a journey through landscapes real and imagined

Category: loving neighbors (Page 2 of 2)

How Firm a Foundation

This is Earth Week! Wednesday is the 50th anniversary of Earth Week, and so we want to spend the week highlighting God’s amazing creation! One of the most spectacular things I’ve been able to show Wren was the Milky Way. When we were in Utah last summer, we went out into Canyonlands National Park (one of the darkest skies in the US) to watch the sunset and the stars emerge.

Milky Way – Utah (2019)

When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them? You have made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honor. You made them rulers over the works of your hands; you put everything under their feet: all flocks and herds, and the animals of the wild, the birds in the sky, and the fish in the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas. LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! Psalm 8:3-9

Milky Way – Utah (2019)

What an awesome blessing that we have been asked to care for this amazing creation! Earth Week is a great time to think about how we are living out this call! This Earth Week is giving us a unique opportunity. We are all being forced to live more simply and more slowly. Scientists are already noticing changes – carbon emissions are down, light pollution is decreased, air quality is increased…and I’m sure there are other less-obvious benefits. Things we haven’t thought to measure yet. I know scientists are measuring changes in the soundscape, and I’ve noticed slight changes in animal behavior! Living out this “shelter-at-home” lifestyle might just help us see the ways we can change our impacts on creation through our consumption of resources! Creation will benefit if we see how we can maintain these changes.

Wren’s hymn of comfort tonight is How Firm a Foundation. We were thinking about the stars today before she recorded, so you might hear a little Twinkle sneak it’s way into what she played…

How Firm a Foundation / Twinkle

It is well

As we settle into this new rhythm of life, I am noticing a feeling of peace that is lifting us above the panic and anxiety. Finding little things we can do to help and encourage others is one way to keep our souls “well”. We love being able to share this music. Here is the hymn for today:

It is Well with My Soul

Those of you who know us, know that we spend quite a bit of time in healthcare facilities. Wren has some pretty amazing doctors, nurses, physical therapists, and the list goes on. We are so thankful for how they have cared for her through the years! We pray constantly for their safety through this crisis, and when one of my former students described just how serious the situation was at local hospitals, we were inspired to collect personal protective equipment for those healthcare workers and first responders on the front lines. It seems like the least we can do! I’m so thankful that my colleagues and the administration at the college has helped me to facilitate a collection of gloves and masks that I will deliver to the DuPage County Health Department. Look at how generous everyone has been!

Donations – 20 cases of gloves, 300 N95 masks, dust masks and pleated masks!
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