Cosmic Battle in the Heavenlies

Click on this picture to see full size version!

This amazing picture is not from a science fiction movie, it was taken by the Spitzer Space Telescope, which lifted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on August 25, 2003. This picture is of several generations of stars amid curtains of clouds in a region called W5, about 6,500 light-years away. I am fascinated with photographs of microscopic or the telescopic that reveal a universe to us that is beyond our own ability to see! We cannot see this with our naked eye, but that does not mean that it does not exist. Until recently we did not have a way to even imagine such a picture! But, it also reminds me of a cosmic battle in the heavenlies, described in the Bible, which is also beyond our ability to see or even really comprehend. The Bible reveals times in which a certain person's eyes were opened to see the angelic hosts, but we are told that there is a place in the heavenlies where the armies of the LORD battle with the hosts of darkness. Seeing this picture makes one realize that we can never discount what our eyes cannot see!

A Little Bit of Whimsy

Moose are God's Creatures, too

 

Moose have always fascinated me!!  Do you ever wonder what God was thinking when He created the moose?  He is such a contrast to the elegant and so symmetrical cousin, the deer!!  One has to wonder how those who believe in evolution can explain how two such different and yet similar species emerged from the same glob of goo!!  The moose, with his hind legs shorter than his front, and his oddly shaped face, little eyes and big nose and antlers that look like a science experiment gone awry, all point to a God who is incredibly diverse in His creation and a God who has a sense of humor!!  He does all things well, and in the moose we see that He created an animal that is powerfully strong, massive in size and with a neck built to hold up those fierce antlers.  It amazes me that those antlers can span 6 feet across and that he grows a new pair every year!!  The male moose  stands six feet tall at the shoulders and can weigh up to 1600 pounds!!  Isn't that incredible? 

 

A moose can be very dangerous, and my sister, Peggy, who lives in Alaska has had several close run-ins with a moose.  But they do have their tender side, too.  I love this video, and could not figure out how to embed it in this blog, so just click on the link, and enjoy. 

 

http://www.maniacworld.com/twin-baby-moose-in-sprinkler.html

El Shaddai

The Hebrew name "El Shaddai" is one of the most beautiful names of all the LORD found in the Old Testament. In our English translations, El Shaddai is usually translated,"Almighty God" which I think carries the sense of great might or power. This is not wrong, but it really only gives us a small part of the picture. El Shaddai literally means, 'many-breasted one." It is always associated with God's great might or power to bless His people and make bountiful provision for them. You will notice the name El Shaddai is used in those contexts of a promised blessing. It is a covenant name that He gives to His children as a promise of blessings that often are not yet seen. He is truly the LORD who does abundantly beyond all we can ask or think!!

Poem written by unknown believer in Russia

David Benson has selflessly served the Christians of Russia for many, many years. I have been a subscriber of his newsletter, "Russia for Christ," for the past twenty years or more. This past issue he shared about a visit he made to the Red Square, in which a young man approached him, and stuffed his pocket with a crumpled fistful of papers, saying, "You will know what to do with these. When he returned to his room he found that they were poems, one of which he shared in the newsletter. I am sharing it with you, because it so touched my heart. If you would like more information about this ministry, drop me an email and I will send you the contact information.

When someone suffers...

Amy Carmichael wrote a wonderful book, called "Rose from Brier" during a period of prolonged illness. I have turned to this book time and time again when going through trials. She has placed a tiny little poem in her introduction which I have thought of so many times, because it speaks so succinctly of the well intentioned words of others in times of our suffering.

The toad beneath the harrow knows
Exactly where each tooth point goes;
The butterfly upon the road
Preaches contentment to that toad.

How many times have I, with well-meaning intentions, offered cheap platitudes in the face of the crushing suffering another was going through? How often have my words, rather than bringing comfort as I desired, further burden the sufferer with words that totally lacked understanding of what they were going through? In 1988, I prayed, "Lord, help me never to offer empty words that offer no comfort. Protect me from speaking that which I do not understand, but only that which Your Spirit and Word has illumined to me." Now I would add the prayer, "Lord, help me to be kind to those whose intentions are kind, and merciful to forgive their ignorant, stock phrases!!'

