amazing

you know, when you think about it, life is pretty amazing. let's start with the fact that my lungs and heart keep working. pretty important, don't you think. and i don't even think about them - they just keep chugging along - for greater than 525,600 hours so far - now that is amazing. that's just the beginning. the rest of my body - well, most of it anyway - is still working. and i'm surrounded by amazing things. stores where they charge you the right price by just passing the product over a camera. amazing. how about the mountains. ever just taken a hike and sat up a trail somewhere and just looked at the creation and listened to the elk bugle - amazing. and the ocean. amazing. i have seen the ocean over a period of 40+ years and the waves keep coming in and the tide keeps coming in and going out. wow! how about the birth of a baby. now that is amazing. absolutely beautiful. i could go on and on for hours. i mean we are surrounded by amazing things - cars, tvs, furniture, air, trees, people, ipods, 'puters, pens, pencils, paper, bathrooms, houses, dung beetles, birds, baseball teams, paper clips, etc - all truly amazing. but you know what, the most amazing thing of all is God and Jesus - for in Them is the beginning of everything else that is amazing.

snow

o, how beautiful you are as you fall from the sky. slowly wafting back and forth, floating with the breeze, each flake different from the rest i'm told. it's majestic the way each flake approaches the earth and so softly lands upon the ground. how magnificent is your power as you gather together with your brother and sister flakes to form a layer that blankets creation. how mighty and powerful you are as you accumalate and bind together, combining your muscles and bring man and car to a standstill. and then you begin to show your evil side as yoy become merciless, stopping even those that must get from here to there, from home to work, or to help those in distress. and how resistant you can be as people begin to try and remove you as you fight every shovel that is struck into you, every blade that is plunged into your side. and then yes, the final blow, even as you are loosing the battle to be done away with, you strike this person's back in pain, or this child's arm or leg as they plunge down a hill, or how about the novice on the ski slope for the first time. yes, snow is so beautiful and yet so unwelcome; so pleasant to the eyes and yet can be so harmful to those that try and master it. snow is so amazing and powerful in it's many attributes. in fact, it kind of reminds me of it's Creator - God, who can be so awesome when you walk with Him and yet so devastating when you oppose Him. thank You Lord for snow and it's many mysteries and personalities. And thank You Lord for Your many mysteries and mercies and grace.

winter

don't you just love it! winter, that is. i mean who can't get into snow storms, ice storms, and being without power. shows us how spoiled we are, doesn't it. i mean, can you imagine being on the plains, in the woods, or in the mountains during the winters as a pioneer. wow! instead of ice cream you had frozen buffalo legs for snacks. instead of candy or chips for snacks you had mush made from corn that was stored the previous fall. and the doctors say don't use saturated fat to fry your food. how about your steak being fried in lard or saturated fat. i love it. i mean i love winter. it brings out our survival instincts. i mean think about what goes through your mind as you chip away the ice or shovel snow drifts that are 3-6 feet high. just don't say them. kind of helps you see where your mind is, doesn't it. and what about when you want to hop in the car and drive to somewhere just to get out of the house. and those pioneers were excited about getting out after being in their cabin for days if not weeks. man, do we have it good, or what? and who says God hasn't blessed us.