Stampin' Sisters in Christ challenge 42 . . . living things

Happy Sunday stampers! Its time for another challenge from Stampin' Sisters in Christ! This week's hostess is the lovely (and young! :)) Kathy who selected this verse from Genesis 1:26 "And God said, 'Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth." Her challenge is to make a card/project that has some kind of animal on it. It can be a fish, bird, land mammal or a creeping bug.

Our sponsor this week is Wild Flower Kids Stamps, which is donating five digital stamps of the winner's choice from their shop located here.

I took Kathy at her word and decided to use some 'creeping bugs' on my card. There are a lot of different types of bugs that I think are pretty cool. I think bees are amazing. I like caterpillars and butterflies (which in my opinion almost don't qualify as a bug) and dragonflies and snails. The largest snail I ever saw was crawling in my aunt's garden in Bavaria when we visited her one summer. I didn't agree with her suggestion that I should have captured it for dinner, but I think it probably takes a few more than one to make a meal. (Yuck!)

I think this verse that Kathy chose has a lot to say to us. First and foremost God created everything that we see and the variety and diversity of the various life forms and their intricate workings are amazing. But where I'd like to focus is that word dominion. It means rule or authority. But if you dig deeper into those words, hand in hand with authority comes responsibility.

One of the harsh realities of living in a fallen world is not only what we as humans are capable of doing to one another, to those who are also made in God's image, but also what we do to the world God created. I know that probably everyone who reads this post will have seen the heartbreaking photos of the wildlife from the Gulf of Mexico, soaked in oil. What we can't see immediately is the effects of this massive oil spill on the undersea creatures, the fish and the wildlife that live in the depths of the ocean, but scientists assure us that the effects are devastating and far-reaching. While as Christians our first commission is to spread the gospel message, we have other responsibilities too as laid out in the bible. In addition to caring for people--the poor, sick and needy--here is clear instruction in the first chapter of Genesis for all of us to take care of the world around us.

I don't live near the Gulf, I cannot personally help wipe down a pelican. But we each make daily decisions regarding our response to other people and about the resources we use; what we are putting into the air and water. Keeping that verse in mind, what area of influence has God put in front of you, right where you live, where you can make positive choices and decisions in keeping with the bible?

Hope you can play along this week. Thanks for looking!

Stamps: Mark's Finest Papers 'Blackberries, Sunflowers and Bees,' Sweet and Sassy stamps (sentiment)
Ink: black stazon, gold craft
Paper: Stampin' Up DP, random green scraps, yellow gingham, PTI cream
Other: gold pen, nestability, glitter, yellow gingham ribbon, cuttlebug border embossing folders, PTI lemon buttons