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
