Tuesday, June 28, 2011

It's BETTER

I am currently on a road trip vacation with my family.  5 of us are trekking across the country in a van from Colorado up to Maine, around the Northeast, and then back home.
(yes, you may pray for me, and yes, Thank you!   I will wait for you to finish)
Late last week, we made a stop at Niagara Falls.  Except for my wife, who made a stop when she was a young girl, none of us had ever been there before.
It’s an impressive place.  On average, almost 4 million cubic feet of water fall over the crest of these falls every minute, and it’s hard to avoid recognizing the power of the nature God has created.  It makes you feel rather insignificant sometimes when you look at the world.  There are natural forces which can reduce decades or centuries of work by man and men to rubble in seconds.  And standing next to these falls, and looking over the edge, you get a feel for that power.
Of course, that wasn’t enough for MY family.  We wanted to experience MORE POWER.  (insert your grunts here)
So, we decide to take a walk at the bottom of the falls.   We put on our raincoats (FREE! with our tour tickets), and our water proof sandles (FREE!) and took the elevator down through solid rock about 170 feet to the cave of the winds where we could check out this wonderous place from below.  Down there are walkways where you can walk out and see the falls, and get a great perspective on them from below.   The last platform has a corner called “Hurricane Point”.  It has a corner that juts out very close to the rocky base of Bridal Veil falls.  Even though this is the smallest of the falls on the US side, the force of the water and air forced against you at this point is overwhelming.  If the platform was just a few feet closer, I’m sure injuries would be unavoidable.  When standing there the force of the water literally feels like a hurricane is blowing you away.   It’s loud, powerful and very windy and wet.
VERY windy and wet.
I’m thinking those raincoats (FREE!) were better at keeping the water IN, than out.
We all had a great laugh and enjoyed testing our weakness against the awesome power of the falls at Hurricane point. But my day was made when my daughter Elizabeth came running away from the point and screamed at me with all the joy of a little girl who had just enjoyed the greatest thrill ride ever, “THAT WAS BETTER THAN CHURCH!”
I had to laugh and quietly thank my God.
What else can you do when your kids are laughing and playing and recognizing the overwhelming scope of creation, experiencing once in a lifetime moments, and learning about how wonderous God is and the enormity of his creative works, and then your 9 year old daughter runs up to you to share her feelings, and she compares that with church!?!?!?!
No, she doesn’t compare it to a movie with awesome CGI.
Or a ride at an amusement park.
She compared it with every ‘normal Sunday’ at church.
Isn’t that what worship is supposed to be?   Moving in as close as you can to the amazing, overwhelming power of the creator, and letting that ‘blow you away’?  knowing that if you moved closer, you’ld probably get crushed by His magnitude?  getting drenched in His glory and coming away changed knowing that was a moment you will remember?
I am forced to conclude that just maybe, Jaima and I are doing something right.  Even if we aren't, God is.

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