Nature buff

"At present we are on the outside of the world, the wrong side of the door. We discern the freshness and purity of the morning, but they do not make us fresh and pure. We cannot mingle with the splendours we see." - C.S. Lewis

I'm a nature buff. Not a fanatic, like one of those crazy PETA people nuts that wanna blow up the meat eaters or anything. But I love the beauty and power of nature.

The quiet breathing of a soft sunrise, the crimson and orange sky bleeding its life into the sunset, the sighing of the wind in the trees, the solid strength and mystery of the mountains, the roaring damp of the waterfalls.

Spending a large portion of my formative years in Africa was such a blessing. The raw power of the bush is something that, even now, takes my breath away. To see the lions hunt, watch the monkeys clambering from tree to tree, hear the absolute silence of a moonless night was so wonderful for me. I was wild and free to explore nature and I loved it, thrived on it! My junior year, I was honored to climb and successfully summit Mt. Kilimanjaro. And to make it really cool, my sister Katrina and I climbed together. What a blessing that was! What breathtaking, aching beauty I saw on that mountain. My senior year, I climbed Mt. Kenya. More beauty, more power. I think that is when my real love for God's creation came to fruition.

See, God created nature to be perfect, to reflect His beauty. When we neglect that beauty, when we neglect to take care of it or notice it, I think we are spitting in the face of the Creator. Like I said before, I'm not gonna go out and bomb chicken farms or something but I believe we have a responsibility to care for the earth. It is, after all, our home for now. God entrusted Adam with caring for what was created. We bear that same responsibility.

I also believe that, one day, nature will be perfected. The Bible says that all the world groans for the time when it will be made new. That includes us, me and you. And nature. There will be a day when we will know the world as it was meant to be known, as it was in the Garden before sin entered the world. Not sure about you but I can't wait to walk among the lions without fear, to summit the highest mountains, to swim freely in the ocean of His love and His creation.

A toast!!

To the Creator of the world who will one day make all things new!!