Sunset

Yes, Sunset. All too often, its brother “Sunrise” gets all the attention.

This day, however, Sunset’s getting all the attention.

When we built our home, I had no idea what a treat was in store for us. It certainly was none of my doing, but for a variety of reasons, our home is positioned in such a way as to capture perfectly the view at Sunset each evening. Countless are the times I’ve come up from the basement, and have been greeted with one of the more spectacular views I’ve ever had the joy of witnessing.

The lights and colors are usually brilliant, at least as viewed from our home. Sometimes it seems to me that the sky is quite literally on fire. And, no two Sunsets are alike, or at least it seems. One night, it will seem relatively subdued, with the sky having a more purplish-tint to it. The very next night, the sky is alive with bright reds and yellows, almost as if flames are coming down from the heavens.

I cannot help but be filled with a sense of not only wonder and appreciation whenever I view one of these Sunsets, but also of awe. Awe at the incredible power that created this universe in which we live, and allowed through His creation beauty such as the kind that is created when the sun sets in the evening. I feel an overwhelming sense that He is near at these times, that He cares so much about us, loves us so much. It’s almost as if He’s painting a new picture every night, one full of such brilliant color and passion, to let us know we are most definitely not alone.

An atheist may look at the same Sunset, and just say that I’m being sentimental, that I’m simply too lazy to explore what in the natural world actually causes Sunsets. I’ve heard these types of arguments before. For me, such a beautiful picture that I’m treated to each clear evening simply can’t be caused by pure happenstance of natural elements acting upon one another. Yes, that may be what actually does create a Sunset, but the question then becomes Who created the environment under which these conditions can occur?

I personally choose to believe that there is a force that created the natural world, and Who also lives with us in it. My feeble mind just cannot comprehend a world in which so much beauty exists without an intelligent design to it. Beauty in the natural world, while perhaps happenstance on some level, had to start from somewhere. Or more accurately, Someone. Someone who had a vision for a world/system He wanted to create.

Every time I see a beautiful sunset from my little home, my belief in God grows. He’s there. He did create it all, and He loves us so much that he wants to share His “paintings” on a daily basis. Sunsets are God’s signature at the end of each day, His promise to us that He is indeed there.

Enjoy them with all your heart and soul, and know that God is with us. Always.

-The Minister

Saturday Afternoon Baseball

We were visiting with family this past weekend, which is always a good thing to do. This particular visit was especially meaningful, as we had the entire family gathered together under one roof. That just doesn’t happen all too often.

On a glorious late Summer afternoon, that more closely resembled Fall, something wonderful happened. The next generation wanted to get out and enjoy the sunshine and cool breezes. And, lo and behold, they convinced us old timers to actually get up off the couch, tearing ourselves away from college football, and come out and play.

In the cul-de-sac in front of the house, the kids set up a makeshift baseball field. Well, it was derived from the very same dimensions used by the boys who grew up in that house, having played cul-de-sac baseball for years there. Soon, shouts of pure joy were heard throughout the “field”, as each person stepped up to the plate to take their knocks. There weren’t any real teams, but did it matter? Heck no. We all just fielded as each person stepped to the plate for their turn at bat.

Everyone involved had a big old ear-to-ear grin on their faces. It was just magic.

It struck me, admittedly not at that moment but later, that the game really represented all there is to life. There was family, which however you personally define that for you is incredibly important, as it gives you a foundation upon which to grow. There was simple joy. There were no video games, no incredible special effects such as those found in a movie, no high-tech anything. Just a ball, a bat, and a few folks forgetting about all those other “important” matters in life.

And, rest assured, there was God. Think for a minute that He wasn’t enjoying all of this? He was right there with us, enjoying every hit, every swing, every mighty cut at the ball, and every bit of love that was being displayed during this incredibly special moment in time. He loved it every bit as much as the rest of us.

You see, for a minute or two, we in that cul-de-sac really “got” it. By “it”, I mean life. We dropped all our seemingly important worries and concerns, and just dived in and had fun. Oh sure, there were a few bruises and bumps….kids fall down you know…but nothing we couldn’t handle as long as we were all supporting one another. Nothing we couldn’t handle as long as we recognized that love is the only thing that really matters.

That all God wants from us, I think. To love His people, and by so doing, love and honor Him. That’s the entire message of Christianity, in a nutshell.

No church on Earth could’ve shown that any better than a makeshift baseball diamond on a glorious late Summer day.

