodigal Love” by David Sisler

At a little home in Cana of Galilee, there were six stone waterpots. At the command of Jesus the water in each one of them turned into the finest wine to ever touch human lips. The six waterpots each held between twenty and thirty gallons of water. That would mean between 120 and 180 gallons of wine. No wedding party on earth could possibly drink that many gallons of wine.

When the grace of Jesus comes to us there is enough for all. No need on earth can exhaust the grace of our Lord. There is a superabundance of it. God’s grace is more than sufficient for every need. The story of the turning of water into wine does not tell us about something Jesus did once and never does again, but of something which He is always doing.

In this first miracle we have a fascinating glimpse of divine love. One stone water jar would have satisfied the largest marriage company. Jesus transformed all six pots because God gives with a lavishness that is staggering. It is the lavishness of love.

When our supplies run short, we need to remember that everything we have, all of our blessings, come from God’s hand. When we link up to God, God’s supply links up to us. When Christ is near, the Supplier of our every need is near.

You may, at this moment, not be in the best of health. You may be facing a difficulty which seems ready to crush you. There may be pressures on your job that seem to have no end. Problems in your family break your heart. And in the midst of this pain, you ask, “Why, God?”

Remember that little couple in Cana? They were on the verge of want. They did not know that their supply was about to run out. But Jesus was there! And at His touch their need was supplied.

Jesus is still the same. Your problems may be about to overwhelm you, but they will never overwhelm Him. No difficulties can baffle Him. His resources are inexhaustible. Ask Him to help you. He is ready, right now!

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