I'm supposed to be up doing work and I thought to myself, for someone who was preaching about having a Sabbath yesterday, I am not giving myself a break. I will probably start working again tonight after Lester's Birthday celebration afterall my work needs to be submitted tomorrow night. Continuation on the topic of the desert, this is something that is facinating me at the moment. Preparing to meet the CGCs later to plan for the rest of the year and for a short discipleship- realising that I have not met them for a long time (this is not good!). Thinking about what I want to share, was brain dead, hence I went to take a shower and am reminded about this thing about the desert. So, i went to do a little research about it and compiled this factsheet:
Definition
Desert is a landscape or region that receives almost no precipitation. Desert can be defined as areas with an average annual precipitation of less than 250 millimetres per year, or as areas where more water is lost by evapo-transpiration than falls as precipitation.
Vegetation in the desert
Deserts have a reputation for supporting very little life, but in reality deserts often have high biodiversity.
Many desert animals (and plants) show especially clear evolutionary adaptations for water conservation or heat tolerance.
Most desert plants are drought- or salt-tolerant. Some store water in their leaves, roots, and stems. Other desert plants have long taproots that penetrate to the water table if present, or have adapted to the weather by having wide-spreading roots to absorb water from a greater area of the ground.
Another adaptation is the development of small, spiny leaves which shed less moisture than deciduous leaves with greater surface areas. The stems and leaves of some plants lower the surface velocity of sand-carrying winds and protect the ground from erosion.
Rain in the Desert
Rain does fall occasionally in deserts, and desert storms are often violent. A record 44 millimeters (1.7 in) of rain once fell within 3 hours in the Sahara. Large Saharan storms may deliver up to 1 millimeter per minute.
Normally dry stream channels, called arroyos or wadis, can quickly fill after heavy rains, and flash floods make these channels dangerous. Though little rain falls in deserts, deserts receive runoff from ephemeral, or short-lived, streams fed considerable quantities of sediment for a day or two.
Although most deserts are in basins with closed or interior drainage, a few deserts are crossed by 'exotic' rivers that derive their water from outside the desert.
The Nile River, the Colorado River, and the Yellow River are exotic rivers that flow through deserts to deliver their sediments to the sea.
Deserts may also have underground springs, rivers, or reservoirs that lie close to the surface, or deep underground.
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What are some of the spiritual implications and parallels that you can draw from all these facts?
When God bring the children of Israel out of Egpyt, they went into this place call the wilderness, in other words, they went out of Egypt which is a desert place to a place which is also a desert and they journey there for 40 years before they eventually enter into the Promised Land which is a place flowing with Milk and Honey. Why is the desert experience important to them?
Keep these questions as food for thoughts and I will update again about my thoughts and analysis on this after I go through with my CGCs.
The desert is such an interesting place, looking forward to visiting Israel in 2011 and also Central Australia in the time to come!
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Counting down to Christmas and Korea Trip in Jan!!! We are really coming to the end of the year. But before that Yanzhi's birthday, WanHong, Jia Wei, Liwei (small) & Wuian's Birthday!! Woo..i have so many December babies in the CG!!
Counting my blessings! Thanking God for great members that He has placed in my lives who are there to encourage and bless me! (: *loves*
Heading out for EXPO to meet the cg! (: its going to be a great service today!
