Like an artist gathering supplies, God made the heavens and the earth. It was all there. All of the particles that would bump and mingle to make His idea of creation a reality. The invisible was becoming visible. God set up shop and got to work. Bringing order to chaos, He made the raw materials then made the most wondrously complex system of life from them. The light rained down bringing heat, increasing energy and then He drew the water up and made the atmosphere. And this, God called "Heaven". An atmosphere suddenly surrounded a hydrosphere...a vapor encircled a watery, gravely globe. "He stretched out the heavens like a curtain" Is.40:22, providing a protection for the living to come. There was evening, there was morning- day 2.

"The height of the heavens should mind us of God's supremacy, and the infinite distance that is between us and him; the brightness of the heavens, and their purity, should mind us of his majesty, and perfect holiness; the vastness of the heavens, and their encompassing the earth, and influence upon it, should mind us of his immensity and universal providence." Wesley's Explanatory Notes

The more I dig into the grounds of my faith, the more I am convinced of the truth of it. Just as light "exploded into light", faith explodes into faith. I am not a scientist; but astronomy, geology, chemistry, biology, physics (etc.) in and of themselves provide few conclusions.... only more questions. It is not science alone that proves or disproves God and creation...it is faith. It is where you find your beginning. My beginning is "in the beginning God"...from there I am amazed and overwhelmed 
at the proof of Him.

Clouds
Sinking to inverted rim
Fraying edges...
tearing free.
Revealing
rising
upward
onward
forever.
Arcing center
stretching
drawing
summoning,
me.

"Let there be light..." Gen. 1:2-5

Atoms gyrated, pulsed and pooled-
an incoherent pit.
Ingredients of life restrained,
and champing at the bit.
 Beneath the skin of darkness,
cells and systems waited word
while the stirring of His Spirit
 trained and fluttered like a bird.
"Let there be light"came thund'ring,
without ears to hear the clap
 Fingered filiments came spiraling
and pulled the darkness back.
Light exploded into light
as God sighed in delight
and placed the edge of darkness
 beside day
and called it "night".

"In the beginning God created..."

"In the beginning God created"- The initiation of time was God's act of creating. Before anything else, before everything else
 He was.
God is the pre-existant condition on which everything else hinges.
There was God
then...
then God created. 
He made what wasn't there before:
the heavens
and the earth.

The heavens and the earth traveled from the mind of God to become a vast universe that we only know in part.

This is one quality of God I really wish I had...to make ideas realities.
God had an idea.
God made it reality.
What was only in his mind was brought into physical existence...
Something to be seen
Something to be heard
Something to be touched, smelled, felt
of God.
All of these somethings a communication of His beauty, power, tenderness, goodness.
All of these somethings the pronouncement of His reality.
"In the beginning, God created..." Genesis 1:1

I know it's highly unorthodox to speak of God screaming. If there is a God, doesn't He just whisper on the wind or float around in silence, perceived only through some form of mental telepathy? In my life I have experienced His presence and communication in many ways...but I am no mystic so sometimes, He screams. No, it isn't audible to the human ear but to the mind, it is deafening. "I AM HERE. I AM REAL. I MADE YOU. I LOVE YOU. YOU HAVE A FUTURE WITH ME".
A few years ago we took a trip to Zion National Park and could not wait to hike back into the cliffs. Day one was drizzly but my husband and kids found a hidden pool and jumped in. Behind them a sheered rock wall imposed, exposing layers of  earth that would go unseen were it not for a catastrophic event. Something had happened in that place long, long ago to crack the massive wall and carry it away. So of course, being creationists, we discussed the flood. To us, the formation was a divine scream. It was a one of those life moments even my clown fish memory won't forget...I hope. As we returned to the parking lot, a double rainbow (God's sign of promise after the flood), vibrant and complete, arched itself over the very spot we had just been. Coincidence? Not to me!
This is one story in an endless train of stories from my life of God's clear communication:  "I AM HERE. I AM REAL. I MADE YOU. I LOVE YOU. YOU HAVE A FUTURE WITH ME". Yet, there have been long desperate stretches of His silence too, so it is with understanding and not ignorance that I write. In these times, I have clung to His Word; waiting and hoping for the scream to come again.
Genesis is the perfect book to study when wrestling with the issue of believing in or hearing from God. God first spoke through creation...then His presence...then His messengers...then His people...Then His Word and through it all, His Son. So much God talk in one book!
All of the research in the world and throughout history
cannot disprove God
If you begin
by hearing His voice.
"In the beginning, God..." Genesis1:1

