Mighty Powerful

Photographs cannot capture the height, depth and breadth of nature. The most beautiful sunset in all the world put on photopaper is just another sunset. Breathtaking snow-peaked mountains are made small. The photographs we took of the waterfalls we saw last week are the same: they are NOTHING compared to standing next to the real thing, hearing the noise and sensing the power of the furiously pounding water. It was truly something to behold.

As I was standing there with my oldest nearby I said, "It's so powerful! Whenever I see things like this it reminds me of how powerful God is. You know?"
"Uh huh," was his uninterested response.
"How crazy would it be to be inside that waterfall-or underneath it! I mean, it could hurt you really bad because it is so powerful."
"Yeah!" he said with excitement (stuff like that fuels my boys). "It could probably KILL YOU!"
I echoed his enthusiasm with a resounding,"Oh TOTALLY!" And then, "This waterfall may be powerful but its NOTHING compared to the power of God. God made it and to Him it is just a drop. It does not even come close to God's power!"
"Well I better not mess around with God, then."
"Seriously! You got that right. That's what the Bible means when it says we should fear the Lord. Its not that we should be afraid like He's a monster or something its that we need to realize just how big and powerful and mighty God is..."

I wanted to continue with the theology lesson but determined in my heart that we would need to return to another waterfall in a future spring. There is so much more to consider! There is so much more to understand, like how God has the great power to crush but in that great power He has great control and patience. OH! If my boys (or I!!) could grasp just a sliver of what this waterfall represents it could revolutionize everything we did and thought.


You just don't want to mess around with the Almighty.

Cain & Abel questions

I started reading Genesis to the kids last night. We read the story of Cain and Abel tonight. Both boys had such great questions:

Jackson, upon hearing that God asked Cain where his brother was after Cain killed Abel and that Cain said he did not know, Jackson (who has been telling little lies lately) asked:
"Did he really really not know where his brother is?" (how perceptive!)
"No, Cain knew exactly where his brother is!"
"Cain lied?"
"He sure did. No good, huh."

That led to Davis asking: "Now I have a question. God knows everything we are going to do in our whole lives. So he knew they (people like Cain) were going to do bad things - all those bad things all the time. (pause. pause.) How can that be? Why would he create them if he knew they were going to do all that bad stuff? He could have just not created them." I was so astounded at the thought-provoking question and so overwhelmed with thoughts of "where do I begin?" I started with, "You ask the best questions!"

I am excited to get another window into his brain and help him work through this big, big question. And I am so glad that I don't have to have all the answers. I pray that the Lord would give my little 7yo the spirit of wisdom and revelation that is beyond his years.