Parasitoid Wasp

While watering my tomato plants which grow in an old whiskey barrel on my back deck, I saw a caterpillar with white spikes dangling from one of the tomato plants. The white spikes indicate a parasitic invasion from parasitoid wasps. Wasps come to a caterpillar and inject its eggs into the body. The eggs hatch into larvae, which feed on the caterpillar while avoiding the vital organs to keep the caterpillar alive until the larvae have matured.
The parasitoid wasps are attracted to the caterpillar by an odor given from the tomato plant, which the plant emits out of a defense mechanism. The wasp larvae control the caterpillar, giving it the term "zombie caterpillar." The wasp larvae will cocoon and develop into adult wasps, and the final feed on the caterpillar ends its life. God's living nature is not always comfortable and aesthetically pleasing; yet, such an event which largely goes unnoticed by human eyes does have its purpose.