Colors

I love fall. I love the colors on the trees. I love the coolness in the air. I love the fact that the leaves just blow everywhere. (I don't even mind cleaning the leaves out of my yard on a nice fall day!)

It really is a beautiful time of year. And it is amazing to me that the earth can be such a beautiful place. Iowa is a beautiful place. So is all of the earth.

Even with the fact that this planet has been forever marred by sin. Even understanding that everything is in this process of death and decay because of Adam's sin. Even though there are wars that rape and pillage the land. Even though some cities pollute the air and and seas. Even though our ozone layer has been apparently depleted...earth is still amazingly beautiful.

Psalm 57 says that God's glory is "over all the earth." The whole world and the heavens above still proclaim the awesomeness of God...even in it's fallen state.

And that gives me hope to know that even me, a sinner, someone who has been scarred and beaten up by my own selfish sinfulness...even I can be a beautiful thing for all to see God's glory through.

Even more amazing than the blazing colors of fall, God can use me, a broken, sinful man to display His wondrous works in a way that far out does any dapper Maple on a Fall day.

The Psalmist wrote:

You made him (man) a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You made him ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet: all flocks and herds, and the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas. O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! (Psalm 8:5-9, NIV)

We, in our smallness, have been elevated by God to be used as a billboard to let everyone see how great our God really is. My favorite song we sing at church is "How Great Is Our God." He really is!