God in Nature

I decided a couple days ago to go out to Chewacla to spend some time with the Lord. Its a state park near Auburn for those that don’t really know where that is. Anyway, my purpose in going out there was just to spend some alone time with God, and while I was out there, He opened my eyes to a few things that I normally wouldn’t think aobut at all. He taught me several life lessons just through his handiwork of His creation and nature.

1) The Clear Stream
As I was walking through the area, I noticed three distinct different water sources which are very important. First of all, the fast moving creek. The water in the creek is moving at such a fast pace that it always stirs up the dirt, silt, and other objects within the creek to give it a muddy and dirty appearance. This can happen in our lives when we have too much going on, that quickly the more we pile on ourselves, the more we try and strain ourselves, the more polluted we can be come in our everyday lives. The second water source was that of a stagnant pond. Within this pond, it was evident that there was a lot of bacteria growing within it as there was much algae and other fungus surrounding it as well. The oppisite of moving fast, if we don’t progress at all, and or are bogged down with laziness, this can be reflected within our spiritual lives as well. If there is nothing to stir the pot, then nothing will ever change, and therefore we will only slowly die by never being challanged spirtually. The third body of water though was that of the clear stream. This wasn’t near as big as the creek but also bigger than the pond. As well, the water current moved not too much to churn up the silt at the bottom, but also just enough to cause the stream not to stagnate. This is the path that would build up our spiritual lives by not trying to progress too much at once, and while also not deciding to stagnate either.

2) The Dying Tree
As I was walking along the path, I decided to stop and sit for a bit. When I leaned up against a specific tree, it cracked. This tree was a fairly large tree, I think an oak. It wasn’t an enormous one, but still one of decent size. How ever as soon as i leaned against it, it cracked and fell backwards and crashed onto the ground. I was kinda surprised at what just happened. The reason being because of its size for one but also becasue of the fact that it by no means looked dead or sick at all. The leaves were all green on and budding on the outside, and their were many more starting to come through. But when I went and looked into the inside of the tree, there wasn’t much left. I looked in and almost the entire interior was gone. Termites had almost entirely emptied the inside and all the was left was the still healty looking exterior. Sometimes we as people can seemingly have everything together and looking good, complete, happy, when ultimately on the inside, many of us are dying. And, all it takes is one small event that can bring us and all of what we had built to come crashing to the ground.

3) The Waterfall
When I came to the the waterfall, God revealed something else to me. If you look at the water above the falls, the water is as smooth as can be, barely a ripple on the surface. Once it goes over the edge though, the water is turned and tossed about. The water can turn into rapids, with foam on the surface shown the agitation of the water. After another series of falls, the water slowly but surely becomes peeaceful once again. The rapids convulsed the water, but once the last fall had been crossed, the water slowly but surely mellowed out to what it had been before the first fall. Eventually, the water would slowly make its way down the creek calm and peaceful once again. This can be many of the ways our life goes as well. We don’t necessarily always see the falls and rapids coming ahead of us. We are just enjoying the calm stillness of our lives when all of a sudden, the bottom drops out. The amazing thing to realize is that even when we are in the mist of our greatest shaking and we don’t know what to do in our lives, God will ultimately bring us through the situation and leave us with peace at the end of it.

The Prodigal Son

So I was walking yesterday in the park.  Perfect day outside, perfect temperature, not hot or cold, no wind, just a bright blue sky. The sun was setting behind the clouds, with perfect rays peeking through. Amazing. So, as I walked I was praying and was talking with God in the cool of the day. Then, I got a revelation. Why am I here? What is my purpose? What is my life about? What am I for? I am here to praise God through helping others, and ultimately bringing others to know the majesty, the awesome power, the glory, and the life-changing miracles and the love of Christ Jesus. That is why we are all here. No other reason, not for our happiness, most of us have tried to find happiness on our own terms and found, sometimes painfully so, that we were helpless to try and find it our way. Not for any other reason than to praise Him and to bring more people into the Kingdom. As I walked, I passed by countless people…people walking their dogs. People playing frisbee; others having a pic-nic. Some running and jogging. I wonder though, how many of those people are breaking inside, how many are crumbling and are about to fall down, some maybe to never get back up again? How many are begging for help while they go on about their day? How many are limping along, maimed and paralyzed by the struggles of this life? How many do we just pass by? How many are crying out for an answer? Unless, they already have Jesus, all of them. And that is our job, to show and be Jesus to them; to show them the love, the care, the help that others have shown us, and that Christ has shone us. That is our mission statement, as a Kingdom. How much more could we be doing? I know I could do a lot more..

What a friend we have in Jesus

All our sins and griefs to bear

What a privilege to carry

Everything to God in prayer.

Jesus came to die on Calvary

To redeem our lost humanity

Conquering death He rose triumphantly

Now He reigns for all eternity.