Refuge

We were cleaning the siding of our house. Weird? Maybe…

It depends on the level of homeowner stewardship you desire. I don’t like to repaint. So, cleaning the siding is an easy task. It took about an hour and the chore was complete, just in time for lunch.

Cleaning the siding of the house produced a surprise. It was photogenic and unexpected; a Copes gray tree frog was hiding behind our house number. It’s a square of granite with our house number on it. It leans against the ledge on lowest board of siding. The number used to hang on our house before we needed to reside it. Now it leans on the siding. Smile, perhaps it will encourage you to know my homeowner stewardship is not high when it comes to a house number.

Which is good for that frog. Our house number was its refuge.

Don’t scoff. A large Cope’s might be 2 inches in length. There are many things in the Cope’s environment that would not blink an eye to eat it. Raccoons, birds, even the squirrels in our yard will eat a Copes.

 The photos tell you this one was gray. Other Copes Tree frogs can be a bright green. If you held one in your hand and gently stretched its hind legs out, you would find the inner surface orange in color. But you would be wise to wash your hands after touching one. A Copes tree frog’s skin secretes a substance irritating to human eyes and noses. This little fact also makes them less palatable, but no less in need of refuge.

They eat the spiders, crickets, slugs, snails, pill bugs and the small invertebrates it shares habitat with. It may even find its refuge a place of concealment from which it can grab a spider using our house for its hunting ground.

Copes gray tree frogs are named after Mr. Copes. Edward D. Copes (1840-1897) was a herpetologist. They study reptiles and frogs, like the Copes gray.

My wife found the Copes gray. She moved the house number, there it was. She “encouraged” the Copes gray to leave. It moved away on the ledge the number was on. My wife went in the house. When she came back a few minutes later, she checked the number. I heard her exclaim, “it went back!”

Smart frog. I moved the house number just long enough to photograph our amphibian neighbor. It used its suction cup feet to climb the siding. After the photos, it was undisturbed.

We humans need a refuge. Many days life is not easy. Without a refuge we are exposed, even in danger.

There is a refuge. God. He is our fortress, He is our stronghold, our Chief Defender in trouble and safety. He made the sun, moon and stars. He holds the earth over nothing. He knows all. He is all powerful. He is everywhere present. Can God really be your refuge? Try Him.  He waits for you ask Him!

“For you are my safe refuge, a fortress where my enemies cannot reach me.” Psalm 61:3