LifeSpace Nature

Two Sunsets

2009-07-18T07:27:00.000-07:00

The last sunset I watched (for now) in Texas.

The first sunset I watched in Wisconsin.

Lifted Gaze in Africa

2008-12-21T21:32:00.000-08:00

This year's trips to Africa brought amazing opportunity to see God's splendor in the faces of people, but also in creation. Here are some favorite images from 2008.

A sunrise over the Indian Ocean in Malindi, Kenya . . .

Two pictures of Mt. Kilimanjaro from my hotel window in Tanzania . . .

Back country in Burundi . . .

Thin Place

2008-03-17T07:45:00.000-07:00

We had the good fortune to join David and Joy Sonju up at CAMP-of-the-WOODS in Speculator, NY last week. The camp offers the L.I.F.T. program to train young adult leaders. Check it out at http://www.camp-of-the-woods.org .

The group took an afternoon for snow-shoeing in the forest. Spectacular views in the white north country. The students celebrated the expansive horizon by striking a "grace pose" high on a hill: arms and head flung back, face tilted to the heavens. Wide open stance toward God and others. The silky winter light fell on their upturned faces. A thin place with God a mere breath away. Joni

The Painter

2008-01-07T20:44:00.000-08:00

An artist friend refuses to paint sunrises or sunsets. Says they are clichés and overrated in the art world. Perhaps humans struggle to capture the view, but God succeeds with each dawn and twilight, reminding me of new mercies and horizons of possibilities. Wanted to send along a delight from the Garden Isle of Kauai. God playing with watercolors. Joni

Rainbow in the West Texas Sky

2007-11-01T17:42:00.001-07:00

The Gorge and the Desert

2007-10-06T18:35:00.000-07:00

Last week I joined my friend Garry Friesen and Michael, one of his Multnomah students, for a hike in the Columbia River Gorge. Waterfalls and streams appeared around every corner as we climbed the mossy trail. Garry strategically prompted Michael to ask me theological questions during the steepest parts of the hike, when we were all out of breath. We talked about the emerging church, biblical authority, Christianity and gender, and African missions. The scenery provided a fabulous backdrop for the conversation. It is hard to be disagreeable when hiking in the Gorge.

Two days later, hiking by myself in the rocky mountains north of Phoenix, I enjoyed solitude and magnificent desert vistas.

Neither place was prettier than the other, and the hike filled with theological conversation was no more — or less— spiritual than the solitary one. They were just different. Very different. And I was most grateful for both.

Bob

A Colorado Stream

2007-09-12T01:35:00.000-07:00

Step One: Read the words of the psalmist: “They feast on the abundance your house, and you give them drink from the river of your delights. For with you is the fountain of life; in your light we see light.” (Psalm 34)

Step Two: Turn your laptop on its side and click Play.

Source of the Nile

2007-05-25T21:50:00.000-07:00

After the Amahoro Gathering, our friend Ronald drove us to Jinja so we could see the source of the Nile. We had to do some hunting for the road, so we felt like intrepid explorers, revisiting the quest of John Hanning Speke and his rivals. They must not have seen the sign.Speke did not really discover the source of the Nile. The official source is now thought to be farther away, at the beginning of other rivers and streams that feed Lake Victoria. And he was obviously not the first to look over this spot--then, as now, fishing boats were scattered across the river. But he was the first to recognize this as the place where the longest river in the world begins its course from Lake Victoria to the Mediterranean. A little further downstream, we could see why they call this part of the river the White Nile.

Day after Day

2007-03-30T08:27:00.000-07:00

"The heavens declare the glory of God," wrote the psalmist, "the sky displays his handiwork."

My thoughts quickly turn toward vast galaxies when I read those words--expansive images of countless stars and unending space. God is no doubt honored by the immensity and beauty of the universe, but the psalmist mentions something else, something I too easily take for granted. The created world speaks of God "day after day" and "night after night" as the sun continues in its regular course. And there was morning and there was evening, the zillionth day, this day that God has made.

Such regularity brings serenity and perspective. Our lives may be chaotic and unpredictable, but our days never are. They are as they have been and as they will be. The observation is no mere platitude. "Tomorrow's another day," said Scarlett. "The sun will come out tomorrow," sang Orphan Annie. Both hoped that the morning light would bring some new reality. But what if our expectation for tomorrow is instead that the cancer will have gained ground? What if our greatest hope would be to freeze time and prevent whatever comes next? The psalmist reminds us that the relentless character of life is also in God's hand. "Do it again," he commands, and the sunrise is the work of his hands.

