the evolution of a thunderstorm

It was the kind of storm you could literally watch racing across the sky toward you. First billowy white thunderheads, then their dark blue undersides; a deafening stillness and then a mighty wind. Dust thickened the air. Leaves swirled. The sky darkened like twilight. The flashes and rumbles began, followed by the fresh scent of summer rain.
This is one of my favorite scenes on the dry Eastern Washington plains.

there is no other

There is nothing in this world that can snap my soul out of discouragement and faithlessness the way the simple radiance of my God can. For the second night in a row, He graciously drew my wandering heart back to Him with the colors of a beautiful sunset, reminding me that He is the holy Most High, He is in total control, and He is good.

“… I am the Lord, and there is no other;
There is no God besides Me.
I will gird you, though you have not known Me,
That they may know from the rising of the sun to its setting
That there is none besides Me….”
Isaiah 45:5-6a

so much wonder

 

From the rising of the sun to its setting
The name of the Lord is to be praised.
The Lord is high above all nations;
His glory is above the heavens.
Who is like the Lord our God,
Who is enthroned on high,
Who humbles Himself to behold
The things that are in heaven and in the earth?

Psalm 113:3-6

I see the vibrant brushstrokes of a sunset like this, and I am breathless, wordless. Yet the Bible says that to God, looking upon something earthly—even as magnificent as twilight over the mountains—is an act of humbling Himself. His glory is above the heavens; He is enthroned on high, holy, beautiful, and incomparable to anyone or anything else. To come before His throne is not a right that I deserve, or even a privilege that I earn. It is a gift of grace—and it should leave me in the silence of undefiled awe.

dear martinsburg

 

Dear Martinsburg,

I feel like I didn’t really get to know you as well as I wanted to. I spent so much of my time at camp that you got badly neglected by myself and my camera. But I want you to know that what I did experience of your quiet single-stoplight streets and rolling wooded hills was beautiful. I like the way you let cars pile up behind tractors and Amish buggies. Your peanut butter fudge ice cream in decorated waffle cones is pretty much the best thing I’ve ever tasted, and you’re satisfactorily close to a Sheetz, a Walmart, and a Sweetfrog without being too “city-ish.”

But all those things count for little compared to your people. If I could base my perspective of the world solely on the people who live in you and in your neighbor Roaring Spring, it would be completely unrealistic. The generosity, the care and the love, the acceptance that I’ve gotten from nearly everyone I’ve come in contact with has been phenomenal. In the short weeks that I spent here, I made friends of an unbelievable quality, and the best thing about them is how much they adore my Jesus.

One last thing. You, dear Martinsburg, played a vital role in raising up one of the best, most beautiful people I have ever had the privilege of knowing: my beloved roommate, Hannah. Thank you for the part you played in shaping her to become the woman of God and incredible friend that she is. And thanks for sharing her with me.

I’ll miss you, Martinsburg and rural central Pennsylvania… but not as much as I’ll miss my Pennsylvania family. I love you all.

Sincerely,

Hallie

holy land tour, day nine : the herodian and bethlehem

 

Today we saw what remains of the impressive palace/fortress/tomb that King Herod the Great built for himself beyond Bethlehem—the Herodian. It was complete with its own private theater, Olympic-size pools, public dining hall, etc.; yet as I stood amid what had once portrayed incredible wealth and power to the surrounding world, I felt pity for Herod. He had been called “great,” and he had been very fortunate in the gain of worldly assets, yet all that remains now is a partially uncovered accumulation of old stones. (Don’t tell Pastor Randy I said that.) The view was pretty nice, though—I can’t blame Herod for wanting to build there!

After the Herodian, we went into Bethlehem to commemorate events marked by several churches—the Church of the Nativity, the Church of St. Catherine, Shepherds’ Hill, and the Milk Grotto. They all emphasize something I rarely think about: the humanity of Jesus Christ. In my experience, the western world seems to prefer a theological and mystical Jesus, who looked like us but somehow had a “glow in the dark” kind of quality. But these churches focused on the man Jesus who, though fully God, didn’t necessarily come off all that much different from the rest of the human race.

And finally… a few pictures from our after-hours fun on Ben Yehuda Street just after the end of Shabbat, where the moon was full and I got a rather delicious hot chocolate. :)

I do love this place.