Jesus slept here

HERE WE GO again. It seems yet another miraculous "sign" of Jesus has been unearthed. This time, landscapers found the "shape of the cross" with a Jesus figurine embedded inside the trunk of a pine tree the crew had just chopped down at an Escondido church in California. Needless to say, good Christian folks are hyperventilating over the blessed discovery. A virtual gold rush is on to buy pieces of the wood. Naturally, the press -- evidently taking a brief break from relentlessly hyping Black Friday -- is tripping all over itself in the rush to feed the frenzy with big headlines. Jim Rants, the boss at Star Landscaping, ranted to the local Fox News station: "It's God and Mother Nature working together." No, Mr. Rants, it's tree sap that arbitrarily formed into a post-crucifixion shape familiar to a hominid species that once believed that the Earth was flat. Amazing. It's hard to fathom why people cling so desperately to the belief that the universe (and God) revolves only around us. Does God have nothing better to do than randomly implant "signs" of His existence for our accidental discovery? You know, like the image in the sandwich below:

Somehow, methinks the Almighty is a tad bigger than what our oft-silly reptilian brains can possibly comprehend. It seems to me that the existence of the Escondido pine tree itself -- once a tiny seedling that somehow flowered into a magnificent biological organism over decades -- is a precious example of life that is nothing short of miraculous. Indeed, our own human biology and self-awareness (a blessing and a curse) is even more miraculous. Why invent sea monsters or imaginary crosses? Isn't life in all of its glorious manifestations proof enough of God's presence as He orchestrates the boundless symphonies of Mother Nature?