Do you see God’s hand in the things around you?

     As you probably realize, I am into a hobby that I love and enjoy.  I worked in the field of photography for years. I now find it very relaxing and it gives me a reason to get out into nature and explore God’s creations. 

     Several weeks ago we visited our daughter, Jennifer, who lives in Oregon. Guyla and Jennifer needed time to “Girl talk.” They found a project cutting and drying apples that seemed like a real bore to me, so I thought that I would find Russ, her husband, and join him in whatever he was doing, in order to spend time with him. As it turned out, I did find him but he was working on a project already, and it was one where only one person needed to be involved. That left me hanging out by myself. What to do? What to do? 

     The day was really nice. The sun was out and it was warm. I headed to the car and pulled out my camera thinking that I would see if there was anything to take pictures of. I had picked up a really interesting lens recently and thought I would play with it for a while. They have an area where there are a lot of flowers, and in the same area is a really nice rock that I could sit on, and it just so happened that there were a lot of insects buzzing around landing on the flowers.

     Does that sound like a plan, or at least a distraction? Yep! It did to me too! A few hours later, when the girls were finished with the apples and “Girl Talk”, they found me sitting on the rock engrossed in the snake, the bees, the flies, and the lizards, “Happy as a clam” as Ivar would say.

     So, what does that have to do with the Weekly Word?  Nothing?  I don’t think so. Let’s look at what happened that day.  I was left out of both scenarios. The girl’s project and my son-in-law’s project. We went to Oregon to visit the kids and I found myself, by myself, fending for myself. So what happened? God opened a window for me that turned my boredom into a fantastic experience. How many times do we look at situations, and get upset and miss the opportunity of a lifetime. I came away from that experience amazed at the care and complexity that God accomplished when He spoke the world into being. I came home with several pictures of bugs that show the magnificent intricacies of His creation. A small snake that crossed my path dressed in a brilliant orange and grey suit.  Black and white bald faced wasps, killers sharing the same flowers that the honeybees were gathering pollen from, flies buzzing and flitting around, landing on the rocks and branches, and several Northern Alligator Lizards sunning themselves on the warmth of the rocks.

     So often we ignore the opportunity to stop and experience God in the world that He created, rather than trying to accomplish what we think needs to be done and we decide is more important than communing with him. 

     On the way home from Oregon we drove in a pouring rain through low hanging clouds in the passes. Cars passed us as we drove, much more interested in getting to their destination than enjoying the beautiful scenic canvases He painted with us as we drove through His world.

     As we crossed into Washington, we found ourselves on interstate 5 which was under construction in the area of Woodland. The State is repairing a three lane bridge. Traffic was backed up for 7+ miles and then as we got closer to the bridge we had to merge from three lanes to two lanes in what they called a “zipper merge”. As we got to the bridge, people were jockeying for position and switching lanes, just asking for an accident to happen. Yes, it took us an extra 45 minutes to an hour to get through it, but His hand was on us all the way. We allowed things to happen as He controlled them. As we merged we watched as He guided us into the right lane and cleared traffic so we went through with ease.

     As Vanessa writes in her Tuesday update, “God is always good!” What we need to do is look for His hand in what we see as the mundane things as well as what He provides in the big things.

     A practical thought for you to ponder. When was the last time you sat quietly and saw God’s creation and how fantastic it is?  And this He created by speaking it into existence. Wow………

Ed Johanson