ABOUT ME

Ophisaurus ventralis, the eastern glass lizard.

I realize that much of the information I post on this site is somewhat radical. I realize that many Christians will feel I am an extremist on certain geological and environmental issues. You might be asking, “What made this guy so weird?” Ultimately God made me like I am, but here’s a list of some of the people who influenced my development as a nature nut.

When I was a little bugger (someone who has an innate fascination with invertebrates at a very young age), I often went out in search of the “creepy crawlies” in my neighborhood. While I certainly had a natural tendency for nature, several key individuals spurred my interest in wildlife on. Primarily, my Dad gave me the foundational love for the great outdoors. For nearly all my early childhood special moments in nature, my Dad was at my side. To this day he is the only one willing to go with me when I do crazy things. From standing in the middle of a swamp listening to frogs sing to multiday backpacking trips, Dad is there.

Of course, I had my fair share of influence from popular culture. John Acorn the Nature Nut had a massive influence on my life. As I grew up, and I became aware of various conservation and environmental issues, he kept me from sinking into the obsessive depressive state that many well-meaning wildlife enthusiasts had fallen into. He had a genuine enthusiasm for wildlife, but he kept the focus on just how cool some critters really are. He convinced me that the simple love and fascination of wild things is the key to any conservation effort. People won’t listen when we tell them it’s wrong to drain wetlands, but if they come to love the wetlands they will want to stop polluting them.

Another influential figure early on in my life was wildlife conservationist Steve Irwin. I never viewed Steve as a fanatic. I never thought he did anything exceptionally crazy. He was the product of an overflowing barrel of passion for wildlife. People would role their eyes when he caught a poisonous snake as if he were an idiot. But he had a connection with the animals he dealt with. Sadly, Steve had a fatal encounter with a stingray while filming “Oceans Deadliest.” It was one of the saddest moments of my life. People were wagging their heads and saying, “I told you so…” but, personally, I wouldn’t want to die any other way. Better to die doing what you love than hooked up to some machine in a hospital. Steve’s passion has overflowed into many individuals, including myself.

Later in my life, as I encountered my teen years, things began to get difficult. I forsook everything I had been taught and began exploring a variety of faith. The hypocrisy among people who called themselves Christians pushed me away from that religion and I actively considered Islam and Buddhism. Thankfully, there was another person who was very influential in my life at this time. Ken Ham’s ministry of Answers in Genesis and related ones like Creation Ministries International and Institute for Creation Research saved me from falling through the cracks of the backslidden church. Every time I considered some other possibility, the evidence for creation pulled me back. Eventually I realized that, while all the evidence pointed to the Bible, I could not prove it was true through science alone. I had to put faith in the Word. Praise the Lord, I did, and it is no surprise that with my faith-based worldview, I have yet to find something that did not make sense in light of the Bible.