I awaken to a new day.  It’s a special day unlike yesterday, a day which the LORD has given; a day to look around and take in His wonderful creation, despite the evil and darkness and unbelief in God’s world today!  It is a special day to raise my hands upward and give Him my eternal, heartfelt thanks for my being here on earth, in this life, at this time in human history.  This most precious day of all days-yes, one more day to praise Him, the LORD God, for all the countless things He has done, and for all the innumerable blessing He has given us, His people.  And so, holding tightly to His hand in my heart, I walk the humble road set out before me. 

You see, I am not alone.  Though I walk what some might describe as “the lonely road,” I am truly surrounded by a feeling of His presence.  I am humbled at the thought of my Creator.  I think myself nothing special, but small, very small in His presence.  And this presence, and the Holy Spirit, nudges me to take in what I see, to see it all, as if drinking in this part of His creation.  I try to grasp how all creation works together.  I am left empty!  It is the TRINITY who sustains all and everything He created, everything the mind can behold, both the visible, and the invisible.  I am weak! 

I know He takes care of all the things He loves, and those who especially love Him.  I know this love and the love I have for my wife, my mother and father, my children and grandchildren, my brothers and sister, and all my relatives and friends and students…an eternal, never-failing love!   

I know something of this great love in the singing of the birds on a summer morning; I hear it at night in the harmonic sounds of the frogs and crickets praising God; I feel it in a soft breeze on my cheek, or witness the power of a surging wave on the beach at Kiawah.  I see it in the seasons of life, in the trees and their brilliant colors; the green grass, herbs and fruit trees.  I see it in a tiny seed with life in itself, each its own kind, that has fallen to the ground.  Soon, it buds and grows as a tender tree.  I understand His love in the vastness of the universe, and the working of the sun and moon and the very air we breath.  I think to myself, “Truly, this is an eternal reminder of God’s six days of creation! 

 I hear His love in passing a country church and listening to the people sing out their hearts in praise to God, the Holy Trinity: God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  I feel His love in a newborn baby and the love of its mother; I see it in the loving structure of a family, the parents and their children as they grow in the LORD.  And I see this wonderful love in the tender and patient time grandparents give to their children and grandchildren.  I understand it in the foundation of faith and belief as received in Christ’s church from the ancient catholic, apostolic church, the body of Christ.   

In my older age, I see His strength in my weakness, and then before me the realization that at the end of my life, these few, short years, will be the beginning of a new life forever with Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior.  I close my eyes in the knowledge of the coming of the first resurrection; for we shall be like Him, and then shall see Him face to face.  And I try to think beyond, to the thousand-year Messianic Kingdom on earth Christ shall establish when He returns with His angels and saints! Then will come the eternal order as He has planned, and so shall we ever be with the LORD.  I am overwhelmed! 

In my walk, I see the butterfly upon the sweet-smelling flowers, the bees and their steady work of pollination, and the nourishing honey of a hive.  I am surrounded by all of God’s creation, even all of the  company of heaven, and by my friends and family and church, but above all, by the mercy and love and grace of God, through His Son, the Lord, our Savior. 

As I walk, I try with all my mind and heart to remember some of the mighty works of God presented in His holy, written word, the Bible.  The thoughts and knowledge I have of that most sacred of all books, never leave me, but is my constant companion. 

“Tis the book of life, for life; Tis the book of light, for light; Tis the voice of Almighty God, written; Tis the book of Christ, settled forever in heaven.” 

I say out loud, “LORD, by your spoken word, everything was created and came into existence: heaven and earth, the sun and the moon and the stars; land and seas; grass and trees; fish and birds; land animals and man, who, created in Your image, began the long road of redemptive history in the drama of Your plan of salvation. How Jesus the Messiah, the Christ, died on the cross for the sins of the world and our salvation, was buried, and rose up from the dead the third day by His mighty resurrection.  Then, from the Mount of Olives, with the disciples looking on, Jesus ascended up to clouds and up to heaven.  You are there today, Lord, and seated at the right hand of the Father.  From there You will come again.”   

Sing praises to the LORD; tell the people of the mighty acts that He has done.  Remember, and tell them…

As I walk and look up to the heavens, I feel a sudden warmth that engulfs my body.  My steps feel light, as if I am walking on air.  

On I walk.  I remember, LORD.  I remember the names of Your Son, LORD: Yeshua-Jesus, and early in the Bible, YHVH, El Shaddai, and the great, “I AM.” He was the One who appeared to people in the Old Testament in the form of a man!  They could see Him.  He spoke to them, and they spoke to Him, and beheld Him, and touched Him.  When His mission was finished for that time,  He then disappeared from their sight, and went back to heaven with the Father, for He was Spirit.  He would return many times during the Old Testament history.  He would be known by many other names according to the circumstances.  They would hear His voice, especially His chosen prophets, who would repeat His words exactly, and say to the people:

“Thus saith the LORD the maker thereof, the LORD that formed it, to establish it; the LORD is his name…the God of Israel…”  He is our God, the only One, the true and living God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the LORD.

I remember, O Lord, these written words You spoke to the blessed prophet Jeremiah thousands of years ago in Jerusalem of Judah: 

“Call unto Me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.”   

 Shout out, my people, and declare His mighty works, in praise and thanksgiving.  Remember…just remember always:

How He spoke to Moses face to face on the mountain of Sinai, in Midian, in Arabia! And remember how He led Israel out of Egypt as their guide and protector?  And then how He saved them from destruction by Pharoah’s army at the Red Sea?  There He parted the waters and they stood up on either side  as a “heap,” and all the millions of Israel crossed over to safety on dry land.  But as the army followed, suddenly the waters crashed down upon them, and they sank like stones to the bottom, and were destroyed!  There, at the Red Sea, at what is today the Gulf of Aqaba, they did cross over, and You led them through the rough country of Midian to Mt. Sinai.  There, when Moses came up to the mountain, You spoke to him many days and nights, and wrote the Ten Commandments on stone tablets and gave them to Moses for the people of Israel.  I remember, Lord.  Blessed be the mighty, mighty acts of the LORD, so innumerable in number I can scarcely fathom.

Yet these mighty works are but a glimpse of Your power, Lord, and Your might and glory and the working of Your holy will and purpose, as determined long before creation.  I can hardly take in the majesty of all You have given for all to see and know.  

On my walk on the “lonely road,” I hear the thunder of Your mighty voice, the power of Your lightning that flashes across a dark sky.  I feel Your power in the wind.  I have seen the majestic formations of clouds that fill the sky and cast patterns of objects and stories and things.  I know of the ways You seek to get our attention.  The earth is Yours, and You control the weather and the storms, and the seas, the rain and sun. 

But let us look up, if only to look up.  For ” blessed is he who calls upon the name of the LORD; blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!” 

With a steady stride my thoughts cry out: “Can a man ask of a greater company than what You have given me in a world of wonder and beauty, light and darkness, love and evil?”  Am I alone?  Hardly.  Truly, the heavens and earth declare Your glory, LORD!  And I, just a small, humble man walking the lonely road am filled with Your presence. 

“O, Worship the LORD our God in the beauty of holiness; LET ALL THE EARTH BOW DOWN AND WORSHIP HIM..” 

And as I walk, my steps remain unknown but to Thee, my Lord, my God.  Amen.