I saw God today

I've been to church
I've read the book
I know He's here, but I don't look
near as often as I should
Yeah, I know I should
His fingerprints are everywhere
I'd just slow down to stop and stare
opened my eyes and man I swear
I saw God today

- “I Saw God Today”, by George Strait

I missed church today…for too many weeks in a row now. Okay, some of you might suffer from legalism like me and can appreciate the “guilts” for not attending church, or tithing (enough?), or reading the Bible, or praying, or whatever activity that makes you feel worthy of God’s love, mercy, and grace [Reminder to self: you can’t earn what you don’t deserve – that’s why it’s called GRACE!].

Honestly, I’ve only been walking with the Master for about 5 1/2 years now and He has to keep reminding me that it’s all about a personal relationship with Him, and not necessarily about all those other religious activities. Now please don’t miss understand me. I do really believe in being involved in the local church and doing all of the activities I mentioned above, but lately I’ve been experiencing so much more of God through personal time with Him (relationship), and it’s been the most wonderful thing. In fact, the rejuvenation came when I read the book I plugged the other day, “The Shack”, by William P. Young. You have to read this book. It will (should) cause a deep stirring within your soul – it did for me.

So, I chose the chorus line of the song above from George Strait (ok, so maybe I do like country a little – maybe I’m just afraid to admit it? I’ve always been a Parrot head, though, and still listen to Mr. Jimmy Buffett!), because it reminds me of how important it is to see God’s fingerprint in all of creation. Oh, believe me, if you take time to stop and look at nature you’ll see God’s handiwork. (I’m not saying God is “in” creation, rather He is the One who created everything we see.)

The heavens declare the glory of God,and the sky above proclaims his handiwork - Psalm 19:1, ESV

And,

For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse

- Romans 1:20, ESV

OK, so what’s my point? Well, although we missed church today, we took the kids to the Cleveland Zoo and saw up close some of God’s handiwork. The exquisite details of His design, the variety of His creativity is simply breathtaking. I mean, have you ever stopped and looked at a Hippo? Or maybe a 500 pound Gorilla? (And no, the primates are not my distant relatives, thank you. And for those who follow Mr. Darwin’s theory, we did not evolve through random mutations as a result of an iterative process of time, plus matter, plus chance.) It was a fun day…and the kids rode a camel!

Don’t forget to stop and smell the roses…and thank the One who created them.

Blessings,

Jeff