July 2002

PART OF IT ALL

            One of the enjoyable experiences of being at Annual Conference is being around Lake Erie.  I usually find myself sitting by the lake early in the morning to watch the life around the lake explode with the rising of the sun.  God, the great Artist, paints the sky with ever changing purples, pinks and blues.  He sends the gulls skimming across the water in search of breakfast.  He caresses the world with gentle breezes. 

            How wonderful it is to be in a place like that to pray.  Suddenly you are a part of it all — one part of creation sitting in the middle of the rest of creation — and experiencing the Creator in a way you usually don’t in your busy world.

            Sitting among the huge boulders along the lake I suddenly heard growling directly behind me.  When I stood up and turned to see what it was, I saw two little masked faces peering back at me.  I talked softly to the young racoons trying to coax them out of hiding, but as curious as they were, they would not leave the protection of the rocks.  They played behind me the rest of the time I was there.  I went back to reveling in being a part of such a wonderful world and praying to the One who had made it all.  Out of the corner of my eye I saw something moving in the water.  A snake was dancing near the shore and headed my way.  His head would go up almost six inches out of the water, then down again to glide along the surface.  Up and down he would bob as he looked for something interesting.  It was wonderful to watch him dance so gracefully through the water. 

            The lake was so clear and calm I could see the bottom, and it looked so inviting.  I wanted to join the snake in his dance, so even though I was not dressed to swim I plunged into the wonderful water.  Now I felt even more a part of it all — the gulls, the snake, the fish. . . and me. 

            I remember drinking in the beauty of another lake, this one in Canada.  Lying in the bottom of my canoe, surrounded by intoxicating beauty, the thought suddenly occurred to me: “God, you really do love the world, don’t you.”  I had read John 3:16 many times before, but now I was experiencing its reality.  God loves the world he made.  He pronounced his blessing over it.  He is not angry at the world, he is in love with it — and us.  It is wonderful to be around someone who is in love with you.  That is the awareness with which we should live each of our days.  That awareness, the real experience of it, does not come until we make time for it to happen.  Being a part of it all and experiencing the exhilaration of God’s presence is a growing consciousness which is developed by consistently being in the presence of the One who made it all.  He is calling us to take the plunge.

Swimming in Him,

Rod