God's Country

Psalm 29:2 “Give unto the Lord the glory due to His name; Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.”

1 Chronicles 16:29 “Give to the Lord the glory due His name; Bring an offering, and come before Him. Oh, worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness!”

Almost ten years ago, after my mom passed away, my oldest son came up with the idea, and asked if we could take his grandfather (my dad) on a camp out fishing trip to the eastern Sierra Nevada Mountains, off the famous Tioga Pass of Yosemite in California. A co-worker first invited me and introduced me to this open beauty of God’s country, and I started taking both of my son’s to experience the grandeur of God’s creation for long weekends in the spring or late summer, while they were youngsters growing up. There was a real sense of “closeness to God”, where Romans 1:20 “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse”, observed and understood.

Psalm 90:1-2 “Lord, You have been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, Or ever You had formed the earth and the world, Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.”

My, now adult, son’s motive was to spend some undistracted and meaningful time with his father and 85 year old grandfather in the simple beauty of nature and nature’s God, creating lasting joyful memories, centered on the love of family. Clear, warm days filled with fishing in the peaceful forest creeks, with fun-filled side-trips down unexplored dirt roads and new landmarks, and rest evenings around the campfire roasting marshmallows and telling old stories. Not to mention our neighbors: the bear, the deer, the squirrels and chipmunks that we shared the campground with. This last long weekend was our third three generation camping trip, and it was a true and pure blessing. I pray that you may find and make the time to enjoy your family and loved ones in God’s country splendor. But, even greater than God’s creation is the new creation of the Believer; redeemed by Jesus Christ, and reconciled to their Creator God.

2 Corinthians 5:17-19 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation."

In Christ, Brian