A Pastor's Word: Wonder

"When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?"

I read Psalm 8 and it speaks to me of wonder. Wonder at the marvelous creation we inhabit, and wonder at the gracious God who cares about us in the midst of it. Yet, when I think of my own habits and ways I realize that I ‘wonder’ less and less. And not just me – as one living in Vancouver and as a pastor I see this often.

It seems the longer one lives in a place as beautiful as this, the longer one spends time in between this ocean and these mountains, or in any other setting of natural beauty, the more the wondrous becomes commonplace.

Hannah, Ethan, and I went hiking the other day, and reached the peak of Black Mountain in Cypress park. Hannah jumped up on top of a rock and exclaimed, “Ethan, look at all we can see!” Ethan responded, “We can see all the way to China from up here!”

Meanwhile, three others arrived, looked around, and said “Is this it?”

It seems the longer one is a Christian, the longer one partakes of Christian education, the more the marvelous becomes commonplace. We sit through Christmas and Easter services, hearing of our God who loves us enough to become one of us, to defeat death for us, and we are unmoved. “Is this it?” we think.

Perhaps one of our failures is a failure to consider. A failure to pause (and who has time to pause in this day and age? If I pause anything it’s the TV so that I can finish the game on my cell phone while waiting for the video to finish buffering on my computer) and reflect.

Perhaps you could change that this week.