Thanks, sister Ginnyrose...
I have always marveled at the beautiful elements in this terrestrial world that God created.
I remember seeing a comic in the newspaper once where some parents were inside flipping through channels on the television. The dad made a comment saying, "There is nothing to watch tonight." At the same time, the son was sitting on the rooftop watching the sunset, horizon and stars at dusk.
It is difficult to imagine anyone looking at the sunset, stars, plants, trees, canyons, mountains and ocean and think that it is all the result of a massive cosmic accident. The same is true when we look at people. People are so different than all other animals! We are the only creatures that literally appreciate the beauty of such things. Is it no wonder that Satan's devilish tactic over the past two centuries is to perpetrate a lie that man evolved from animals?
My wife and I were on vacation this past week. We spent it at leisure. We visited nearby San Francisco (we live a short distance away). We saw animals at a zoological park. We visited Golden Gate Park and looked at the flowers contained around the Victorian Flower Conservatory (and we took plenty of close up photographs). We walked along the nearby oceans. We marveled at the Giant Redwoods at Muir Woods National Monuments. We visited the Point Bonita Lighthouse perched on the outer mountainous cliffs near the Golden Gate Bridge.
When we moved here, my wife almost hated the area. She still comments about how much she doesn't like the hurried existence lived by the locals. She sees the congestion, bad roads, high taxes, high cost of living, intrusive government, bad schools, bitter attitudes, immoral lifestyles and extreme hostility toward Christianity (or anyone who disagrees with any of the above). She has often commented about how much that she wants to move back to Texas. It seems like the only thing that she likes here was the weather (because she isn't nearly as moved as I am by the beauty of the nature of this area).
This week, however, we were driving through a downtown area in San Francisco. We were listening to the song SHINE ON US by the vocal group Phillips, Craig and Dean (a beautiful song that I am sure you can hear on YouTube). As we drove, I told my wife that this is my prayer for this area. I explained that we need to see this area as Jesus would see this area. He certainly sees the sinfulness here. However, He also sees these people as "sheep having no shepherd."
I told my wife that this area desperately needs a move of God. I told her that I believe that it is possible for God to move here...and that literally hundreds of thousands of people -- lost in the darkness and confusion of this world -- could see Christ! After all, nature itself certainly DECLARES the glory of God! These people simply need to listen...and then long to know their Creator. After all, even a single light shines brightly in the darkness.
I remember Keith Green making a statement that it only took God six days to create the entire universe. Yet our Lord has been preparing a "place for us" for over two thousand years. Keith Green said, "If this world -- in all of its beauty -- only took six days...and that place that He is preparing for us took two thousand years...then this is like living in a garbage can!"
Thank you for this timely reminder, Sister Ginnyrose!
