Evolution
So, the other day I was at Caesarea Philippi and was doing a little hiking down this trail with a bunch of other undergrad students. We were just beginning our hike and of course I needed a walking stick, for every good hike begins with a walking stick. At that moment all I could find was a four foot piece of bamboo that was about an inch thick or so. I continued my walk, borrowed my buddy Benaiah’s knife and turned it into a nice little spear. I ended up carrying the spear between by back and my backpack, but it ended up snapping when the top of it got snagged on a tree. Bummed as I was, I kept the pointed part hoping that I would soon find a use. Continuing the journey, I then found a thick patch of bamboo and broke off a seven foot tall two inch thick piece. I of course sharpened the end which then gave me a really nice spear. Then I combined this new spear with the previous broken piece and thus I created a big spear with a removable, yet durable, pointed attachment.
A little while later we arrived at this magnificent waterfall, so I took a couple of pictures and then climbed on the river via some very large and conveniently placed rocks. I tried my luck (poor as it was) at spear fishing. I saw some fish and that was about as close as I got to spearing anything. We left the river and headed to our bus. Right before we got to the bus, I picked up another little piece of bamboo that fit inside of my original little spear which snapped. I hallowed out the larger longer piece and sharpened the end of the smaller. When combined, I had a nice little blowgun. Benaiah gave me some of his frayed jeans which I stuffed into the rear of the dart to create a better seal thus giving the dart greater propulsion when I blew it. I sneaked up on a couple of people and shot at them with it pretending I was some great white hunter. The dart didn’t hurt in the slightest, for the dart was too dull and the dart too light, but it was fun none the less.

Then as the blowgun continued to evolve, I of course then ended up hurting myself…

Benaiah and I put our heads together and we decided that we needed to find a cactus needle or a long thorn to place at the end of the dart. So, as we continue along, we looked and looked and looked. It was at Capernaum that I finally found a nice cactus needle just the right length. I also found some sort of moldable foam weed that I stuffed inside of the dart to give it more weight and then placed the cactus needle at the end. I put this all together on the bus and then we stopped for a bathroom break.

The blowgun and dart were complete. My design, fabrication, and trial and error process all drew to this final moment. Now, all I had to do was test it.

but on what…?

I looked around the bus to see what I could shoot in order to establish how accurate it was, but what I really wanted to know was how much it hurt. So, I stuck out my palm a little under a foot away from the end, and gave it a nice firm blow.

and as one would imagine it hurt…

I was rather proud of myself. I created a nice little weapon out of bamboo, cactus needle, weed, and some jean. I suppose all those lunch hours watching MacGyver really paid off. However, in all of my glory and excitement…

there was a problem…

I had a bamboo dart with a cactus needle stuck in my hand. Originally, I thought that the dart only entered into the callus part of my hand, but soon my thoughts were corrected. I then found Benaiah and showed him our accomplishment…which was a dart dangling from my hand. He expressed his excitement and then I proceeded to remove the dart…but it wasn’t coming out as easily as what I thought it would have. I then looked at Benaiah and said,

“Dude, I think it’s in there kinda deep.”

He replied, “Just give it a big ol tug.”

So, I pulled a little harder, but the skin around the dart pulled up with it and my ring finger moved forward.

I looked at Benaiah and said,

“Bro, it’s in there deep.”

“Just jerk it out” he said.

So, I latched on to the dart and jerked it out with all my might…

And it was a gusher to say the least…