Road Trip: America the Beautiful

On day two in Colorado we headed down from Denver to Colorado Springs to visit the Garden of the Gods. It was April (just barely) and the morning was freezing with a little sleet mixed in for good measure. In the afternoon it cleared up a bit but it was still windy and cold. However, we endeavored to at least drive through the Garden of the Gods as we had heard that it was a spectacular site.

We weren't disappointed. In the foothills of the majestic Rocky Mountains there are some magnificent rock formations that display the artistic wonder of our Creator. At least that's what I thought I saw.

What I am told is that what I actually saw was created 65 million years ago when 1.5 billion year old granite rock heaved sandstone to the surface as the Ancestral Rocky Mountains were formed. Millions of years of rain and wind then formed these beautiful formations. Of course all of this started when some cosmic reaction happened by chance billions of years ago to form this earth, its beauty and all of us lucky organisms that grew from the goo.

Why is it that we can’t look at the beauty that God has created and just be amazed without putting it all into a nice tight box? We either can’t accept there is a Creator or if there is one, we want to make Him just an initiator of some cosmic event that started it all. We can’t accept a purposeful Creator that can create the beauty around us by just speaking it into existence.

Why do we make God either non-existent or non-relevant?

Because if God is who He says He is, we have to face who we are in light of God’s greatness. We’re not God and we’re not a part of God. We’re a creation, a creature. A creature created in the image of God but a creature that wanted more and still wants more.

So, we say there is no God, or at least no relevant God, and everything around us happened by chance. But, can there really be beauty by random chance? Are our art museums filled with paintings that happened when an artist’s cat knocked over the paint?

The writing is on the wall, the mountains, the stars and the sunsets. It’s time to face up to who we are and who God is. It’s time for the creature to humble itself before the Creator.

Romans 1:19-20 (ESV)
19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.
20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.

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Road Trip: Grace and Peace

Once we figured out which route to take (see Lost before we start) we were off. Six people, four being siblings 10 years of age and younger, strapped to their seats for over 17 hours. Many of us have those fond family road trip memories. "He touched me!" "She put her hand on my side of the car!" And of course the famous, "Are we there yet?"

A family road trip can be a bonding experience or it can be a national lampoon experience. In order to avoid the latter I gave everybody one rule for the trip that was to be our family mantra - Grace and Peace.

Grace - favor and kindness towards people - even when they do not deserve it.
Peace - harmony between people - no conflicts, contentment.

This was quite a tall order, however, I think we succeeded for the most part. There were a few times that irritation with each other showed as we were tired and road weary. However, a quick "grace and peace" reminder seemed to get us back on track.

Wouldn't it be great if "grace and peace" were that easy all the time, both with our families and with the whole world. Why is it that grace and peace don't abound in our world?

In order to have grace, you need to be willing to give it, even when the other person does not deserve it. In fact, the other person has to be undeserving for it to be considered "grace" in the first place. However, even if you can manage to extend grace, peace may or may not follow. Peace will depend on how the other person responds to your grace. Basically, just like the old saying that it takes two to tango when referring to fights; it also takes two to tango for grace and peace to abound.

So is there no hope?

The hope is in the grace that God has already extended to us. The grace extended is the opportunity for peace with God through His Son, Jesus Christ, even though we've done nothing to deserve it. One day every knee will bow and grace and peace will then abound. Why not bow your knee now and experience the peace that comes from God's grace today?

Philippians 2:9-11 (ESV)
9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name,
10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

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Road Trip: Lost before we start

We headed out on our family vacation this morning. We packed up the Excursion with our four kids and luggage and headed for the mountains. We're on a genuine family road trip - 17 hours over 2 days. I'm riding shot gun right now after putting in the first four hours of driving this morning. We have about three more to go for today's leg.

Our trip started a little stressful as we found ourselves lost within 20 minutes of leaving the house. Well, we weren't actually lost. The problem was our GPS was giving us different directions than what we routed via MapQuest and both of these were different than what I was thinking in my head. We knew where we were and where we wanted to go. We just weren't sure of the right way to get there.

Does this sound a little too familiar to real life?

I know where I'm at. I have a job, family, house with a mortgage, etc... I think I have a good idea where I want to go. I want to be able to put my kids through college, finish a successful career and retire comfortably. But do I know how to get there? Just like conflicting information on our road trip, I am flooded with different information on how to get where I think I want to be in life.

How do we get where we want be? Some experts tell you to put x dollars or x percentage into college fund and 401k. Or should you put money into an annuity? How about life insurance? Real-Estate? What happens if the stock-market crashes? What if gas prices never come back down? What if I lose my job?

Directions on a road trip are much simpler. I just enter my destination into the TomTom and it guides me turn by turn. It may not be the way I want to get there but if I have faith, it will eventually get me there. There is one catch with GPS and any other tool you use to find your way. If you put in the wrong destination, you'll never get where you need to be.

This is where we blow it in life. We decide where we think we want or need to go and then try to figure out how to get there. However, what if we pick the wrong destination? Maybe college for my kids and a relaxing retirement are not the right destination? It won't matter what advice we follow or how much faith we have in those directions, we won't end up where we were really meant to be.

Fortunately, I have a much better tool for directions in life than I have for my family road trip. I have God's Word. The Bible not only gives me directions but it also tells me where I need to go - something my TomTom can never do.

The directions may not always seem to make sense to me. They may be counter intuitive to the directions I might normally head on my own. However, I've tried my own routes many times and sure enough, what I thought was right was in the wrong direction. Fortunately, my forgiving God patiently instructs me to U-turn and head in the direction He directs.

Psalms 119:105 (ESV) 105 Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

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