By A. Ray Lee   

 Columnist 

After a day of introducing Reverend James Barkley and his wife Marian to the uniqueness of rural North Alabama, we were seated in the den of the pastorium discussing what it was like to be a visiting pastor in a different culture. Effie and I had experienced much the same when we had been their guests for two weeks in Scotland. Although Effie and I both held English majors from college and loved the romantic aura associated with Scotland and its people, we had discovered there was much that could be learned only by experiencing it personally.  

As night began to settle the sounds of spring began to come alive in the grass and nearby woods. Having lived in the country much of my life, those sounds did not register in my consciousness. But Jim had been alerted earlier in the day that “something was afoot” when a big Alabama mosquito had bitten him. He had been concerned about the itch and welt that appeared and lingered. I had assured him it was nothing more than a Scottish midge on steroids that had bitten him but I am not sure he believed me.  

Suddenly he paused in his conversation and asked “What is that sound?” I did not hear anything out of the ordinary. The refrigerator was humming as it often did. But he was adamant that was not the sound that had caught his attention; there was something outside.  

It was a still night and I could not hear anything swinging in the wind. But as I listened more closely to the sounds of nature’s symphony, suddenly the cricket section came through loud and clear. About that time Jim said, “There it is again.” The sound was harmless to me, but the memory of the mosquito bite and the buzzing around his head was still in his consciousness. 

I have wondered this week what his reaction would be to the sounds of the cicadas. Those of us who l grew up in the midst of nature are aware that God reveals himself in his creation. There is a reason for each of his creatures. But I must confess I do not yet understand all his purposes for the screaming cousins of locusts. In scripture, swarms of locusts are often seen as being God’s instruments of judgment upon his people when they stray from him. They could destroy a barley harvest in a few hours before moving on. Maybe they had other uses. The Bible says that John the Baptist lived on a diet of locusts and honey. We read that in some third world countries they remain a staple food today.   

If the resident coyotes around here love the taste of them as much as Sophia, they certainly have had two weeks of feasting. 

Laura tells me they are a source of protein. I need protein in my diet to sustain my strength, but I’ll get mine somewhere else.