THE CATERPILLAR MARATHON
In 1963, Jim and I were pretty settled into our first real home together. I was pregnant and life was good! One sunny afternoon we pulled up in front of our home and after getting out of the car we stood amazed starring at the unprecedented event taking place. I can’t tell you how far and wide the event was unfolding, because our eyes were fixed upon the whole width of our property and the roof of our house and garage.

As though to a distant drummer we saw hundreds of every size, make and color of caterpillar, marching across the width of our house, garage and the surrounding yard, coming towards us as though we were the drum majors waiting for our signal to turn and lead the march.

I remember our wanting to get inside our house to see if there were caterpillars inside but to get there we had to squish many caterpillars along the way. There was no room to walk without squishing the caterpillars. Thankfully, we heard no sounds nor saw any caterpillars.

The marathon didn’t last long! Behind our home was a huge vacant lot that spanned the whole track of homes we lived in. Where the marathon began we did not know and where it ended we never heard. However, we figured they climbed our retaining wall in the back, crawled up over the trees and bushes right over our house, crossed the street and over those houses and possibly ended up in the ocean which was about 3 miles to the right of us and about 10 miles straight ahead of us. To get there from either direction, the caterpillars had their work cut out for them.

The interesting thing is, I never read about it in the papers, nor did I hear anything about it on the news. No one wrote a book about it and I have never heard anyone talk about it except for Jim and me. Now why is that? Were we the only ones to witness such a phenomenon? If so why? Perhaps it was the beginning of global warming! Perhaps it was a confined event!

I like to think they were headed for a little park that was in the middle of our housing development and they were preparing to begin their metamorphous into butterflies. There are many plants that caterpillars love and hundreds of them will attack such plants, eat the leaves and then hang from their cocoons until the time is ripe and they become free to fly away for yet another adventure, but this time, in the sky as butterflies.

Nature is amazing and yet we take it all for granted. The world around us is such a spectacular panoramic display and yet we say; "Oh hum"! We learn about the caterpillar and the butterfly in school and we teach about the metamorphosis that takes place, in Sunday school. This process completely befuddles the evolutionists! There is no explanation for it except for the great designer and creator, God Almighty!

This metamorphous that happens with these two creatures, is the same that we experience when in 2 Corinthians 5:17 it says; "Therefore, if any one is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, behold, the new has come". We are like the caterpillar, the old creation, becoming the new creation, the butterfly. Our natural bodies become spiritual! More incredible
than the caterpillar becoming a butterfly is that when our natural body dies the corruption and mortality attached to the mortal body is removed. 1 Corinthians 15:51-52 says; "We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed." Furthermore, it says; "It is important that we remain steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord". Personally, I don’t care for caterpillars but I love to watch the butterflies, don’t you? Our God is Awesome! By Jane Ann Crenshaw 1/29/09