-The Minister

What if There's no Answer?

We’ve all made important phone calls, calls where we really needed to get in touch with the other person, only to receive no answer at the other end of the line. It just rings, and rings, and rings. Can be a bit frustrating, to say the least.

It is equally as frustrating when we pray for guidance during a tough time, only to not receive an answer. Or I should say, seemingly not receive an answer. Many’s the dark night, both figuratively and literally, when we are mired in one of life’s challenges and we pray (beg??) for some answer, some guidance to see us through the problems we encounter. None of us gets off scot-free in this world from experiencing tough times.

I don’t profess to have the solution to this question. I ask it a lot. Lately though, through the lens of hindsight, it seems like there may in fact have been answers to my “unanswered” prayers in the past. It just may have taken a different form than what I was expecting.

Ah…expectations. We always have them. We pray for an answer to a tough challenge, and then we expect that lightning bolts will come down from the sky, and a chorus of angels will descend with the solution. Or, we think the answer will hit us over the head with something obvious.

The answer that we seek may not be so obvious. Sometimes, the answer may just be the time and space we suddenly have to cry, and get out our frustration or sadness. Or, maybe it’s just allowing us to cry, after we’ve pent up all our woes for so long. Tears can be a source of relief for many of us.

Answers can take the form of an act of kindness from a friend. Or a stranger for that matter. They can take the form of a song, a poem, or in a line from a movie.

Answers to our prayers don’t have to be big dramatic gestures. Again, the answer may be subtle. Sometimes, the answer may come 6 months down the road, it may not happen immediately. But, I do believe that there is an answer, even when it seems there is no answer at all.

I think the key is to be aware, and in tune with all of the possible ways answers can come to us. Hey, its God folks. He can answer us with whatever method He deems most fit to convey His thoughts. It’s up to us to be receptive to that answer.

Most times, when we’ve just written off a “miraculous” event as a coincidence, it was really the answer we’d sought for so long, gift-wrapped from God. I’ve heard it said there are no real coincidences, just “God-incidences”.

I think there’s a lot of truth in that, actually.

-The Minister

Running and Being

I’m a long-time runner. Well, some would call what I do jogging, not running, but running sure does sound better! I’ve been doing this for years. The exercise is great, but I also love to see what folks are up to, what’s going on in the area, and just get some nice fresh air from time to time.

My journey the other day took me by a home for folks with disabilities and special needs. I’ve passed by this establishment many times, usually without incident or even pausing. The other day, however, was different.

A few of the home’s folks were out in the yard. It was a beautiful day, just one of those wonderful late-summer days where the world is gorgeous, there’s no humidity in the air, and the temperature was pleasant. This one lady was sitting in her wheelchair basking in the sunlight of the morning. Just sitting, seemingly content with the world.

Now, on the surface, if I was to compare myself with the lady in the yard, it would seem I had all the advantages of the world, and the lady whom I was viewing, did not. She was bound to her wheelchair, and appeared to be severely disabled from a physical standpoint at least. Yet, here she was, on a beautiful late-summer day, happy. She was happy. She was happy despite all of her “disabilities” from the world’s point of view.

I, on the other hand, was worrying and fretting over what I had to get done over the next few weeks. It seemed my life was filled with such important tasks to get accomplished, and I had to really buckle down to get things done.

After I saw my new found friend, none of those tasks seemed all that important any longer.

Here was someone who didn’t have the numerous advantages I had, yet seemed much more at peace at the moment, much more content just to be. Just to be in that moment alone. At some level, she realized that NOW is all there is, and that we might as well be happy with NOW. Here I was, filled with self-importance at all the responsibilities I had, living nowhere near NOW, worrying instead about some tomorrow that probably would never happen.

I saw God in that woman. I saw God once again reminding me that there really is nothing to worry about, nothing to fear. I saw God, demonstrating to me that one could have all the physical advantages in the world, but if one failed to be happy in the here and now, what good did it do them?

I’ve spent the better part of a lifetime searching for happiness, when in fact, the key to happiness is just to BE happy. Happiness isn’t a doing, it’s a BEING. One IS happy, one doesn’t DO happy. And one can BE happy, in spite of one’s physical limitations or whatever else is going wrong with the world.

God got through to me through the presence of that wonderful woman, just sitting in the sun, enjoying a wonderful summer day.

I smiled to myself, and kept on running without a care in the world.

-The Minister