Resilient Stars

“Therefore those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the word.” [Acts 8:4]

Starfish are the most popular creatures in tidal pools, especially among children. There are about 1,600 starfish species that are found everywhere in the oceans – from the deep, deep sea to the shallow reefs. They can range in size from half an inch full grown to 26 inches across. Starfish are unique, brainless creatures having no front, back, head, or tail, and can move in any direction without turning. Rather than using muscles to move their hundreds of tiny “tube feet,” starfish use a complex hydraulic system to travel around or cling to rocks.

Because starfish are slow, they prey on slow-moving or stationary creatures, or scavenge dead ones. Starfish have a good sense of smell to sniff out any edible tidbits, and they can be voracious eaters, devouring up to three times their body weight in a day! Young starfish may eat 10 times their body weight daily! They will eat just about anything too, and this is the reason we don’t usually see starfish in home aquariums.

To eat an oyster or a clam, the starfish patiently pries the two shells apart to open a tiny gap, whereupon it performs a unique feat. It turns its stomach inside out, inverting it out of its mouth into the clam, to release digestive juices and absorb the resulting soup! After the meal, it inverts its stomach back into its body. Starfish usually have five arms, but a few have less, and some species have as many as 50 arms! They are also famous for their amazing ability to regenerate, or re-grow, a lost arm. One common Pacific starfish can cast off an arm without any part of the central body attached, and that arm will slowly grow into a complete new starfish. In fact, some starfish reproduce by purposely pulling one arm off. Years ago, inexperienced pearl divers would hack up the starfish that were feasting on the oysters, not realizing they were only making more starfish.

In like manner, the caesars once tried to exterminate the Christian church by killing Christians. But the more they persecuted them, the more the church grew. The Bible says “those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the word” (Acts 8:4). Evil could not suppress the good news. Because of their deep devotion to Jesus, Christians were willing to suffer temporarily, knowing they would live again with Him in His kingdom of love.