The Wonders of Nature

Many years ago Bobby, Steve and I went on a mission trip to Breckenridge, Colorado with about 80 of our friends from church (Becca was at home going to GA Camp). Having never been out west and most especially to the Rockies, I had no idea of just how magnificent it was.

It was the first week of June and when we stepped off of the plane we could see snow capped mountains in the distance. The sky was the brightest blue I have ever seen (evidently there is no smog anywhere in the state!) and it smelled so clean and the mountains were absolutely breathtaking.

One of the members of the church we were working on owned a house that had 5 very large bedrooms and a great room that was bigger than the house I live in now. Our family, 3 other families, 3 single men and all the teenagers stayed in our house. The 3 house “moms” cooked for everyone and we ate breakfast and dinner together at the house each day. After dinner was a sort of free time and we could do whatever we wanted to.

The kids were particularly fond of going out on the deck and watching the night sky (this deck was the largest I have ever seen – it went all the way around the house). I didn’t realize what the attraction was until I went out on the deck with them one night (I had avoided this because the temperature dropped into the 30’s at night). I sat there for maybe a minute or two and then I knew what they were so excited about…. there were shooting stars every couple of minutes and sometimes several at a time. Someone later told me it was because of the altitude and the fact that the air is so thin and clean that you can see so many of them. It was like being in the middle of a constant meteor shower. It was so awesome that I could hardly catch my breath.

The church we were working on had a little mountain stream

behind it where the church had dug out a baptismal pool for having their baptisms. The water in this stream was about 33° (OK, maybe a little warmer, but not much) and all I can say is that you had to really love God to get baptized in that stream. I stuck my foot in and thought it would freeze solid before I could get it out!

Working on this mission trip was such a blessing – you woke up in the mornings to some of the most beautiful scenery that you can imagine and went to sleep at night under a sky with billions of stars (because of city lights and other things, we only see a tiny fraction of the stars that you could see out there). Each day I’d see the beauty of God’s creation and couldn’t help but wonder how it is that someone can say there is no God. You’ll never convince me that all this beauty “just happened”.

I am so thankful that God has given me the opportunities to see the wonders that He has created. Colorado was a beautiful state, but I was still glad to get home and see the wonders that we have here in Georgia. Every place that I have ever been privileged to visit has been wonderful in its own way, but there is no beauty like what you find at home.