My family and I are driving toward Bridgeville CA where I am speaking at a camp this next week.  Today we’ve had the joy of driving through the Southern Oregon coast and tomorrow and we are going to take in the Redwoods en route to Eureka and then Bridgeville.  The drive has been amazing and reminds me of God’s incredible power to create and to do so marvelously — beautifully!  From the beautiful Pacific ocean and rugged and Northwest coastline, to the magnificent Redwoods, to the hillsides covered in 12 shades of green to the dark blue ocean foaming white.  God’s handiwork and beauty is everywhere.

Be reminded of God’s beautiful creation by reading one of the creation passages (or all them!).  Just sit back and marvel as you think about God’s incredible power to create beautiful things for you and me to see and be reminded of Him!  Select page two to read Genesis 1.  Select page three to read Genesis 2.  Select page four to read Job 38.  Select page five to read Psalm 19.  Of course, maybe you have your own favorite passage — read that one!  Whatever you do, just focus and meditate on God’s amazing power to create beauty!

My wife and I have enjoyed the distinct privilege of being on a cruise this past week.  It’s been an absolutely amazing experience and one that came at a great time for us, physically with our rest, personally in our relationship and spiritually in our walks with God.  All of us need rest and I hope you are taking yours, too!

One day on the boat I was sitting on the ledge of our cabin window looking West at the incredible ocean that stretched out before me.  It was a windy day and the waves were really hitting us hard, you could feel the boat rocking back and forth as it skipped along the water en route to L.A.

As I kept gazing out the window I had the incredible sense of smallness.  Here we are on the edge of the coast (not more than a few miles from land) and yet no land can be seen with the naked eye.  Here our, this 1,000 foot cruise liner, burning over 1,000 gallons of fuel an hour, and yet the ocean tosses us to and fro like a toy in the bath tub.

For a brief moment, I think I had a glimpse, a 1/100th of a glimpse of what it was like for Job the day he was questioned by God.

Most of you probably know Job’s story from the Bible.  He was an incredibly wealthy man with a great family when God allowed it all to be taken away.  In minutes — literally! — he learned that all he owned had been stolen, that all of his children had been killed and that his own wife was asking him to curse God and call it quits.  Job was devastated, and soon hit rock bottom.

Before long, four of his buddies show up and try to “encourage” him all to no avail.  Of course, for three of them, their encouragement is filled with theological mistakes and blunders and they do a horrible job of representing God.  At the end of many days of arguing, questioning God and blowing off three of his friends, Job’s fourth friend speaks truth.  And as this young man finishes his dialogue, God makes an appearance and Job get his chance to question the Creator.

Of course, Job’s earlier bravado about wanting to question God disappears at the moment God shows up.  And instead of Job questioning Him, God turns the tables and starts questioning Job.  Check out Job 38:1-7:

Then the LORD answered Job out of the storm. He said:

 ”Who is this that darkens my counsel 
       with words without knowledge?

 Brace yourself like a man; 
       I will question you, 
       and you shall answer me.

 ”Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? 
       Tell me, if you understand.

 Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! 
       Who stretched a measuring line across it?

 On what were its footings set, 
       or who laid its cornerstone

while the morning stars sang together 
       and all the angels shouted for joy?

Ever heard the phrase, “A penny for your thoughts?”  Makes our thoughts not worth a whole lot, doesn’t it.  Imagine though, if you could get a penny for a thought and the person doing the thinking, thought enough thoughts that it was equal to the number of grains of sand on the seashore.  Would you take ‘a penny for your thoughts” then?

I would!

It’s not too often we think about Christmas in the book of Genesis, but that’s where the Christmas story starts.  So for the next few days, let’s look at the start of God’s amazing Christmas story from the book of beginnings.

Genesis 1:1

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.