Veiled in Dust

2007-02-24T13:34:00.000-08:00

The sky is khaki on a cloudless afternoon, with little bits of Oklahoma floating through the Dallas air.

A Prayer of Gratitude

2007-01-06T08:27:00.000-08:00

Another West Virginia sunset to go with this poem by David Budbill:

Winter: Tonight: Sunset

Tonight at sunset walking on the snowy road,
my shoes crunching on the frozen gravel, first

through the woods, then out into the open fields
past a couple of trailers and some pickup trucks, I stop

and look at the sky. Suddenly: orange, red, pink, blue,
green, purple, yellow, gray, all at once and everywhere.

I pause in this moment at the beginning of my old age
and I say a prayer of gratitude for getting to this evening

a prayer for being here, today, now, alive
in this life, in this evening, under this sky.

A Winter Sunset

2006-12-27T13:48:00.000-08:00

Thine is the day, Thine also is the night;
Thou hast prepared the light and the sun.
Thou hast established all the boundaries of the earth;
Thou hast made summer and winter. (Ps. 74:16-17, NASB)

A winter sunset tonight in West Virginia:

Beauty at Home

2006-11-21T18:32:00.000-08:00

My youngest son and I were running errands on a Saturday evening. Noticing a gorgeous sunset from the passenger seat of the car, he said, "If you were on vacation, you would take a picture of that." He was right. If on vacation, I would have stopped the car and grabbed the camera. But I was in Dallas, where I am too often preoccupied with more mundane things.

My teenage son might have meant that I should take less pictures when we are on trips. I took his words more positively. I am trying to get in the habit of taking more pictures at home. In that spirit, this is what I saw on a recent walk in my neighborhood.

Bob

Streams in the Desert

2006-08-26T20:07:00.000-07:00

"I will pour out water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour out My Spirit on your offspring, and My blessing on your descendants; and they will spring up among the grass like poplars by streams of water" (Isa. 44:3).

As an Arizona boy, I find this promise of the Spirit to be particularly attractive. The Spirit is life-giving, like water on the thirsty land. It has always sounded refreshing. However, I had not thought much about how transforming and distinctive that life must be.

On the way to Nairobi, we flew over the Al Khufrah Oasis in southeastern Libya. It is one of that nation's largest agricultural projects, and it requires some serious irrigation. But once the water is poured out on the desert, the transformation serves as a landmark for orbiting astronauts.

Now if we can only get them to arrange the circles like the LifeSpace logo . . .

Bob

Kenyan Safari

2006-08-15T22:25:00.000-07:00

Big animals under the big sky. I am glad they were not scared off by our squeals of delight!

2006-07-12T13:30:00.000-07:00

A gentle morning in west Texas . . .

Morning Rain

2006-06-24T07:29:00.000-07:00

This morning when I let the dog out to retrieve the paper, I thought someone had been watering. The flowers were wet . . . but so was the grass, and the car, and the house. After an evening of grief, it was an especially welcome sight. A morning shower had given way to bright sunshine, and everything sparkled with life.

Bob

The Singing Life of Birds

2006-05-19T11:43:00.000-07:00

Julie has been reading The Singing Life of Birds, by Donald Kroodsma. He is perhaps the world's foremost expert on birdsong, having recorded and analyzed the songs of birds for over 30 years. He not only listens to the songs; he sees them. Sonograms of the songs reveal subtle variations, proving once again that diligent observation of God's creation inevitably increases our sense of wonder. And Kroodsma is clearly a diligent observer. He tells of listening all night to a whip-poor-will, keeping count as it repeated its one song 20,898 times. Most of his field studies were not that tedious--Kroodsma counted 4,654 songs in two hours from a brown thrasher, but during that time the bird sang 1800 different songs.

Are you listening to their repertoire? Did you know that different species of woodpeckers have different patterns to their pecks? That birds generally have regional dialects? That the birds in your backyard are far more creative than you ever imagined?

Check out the recordings and sonograms of birdsongs presented by students of Northeastern State University. Listen for them. May the birds not sing to an empty house.

Bob

What's good about it?

2006-04-13T22:18:00.000-07:00

Heading for a civilized bike ride around the lake, Julie and I spotted trails through the brushy forest and opted to ride there instead. It was great fun, but that night I realized that my failure to learn a third grade science lesson had once again caught up with me. I never can recognize poison ivy.

