Photo by Paul Venturo When I was in high school, we had a cheer that went, “You’ve got to want it to win it, and we want it bad . . .” I...

Want to Listen? Tides. They suck water out to the deep, out of sounds, and through inlets; they expose the rocks encrusted with life; they surge back up over land. All this pulling, surging, moving of tons of water, is controlled by the moon, which is controlled by God. It is He Who keeps life going—and we get to study how He decided to do it!   Tides are caused by the gravitational pull of the moon (gravity is what pulls a book onto the floor when you drop it). The earth has

Want to Listen? Once, there were two kings and two kingdoms. The first king was good. His kingdom was good too; his people loved him, and he loved his people. The other king was not good. His kingdom was full of darkness and evil. He hated goodness and light, and so he hated the good king and his kingdom. This king wanted to conquer the good kingdom. He wanted to make it as dark and evil as his own so that he could be the king of both kingdoms. The evil king had a huge army.

Photo by Jenny Venturo It’s inevitable. We have an amazing day packed with adventure. But the day must end—and we must clean up. It is...

Photo by Paul Venturo What would you say if someone asked you how to get to Heaven? Have you ever thought about that? Pause for a moment...

Want to Listen? While staying at Schoodic Peninsula in Acadia National Park, Maine, we saw quite a few animals. Keep reading to learn about some of them. Pollock are a cod species that live in the waters off of New England. Pollock live in schools over rocks and sometimes feed at the surface. A pollock’s diet consists of fish, especially sand eels. We discovered this when we were fishing from the rocks at Schoodic. Hundreds of pollock were involved in a huge feeding frenzy, t

Photo by Jenny Venturo I look above me--mist. I look to my right--mist. To my left? More mist. Looking down at my feet is my only...

This is a sextant, a tool used for navigation Crash! Another monster wave loomed towering over the boat, then hurtled down and swept over it, engulfing it in ice cold seawater. Then another rose up under it, lifting it high into the black sky and flinging it down again into the depths below, where it was only buffeted again from the side by yet another furious wave. The year was 1916. The tiny boat and the 5 men on board were in the most treacherous waters in all the world—Dr

Photo by Jenny Venturo My last devotional  was a bit of an introduction to a series on the sinfulness of mankind. If that sounds like an...

©2025 by Joshua Venturo “There’s a Daddy-long-legs eating my pepperoni!” That’s what Caleb said as we sat by the Glen Ellis river in New Hampshire, eating our dinner of “pizza rice.” Caleb quickly snatched his pepperoni away from this lanky thief. As he said, “I want my pepperoni.” The Eastern Daddy-long-legs lives east of the Rocky Mountains in the US. In the evening, Daddy-long-legs will climb up trees in search of extra heat from the sun. They can be found clustered togeth

Photo by Daniel Venturo You step into the ice-cold water. You wonder whether you really want to do this as the water rises about you. You...

Photo by Jenny Venturo Part 1: The Holiness of God God is holy. Maybe you’re a Christian and have known that all your life. Maybe you’ve...

Wolves, lions, bears, sharks—these are all ferocious predators that hunt down prey. With their strong jaws and sharp claws, they are experts at catching other animals for food. You probably know about a lot of predators. If you have read some of our previous posts, you will know that the Northern Pike  is a fish that is a nasty predator. You also learned that the ichneumon wasp  is a fascinating creature that preys on insects and spiders. Can you think of any other predators?

Photo by Jenny Venturo Sin is an uncomfortable topic in today’s society. It always has been. The religious leaders’ reaction to Jesus’...

Which fish has huge scales, can survive in polluted water, and eats berries? Which fish grows to 100 pounds and lives across the country? You’re about to find out. While we were in New York, on Lake Ontario, Daniel caught a carp with his hands. We think something was wrong with him, because he did not speed away like most carp. We were excited to have caught him with our hands! Carp are large fish that are native to Europe and Asia but were introduced to the US. There are 3 m

Photo by Jenny Venturo “There’s a storm coming, just so you know.” - lady we should have listened to   “Guys!” I looked around at...

A small amphibian steps onto a bright green leaf. His gray body stands out against the green. A perfect target for predators. Very slowly, the gray fades out and is replaced with brownish, and then dark green. When the change is complete, he is very hard to spot on the leaf. He is green. What is this small amphibian? Treefrogs live in the eastern United States. The Common Gray Treefrog lives throughout the East, but the Green Treefrog can only be seen south of Pennsylvania. T

Photo by Jenny Venturo Little does Dad know that an Amos Situation is about to strike. Maybe you are familiar with the Scripture passage...

Artwork by Daniel Venturo Practical application should always be a natural outflow of Bible study. Now that you have studied what God’s...

At first glance, it might look like a huge stinger that would make a big welt on your skin. But you don’t have to worry about this thing stinging you. Or do you? . . .   The ichneumon wasp is a large wasp that lives worldwide. There are many different species of ichneumon wasp, but one species, the Giant Ichneumon grows to 3 inches long, plus a 4 3/8-inch ovipositor. Most ichneumons do not sting, but some are able to inject venom through their ovipositor! The Giant Ichneumon

Photo by Paul Venturo Sometimes the boys and I walk back from the bathhouse in the dark. And sometimes we forget to bring a light. It is...

All night long, the storm raged. Wind howled in the treetops. It whipped over the water of the lake, ruffling it into turmoil. It ripped the leaves off the trees and scattered them everywhere. It tore tree branches loose and flung them onto the ground. Throughout all this uproar, two little baby squirrels were huddled high up in a hole in an enormous tree. With each blast of wind, the great tree shuddered, and the two frightened squirrels cowered and cuddled up closer to each

Photo by Paul Venturo Yes, Icelandic State Park looks pretty "northern" if you get the right angle. Icelandic State Park, way up in the...

Photo by Jenny Venturo Are you starting to develop a more reverent awe for the holiness of God? Over the past few weeks we’ve been...