From IBC Monthly Newsletter

Laulima Volume 5, Issue 2, December 2005 (New Day issue--Laulima Vol 5 Issue 1) RETURN
This issue:
How to have a M.E.R.R.Y. Christmas
Come Let Us Adore Him
IBC Youth on the March
In the Stars His Handy Work I See

In the Stars His Handiwork I See

Our son Josiah arrived in the world a little over two years ago. A precious seven pound, thirteen ounce, twenty-one inch gift from God. Another adventure has begun with this beautiful child! I love children. They are so full of something that over the years as we get older, tends to erode away from some of our lives. It is something that as Christians we should seldom be without.

What is that something? You see it in the eyes of children when they gaze out at the stars and someone tells them that God has a name for each of those stars. Observe it on the faces of children when they are told about a God who used a mule to talk to someone or a man to part a sea. Hear it as they sing “Away in a manger, no crib for a bed.” Remember it when you think of how powerful God was to you as a child. Hopefully we still experience it from time to time in our lives.

We read about it in Mark 7:37 And they were utterly astonished, saying, “He has done all things well; He makes even the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak.” We lose our sense of wonder and astonishment towards God. Mike Yaconelli writes about this loss in his book entitled A Dangerous Wonder. “The critical issue today is dullness. We have lost our sense of astonishment. The Good News is no longer good news, it is okay news. Christianity is no longer life changing, it is life enhancing. Jesus doesn’t change people into wild-eyed radicals anymore, He changes them into ‘nice people. The greatest enemy of Christianity may be people who say they believe in Jesus but who are no longer astonished and amazed.”

What are some ways we can return to being astonished and in wonder of God? Go out one starry night and look at all those stars and read Isaiah 40:26. Read through Ephesians chapter one and meditate on all that God has done for us. Reflect on what Jesus did for us in Isaiah 53. Marvel at what the future holds for us in Romans 8:18. Memorize I John 5:13 and insert your name where the pronouns are.

One last thing you can do is go to a hospital baby ward and look at those babies, those miracles of God and marvel at the work of the Creator, our heavenly Father. ..and remember you too were once this little.

“ For Thou didst form my inward parts; Thou didst weave me in my mother’s womb. I will give thanks to Thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are Thy works, and my frame knows it very well. Psalms 139:13,14

Live in Awe of Him

Pastor Dennis