Niagara Falls in Awesome Wonder

I spent yesterday and today riding across (longways) the large state of New York from Connecticut to Niagara Falls. What a beautiful place. Being from the south, I was taught that "Yankee Land" was nothing but factories and garbage heaps. It's amazing how perceptions are planted in young minds. If we listen to Dr. Morris Massey, we are taught things (value programmed) about what is good, bad, right, wrong, normal, and not normal by the age of 10. The rest of our life is a evaluation/devaluation of that teaching. Needless to say, my early planted opinions of New York were made by people who never spent any time here. (You get 2 ride videos today!)

    

I made it to Niagara Falls, one of the great 7 natural wonders of the world (according to some lists). It is a magnificent sight! This is actually the second time I had been. I came here on a trip with my parents when I was 16. The falls were as grand as ever, spilling millions of gallons of water hundreds of feet below. The spray shot up as high as the platform I was standing on. The only thing I could think of was how magnificent it was to experience the awe and power of such a natural structure.

This great Earth and all the awesome wonders are God's wonderful creation. In the creation story in the book of Genesis, the teller reflects on the great power and strength of God and God's ability to create all this awesomeness in one day. I am not a literalist, so I don't think that God's "day" is a conventional 24 hour time period. I also don't think God snaps fingers and makes things happen. However, I do believe in the creative and re-creative power of God that used a great glacier 12,000 years ago to create such magnificence. It draws people from all over to experience its glory.

"In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day." (Genesis 1:1-5)  God is the creator, and we are part of God's creation. In this creation, we are made in God's image and given the power to create and be creative. It is an awesome responsibility that isn't to be taken lightly. 

There has been an environmental push recently from the Church, making sure that we care for the Earth. We were made caretakers of the Earth by God. I feel if we don't care for the environment, then we will continue to suffer from the toxins and poisons we are putting into the environment. It makes sense to me for the Church to be involved in enviornmental ministry.

Challenge to Self: Become more involved in ministries and initiatives that care for the Earth and the environment.

Challenge to Trinity: How can we do things within the church community that help protect the environment? Paper usage, dish use, trash generation, etc... How can we start and participate in a real recycling program. How can we put the effort and cost aside and really do this because it's the right thing to do?