[Faith-talk] 9/2/14 Daily Thought and Answer to Weekly Bible Trivia Game

[Paul]

Hello and good day to you all.  Well, in my part of the U.S. we're experiencing August-like weather, but as the old saying has it, "This too shall pass." I do hope and pray that, by God's matchless grace and His providential care, that you are all doing well today.

Ruth Andrews graces our screen readers, Braille displays and ordinary computer screens with an article she wrote a number of years ago entitled "God's Creation," rendered as follows:

Psalm 104 uses poetic language to tell of God laying the foundations of the earth, setting the sun and moon in their places, and providing every growing thing.

Have you thought of what a beautiful and amazing place earth is? Man can lay claim to impressive building feats.  With engineering and architectural skills, man has constructed places such as Hoover Dam, the Golden Gate Bridge, and other beautiful structures.

However, only God could form the Grand Canyon, the mountains, or the subtle beauty of the plains.

You do not need to travel to observe God's wonders.  Hanging from my porch is a birdhouse intended for decoration.  A mother wren chose it for her new home.  The bird worked endlessly, stick by stick by blade of grass, to build a nest.

Eventually the mother wren was sitting on a nest of white-and-brown-speckled eggs.  When the eggs hatched, the mother wren was kept busy finding food for her babies.  The time came when the birds flew away.  I had enjoyed each scene as it was played out.  I kind of missed my little neighbors when they were gone.

The family of wrens did not worry whether their needs would be met.  God had provided everything important to them.  God does that for us too.

Summer is a good time to observe the miracles around us.  Watch a hummingbird hover over a flower, its wings nearly invisible in motion.  Walk in a field of wildflowers and know that no human hand planted or tends them.  Watch a prairie dog race for its hole, poke its head out, and bark a warning at you.

In southwest Oklahoma the land goes from gently rolling to flat.  You would not expect to find a mountain range, yet there they are, the Wichitas, low but rugged, jutting up across the horizon.

The writer of Psalm 65 observed the world around him.  V8 extols the beauty of the dawn and dusk.  Imagine a glorious sunrise and sunset.  Isaiah 55:12 says, "The trees of the field shall clap their hands." Can you see the trees' branches swaying in the wind?

Take time to be out-of-doors.  God has created so many wonders for our wise use and enjoyment.  Who else but God could design such a world?

Well, all I can say after reading this article is "Amen, hallelujah and praise God for His wonderful works!" I'd like to add some observations, if I may, before the Bible trivia game answer is given.

When I went to Niagara Falls back in 1972, one of our guides stated that the falls got their water from all the Great Lakes above them.  That would mean that water coming from as far away as Duluth, MN to as close as Buffalo, NY somehow met and converged at both the American and Horseshoe Falls.  If you've ever been there, you probably have heard the tremendous roar as those waters went through that cataract.  Now try to fill up your bathtubs with all that water.  Impossible? Yes, of course.  However God designed Niagara Falls to take care of that.

And now look at migratory birds who fly thousands of miles each spring and fall to reach their intended destinations.  Not having to rely on big mechanical things like airplanes or manmade smaller airborne devices like baloons, not to mention instruments like radio, radar and compasses, they (the birds) fly from one destination to another.  Now I'm going to issue you an impossible challenge.  Can you go outside, flap your arms very rapidly, and fly to say across the street or road? Of course not, and neither can I.  Oh, what a wonderful Creator God is! End of personal observation.

And now for what some of you have been waiting for, the answer to Sunday's Bible trivia game.  It was John 12.

And now may the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob just keep us safe, individually and collectively, in these last days in which we live.  Lord willing, tomorrow there will be another daily thought article for you.  Your Christian friend and brother, Paul