I am not the only one with the problem, as experts offer to identify the plants through submitted photos on the web. I was glad to see that they also suggest innumerable remedies for the rash--everything from blow dryers and pine tar to steroid injections. But it was one of the FAQ's that I found especially interesting: "What's good about poison ivy?"

My answer, if any, would be "not much." But the website observed that birds and animals can use it for food and in some places it holds the soil against erosion. Still, "we probably don't know enough about it" to understand its true value for the environment and for humans.

Evidently the writer did not believe in the randomness of naturalistic evolution, implying that there must be some purpose to this pernicious plant. But in spite of the rash on my legs I have to say: the purpose implied is far too small. Why must animals and plants have value for us? Why must they perform some function? They have been created not for us, but for the glory of God. In more technical language, Karl Barth wrote, "What is proclaimed in this teleology of creation is not the glory of humans but the glory of the God who has turned to them in His mercy."

So how does poison ivy glorify God? I have some ideas, but they would be mere guesses, and this is probably not the best time to ask me. What I do know is this: "All things [even things I do not especially like] have been created through Him and for Him" (Col. 1:16).

Bob

GO FORTH

2006-04-04T06:46:00.000-07:00

Forget talking about nature from afar. It is time you engaged it up close and personal. Become one with it. Frolic in it. Throw yourself at it and hope you come out alive. Try something completely new. Here is an idea: go to www.otterbar.com and sign up for their fabulous week of kayaking in northern California. It is the best adventure value around. Excellent instruction, gourmet food, beautiful setting, interesting people, decent price. If this West Texas desert rat can do it, so can you! No better way to move outside yourself and live expansively.

You start out in a pond. How hard can that be? Yes, you get wet. Yes, you often view the river while inadvertently cruising upside down in the water. Yes, I received the award for the most "hang time" - the one who spent the most time communing with the fishes. But my week was beyond the box. The Otter Bar folks have never even heard of a box. Give yourself seven days of learning a new skill with the best kayakers in the nation. Reg had me go down one set of rapids with my eyes closed. Scary! Reminded me of this life with God sometimes. Reg beside me in the safety kayak. Me trusting him and letting go of my need to control everything. God delighted me with a winsome river otter swimming beside my boat at the bottom of the rapids. A reward for living to tell the tale.

No, Otter Bar has not paid me for advertising. It is unfair to keep wholesome adventure as a secret. Take yourself. Take your significant other. Take your teens. They have a separate camp for the teens. Yes, the teens will kick your behind on the river. Embarrassing, but true. Think about going for a new kind of family vacation. Or perhaps that silver anniversary. Maybe even a graduation present. In the meantime, visit your local arboretum or hike the trails in the nature preserve or go to your neighborhood park to chase butterflies. Feel Spring warm your face. Go forth. Live. Bring back stories of God and His creation. Up close and personal.
Paddle on,
Joni

Reflections from an Astrophysicist

2006-03-31T20:33:00.000-08:00

One of the things I like about my friend Sam Conner, PhD candidate in physics at MIT, is that he thinks I know something about his field. In truth, I comprehend astrophysics about as well as I do Spanish: Un poquito. When Sam comments on the latest developments in string theory, cosmic inflation, or quantum gravity, I usually smile and maintain eye contact while hoping to recognize a couple of words.

But I know Sam well enough to wait for his theological reflections, which I find inspiring. He is a deeply humble man (he would tell you he is not), and he has an abiding passion for the glory of God. In a recent email, Sam mentioned a 1988 MIT colloquium that changed his life. A presentation was made on the continuing expansion of the universe, and, as Sam described it, "It obliged me to consider the possibility that the universe God has created is a place of richer possibilities than I had previously imagined, perhaps even a place of almost infinite possibilities."

The universe is obviously far too immense for human comprehension, let alone habitation. It has not been made for our sake. However, if God's purpose is to glorify Himself in creation, the universe is arguably too small. That thought led Sam to a theological argument for the eternal expansion of the universe.

"It seems to me that a spatially finite universe, no matter how large, is an unsatisfactory representation of God's infinite might. But if in fact it is impossible for spatially infinite universes to exist, what can God do in the spatially finite universe to remedy this inadequacy and so fulfill his purpose of manifesting His glory in it? The answer is 'to make it larger.'"

Sam tells me that contemporary cosmologists regard the expansion of the universe as an "exceedingly fast" and interminable process that continues to create new matter and energy. That idea may challenge the faith of some or the science of others, but Sam has a very different response. "If understood through a biblical understanding of God's sovereignty, these ideas move one to more humble abasement and to greater worship."

