From miles and miles of wide open spaces containing quiet farm or ranch living to the crowded hustle and bustle of city life, our world amazes me.

My drive across the plains and into my favorite part of our country – the great Northwest – reminded me how much I love creation. The rocks and rolling hills and greenery. The colors of seasons. The rivers that flow into the ocean. The big blue sky. The night lights of the moon and stars.

Creation.
One day, our Creator started the world spinning and began time. He created this beautiful place to live and people to live in it… All of nature shouts that there is a God!

But here’s the thing: I absolutely love cities.

From Jakarta, Indonesia to Seattle, Washington or Portland, Oregon, the people who live in cities captivate me. How did they get there? Why did they stay? What is their story?

When I’m in the big city, I breathe it in. No, not the smog! But the fresh air of souls. They are everywhere. They walk and move in bodies displaying body art and purple hair, nose rings and ear gauges, fit frames and flabby ones, smiling faces and downcast faces. They pass me as we cross the busy streets … those who make a living so they can buy lofty homes and shop in fancy malls to the homeless ones who are barely living in makeshift lofts above city streets and eating from trash cans. As I walk along the streets, I am reminded of what Steven Curtis Chapman sings …
It’s all Yours, God. Everything is Yours.
From the stars in the sky to the depths of the ocean floor.

It’s all His.

Paul said: “For all things in heaven and on earth were created by Him – all things, whether visible or invisible, whether thrones or dominions, whether principalities or powers – all things were created through Him and for Him.
God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in the Son and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself by making peace through the blood of His cross – through Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven.”
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The Creator is so … creative! He’s so big and yet so small. He made the universe.

And He made me.

The Maker of heaven and earth saw fit to put me in the world at a certain time in a certain place. He ordained these days for me to walk in them. While ultimately He made me for another time and place, He also chooses to use me in this one.
I’m here on purpose. To be used by God to reconcile people to Himself.

Just as creation points man to worship God, so am I to live Christ in such a way that people would be drawn to Him.
As I drove across the country for two days enjoying God … I prayed. For my family, for friends, and for our church. And as I walked the streets of the city and enjoyed Him … I prayed. For the souls of men to know the redeeming work of the gospel.

For God created the world. And it was good.
But it fell.
And God so loved the world He created that He gave His Son, that whoever would accept His mercy and entrust their lives to Him would inherit life.

And it will be good…
Forever.