An Atheist Forest Ranger

by Janna Powers

“Here, beaver dam. I’m supposed to find you. Come to Landon! Boy, you beavers sure do make your dams hard to find. And this Oregon rain doesn’t help either. I suppose you beavers are staying nice and cozy in your lodge. But couldn’t you mark it with a flag or something?” mumbled Landon Hardy as he walked through the Willamette National Forest. Landon was a high school intern from Butte, Montana who had come to Oregon to study beavers under the supervision of Forest Director Kyle Johansen. Kyle was a friendly man who knew almost everything there is to know about the forest and its creatures. Landon liked Kyle immensely; however, in everything Kyle did, he pointed out how God created those baby cougars or how He painted that butterfly. Landon ignored Kyle’s continuous mention of God, mostly because he wanted nothing to do with God. He often challenged Kyle on his beliefs. Every single time though, Kyle gave reasonable answers – even Landon admitted that. Still, Landon shut God out of his life and tried to retain his curiosity when Kyle talked about God’s relationship with people.

Landon was grateful for his broken-in hiking shoes as he continued walking along the McKenzie River. Suddenly he saw it. A huge beaver dam! Landon estimated it to be 70 feet in length. Taking out his notebook and pencil from his backpack, he recorded the obvious things about the dam. The lodge was the tallest part. All parts were thickly layered with tree branches and mud. The dam created a fairly large pond, now home to other animals like ducks, frogs, snapping turtles, and fish. One of the beavers surfaced on top of the water and swam to the edge of the pond. He lumbered across the grass, beginning to gnaw on some tree bark. Landon knew, of course, that beavers do not eat the whole piece of tree bark. They eat the inner layer called the cambium.

Landon finished writing his immediate and close-up observations. He put his backpack on and hiked back to the ranger station. Kyle was there, doing some paperwork while eating a sandwich.

“Say, you’re back! Have a sandwich – there’s peanut butter and jelly, your favorite. How’d it go, Landon?” asked Kyle after quickly swallowing a bite of his sandwich.

Landon chomped into his sandwich, coming close to squirting the grape jelly on his shirt. “Oh, pretty good! I saw one beaver come out of the water. It ate some tree bark, took some additional pieces, went back to the water, and dove under with the sticks in its teeth. Why would it do that? Wouldn’t the sticks get really soggy?” wondered Landon.

“Actually no, the sticks are carried down and stored underwater. That keeps them fresh and ready for the beaver to salvage year-round for food. They store quite a few sticks before winter, but since it’s summer, they don’t store as much,” explained Kyle.

“Ah, so similar to other animals storing food for winter. Only underwater! How cool!” grinned Landon.

“Yep, another unique work of God to keep His creation fed.”

Landon rolled his eyes. “You and your God-things, Mr. Kyle. How can you have such admiration of an invisible, non-existent God?”

Kyle smiled. “Well Landon, true, He is invisible to the typical human eye. But non-existent? Hmm. You’ve taken biology before, right, and reviewed the human DNA?”

“Sure, two years ago,” replied Landon.

“Then I’m sure you saw the complexity of it – how it has an entire language of its own that scientists are still working on decoding, and how key it is as for determining the traits of a person. To me, that demands a need for an Intelligent Designer. I believe it’s too intricate to have exploded or evolved into existence. The Bible says we are all uniquely created and loved by God. The complexity of human DNA supports that, don’t you think?” Kyle asked.

“I…I suppose,” said Landon hesitantly. As he said this, he realized how thin and weak his defenses against God’s existence had become since he arrived in Oregon. How terrible of him! What would his Atheist father think? He thanked Kyle for the sandwich and trudged back to his cabin. Flopping onto his bunk, Landon thought about his day. Those beavers will prove to be very interesting for studying, I think. I wonder where they got the idea to build dams with mud and branches? No other animal that I know of does that. I bet Kyle would know the answer. He knows nearly everything. Except for correct beliefs about the supernatural. He even believes God loves us to the point where His love can’t be properly described. But how can a God who allows evil in the world be loving? I’ll bet Kyle knows. Or thinks he does.

With the resolve to ask Kyle later about that, Landon left his cabin to join the rest of the interns up in the treehouse for a presentation on the state flower – the Oregon grape.