I remember when, I found myself sitting at the side of an aunt, knowing that her husband of 30 or more years had only hours to live. She wanted to know why, she wanted to know how she could survive and I knew that I could not answer her on a superficial level. And then I felt the LORD give me the words, "I don't know why you are going through this trial, I don't know what God's plans are for you, but this I do know: He loves you very much, and He will never leave you, or fail you, or forsake you. You are not alone." I drove home that day, not knowing that those few words would be what the LORD would use to sustain her through the days of the funeral, the days of grieving, and the days when she sought to learn how to live alone. Then, several years later, she told me, on the day of her wedding to a wonderful man, that not a day had gone by that those words had not echoed in her mind and given her comfort and encouragement and strength to go on.

There are times when someone suffers that no words can suffice, when words cannot ease the pain, or make the problems better. The person suffering can recognize a hollow or superficial word with uncanny discernment. To be told that what we are going through is God's will, or part of God's plan may be perfectly true, but the words themselves can do nothing to shift the reality of the trial. I have found in Christian circles in America, that we love words, ideas, and lofty ideals, and are most willing to offer them to one another, but we are far less generous when it comes to tangible support. To tell a starving person that God intends it for good, while one sits at a table laden with food, is to make a mockery of the LORD and His Word. When a friend suffers, are we willing to suffer with them, are we willing to try to relieve that suffering? Just how far are we willing to try to help carry another person's burdens? Do we offer words because we want to make their problem go away and rid ourselves of the discomfort we feel in the face of suffering?

Amy Carmichael expressed this frustration over the misguided, "helpful" words of others so well in "Rose from Briar" and how their words "rankled like a thorn." I love the heart and the understanding that she arrived at, which offers true comfort to the sufferer! She said that friends seemed to think her physical suffering was meant to crush her in order to make her more usable. She says, "and was the Father breaking, crushing, forcing by weight of sheer physical misery, a child, who only longed to obey His lightest wish?" She described the peace she had in her time of trial before the words came, and the loss of peace that such words brought to her spirit. She said she felt no peace until this word from the LORD came to her saying, 'let not your heart be troubled, do I not understand? What dosuch words matter to Me or to thee?" And then I knew that the Father understood His child, and the child, her Father, and all was peace again."

We must be careful not to let the voices of others obscure what God is speaking to our hearts! We must not lean on our own understanding, and certainly not the understanding of others, but allow the voice of the Master to make things clear in His time and in His way. He understands, and that is what really matters. "Let it be, and think of Me."

"And all Creation Sings"

I have always loved the art work of Sheri Bruck Baldwin. I am enthralled with the way she captures nature in its detail and perfection, but still conveys the beauty and color in Creation. She shows such patience in her work and is so conscious of the very small details. You get the impression that you are looking at nature through her eyes, not a mere photograph of nature, but a distilling, and pulling out the essence.

I grew up very blessed to be surrounded by family who loved nature. I remember my Great Grandmother finding a very large potato worm in the garden, and taking the time to go and get me, put him in jar with leaves to eat so I could watch him turn into a coccoon. My Grandmother and mother also had this love for all of creation, and instilled it in me from the earliest age. My brother, Todd, my mom and I have talked about Uncle Donald many times and the mark that our days spent with him left on us. My mom knew him in his younger days, describing him as drop dead gorgeous and quite a flirt. She remembers seeing him show up at their house in his fancy chauffer's uniform, looking for all the world like a movie star, at the wheel of a fancy limosene. He had also worked as a horse jockey, which made him even more romantic in my eyes!

