On Conviction and Seven (Fungi) Wonders of My World.

By Dave Layton

I’m posting this today because in Charlie’s prayer, he lists, “Large organs and great organ music” as one of his “Seven Wonders of the World.” Tomorrow the “Mighty Winds Eclectic Music Concert” honoring him at 3 PM at Kenwood UMC in Cedar Rapids will provide exactly that wonder – with some good saxophone thrown in too.

The picture below is from Charlie’s prayer journal entry for August 4, 1996. His entries weren’t all prayer. Sometimes they read more like a regular diary or reflection on wisdom he received, as in this page. He was now at his second pastorate in Parkersburg IA. He stopped in Calamus (his first pastorate) on his way to visit me and an elderly dying friend who I don’t remember. On the way he visited the new pastor in Calamus who advised him to pray for someone who’d angered him for a long time. 

When I read this entry, some of the wisdom he received rubbed off on me. I wake up often seething at the latest assaults on our democracy, natural resources and most vulnerable inhabitants by those in power. I’m can’t understand how God-fearing friends that I love helped to unleash this unholy juggernaut. Like Charlie, God has convicted me of my anger. Like him, I also need to repent of it in order to free myself from it. 

God’s ways are far beyond ours and his love is for the whole world not just one arrogant nation. Some other nations, like Mexico, are beginning to find their own prosperity as they are forced to cut purse strings to the US and their best workers must now stay in Mexico starting to rebuild their own country’s wealth and independence. Maybe the war in Gaza could only end by a biased US leader handing the victory to Israel. Maybe, if our democracy survives this assault from within, our nation will finally the solidarity to protect ourselves from the lies and misinformation that seek to destroy it. That’s a big if. Maybe instead the US will continue to go the way of destruction like so many former empires. If so, then God wills it. Whatever the future holds, my only true freedom is to put faith in Him and to pray for and love ALL others as Jesus commands. Now on to my “Seven Fungal Wonders.”

1. The Mississippi River and Willow Island right in front of Clinton – specifically the towering black willow trees that can only be found in ancient flood plains. These trees are home to immense amounts of oyster fungus, Hericium, turkey tail and enoki. Also silky Volvaria and shaggymanes can frequently be found there in abundance. Willow Island is vital to my diet and health and like all nature it’s under threat.
2. Huge old oaks, remnants of the oak savannah bordering the plains that make up much of the habitat in this area. Some of these trees are hundreds of years old. They remind me of how ancient this land is, and they’re home to other wonders which I’ll list. They’re also under threat.
3. Maitake, hen-of the woods (Grifola frondosus.) Living at the base of old and injured oaks, they’re a parasite that may actually increase the oaks longevity by hollowing dead wood out of the trees center making them more flexible in winds, also possibly by boosting the trees immune systems as they come into contact with living wood. And, for me, they fill my freezer with deliciousness.
4. That Schizophyllum commune has over 23,000 mating types. This reminds me that God creates and loves diversity in so many more ways than we could ever imagine – even in our own species.
5. That the largest single organism found on dry ground (at this moment) is a honey mushroom covering over five square miles. It seems the largest single organism discovery oscillates between aspen groves and honey mushrooms. The ocean has an even bigger organism. Apparently, a type of seaweed is the largest overall organism however – covering over 80 square miles.
6. That some simple life forms can live virtually forever, certain jelly fish,  sponges aspen root system and single celled organisms inside rocks have lived for tens even hundreds of thousands of years. I look at this as possible evidence that death may not have been part of the original equation for life.
7. Entities that I found incredibly revolting as a child (especially fungi) I now find as incredibly wonderous and inviting as an adult. It’s evidence that we all can change and, sooner or later, one way or another we will.