When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have established; What are humans that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them? Psalm 8:3-4

I am told that the Northern Lights were visible on Tuesday and Wednesday night. It is a rare event when people in our neck of the woods get to see them. An illumination of the power of the sun fighting with the protective gases of Earth’s atmosphere. It is both beautiful and awe-inspiring. Creation is so very vast and our knowledge of what has been made is likely tiny compared to what God has truly made and continues to make.

The more we look into the heavens above and the earth around us, the greater the question grows within me. The vastness of what we can see or discover returns me to that of Psalm 8:3-4. Who are humans that the Lord and Creator of all things thinks of the likes of me, or of any of us? Much less love us enough to come to us in Jesus Christ, confront us on what we have done in the life He has given to us, and even allow humans to kill his precious son, our only hope, our salvation, our way back into the great reality of eternal life and relationship with God.

When I think about what God has made, I want to tread lightly on the grass of the earth and consider my own treatment of my fellow human beings, whom the Lord has made. Do I even come close to the teachings of the Beloved Son? When I consider who this God is, I find I must work daily on my own interactions with others whom God loves. As one who lives and hopes in my forgiveness by Almighty God, how well does my own mercy and compassion toward those who have hurt or offended me stack up to the Lord’s expectations of me? And then there is the question of my love for God and others. Do I have the courage to put my life and future in God’s hands? Or do I prefer my own ways of life over that of our Lord? These are fair questions for those who claim the title of Christian. Do I have the courage to sit quietly and ask the Lord to show me how well or poorly I am doing as his disciple? Can I stand the honest reply of Jesus to such a question?

May the grace and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you!

Pastor Rick