God Is So Creative

Yesterday, after attending Aimee & Jason's church, we drove out of the valley into the mountains that surround Medford. We followed the Rogue River for quite a while and took a short hike to some beautiful water falls. Then we stopped by a fish hatchery on the Rogue River where salmon are collected and their eggs harvested. We didn't realize until we got there that the Chinook salmon run has just started. Chinook can be 50 pounds or larger and are spectacular fish. We watched several fish jump in the river and watched them run up the fish ladder in the hatchery.

At the hatchery there is the story of salmon that run this river. At different times of the year, Chinook, Coho and Steelhead salmon return to their birthplace. The amazing thing is that after these fish hatch, they go down the river to the ocean. They live in the ocean for several years and then find the exact river and start their spawning run. Not only do they find the exact river, they return to the exact spot in the river. When you consider this detail, you must acknowledge Gods creativity. Even though I am a fisherman, and have fished for salmon in one of Oregon's rivers outside of Corvallis, I was glad to see that none of the salmon fisherman that were fishing near the hatchery caught any of these magnificent fish. For the moment, all of us were mesmerized by the idea of what they do and why they were back to the hatchery. God is so creative.