Praise The Lord!

    

       Praise the Lord.

Praise the Lord from the heavens;
    praise him in the heights above.
Praise him, all his angels;
    praise him, all his heavenly hosts.
Praise him, sun and moon;
    praise him, all you shining stars.
Praise him, you highest heavens
    and you waters above the skies.

Let them praise the name of the Lord,
    for at his command they were created,
and he established them for ever and ever—
    he issued a decree that will never pass away.

Praise the Lord from the earth,
    you great sea creatures and all ocean depths,
lightning and hail, snow and clouds,
    stormy winds that do his bidding,
you mountains and all hills,
    fruit trees and all cedars,
wild animals and all cattle,
    small creatures and flying birds,
kings of the earth and all nations,
    you princes and all rulers on earth,
young men and women,
    old men and children.

Let them praise the name of the Lord,
    for his name alone is exalted;
    his splendor is above the earth and the heavens.
And he has raised up for his people a horn,
    the praise of all his faithful servants,
    of Israel, the people close to his heart.

Praise the Lord.

                                                           Psalm 148 (NIV)

All of God's creation praises the Lord! That is what this Psalm of David's reminds us. 

There are a few things that we have in common with all of His creation. For starters, the LORD created everything upon the earth and in the heavens above the earth. We are all God's creation. With creation, we bow down and praise the LORD!  With all of earthly creation and all the heavenly host, we praise the LORD!

Thanks be to God for His whole creation!

God's Peace - Pr. J

Rain and More Rain in the U.P.

Waiting for that Rainbow!

And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.” (Gen 9:12:16 NIV)

 

I am only a few days into my vacation and I am waiting on that rainbow. We arrived in the U.P. on Friday afternoon. There had been a storm in the morning so there was no Verizon service in most of the county. Howard could not remember where he put the password for the internet so there was no way to communicate with family to let them know we arrived safely. Within an hour of arriving at the house the power in half of the house went out. I found the password for the internet and was able to get online and after Howard ran a few extension cords from the part of the house that did have power he was able to watch Netflix and Amazon after we got unpacked. 

 

What a relief! We were thinking we might have to have the whole house rewired. On Saturday, we called the electric company and by the afternoon we had power again in the whole house. We managed to get the house in order on Saturday. It rained most of the day.

 

I woke up in the wee hours of Sunday morning to a flashing bright light. The lightning was flashing so hard and so fast it was. Without the internet, I also don't have the ability to make phone calls so I could not call the phone company to report the outage and I could not work on a blog. It was one of the rare days that I missed doing that over the years. There is no cell service at our home here in the U.P. so we connect through the internet. I don't know how Verizon has managed that; but, they have and it is great as long as we have wi-fi.

 

We arrived at the church expecting to hear either Pr. Jimalee Jones or Pr. Gunderson preaching. That did not happen, either. The storm was so bad between their home and Skanee that the roads were impassable. Pr. Peter Suomela (a member at Zion) had been called to do a quick pulpit supply. He did an outstanding job especially since he had no time to prepare. It was very good to see old friends and neighbors at worship.

 

Following worship we were going to head to the closest Wal-Mart to purchase a coffee maker (ours had sprung a leak over the winter) and a printer so that I could get some work done. We had to go to Marquette, MI as we could not go to the closest Wal-Mart in Houghton, MI. All roads in or out of Houghton and everything north of Houghton in the Keweenaw were closed. The storm during the night took out many of the roads. I believe the Upper Peninsula may now have more sink holes than Florida! Nah! Probably not. But, over 60 sink holes in one night is a bit much. I can't even begin to imagine how long it will take to clean up that mess. Roads were destroyed. Homes and businesses were destroyed. There are photos of the disaster at the WLUC-TV 6 Facebook page. 

It rained Sunday afternoon and evening; the power went out again for a little over an hour, again.

So, here we are on our fourth day at our home in Michigan. It is raining. There are no rainbows in site. This is beautiful country with wonderful neighbors and friends. But, I am waiting for that rainbow, even as I am reminded of one of the reasons I had decided it was time to move to Florida a couple of years ago. The summer before I left my driveway never dried out. Most of the summer was wet with cloudy, gloomy looking skies. I like the sunshine! I don't mind the rain. I even enjoy a thunderstorm now and then. But, I would also like the sun to shine and to make those beautiful rainbows every now and then, as well. I am sure I will seen one day before my vacation ends. They are a symbol of hope and promise. No matter how gloomy things appear there is always hope because we have God's promises.

There is always hope. May God lift up all who are suffering from the losses incurred due to the disaster in Houghton County. May their rainbows shine some light and hope on all of our lives.

God's Peace - Pr. J

 

 

Thunderous Voice

Ascribe to the Lord, you heavenly beings,
   ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.
Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name;
   worship the Lord in the splendor of his 

   holiness.
The voice of the Lord is over the waters;
   the God of glory thunders,
   the Lord thunders over the mighty waters.
The voice of the Lord is powerful;
   the voice of the Lord is majestic.

                                    Psalm 29:1-4 NIV

I awoke to the sound of powerful thunder over the mighty waters last night. I love to listen to the skies quake and the oceans roar. I love to hear the sound of the thunder; to hear the pounding of the rain upon the roof; to sit in the darkness watching the lightning light up the sky in the darkness of the night.

The sound of thunder in Flagler Beach is not quite like the sound it makes in Michigan. It sounds so much closer to the earth here. It roars like the ocean roars in the midst of a storm. At one point last night it sounded as though maybe the ocean had decided to roar over the land so much that I felt obliged to get up and check to see if the water  was rising and how fast. It is not that it causes me fear. It reminds me that we should all have just a little more fear and respect for the one who has power over all things; even the storms. Storms remind me of the beginning; of how the Spirit of God hovered over the darkness; over the deeps; over the chaos. And, as God spoke with his mighty voice He created all things out of all that darkness and chaos.

I do appreciate a good storm now and then. I enjoy listening to the roar of the water and the thunder. It reminds me of who God is. It reminds me that He is all powerful. He is majestic. Let us all give God the glory due His name!

God's Peace – Pr. J    

Praise Ye The Lord!

"Praise the Lord from the earth,
     you great sea creatures and all ocean depths,
lightning and hail, snow and clouds,
    stormy winds that do his bidding,
you mountains and all hills,
    fruit trees and all cedars,
wild animals and all cattle,
    small creatures and flying birds,
kings of the earth and all nations,
    you princes and all rulers on earth,
young men and women,
    old men and children."
                                  Psalm 148:7-12 NIV

God is God of all of creation. He has made all things marvelously. Let us intentionally look around us today so that we might be better able to understand his awesome sovereignty; to grasp more firmly the reality of His gifts to humankind and all of creation. God, alone, is worthy to be praised. Let us all praise the Lord!

God's Peace - Pr. J