by 
The heavens declare the glory of God;
Psalm 19:1-4
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they reveal knowledge.
They have no speech, they use no words;
no sound is heard from them.
Yet their voice goes out into all the earth,
their words to the ends of the world.
A thought occurred to me on my bike ride today. After rocking out to some classic Deep Purple for a while, I got to my turn-around point and wondered what I should listen to next. I thought about listening to a spiritual audiobook. Then I thought, why not just ride in silence and listen to creation preach the good news to me?!
I didn’t have to listen very long before I heard creation shouting. Here’s what it had to say…
Right away I saw a tree poking up out of the ground that had split into two trees right at the base. It made me think about cooperation, unity and sharing space and resources with another. I puzzled at what a rare thing that seems to be.
I then saw a Great Blue Heron standing completely still in the river. I was overwhelmed by what an impressive and massive beast it was. What occurred to me was that, as majestic, awesome, powerful, graceful and fierce this bird was, it still needed rely on its creator for its daily meal. It had to be out there, early in the morning, making a very careful, patient and concerted effort for its continual survival. There was no resting on its past victories. There were no breaks because of how awesome of a creature it is.
Next, I found another set of trees that was joined at the base. Perhaps this phenomenon isn’t quite as rare as I imagined. What was really striking about this particular growth was that there weren’t just two trees growing together, but three. It was almost as though it was a little family – Daddy tree, mama tree and baby tree.
Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.
Ecclesiastes 4:12
In addition to some deer just lying down by the river taking a rest, and all the different sounds of various birds, frogs and chipmunks, I saw humans. Humans were stopped in their tracks everywhere gazing in amazement (some, like me, taking photos) of the creation in front of their eyes. What an appropriate reaction, I thought. I also wondered if other animals are as amazed at creation as humans can be. I mean, do squirrels look at deer and think, “wow, that’s so cool!”? Do they get home to their squirrel families and talk about the wonders they saw down by the river that day?
There was also the new Spring growth juxtaposed against the old dead trees and leaves lying about. This made me think that we live in a continual cycle of revival, renewal, regeneration, redemption and restoration.
So, yes, creation did preach the good news to me today.
Interestingly I found that, immediately upon exiting the forest preserve trails, there was construction, machinery, traffic, pollution (of all sorts), industrial sites, fences, billboards, leaf blowers, malls, power lines, etc. This made me think that, though you can certainly find beauty in the smallest things surrounded by the worst conditions, it is often quite necessary to “get away” from all the distractions for a while, create space and surround yourself with an opportunity to go deeper.
