Saturday, March 7, 2015

ELEVATION NORTH has NEWS for YOU!


EVERY DAY WAS AN EXERCISE IN PRAISING GOD and marveling in the infinite beauty of His creation!  What a treasured gift this week-long trip was, gifted to us by our sons and their wives!  So many priceless experiences and family memories will be pondered in our hearts forever.  But woven throughout each day was the absolute wonder of our God’s creation.  It is astounding, to say the least.  How much He loves us to have planned and created these amazingly, beautiful places for us to enjoy!  They are breathtaking ~ almost more than our senses can take in and behold.  The sights, the sounds, the touch, the scents, the tastes … we experienced them all just as God intended, for those senses in our bodies He created, as well!  We were in awe!  The scriptures echo what flowed from our hearts to our Creator God:  “O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is Your name in all the earth!  You have set Your glory above the heavens.  When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have set in place, what is man that You are mindful of him, the son of man that You care for him?  You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor.  You made him ruler over the works of Your hands; You put everything under his feet … O Lord, our Lord how majestic is Your name in all the earth!”  (from Psalm, chapter 8)  The varying hues of azure blues of the ocean, the palm tree decorated islands bordered with soft sun-kissed sandy beaches, the rock-laden cascading waterfalls that we got to climb at the ocean’s edge, the adorable, intelligent dolphins that we got to touch and kiss, the island mountains covered in tropical green foliage, the beautiful dark-skinned people of the islands and their friendly ways, the refreshing waters that cooled our very warm skin beneath the intense rays of the sun, the light of the stars dotting the ink-black skies o’er the night-time ocean . . . all united in testimony to the fact that they were proof of an amazing Creator that we know personally.  As we stood on the balcony deck of our ship’s room in the dark of the midnight hour and realized the meaning of that verse in Psalm 8 – it was easy to feel much like a tiny speck of mankind in the midst of an indescribably huge creation!  Yet we were aware of the fullness of God’s Words to us:  that He is mindful of us, He cares for us, and He has made us ruler over all that He has created!  Wow!  Psalm chapter 19 is filled with praises that help us express what we were experiencing:  “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands.  Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge.  There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard.  Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.”  We saw and heard exactly that – on the ocean waters, in the skies, on Grand Cayman Island, in Jamaica, and in Coco Bay in the Bahamas.  We heard it from the lips of one of our waiters, Xavier, from India, when he stated that he was a Christian, not a Hindu.  Somehow, we were not surprised, as God’s Spirit within us and within him – had already connected with that God-given bond!  How we love meeting God’s people wherever we go!  You see, the splendor of God’s creation is about much more than the beauty our eyes take in – it is filled with a distinct reality of the presence of the Living God.  And that includes His presence living within us and others!  All that we experienced with our sons, their wives, and our granddaughter would be meaningless if we did not recognize that God is the Creator of OUR inmost being!  Read these precious scripture verses which I have taken as my life verses, and see if they do not speak to you of your value in God’s eyes – that you are the object of your Creator’s intimate love and care!  Read with me in Psalm chapter 139:  “For You created me in my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother’s womb.  I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Your works are wonderful, I know that full well.  My frame was not hidden from You when I was made in the secret place.  When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, Your eyes saw my unformed body.  All the days ordained for me were written in Your book before one of them came to be.”  Powerful!  Soon the day of departure came and we left tropical temps behind and arrived home to freezing temps!  Even so, our hearts swelled with the joys of having experienced precious family time gifted to us out of deep love; the majesty and wonder of God’s creations that continue to delight, amaze, and lavish His perfect love on us; and the renewed passion for the mission which God has created us for on this earth!  We offer all praise to our Lord in heaven and on earth!!!  Your Name truly is majestic in all the earth!

REMEMBER . . .

“How precious it is, Lord, to realize that you are thinking about me constantly!
I can’t even count how many times a day
Your thoughts turn towards me.”
~ Psalm 139:17   

Joyfully Serving God . . .

Pastor Doug and Debbie








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