Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Giant Kelp at the End of Africa

One of the most notable things you see at Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope is the giant brown algae that grows there in great abundance. It is dense and creates its own ecosystem along the shore.

Brenda wanted to go down to the water's edge at the Cape of Good hope, and to do so, we had to walk past a "kelp wrack" to get there.The length and size of the kelp was impressive.
There's a lot of kelp broken free from its anchor and washed to shore.  BUT, there's a lot that lives on to reproduce.
Now we are at the SW most point of the continent.  The southern most point is a 5-6 hour drive to our NW, and then a turn to the South.
The kelp grows amidst tough conditions on this SW coast.  The Southern Atlantic meets the Indian Ocean near here, and Antartica isn't so far away.  As a USN sailor we rounded this point in late 1972 in the roughest seas I have ever seen.  Our 400-foot Guided Missle Destroyer was burying its bow with every wave.

Yet this kelp thrives.  In some ways, it seems a metaphor for the Christian life.  In the calm warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico, where many of us like to vacation, it is is easy to lazily thrive.

In the cold, rough waters of the Cape of Good Hope, it is a lot tougher.  Storms rage, the water is frigid.

When the storms of life assail you, how will you do, how will I do?  James 1:2-4 tells us, "Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters,[a] whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything."  Amen.

The kelp is tested, and so are we.

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