Creation Awesomeness

I've spent most of the day monitoring the weather as we've gone from a thunderstorm complete with lightening, thunder and hail to sleet and now I'm watching huge snowflakes fall while waiting for the 50 mph winds that are expected to arrive soon. We're at the point of winter when most of us are ready to see the green grass and warmer days of spring. But there is something about a snow storm that I really like. I don't know if it's the beauty and quietness of the freshly fallen snow or the fact that it makes us stop our crazy fast-paced lives for a short time. On days like this I find myself thinking about the awesomeness of God's creation.

I would have to say that I really like the four seasons. About this time of the year, I get tired of looking at the bare trees and dirty snow and before I know it, the grass is green and the trees begin to open their buds. Then it’s nice to have long warm summer days to enjoy sitting on the front porch with a glass of iced tea. By August, I find myself complaining a lot about the heat and so the cooler days of September are always welcomed. Then the beauty of the fall colors take my breath away but before you know it, the trees are once again bare and so I enjoy the first blanket of snow. “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven” Ecclesiastes 3:1

For some reason the last few winters I’ve noticed a lot of hawks sitting in the trees and on the road signs. Every time I see one, I’m reminded of God’s amazing creation. Just yesterday on my drive I was treated to a red-tailed hawk and a bald eagle just a mile apart. Isn't God’s creation amazing and beautiful?

The variety of God’s creation became very real to me when I taught for a couple of years in an Environmental Education program at a Lutheran church camp in North Carolina. A lot of our field trip groups were 8^th graders wanting to do the pond and stream activity to go along with their water quality unit. We would hike with groups of kids to the pond or stream and with our highly sophisticated gathering equipment (Cool Whip bowls) we would collect critters from the water, look at them, record what we found and then return them to their habitat. Some days we would find nymphs of dragonfly, stonefly, mayfly, damselfly and dobsonfly and the larva of caddisfly and cranefly. It was always fun to find a strider or two on the pond water and the whirligig beetle. And even though the kids were 8^th graders, they would still laugh when they learned that the diving beetle came to the top of the water to breath air in through what looked like their butt.

Seeing the variety of God’s creation found in the stream in just 15 minutes always left me with a moment of wonder and awe at all that God has made. And it is good, very good! I often wonder about those that don’t believe in God. How do they explain the variety, the intricate details of every living thing?

“And God said, "Let the waters bring forth swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the dome of the sky." So God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, of every kind, with which the waters swarm, and every winged bird of every kind. And God saw that it was good. God blessed them, saying, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth." And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day. “ Genesis 1:20-23

That Song in My Head (and Heart)

In my congregation the hymns for Sunday worship are selected by the worship team. It's interesting to see how a hymn that is one person’s favorite is despised by another person. I admit that I have my favorites but I’m also willing to try new hymns as long as they’re something that I can sing. My grandmother had a beautiful singing voice but for whatever reason that gene did not get passed on to me. Don’t get me wrong, I love to sing but unfortunately I’m often off-key or miss the beat. It’s a lot better for everyone involved if I keep the belting out of my favorite songs to times when I’m alone in my car or home.

In scripture we have the book of Psalms, a collection of prayers and songs composed throughout Israel’s history. According to my HarperCollins Bible, “’Psalms,’ is derived from a Greek term meaning ‘song.’ The Hebrew title of the book, Tehillim, means more specifically ‘hymns’ or ‘songs of praise.’" (page 797) I think of music and songs as something that God has placed in our heads and on our hearts. I am grateful for the composers and song writers that have created and continue to write just the perfect masterpiece.

I’ve always enjoyed listening to music. I remember my sister and I playing our Beach Boys 8-track tape so much that it just finally wore out. The best Christmas present I received as a teenager was my stereo that included not only the ability to listen to my favorite radio station but I could play records, 8 track and cassette tapes!

Me with my three children the day of my commissioning
 service at Campbell University Divinity School
September 2005 

Just as the book of Psalms is full of a variety of emotions and is associated with a certain period of time in Israel’s history, there are specific songs that I associate with particular times in my life. For example, I cannot hear “Born to Be Wild” or “Stairway to Heaven” without thinking about my Uncle Reese who was killed on his Harley Davidson when I was in junior high. Today I saw a picture on Twitter that Campbell Divinity School commissioned a new group of students. I was reminded of the day that I received my Divinity School pin and sang along with the other students “Here I Am Lord.” When I spent my Lutheran Year of Seminary 350 miles away from my husband and kids, I played Third Day’s Revelation CD over and over. Every single song on that album spoke to me as I wrestled with my unworthiness to be called as a pastor.

As I begin my 9^th month of life as a pastor, I have been feeling very blessed, pure joy at the vocation to which I have been called and the congregation that I serve. I know that life is a roller coaster and I’m sure the feelings of doubt and unworthiness will soon try and slip their way back to the forefront. When that happens I hope to be reminded of a song that God has placed in my head and on my heart, Jason Gray’s Remind Me Who I Am

What song or hymn is speaking to you at this point in your life? Is there a song that is that “one” that you associate with a specific joy or difficult time in your life? What song has God placed in your head and on your heart?