Out of Nothing

     Whew.  Coast to coast yesterday.  Hard to believe that in the morning you can be looking out over the Pacific, watching the seals sleekly cut through the water like torpedoes and then sleep soundly on the rocks like stuffed bags of sand...

...and then that night, be listening to a chorus of crickets as you arrive home on the opposite coast.  Remarkable.  And funny, as beautiful as San Diego and La Jolla was, I missed the canopy of green leaves and bushes everywhere, the sweet sound of song birds and crickets, the lovely lilt of southern accents, and the dear people and places of home.  Ah, what a beautiful word--home.  Thank You, Father!
     So much to think about, remember, and be grateful for, but for today, just savoring the memory of the remarkable variety of God's creatures we enjoyed seeing in California.  From the seals on the shore, to the sharks at the aquarium--

From the grizzly bears, orangutang, and panda at the zoo--

To the astounding beauty and color of the birds--

      What a Creator to have made such varied and astounding creatures!  I couldn't help but think of the words of Job: "But ask the beasts, and they will teach you; the birds of the heavens, and they will tell you; or the bushes of the earth, and they will teach you; and the fish of the sea will declare to you.  Who among all of these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this?  In His hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind." (Job 12:7-10)
     Imagine the unsearchable mind of the Almighty to create such creatures and such a world out of nothing.   As the words from the musical, Sound of Music, put it: "Nothing comes from nothing.  Nothing ever could."  No, nothing ever comes from nothing...except for our all glorious, all powerful, all wondrous Lord who fashioned an entire universe out of absolutely nothing.
     And if He could create such creatures, such planets, such stars and sun and moon out of absolutely nothing, imagine what He can do with all our nothings?  When our love registers nothing...or our hope...or our joy...or our strength--that's when our Lord does His finest work.  For He delights to create beauty and wonder and glory out of nothing.
     Feeding thousands upon thousands of people with nothing but a couple of rolls and a few tiny fish.  Or creating sight in the eyes of a blind man who had beheld nothing his entire life.  Or taking a man who was nothing but a hater and persecutor of Christians and turning him into the most powerful evangelist the world has ever known.  Or commanding a man dead for four long days--a man with no life, no breath, no nothing--to rise and come forth to new life.
     What's our nothing today?  Oh my, how tempting to just fuss or fret or even despair over our nothings.  But where does that get us?  Just more nothing.
     And all the while the Almighty Lord of the universe waits for us to place our nothings into His omnipotent, grace-scarred hands so that He can take them and transform them into hope...or joy...or love...or forgiveness...or patience...or wisdom...or strength...and always, always, always glory.
     Might we hand whatever nothings we're struggling with this day to our Heavenly Father, trusting that He who created life out of nothing will take our nothings and fashion something beautiful and God-honoring out of them.  For that's what He does, you know, every single day.  If you forget, just open your eyes and look at the evidence on full display all around you.
     To God be the glory.