Seven. A crow, a woodpecker, and at least five other birds interrupted my quiet yesterday with declarations that they too made it through the winter. Does it mean youth is fading when you start counting bird calls? Beginnings and the number seven and color exploding from broken and tangled limbs...it all made me want to study Genesis.
"In the beginning God..."- The great human saga had a point of initiation. There was an act that kicked off time and the initiator was God.
Kings and peasants, politicians and scientists, no-names and big names, artists and musicians have spent  millennials arguing for and against Him. No matter,
"Before the mountains were born or you gave birth to the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God." Psalm 90:2
Knowing and believing the truth of this verse, must start at the beginning.

Show-off!

Finally, a hint of pink on my earliest blooming tree...
A few years ago we lived by a park. It was a time when I had to discipline myself to celebrate the evidence of God's goodness around me and walks in the park gave me inspiration. I wrote this little poem:

I love the park in spring,
when petal-strewn paths
are pinkified
and I
meander mystified
by God
in nature glorified
I love the park in spring.

Romans 1:20-21a "For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks..."

There is a good God showing off every day. He, through creation, says "Look at me! Watch this...aren't I amazing?"  He should; because He is.  The evidence of His ways of thinking, feeling and acting are always perfectly designed and timed. They may take a little more looking to find on some days but when you do, it's divine.
Yes, God is a show-off. And we are the lucky ones.
Look for Him today, offer thanks and then go help someone else enjoy the show.

Lift off...

I'm a beggar. There was a time when I didn't dare beg God for anything (except maybe forgiveness) and then a friend said: "You don't know all that God wants to give you...why not ask?" so I was inspired to pray for a house, and God said, "yes". That was about all it took for me to form a new theology: "Ask".
The asking commenced.
Over the years I've asked God for anything and everything from beating my husband at backgammon (because it would do him good to lose), to reconciled marriages of friends, to miracles of physical and spiritual healing. But sadly I find myself begging Him for money to a shameful excess. That's how money is; there are always new reasons to need it. This week was no exception. We just could not make those records work. Thinking about money weighed me down all week!
Until this morning.
A milky mist had settled around us in the wee hours and I awoke to white in every direction.
It gave the illusion that the house had lost its grip on earth during the night.
It was "other-worldly".
It made me think of Heaven.
Remember Heaven... that place God promised to bring us when our soul loses its' grip on earth? ( John 14:2) Remember how He promised that all that belongs to His son, we will also enjoy? ( Romans 8:17) Remember how He warned us that what we pour our resources into now, affects what we will enjoy in the future? (Matt. 6:19) I think perhaps much of my begging comes from trying too hard to make the here and the now as heavenly as possible.  1 Pt. 2:11 (The Message) "Friends, this world is not your home, so don't make yourselves cozy in it."
Randy Alcorn writes in his book, The Teasure Principle : "God wants people so filled with a vision for eternity that they wouldn't dream of not investing their money, time, and prayers where they will matter most. He who lays up treasures on earth spends his life backing away from his treasures and has reason to despair. He who lays up treasures in Heaven is daily moving toward them and has reason to rejoice."

"For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. But flee from these things, you man of God, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance and gentleness. Fight the good fight of faith; take hold of the eternal life to which you were called..." 1 Timothy 6:10-12a

How do I "take hold"? One way is letting go of the green stuff!