The heavens declare the glory of God (Ps. 19:1). The more closely we look, the more we see.

Bob

photo credit: NASA, ESA, M. Robberto,and the Hubble Space Telescope Orion Treasury Project Team, Astronomy Picture of the Day

Spring Flowers

2006-03-16T09:31:00.000-08:00

Springtime pictures from a trip to the Dallas Arboretum

Cloths of Heaven

2006-03-04T09:25:00.000-08:00

He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven

Had I the heavens' embroidered cloths,
Enwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half-light,
I would spread the cloths under your feet:
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.

W. B. Yeats

Far West Texas

2006-02-21T00:06:00.000-08:00

I am heading to west Texas this weekend. Will pass along the view once I am there. Until then, a poem to whet your appetite for the big sky. Enjoy Michael Maguire's poem, "far west texas." From me to you.
Joni

the big sweet nothing
empty and endless
radiating great peace and calm

creation's incessant undersong
powerfully present
but strangely silent

wishing words out of the silence
can be something of a soulstretch
so much silence and so many words

On the Prairie

2006-02-20T14:00:00.000-08:00

I have already mentioned that the weather in Kansas this weekend was on the chilly side. All the locals told me not to worry about the roads, as it was too cold to snow. When big storms do roll in, however, they say this field provides a perfect vantage point.

Once a part of the dust bowl, the prairie is filled with life. The wind piles tumbleweeds against nearby houses. Pheasants run through the tall grass. Time moves slowly enough to be seen.

Bob

Colorado Hike

2006-01-31T06:53:00.000-08:00

On a recent hike in Colorado, the friends in our group enjoyed very different aspects of the scenery. Some of us moved quickly. Wanting to take in the broadest possible vista, we climbed as high as we could. Kim, an artist and teacher, focused on the intricacies that survived our bootprints. Farah, a musician sensitive to life's journey, had a lengthy conversation that turned a stranger into a friend.
God's beauty could be seen in the great expanse, in the tiny details, and in human faces. For each of us the experience became richer when we combined our perspectives. Here are some samples. Enjoy the view!
Joni and Bob

A Little Color

2006-01-23T11:37:00.000-08:00

"Don't forget a little color!" That was the last thing my mom would say as I headed out to school or church or on a date or anywhere in public, for that matter. A little red or pink on the lips kept you from looking dead. At least that is the take we had on it in west Texas. You may have been up all night typing a term paper or tending a sick child, but a little color made the next dawn bright for those who had to look at your sorry old self.

As I look out my window, the colors of winter are bleak. Muddy browns. Washed out grays. The only bright spot is the beer can someone threw out their car window. So I give you a present of color. Compliments of God, the master mixer of paints. Enjoy! Joni

Astronomy Picture of the Day

2006-01-16T21:07:00.000-08:00

We are hoping that you have your homepage set right here on the LifeSpace Forum, but every now and then make sure you take a look at NASA's "Astronomy Picture of the Day" (http://apod.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html). It is updated every night, so one of the benefits of staying up late is getting to preview the next day's picture! They are usually pictures of galaxies or distant planets, but today's is a gorgeous "roll cloud" over Missouri.

This might be a good image to have in front of you when reading Ezekiel 1 !!

West Texas Sunrise

2006-01-09T09:12:00.000-08:00

A West Texas sunrise to soothe your soul. The purple streak along the bottom was not visible to my naked eye. Such a surprise when I looked at the printed photograph. Reminded me of the phenomenal mystery of God. He is the full expanse of reality. I see only a partial glimpse. I must embrace the mystery of His presence while, at the same time, acknowledging His that He shared my very humanness in flesh and blood.

Frederick Buechner quoted Gerard Manley Hopkins:
There lives the dearest freshness deep down things;
And though the last lights off the black West went
Oh, morning, at the brown brink eastward, springs
Because the Holy Ghost over the bent World broods
With warm breast and with ah! bright wings.

Buechner writes, "It is our business, as we journey, to keep our hearts open to that, to the bright-winged presence of the Holy Ghost within us and the Kingdom of God among us."

Look for the purple light as you go about your life's moments. The bright-winged presence of the holy God among us.
Joni

From summer travels . . .

2005-10-26T18:09:00.000-07:00

The grace of a flower in the midst of thorns. Looks like life.

Try transversing this knife ridge while roped to your teenager. It will enhance your prayer life!