Monday, September 19, 2011

Camping in the White Mountains of New Hampshire

    Hey folks! Just back from a week-long camping/sightseeing trip out in the White Mountains of New Hampshire.  That entire area is absolutely gorgeous, and I don't think I'll ever forget the view from below the mountains - surrounded on all sides by rocky, towering mountains that make one feel very, very insignificant.  
    I loved to stand in the center of one of the few open fields, and watch the sun rise over the pointy, rocky summit.  Sunsets were just as majestic, and seemed even dramatic as the sun went behind the mountain and the shadows took over.  Nightfall was always so peaceful ... the sun went down, the night birds took up their song, and the roar of the Pemigewasset River continued.  
    Of course we did have our exciting experiences as well.  Two bears, one of which climbed the side of our vehicle at night, and then climbed a tree in our camp site and hissed down at us.  Hiking on a trail that had been fairly destroyed by the recent hurricane, to a elevation of 3,500ft.  Swimming in a crystal-clear lake in the cold mountain air and shivering uncontrollably. Getting a look at the Old Man of the Mountain - New Hampshire's state symbol. 
    All in all, we had a great vacation week.  I marvel at all of the beauty that God has created.  But even more so, that He actively sustains and upholds every detail of it.  I had to laugh to myself, actually, as I gazed up at those mountains, so unmovable and unchangeable.  My God thinks nothing of moving those mountains into the sea.  That's nothing to Him! What a mighty God I serve!  I delight to be so small, so insignificant, so absolutely loved by a God like that. 
    

Thursday, September 8, 2011

The Love of God...Romans eight

    I have confidence in the depths of my heart that I will be conqueror in all of the difficulties of life, because Jesus IS.  At the present moment, in fact, He is at the right hand of God, interceding for little, tiny me.  It doesn't matter at all if the whole world is against me, if the God of heaven is for me.  If God loved me so much that He actually gave His Son, and didn't even consider sparing anything for my redemption, I have nothing to fear.
    Even if I face death head on, or whether I live a life of painful, agonizing daily dying to what is most precious to me, that very thing that seems the darkest in my life right now is not capable of separating me from the love of God.  God has ordained that this very thing is working for my good. 
    If all of the angels or all of the powers of hell attempt to come against me and rip me from the power and love of God, and if God allows Satan to touch my life, my health, my family, my church - even those things in all of their power and wrath are incapable of separating me from the love of God.  Somehow, though I cannot see it, and though all of hell is coming against me, God has ordained that this very thing is working for my good.
    Though the present circumstances seem totally against the will of God, He is still sovereign.  Though wrong may seem to dominate, and seem to be capable of clouding my vision and dulling my joy, it is absolutely incapable of separating me from the love of God. 
    The future may very well hold things fearful and joyful.  Things gloriously full of gladness, and things terrifyingly difficult and painful.  It may look as dark as hell or as bright as the sun, but regardless of what it is, the future is in the hands of the Lord.  And God has ordained that whether it be dark or bright, it is good - intensely good - and it is incapable of separating me from the love of God.
    Even though there seem to be frighteningly powerful forces in this world, and I feel very small in comparison, God is still reigning over all.  The powers of darkness and the powers of light are totally under His control, and He has ordained that they cannot cross His boundaries - and even they are incapable of separating me from the love of God. 
    If I were to fly into space, and soar past the sun, the moon, and our galaxy, and if I were to travel to the farthest reaches of outer space, even there His right hand will lead me.  I may be totally out of the reach of human hands, but the hands of my God are not confined to human capabilities.  The distances that cut me off from the reach of man, and the reach of telephone and internet and emergency personnel, are still totally incapable of separating me from the love of God.
     If I take the greatest submarine ever invented, and dive to the deepest depth of the ocean that man has ever dove to, and if I hike to the deepest cave of the earth and make my home there, God's hand is still leading me.  The darkest cave cannot hide me from the all-seeing eyes of my Father.  Though there is no discernible light in the depths of the earth, to God it is as light as day.  And nothing - not the depths of the ocean or of the earth; not the darkness of hell - is capable of separating me from the love of my God.
    In fact, there is absolutely not a thing upon the face of the earth, or in heaven, or in hell, or in the deepest, darkest cave of the earth, or in the depths of the ocean, or in the farthest reaches of the universe ... or in my present circumstances and life ... that can in the smallest way, separate me from the boundless, unstoppable, everlasting love of God. 
    So, what should I say to all of these things?  If God is for us, who in all of creation can be against us?  He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things?  Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies.  Who is to condemn?  Christ Jesus is the one who died - more than that, who was raised - who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. 
    Who is even capable of separating us from the love of Christ? Is tribulation or distress? Persecution or famine? Lack of clothing or danger, or death?  Not a thing - you name everything you face today - nothing in all of creation is able or capable of separating us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.