I’m the type of person that simply loves nature!

As a matter of fact, if you examined my iPhone, you’d find over 3000 photos, with more than half of them of the ocean, sky, trees, sunsets, sunrises, rainbows, mountains etc.! Looking at nature excites me as it directs my attention to God, the Creator of all. 

I believe the writer of Psalm 19 felt the same way as I do, for he writes: “¹The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the works of his hands.  ²Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge.  ³They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them.  Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the end of the world” (NIV).

As a reflect deeper upon the writer’s words, I’m enthralled, yet I realize that there’s an even greater declaration of God’s glory besides heaven’s declaration, and that is ME & YOU; for we are made in His image! 

Thus, when you and I choose to live our lives in obedience to God’s Word – which is pure, clean, sure, enduring, true and righteous, – the nurturing effect upon our lives will be His peace, joy and love in our heart; it is through such we reflect the Glory of God. 

As you draw closer to Christ, I pray that you decide to be more cognizant of God’s beauty within you and thus shine His glory to the world around you.  

Pastor Arlene

If you knew me well, you’d know that I love to buy shoes.   I believe my love for shoes stems from having to wear my mother’s oversized boots as a kid in the winter; because we were too poor to buy my own.  I remember the days that I was laughed at because of the boots that I wore, and saying to myself: “when I get older, I’m gonna buy myself lots of shoes!”

Today, if you’d look in my garage, you’d find just that… lots of shoes in all colors and styles; for I dare not ever throw a pair of shoes away! 

However, as I sit writing this, I’m reflecting back on that when I couldn’t find my favorite running shoes, so to the garage I went and WULLAH… there was a pair of shoes on my shelf that appeared brand new, so I put them on and off I went!

As I walked downhill for about 3 miles or so, I wondered why I hadn’t worn these shoes before; they looked and felt great on my feet.  In walking back home though, I didn’t think the same.  Apparently, the shoes that appeared new and were very comfortable began to fall apart piece by piece as I walked.  I assumed that the pressure from my bodyweight combined with the heat from the pavement, caused my very old dry-rotted shoes – YES DRY-ROTTED SHOES-  to disintegrate!

As I reflect upon that day, I still laugh.  Yet, in deeper reflection, I can’t help but ask myself – and you may ask yourself – if my love for God might be in the same dry-rotted condition as my shoes were.  Meaning, that though I love Him, I only go to Him when I need Him.

Most often when we use the term “wait“,  it’s in the context of having to surrender our time or space to some unforeseen event or circumstance.

Now as an adult, in a fast moving, non-waiting society, I believe in a sense that wait is good; especially if it’s waiting on God! I’ve learned that WAITING ON GOD brings healing to our mind and soul.  Therefore, waiting should be deliberate,  purposeful, and  planned whenever we desire to know Him and His will for us! For it is in our waiting; then we are strengthened!