But I have my own very special memories of visiting my Great Uncle Donald on his farm. He was probably in his 40's by this time, married and father of nearly grown children. He was still a tall, well built man of dark complexion, hinting at the Native American heritage on his father's side. He was still incredibly handsome! Perhaps it was that Native American blood that caused him to hunger for the things of the raw earth. He was a self-made naturalist who preferred to spend his time exploring nature over working in the fields. His wisdom regarding the world of nature inspired both my brother and I to love and explore it as well! We were amazed that he could read the clues when others spent their lives totally oblivious them. He would call us over and gently push his thumb into the soft ground and boost out a little toad completely hidden in dirt. Or hold a small stick over a pitted area in the dirt and have us watch a lion ant emerge to grab the bait. How did he know they were there?

He was never in a hurry to get to his "work" and always willing to spend the entire day with us, children who were at an age to mostly be considered a nuisance and sent on our way, but he treated us as fellow explorers, taking us on adventures as we examined and explored his world. He delighted to point out birds, wildlife and insects and share his insights into their particular habits and behaviors. He made the all seem incredibly fascinating! There were no creatures to large or small to escape his notice. My sense of him, even at that young age, was that I was in the presence of a 'master' who had given his life to the study of nature and the world around him. But even at my young age, I also had a real strong impression that Uncle Donald did not live up to the standards of industry and work ethic that were expected of a man of his age and responsibility.

His cattle all had names, and his farm cats followed at his heels wherever he went. He put such joy in all of the daily routines of farm life and took me into an enchanted world of his making. Memories of the cats, named after beautiful women, sitting up on their haunches begging for a squirt of milk straight from the cow's udders, of being given hard ears of field corn and taught how to shell it for the cows, rescuing and nurturing an orphaned kitten which he later gave me--much to my mother's chagrin. All of the animals loved him, and he went through his farm chores with such a slow paced delight in what he was doing that one had the feeling that to him, it was not work at all. Was he successful? Did he leave a huge inheritance for his family? Well, the answer would have to be no, but he did leave a legacy in my life, of opening my eyes to the world that God has given to us to watch over, and a lifelong respect and wonder in God's creation.

This is My Father's World!

This is my Father's world, and to my listening ears all nature sings,

and round me rings the music of the spheres.

This is my Father's world:

I rest me in the thought of rocks and trees,

of skies and seas; his hand the wonders wrought.



This is my Father's world, the birds their carols raise,

the morning light, the lily white, declare their maker's praise.

This is my Father's world: he shines in all that's fair;

in the rustling grass I hear him pass; he speaks to me everywhere.



This is my Father's world.

O let me ne'er forget that though the wrong seems oft so strong,

God is the ruler yet.

This is my Father's world: why should my heart be sad?

The Lord is King; let the heavens ring! God reigns; let the earth be glad!

From my earliest memory, this was one of my favorite songs! We sang it often in church, and my heart would sore with the wonder and joy of God's majesty and the way all of creation declared His wonder! I never felt that God was closer in Church than He was in nature. I don't mean this in a "New Age" way, but in the way of Genesis 1 where it says, "In the beginning, God created." This song says it all, how can one look at this world and not see the hand of God upon it? I hope that this blog will in some way be able to draw one to see the beauty of what He has given us, and allow the creation itself to speak to the excellencies of His Person. I want to share some of the photos that I have taken and trust that the beauty of His world will refresh your spirit and encourage your heart!

Beginnings can be very intimidating.

I always hate to begin a new journal, or in this case a new blog. There is such a sense of responsibility that those first words need to convey something profound or deeply significant. I have been known to skip a few pages in a new journal, just to avoid wasting those first pages on something mundane. Well, I started this blog in January and still have not "begun." I guess I needed a nudge from my dear friend, Vicky, who always has the skill to motivate and encourage me to be creative and really think!

I also want to thank Vicky for laboring to create this beautiful header which is a real encouragement to start this blog. I hope that these meditations will be worth the pixels on which they are imprinted in cyberspace.... OK, I know they are not imprinted on pixels, just using a little creative license here!!