Our God is an Awesome God

Have you ever had an encounter with nature that brought tears to your eyes? That so greatly demonstrated God's majestic creation? That made you feel like a speck of sand in a vast desert?

I had two of these experiences over the past week. I would like to share with you one of them. It really hit home because it made me think that as humans, we all get so involved in our own little worlds, feeling like the "big man" in control of our surroundings, that we forget how incomprehensible God's creation is and how much He is in control of it.

Last week, I got the opportunity to go kayaking in the ocean with Jason off of the coast of Florida. My parents own an ocean kayak, and we all took turns taking it out off of the beach near my parent's house. Everyone, (my sisters, my nieces, my nephews, my own children) had gone out, and it was down to me. Let's just say I am not an ocean person. Yes, I love sitting on the beach and looking at the ocean, but swimming in it, not so much. Lots of critters in there. But I knew it would be awesome once I got out there past the breaking waves. So I took a deep breath, grabbed the side of the kayak, and pushed it out to sea, only getting slightly pummeled by the waves. Once we got past the break, I hopped on, had a slight panic attack, and focused on using my paddle to get us out to the second sand bar. Jason said there was a pod of dolphins just ahead of us, so we quickly made our way out to where they were playing. It was such an awesome sight to see the dolphins up close in the wild.

After they took off further in the ocean, I took a moment to look back to the shore. We were only about a quarter mile off shore, but it was completely quiet other than the lapping of the water on the kayak. The ocean surrounded me. The people on the beach looked like miniature dolls and the waves rolling in looked so far away. It is hard to describe how I felt--- small, insignificant, at the will of nature, not in control. Yikes! It was beautiful, yet scary. To comprehend how big God's creation is compared to an individual is mind-boggling. I had never felt this overwhelmed by it all. I took a few moments to soak it all in before we headed back to shore. ( and totally got wiped out by the waves coming in, providing entertainment for all on the beach).

I couldn't stop thinking about it for days, how that made me feel, and how much I do not appreciate the creation God made for me. The fact that He perfectly created our planet at just the right temperature, tilted exactly right, just the right distance from the sun. How he created each season, each animal, each human for His purpose. How He provides for all of our needs. How the mountains and the stars and the rivers answer to Him. I am so thankful that God allowed me to experience this in order to feel the power of Him through his creation.

Have you had any close encounters with nature?

When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him? You made him ruler over the works of your hands, you put everything under his feet, all flocks and herds and beasts in the field, the birds of the air and the fish of the sea. O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth? Taken from Psalm 8