One of my favorite times during our Florida Keys Adventure is when I get to teach about mangrove ecology. We gather the students up inside a mangrove forest and I teach about how each of these plants were specifically designed for their saltwater environment, and how God created each of them to rid themselves of the salt in their own unique way. The best is when I get to the part about the red mangrove. The black and white mangrove has specific mechanisms that are used to excrete the salt out of the plant, but the red mangrove doesn’t. If you look up on a red mangrove you will notice that it will be peppered with leaves that are turning yellow. This happens because all the salt is focused into one leaf. That one leaf takes the salt of the plant upon itself, dies, and falls off (taking the salt with it) so that the rest of the plant can live. Hmm, sounds kind of like something I’ve heard before.

He is the one who took God's wrath against our sins upon himself and brought us into fellowship with God; and he is the forgiveness for our sins, and not only ours but all the world's. 1 John 2:2 (Living)

That yellow leaf is an example of what we as believers should be. We are supposed to put the needs of others above our own. This is just another example of how God reveals His truth through the magnificence and complexity of His Creation. So I leave you with this: Be the yellow leaf.

-Tate