Oh How Great

First off, this post will simply not do justice to what my eyes have seen and my heart has felt...

Chirs and I just got back from a rafting trip to the Grand Canyon. Pretty cool right? That is what I thought going into the trip...how fun it would be to raft the great Colorado River and see the sights...now that I am back, fun just doesn't cut it.....let's try humbling, breathtaking, in awe, a foretaste, powerful, mighty, assurance, redeemed, promised, and of course great!

The trip? How was the trip?  Besides rocky and really wet, it was all of the words mentioned. I mean, what isn't great about rafting class VIII rapids, hiking into side canyons and discovering beautiful waterfalls, seeing hot bubbling springs grip the edge of the canyon wall without spilling over into the river, dozens of types of desert life, a bird's eye view of the canyon in a helicopter, camping alongside the river, the constant sound of the river to fall asleep to?...Yes this trip was great, oh but none of those things even compare to how great God is and how I saw His power in the canyon.

The canyon is huge, no, enormous! The walls just go up and up and up some more. I must admit I went on this trip knowing very little about the canyon and how it was formed. I knew God created it, because I believe He created all things....but I just thought He created it at the same time as the rest of the world, and that the great global flood left it's mark in the canyon.

I saw evidence upon evidence that proved to me that the great global flood actually carved and created the canyon in a mighty way. I believe this to be true, not because someone who had a large vocabulary and who could talk rocks all day long said this was so, but because I saw the evidence for myself...I saw the science behind it and it made sense.

That however isn't what I really want to write about...what I want to write about is what this means for me. So what? So the global flood cut a canyon...what does this really mean for me? It means a lot.

The global flood was God's judgement on the wickedness of the world. The few that chose to follow God's command and enter into the Ark were saved, and those who didn't...they perished in the great waters.

If the Grand Canyon was formed by the judgement waters of God, then the canyon would be a scar from God's judgement.
If the Grand Canyon is but a scar from God's judgement, with all of it's beauty, wonder, and amazement, then how glorious will our eternity be? How great will that place of perfection be? Just like God made a way for those during the flood to be saved from the waters, He has made a way for you and me, will you be there to enjoy God forever?

So you see, this was much more than a fun trip. This, for me, was just a glimpse of what is to come, a small foretaste of the beauty that awaits us all who have been redeemed through Christ!

As I try and debrief from the trip, my eagerness and excitement for Heaven is growing and my soul can't keep from singing...                                
                                                                  How Great Thou Art!

"Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise;

    his greatness no one can fathom."    Psalm 145:3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cc0QVWzCv9k

I'd like to thank Russ Miller for helping connect the dots for me...it was his brilliant words that help me realize this place is a scar left over from the judgement of God.

A Hope and a Wish

What is your great wish? What do you hope for? What do you hope for your family, your friends, your children, for those close to you, and even for yourself? Health? A lifetime of happiness? Security? Yes, me too, those are all good things, happy things, fine things to wish for. 

I often hear (and even say myself) "I wish you all the happiness in the world" or "I hope for a lifetime of happiness for you, you deserve it!" I am pretty sure I have written that many times in an engagement or wedding card. But when you dig deeper, think a little harder, is there something more? Something more to wish for, a greater hope to have than just "happiness."

I thought about this the other day as I heard a song, a song I have heard many times before, and love more and more every time I hear it. I thought about well wishes....do they ever come true, like completely come true forever? I am wishing people happily-ever-afters, but do those exist? I am not denying that there are moments, days, weeks, even years maybe of happiness for people, but when I look around this broken world what I see are people who have been hurt by others, broken by sin and selfishness, drowning in a sea of their own choices, living in a way that feels defeated, conquered, and I ask why? I am not asking why are there hurting people or why are bad things happening to "good" people. I know that answer...because we live in a fallen world...a world where sin has entered in and effects us all, and I mean ALL. I am asking "why" do I wish happily-ever-afters if they can't really be obtained? Is it because I don't know what else to say? Is it because I really am hoping, despite that it never happens, that a friend of mine will actually go through an entire life without hurt or pain? Maybe it's because I watched too many Disney movies growing up...and all of those princesses had happy endings....or so it seemed. 

Speaking of those princesses, the movie always stops right as she catches her prince...it never goes beyond that. Do those princesses ever get sick, cry, or die?? Of course not...because it is fantasy. 

It is not my attempt in this post to compare how our lives will never measure up to those of a Disney princess...that would be somewhat depressing. It is however my attempt to remind, reveal, challenge, or even share how though our lives on earth will always have pain and suffering, we can have that happy ending...that forever love...that complete bliss...through Jesus. When I think about what my wish or hope really is for those closest to me...it is not for a life-time of happiness, but for a foreverness. My hope is that you will live forever...

Not forever in a fairy tale or in this world...oh no, but forever  in a perfect world with The Prince, The One who loves you more than you love yourself. My hope is that even though no one actually deserves it, we would live forever with our Creator. 

I do not wish for you a set of rules, I do not wish for you a new or old religion, I do not wish for you to clean yourself up or for you to "get it together." I wish for you a relationship with Jesus...because Jesus isn't a set of rules, Jesus isn't good behavior or behavior modification, Jesus isn't a religion, He is a person, and He is the greatest hope anyone could wish for. 

It is my greatest wish, my greatest hope in life, that we share forever together!  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8UXgTprJGY