My first post begins on a Saturday afternoon atop a green cliff overlooking the North Channel that divides Ireland and Scotland. Our group visited Whitehead which is the site of a very cool lighthouse, but an astounding view. Our walk to this particularly amazing site started at the car park (parking lot) and wandered along the coast. A short climb up many, many stairs and we were several hundred feet above the water by the lighthouse. There were only two things one could see, ocean and the green rolling hills of Ireland. It would have to rank as one of the most beautiful geographic places I've been to, and I have seen my fair share of amazing places. Billy read Psalm 8 to us--particularly appropriate--and then we spent over an hour just being. Some prayed, some stared out at the ocean, and some lay down and enjoyed the soft grass. It was particularly serene and tranquil. The cool breeze from the ocean, the soft grass on your back, and the warm sun on your face is an experience like nothing else.
And in that environment, I was peaceful. We have plenty of homework to keep us busy, as this is a studies trip, but I don't think anyone on top of that cliff was thinking about homework. I certainly wasn't. Though much has been on my mind lately, both with Ireland and some serious health issues in my family, none of that was weighing on me. The Scripture says to "be still and know that I am God" and I think we forget that far too often in our daily lives. We are surrounded by noise and busy lives. Things to do, places to go, and so on. Sometimes it is best just to slow down and be still.
Our question of the day recently was how God speaks to you most often, and for me, that would have to be through songs. I think at any given point I usually have a song that God brings into my life that has some significance. I've been listening to one lately that, though it itself does not promote that stillness, still promotes it in my. "Our Great God" is a powerful song that I just seem to listen to over and over again. I want to share several lines out of it that particularly applied to our time at Whitehead:
"Let every creature in the sea and every flying bird let every mountain
every field and valley of the earth let all the moons and all the stars in
all the universe sing praises to the living God who rules them by his word"
Sometimes we need to just be still, and to remember our great God. That can be hard to do in a fast paced busy lifestyle, so I think it is worthwhile to find some place away from the noise. If you are in Northern Ireland, Whitehead would be a great place, but it is not the only one. For me, being outside, in God's creation is one of the most calming places to find His stillness. Just to be. I think we also sometimes start assuming time with God has to be time spent running through a "list" of prayers and needs. It doesn't. Sometimes the best thing is just to take a deep breath, gaze out across the great expanse of His creation, and just be.
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,
the son of man that you care for him?
Psalm 8:3,4
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,
the son of man that you care for him?
Psalm 8:3,4
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