What a Wonderful World

Clear blue skies with just a few puffs of white clouds floating across.

Overbearing masses of dark, rolling thunderclouds.

Nearly flat waves of grain or other crops, rolling smoothly as far as the eye can see.

Giant mountain ranges and sharp peaks, a world among the clouds and set so close you can almost touch them.

Winding canyons with rushing water winding thru the bottoms and jagged clumps of rocky structures piled and climbing along the sides.

Wide rivers and lakes, seemingly sometimes to be little seas.

Mountains, rivers, cliffs, farms, desert, forests, glaciers, flowers, geysers, animals, wind, clouds, rain, thunder, lightning, constellations, lakes, boulders, canyons, hot springs, sun, moon, stars, crops, plants.

This week I was able to take a couple of days to make a road trip across some of my favorite places on planet Earth.  I drove just under 2,000 miles across Oregon, Idaho, into the Grand Teton National Park, into a portion of Yellowstone National Park, across Wyoming, into Montana and Washington and back home into Oregon.  As I drove I was captivated by the beauty, the majesty, the diversity of the landscapes around me.  I've traveled it all before, and I have traveled to six other countries and two other continents, and yet I am still enthralled at the sights of this world we live on.

There is a song out now by Danny Gokey called "More Than You Think I Am".  The song is from the perspective of God; the lyrics are sung as if God were speaking to you and I...

You always think I'm somewhere on a mountain top, but never think behind bars

You'd be amazed the places that I'd go to be with you, where you are

So forget what you've heard

What you think that you know

There's a lot about me

That's never been told

I'm more than you dreamed

More than you understand

Your days and your times

Were destined for our dance

I catch all your tears

Burn your name on my heart

Be still and trust my plan

I'm more than you think I am

When I look at the magnificence of the world around me I am brought into a place of awe and wonder, of worship, as I recognize the creative power of God.  I am humbled to be able to experience the vastness and variety of nature and the eco-systems around us.  I am reminded of the words of Jesus, saying that if we didn't worship God then even the rocks themselves would cry out in worship.  I am reminded of the Psalms where it says the heavens declare the glory of God.  I am reminded of Paul writing about the groanings of the creation.

Just as Danny Gokey's song says: There is so much more to this world, this universe, than we realize.  I am reminded of the total solar eclipse that happened just a few weeks ago and how for that brief window of time all of our differences and our worries and fears faded as we just stared up, beholding the awesomeness of that celestial event.

The Grand Teton National Park is a special place to me.  I visited it a few times with family as a teenager.  But I also worked there during my first year of college.  It was a defining summer for me and so the Tetons and Jackson Hole valley not only symbolize growing up and spiritual growth for me, they actually are in and of themselves a holy place for me.

There are places in this world that remind us of special memories.  Fun adventures had, time with loved ones, close moments with God.  We look upon those places with fondness and we see, sense, and hear God more clearly in those places.  These places are holy ground.

When God appeared and spoke to Moses thru the burning bush, he told Moses to not come closer and remove his sandals "for the place where you are standing is holy ground" (Exodus 3:5).  Moses had a divine encounter with God there and that place was special, it was holy.

Yes, we live in a fallen, imperfect, sinful world.  Because of sin death, evil, decay, exists in this world.  There is darkness in the world, no denying it.

But to dwell on that, to deny that God brings holiness and light into the darkness, is to believe in a small God.  It is impossible for me to drive across the plains of Montana, to hike at the base of my Teton mountains, to watch the perfect timing of Old Faithful's eruptions, or to watch the deer fearlessly graze outside my front door, and not be able to see the awesome glory of God present in this world around me.

My body is broken and frail, imperfect, affected by sin.  And yet the God of the universe chooses to dwell within and amongst my being thru His Holy Spirit.  He makes me holy, and calls my body the temple to His Holy Spirit.

What a wonderful and amazing thing that the Creator and King of the entire universe would dwell in relationship with each of us in such a way!

I really was surprised at how much I enjoyed traveling in solitude this week.  So much of my life, my daily life as well as adventures such as this, is usually very purposefully shared with students or others I minister to or with.  I was able to enjoy good, thoughtful, alone time.  My music playing as I drove, I was particularly struck with the awesomeness of the world around me when the song "Somewhere Over The Rainbow/What a Wonderful World" (by Israel Kamakawiwo'ole) came on.

Despite everything going on in the world, despite the best efforts of humans on all spectrums to be punks, despite the nature of sin itself... It truly IS a wonderful world, filled with holy ground.  You just gotta take time to slow down and step outside of yourself to see God's presence all around.  Give it a try.