For the past week I have had the blessing of being able to travel with my boyfriends family through the southwestern states. For some, car rides are exceptionally boring but between the scenery and searching for "Q's" while playing the alphabet game, the journey was quite enjoyable. It was even more delightful to be around people I love who love me too. While we were on our adventure, we made a few stops that took my breathe and boggled my mind.

The first stop was the planetarium in Flagstaff, Arizona. The first thing we did when we arrived was watch a galactic film. It was a film showing how stars are made and galaxies beyond our own and how black holes work. After that we looked into a telescope that magnified stars that are 26 thousand light years away. As if that wasn't powerful enough, we saw the rings of Saturn. I was completely taken back by the glory that I was seeing. My human mind just could not contain the thought that that's just a tiny part of it. God's art work continually takes form in the sky farther than our eyes will ever see! And when I think of how big and how glorious the heavens are, I find myself asking the same question that David did when he wrote Psalm 8.

"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 feel as though the stars and the planets and the mystery of it all proves the greatness of our God. I also believe that what He has created is a love song that sings straight to the hearts of those who love Him. God has created all of the beauty of the earth and all of the glory of the sky. I don't think it's selfish to believe that He created it for each of us. As humans, when we see something so mysterious and wonderful it causes us to marvel at who God is and how HUGE He is. As He sings this love song to us through His art all around us, we sing love songs back to Him for all He has created.

The next day, we went to the Grand Canyon. Now, my biggest fear is heights. I had no idea what to expect when I realized I'd be standing on a cliff looking straight down. But the first glimpse of it put my mind at ease. It was beautiful. There wasn't room for fear when I was too busy thinking about how God created that with the brush of His hand. As we hiked down into part of the Canyon and walked around admiring all of the viewpoints, a song was stuck in my head.

"How wide, how deep, how great, is Your love for me. Lord, I'm amazed by You. Lord, I'm amazed by You. Lord, I'm amazed by You. How You love me."

God's creation was a love song straight to my heart. The song lead me to the Scripture it was inspired by....

When I think of all this, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth. I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.

Ephesians 3:14-21

These verses have always spoken to my heart, but through this vacation God has given me examples of how wide, how long, how high and how deep His love is and as Paul did, I pray that all of Gods people understand that same love.

-ash.

Have you ever had that feeling when you realize that something isn't what you thought it was? Or you think you know the whole situation but in reality you only know a certain portion.

You know those lamps that have the twisty knob that turns the light on? For me, I automatically associate them with hotel rooms. I get into the room and try to turn on the lamp, but the knob is hidden at the top under the lamp shade. After struggling with luggage in one hand and fighting with a stuck knob with the other I finally get the light on. I'm relieved to have light, even though it seems a little dim. Before I leave my room I go to the lamp and find the stubborn knob to turn it off, but I discover that it wasn't even on all the way. The lamp had two more settings, each brighter than the one before! I thought the lamp was just faint and that's all there was to know about it. Wrong.

Have you ever done this with your Walk with God?

I have.

I'm reading a book called "Crazy Love" by Francis Chan. Great book. Chan encourages his reader to really focus in on who God really, truly is before they continue their Walk. As I did this, I realized that my lamp was dim. I thought I knew what it was to follow Christ, but actually, I knew what it was to be a lukewarm Christian.

I've heard many times that people are supposed to fear God. For a while I thought, "Well, why? Why should I fear the God that loves me and wants me to prosper? Should I fear Him in a way that separates me from Him? Should I shrink away?" That sounded crazy to me. For a while I put the questions completely out of my mind and I paid no attention to my confusion. It wasn't until lately, as I prayed for Him to refine me, that I was shown what it meant to be God fearing.

Matthew 3:7-10 grabbed my attention:

"But when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming to watch him baptize, he denounced them. "You brood of snakes! he exclaimed. "Who warned you to flee God's coming wrath? Prove by the way you live that you have repented of your sins and turned to God. Don't just say to each other, "We're safe, for we are descendants of Abraham." That means nothing, for I tell you, God can create children of Abraham from these very stones. Even now the ax of God's judgement is poised, ready to sever the roots of the trees. Yes, every tree that does not produce good fruit will be chopped down and thrown into the fire."

"Even now the ax of God's judgement is poised, ready to sever the roots of the trees. Yes, every tree that does not produce good fruit will be chopped down and thrown into the fire."

For a long time I fell into a trap. I loved God. I worshiped God. I knew Christ died for my sins and I knew that the only way to the Father was through Christ. I said, "I'm safe, I'm a descendant of Abraham." I thought maybe I was bearing good fruit. But was it as much as I was supposed to? Really, when I got to the bottom of it, I had to wonder if I was really bearing any good fruit at all. I mean, church, youth group, worship team...all good things. But was I really progressing and working to produce good fruit? "Well," I thought, "no fruit is better than bad fruit, right?" Uhh, let's skip to chapter 21 of Matthew.

"In the morning, as Jesus was returning to Jerusalem, he was hungry, and he noticed a fig tree beside the road. He went over to see if there were any figs, but there were only leaves. Then he said to it, "May you never bear fruit again!" And immediately the fig tree withered up."

Jesus acted out his parable in this case. Trees that bear no fruit have no better fate than trees with bad fruit.

That scared me.

I realized that if I ignore what I'm called to be, and I ignore the lessons that Jesus taught, even though I acknowledge my Savior, He won't know me.

As I fall in love more and more with who God is, I realize that love paired with fear is powerful. Like the lamp, when more light is added to the dim light, it's easier to see. I fear God for His power. He can wither anyone he wants in a matter of seconds. Seconds. As a daughter of the King, I am called to spread His love into the world, making desciples in all of the nations. The consequences of acknowledging what Christ did for me and not sharing that with others are severe.

I'm the daughter of a King who loves me deeply. Enough to send His Son to die for every time I've screwed up. I respect and fear the power He posesses and for the reasons of love, respect and fear I will serve my God and others and follow Christ's teachings all of my days.