Life in the Desert

By

Christiaan VandenHeuvel

I was in the Middle East a few weeks back and had an opportunity to spend some time in the Judean desert. Its rocky, barren, windy and desolate environment is not suited for much. People, plants and animals are quickly faced with an all consuming quest for survival. Nothing but survival.

Interestingly, camels are perfectly designed for life in a desert environment. Its feet are wide and unusually padded, perfect for sandy or rocky paths. It can drink and store over 20 gallons of water at one time. None of this water is stored in its hump or humps as commonly believed, but are huge fat deposits instead. The water gets stored in the camel’s blood stream, perfectly situated to keep a camel hydrated for up to three weeks. Even more amazingly, while all other mammals have round red blood cells, the camel’s blood cells are....

“Sometimes doing the right thing is the hardest thing to do”

By Christian VandenHeuvel

Joe was one of those momma’s boys. As one of the youngest of a large family, he gave definition to the term. His life was a life of privilege. He was babied and coddled his whole upbringing. He was not required to participate in household chores and his involvement in the family business was minimal. He bypassed all the apprentice positions and, as a teenager, landed a supervisory post, overseeing the work of his (in some cases, much) older brothers.

As if the special gifts that their father would give to Joe weren’t enough, the kid also had