Every day after Monday gets progressively better, until Friday when I often wake up without the bagpipes. The excitement of the weekend gets to be so great that I can't even sleep! I've been planning the weekend since Monday morning and it's finally here. I have so many chores to do around the house. So many adventures I want to go on. So many people to see and activities to enjoy. I put in a quick hour at the gym, a half day at the office, and then it starts! I rush off to the Habitat for Humanity Restore and check for any good deals quick before the adventures begin. What's the weather like? What's the tide schedule? Are there any rare birds around? What are my friends doing? What's my girlfriend doing? Is anyone playing volleyball? Soccer? Basketball?
I have two and a half days to do everything that I'm passionate about and I want to make the most of it!
I have a passion for experiencing everything that God has placed around me. That means I don't have time to be inside, where almost everything is something man-made, unless I'm experiencing an adventure through time spent with friends and family. I want to see things that make me stand and observe in awe.
I want to see people loving on people. The greatest gift God gave us was His Son because of the love that He had for us. I can't see Jesus and I can't see God's love, but I can see both love and the gift of salvation lived out through the people around me.
I want to see waves, rivers and waterfalls. How does the water keep flowing and never stop? How do waves continue to crash on the beach from before I get there until after I leave? No one is pushing them. No boats are going by. Water just continually crashes on the beach because of some force that people think they can explain, but that can't be seen. I can see God's power through the continual flow and circulation of water.
I want to see fire turn something that once existed into something that looks completely different. Some call it rearranging atoms. What does that even mean? It means God has more creativity and influence in our lives than we can even begin to fathom. He gave us power to change the genetic make-up of things around us in order to bless us with different things that could have been given in far less creative ways. (odt.co.nz)
I want to look up and see the stars scattered across the sky. They aren't lined up in a row or in any type of pattern, but placed in unique locations across many galaxies by a God who just wanted us to look up and realize that He's bigger. He's bigger than our sin. He's bigger than our sickness. He's bigger than our fears. He's bigger than finances. He's bigger than our trials and our problems. He's so much bigger that He created a universe just so that we could see that He created a universe. (theguardian.com)
I want to see artistic details in minute things. Today I saw a picture of the iris of a penguin (fineartamerica.com). Look at the details in the penguins eye! It doesn't have to be red, but God knew we'd think it looked cool! Last week I saw an octopus similar to the one below (reefs.com). God gave this one animal so many awesome traits! It had the ability to jet water out of a tube on it's head in order to push harmful things away, or in my case, to blow sand at my hand. It could quickly turn from the reddish color shown in this picture to almost white. It used it's legs to learn everything it needed to about everything I put in the water, so that it's body could remain hidden behind the small amount of protection it had under an old tree stump. If something went wrong, it could lose it's leg and grow it back without any problems! God is an artist. Giving a penguin an eye without so many details was too boring. Creating an octopus without giving it the ability to do awesome things just wasn't enough! God carefully designed every little detail of everything around us, and I want to see it all!
I want to listen to music and the sounds of nature, because God created such beautiful sounds for us to enjoy. Why did God even create sound?! I think the only answer is just so we could enjoy it.
All these things God gave us because He loves us as His children. He wants us to know our Father is powerful. Our Father can take care of whatever problems we have. Our Father doesn't only care about the big problems we encounter. He doesn't just want us to come to Him when we have cancer or we've lost a loved one. He cares about the small things, like mosquito bites. We've been spoiled by our Father for as long as time has gone on, but we often want to look other places for our joy.
I want to continually be reminded that my Father loves me. My Father spoils me. My Father wants the best for me. My Father cares about every detail of my life. My Father has the time, the creativity and the desire to help me get to the greater plan He has for me. Just as my earthly father has loved me and deserves my love, respect and praise, so much more does my Father in Heaven who continually blesses me even when my life is apart from His will daily.
God is certainly present in man-made things, because He gave us the intelligence and the power to create things, but I personally want to see all those things in there rawest form. Men are sinful, and that sin can so easily influence the things that men do and the things that men create, regardless of the man.
God's plan for us here on earth is not to spend our time investing in things of this world, but to invest our time in Him and His desires. I want to know that everything I do is either helping me gain knowledge and experience that will be used by God later in my life, or that it's something that will help the people around me see Him clearly and in a new light. It's often hard to see how this is happening from the position I'm in right now as an engineer, but I trust that God has given me this position and put me in this place at this time for a purpose. When that purpose is fulfilled, I know that a new door will open, and at that point I will walk through in excitement, knowing that the opening of a door is like getting a promotion from God. We may not think we're ready for what's beyond that door, and we might be scared to walk through, but God knows what's ahead and He's telling us we're ready. Leave your baggage behind and walk through the door, expecting God to do something great and knowing that He's going to take care of the details!
I'm going on a kayaking adventure out to one of the barrier islands with my adventure partner tomorrow. I'm excited to see what God has in store for us!
Love you all!
