When Beauty Rocks Your World

Sometimes the world can be breath-takingly beautiful – as it was last night under a bright full moon. A silver halo, an unusual lunar corona, framed the moon over the waters of Lake Norman in North Carolina. Some days – and nights – the world feels like paradise itself.

But the news reminds me that others are digging out from fierce winter blizzards, that scud missiles are falling in Syrian neighborhoods, thugs attacked Christmas worshippers in Nigeria and the families of Newtown face a grief that can’t be spoken.

On Christmas Day Tiffany and I went with thousands of others to the opening of the new movie of Les Miserables. What an uplifting story of hope against

Noah Part 3 - The Rainbow Connection

Photo Credit: Marcheta Gibson

My heart leaps up when I behold a rainbow in the sky.  William Wordsworth

I remember waking up the morning after a rain-storm aboard a yacht in Desolation Sound, British Columbia. My wife had died seven months earlier and despite the majestic beauty of the scenery, the name Desolation Sound echoed the recent deluge of loss in my life.

As I raised the deck hatch that morning I stared up at a magnificent double rainbow arched across the sky above the shrouds and mast of our boat. My heart leapt as those rainbows silently but eloquently proclaimed promise and hope to my soul.

The ancient story of Noah and the Flood is crowned with a rainbow.  By sheer mercy and grace the ark and its inhabitants survived the devastating flood. And by sheer mercy God does this over and over again in our lives. There are experiences in life that overwhelm us and change our world forever. But God is a master of new beginnings.

Before The Oceans . . .

The Song of Wisdom

I was born before the oceans were created,

I was there when the LORD established the heavens,

when he drew the horizon on the oceans.

I was there when he set the clouds above,

when he established springs deep in the earth.

I was there when he set the limits of the seas,

so they would not spread beyond their boundaries.

And when he marked off the earth’s foundations,

I was the architect at his side.

I was his constant delight,

rejoicing always in his presence.

And how happy I was with the world he created;

how I rejoiced with the human family!

Land and Sea

“God said, ‘Let the waters beneath the sky flow together into one place, so dry ground may appear.’”

Genesis 1:9

Photo Credit: Distantpeak.com

It’s the second dazzling water event in the great Genesis Song of Creation – the emergence of the earth out of the Sea at the voice of God - the transformation of a featureless ocean into a sculptured landscape!

Antrim Coast Northern Ireland

Imagine the forces that came into play that day, as tremors ripped through the earth’s crust, trenches gashed the sea-floor, hollowing out deep marine basins - and elsewhere giant crags of land thrusting up through the surface of the sea, catching the glint of the sun.

The dry land gives us a place to stand, to build and grow. The earth buffers us from the ocean waves, yet it drinks in the rain and holds enough water to sustain grasslands and cedar forests. Trees and people need to be rooted, as do cities and civilizations. We need the land just as we need water.

► Day One gave us Light;
► Day Two, Air and Sky;
► Day Three divided Land from Sea.

Winter With a Vengeance!

It isn’t even officially winter, but already Europe and North America have been walloped by white stuff.

Skiers and school-kids love it, but truckers and the rest of us, usually not so much.

But snow does make cool pictures!

Snow is water vapor art, every flake unique, according to physicist Kenneth Libbrecht, the world’s foremost snow crystal photographer.  Check out his snowflake slide-show in Scientific American .

Mirror Mirror on the Wall

Water is nature’s first mirror. It reflects mountains, trees and sky

to create some of creation's most evocative art. 


Water photo-copies the reality around it and mirrors it back to us with fresh perspective and insight.

In Aesop’s fable, a dog with a bone sees his reflection in the river; greedy for the bone in that other dog’s mouth, the dog barks – and his bone drops into the river. It's not just a story about dumb dogs, it’s a cautionary tale about human greed.

The classics also tell about Narcissus who fell in love with his own image in water and became incapable of loving anyone else – a warning about the paralysis of vanity and self-absorption.

Thanksgiving

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good.

His love endures forever.

Psalm 136:1

Tiffany and I celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving on Saturday, leisurely canoeing a stretch of the Grand River south of Kitchener under a cloudless sky.

We confirmed the great exultation “the earth is full of God’s unfailing love” especially the trees, radiant in October extravaganza, displaying God’s majesty in orange, ruby and gold, mirrored in the river inviting us to join their 'Ode to Joy' in awe and gratitude.

Storm Glory

Psalm 29 traces the fury of a thunderstorm blowing in from the sea.

It whips through the northern forests, tears across the land and into the Negev in the south.

It splits oak trees asunder and shatters the mighty cedars of Lebanon. It strips the forests bare.


The singer revels in the majestic roar of waves and thunder, howling wind, crack of lightning and reverberation of trees crashing to the ground. Nature is majestic, wild and breath-taking!

Water, wind and weather dwarf our pride. Sailors, mountain-climbers and airline pilots learn to respect nature’s laws. But this storm-song tells us more.

Tipping Point

Hurricane Igor slammed into Newfoundland this week with ferocious winds and rain.

They saw it coming but were powerless to stop it or steer it out to sea.

An 80 year old man was swept away in the flood along with bridges, roads and homes.

We wonder. . . and we ask Why?

Job and his friends wore themselves out pondering the 'Why?' question. Sometimes our best explanations don’t fit.
Eventually God steps into their conversation and asks more questions: