Back when I was just a kid in junior high school, a singing genius named Ray Stevens brought great delight to my young soul with a song called, "Ahab The Arab." It was in that delightful embrace with early rock 'n roll we learned "every evening about midnight, he'd jump on his camel named Clyde...and ride."

Yes, we were also quickly informed that Ahab would ride his faithful stead Clyde "silently through the night to the sultan's tent where he would secretly meet up with Fatima of the Seven Veils, swingingest grade "A," number one, U.S. choice dancer in the Sultan's whole harem, 'cause, hey, him and her had a thing going."

So today I ask you give way to some of my foolishness. I couldn't help but laugh recently when a dear friend shared a wonderful tale on camels, of all things, because of all God's animals it may be the camel that may be the most fascinating.

I didn't know much about them, other than they came in two models - one hump and two hump - but another genius, Bob Devine of the Moody Press, once brought the one hump, or Dromedary, into quite a glorious focus and therein lies the tale.

Bob, long the creator and narrator of "The Children's Room" on the Christian broadcasting network, also writes books for kids – like me. One is about camels like "Clyde" and it greatly solidifies the fact God knew exactly what He was doing when He gave the world the camel. According to John 1:3 in the Bible, "All things were made by Him and without Him was not anything made that was made."

So behold one the greatest engineering and designing feats in all the kingdom. For instance, the "hump" is actually a huge wad of fat that absorbs the water the animal needs in the desert. In the hump are billions of cells that can either expand or detract with water.

A camel with a full tank, or hump, can go eight days between fill-ups. Oh, it will lose over 200 pounds and the hump, or empty bag, will flop loosely at the animal's side, but, when it finally drinks, you'd better look out because it's more fun than watching a swimming pool fill up.

Did you know that a camel can drink 27 gallons of water in just 10 minutes? But in that same amount of time, every ounce will almost immediately be displaced by those thirsty cells and almost none will remain in its stomach. That’s a fact.

It has also been proven, over thousands of years, the magnificent beast can cover 100 miles of the desert in the next eight hours, carrying 400 pounds, without another drink. Yes, the hump will again shrink some until it is filled once more, but that's a pretty good clip on "the burning sands."

Another unique feature is that a camel's blood is similar to humans in that it is 94 percent water. If a human's blood drops to 90 percent, our eyes can no longer see. At 85 percent we can't hear and go crazy (grow delirious) and, at 82 percent, a human being will croak because the heart can't pump the thicker stuff.

On the other hand, a camel's blood, which has elongated cells that shrink instead of round ones like humans, can lose 40 percent of the water in its blood and do just fine temporarily until it drinks again.

Here's another feature; the reason camels walk with their noses stuck so high in the air is so they can see. The thick eyebrows and eyelashes block out the intense desert sun and, if a sandstorm comes along, the eyelashes automatically drape over each eye like screens. Then they have an inner-eyelid that serves as the wiper so they can see when men cannot. Now I think that’s pretty cool.

Speaking of cool, a camel's nose is 18 degrees cooler than the rest of its body. Get this: when the animal inhales the hot air, it then exhales through its snout. The air condensates and his nose stays moist despite the searing desert heat.

Further, God even planned out the plodding feet, which grow much bigger when our "Ship of the Desert" puts weight on each, keeping them from sinking in sand like ours do. Two large pads, thick and leathery, naturally grow over its knees. The pads allow the animal to kneel instead of lie down, which you’ll remember from every Christmas manger scene you ever saw.

So why am I telling you this? Who cares that an adult camel weighs about 1,000 pounds and lives to be about 50 years old? It’s just this – if the good Lord had it figured out just what a camel would need, it stands to reason He equipped each of us for what might come along, too.

Sometimes when I get so caught up in all the hullabaloo it pays to remember the camel. It also helps to turn back down memory lane to the early 60s when Ray Stevens, on the brink of the rock ‘n roll era, told us that ole Ahab the Arab once “brought that camel to a screeching halt, at the rear of Fatima's tent, jumped off Clyde, snuck around the corner, and into the tent he went!

“There he saw Fatima, laying on a Zebra-skin rug, wearing rings on her fingers and bells on her toes, and a bone in her nose ho, ho!”

royexum@aol.com