‘HISSY’!

                          ‘Hissing Cockroach’ photo by Alambes on Wikimedia Commons.

‘Hissy’ is a nickname for the ‘Hissy Cockroach’ of Madagascar, an island off the coast of Africa.

Don’t you just love cockroaches?  NO!  But this one is special.  It is a friend of the rainforests of Madagascar.  Hissy’s are ‘detritivores’!  They eat fallen fruit and leaf litter and recycle their nutrients back into the soil.  (I could sure use a few here in Oklahoma where about a million oak tree leaves litter my yard every year!).  

Unfortunately, these particular cockroaches need warm temperatures and high humidity year around to survive.  It gets too cold here.

These are not your normal cockroaches!  These guys are big!  According to the ‘Cockroach Guy’, they can be up to 3-3 1/2 inches long!  (See photo above).  Fortunately, they do not fly, will not invade your home and don’t bite. 

Believe it or not, people keep them as pets probably due to their tendency to ‘hiss’ when you pick them up.  They hiss by expelling air through their breathing holes.  Their hiss is used as a defense mechanism, a means of communication and courtship.  Male Hissy’s fight tooth and nail to show their superiority during courtship.  The loser is the one who ends up flat on its back.  Apparently hissing is a major part of this courtship ritual.  I wouldn’t doubt that the term ‘Hissy Fit’ ‘a sudden period of uncontrolled and silly anger like a child’s (Wikipedia) came from them.      

Keep in mind that there are strict rules regarding having them as pets.  You can read all about them at CockroachGuy.com.  

Another interesting fact.  The females bear live young!  They keep their eggs within their body in what is called an ‘ootheca’ or egg sack for 30 to 60 days until the eggs hatch and then give birth to 15 to 40 live babies!

These extraordinary cockroaches made me think of all those things that are going on in this world that we aren’t even aware of.  I had never heard of these cockroaches before and here they are caring for our rainforest’s ecosystem!!!  How many other critters are out there at this very moment caring for some 431 world ecosystems identified by ScienceDirect!  It’s just another reminder that there is a God who designed and maintains this mind boggling, amazing world and we should give thanks.

And how about all the people who work behind the scenes to care for us.  Our ‘hero’s, health care workers, firemen and police.  As we speak, hospice workers are caring for my dying brother in Seattle.  How can we thank them enough?

And how about God Himself!  As K.P. Yohannan, an Indian Orthodox Christian prelate who was the founder and president of GFA World formerly known as Gospel for Asia is quoted as saying, ‘With all the decision making in my life, I often have to pause, look up and remember God is the One working behind the scenes.  I say to myself, “He is able to work all things out for good.  I just need to submit to Him and His ways.  I can rest.”

Or as Louie Giglio, Pastor of Passion City Church and the original visionary of the Passion Movement says, ‘Even if we don’t see it, God is always working underneath the surface, behind the scenes and orchestrating His plans and purposes.’ 

‘And we know that in all things (right now) God is working for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.’  Romans 8:28.

In fact, at this very moment Jesus is praying for you!  ‘Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding (praying) for us.’  Romans 8:34.

And He has sent us His Holy Spirit to help us, to be with us and in us!
Jesus said, ‘I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever–the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.’  
John 14:16-17. NKJV.

And all this behind the scenes!

‘Many, O Lord my God, are Your wonderful works Which You have done;
And Your thoughts toward us Cannot be recounted to You in order;
If I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered.’
Psalm 40:5.