"How Great Thou Art"

“Did you know that ice has a smell? It’s fresh, with the whisper of adventure.” My daughter told me this as we stood atop a ski hill a couple of years ago. She is learning of the beauty of creation through experiences, much as I imagine many of us have. Her words brought me back in time …

O Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder
Consider all the works thy hands have made,

Logan Hazard

I am fourteen years old. The sun is just starting to rise over the desert landscape, and I have already climbed over a thousand feet that day. From our small ledge, my dad and I watch the long shadows retreat. Neither of us has to say anything to know that we are experiencing something special -- a miracle -- and that we have the best seat in the house. The birth of a new day.
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​I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder,
Thy pow’r thru-out the universe displayed;

​I am twenty-two now, living out of a car for the past three months with my best friend, both of us in search of adventure. Though the water was higher than we had ever seen it, we decided to get into our kayaks that night and enter the runaway freight train of a river -- like being shot from a cannon into a washing machine! When the gradient finally eased, we rounded a bend and saw the stream before us as it serpentined through the farmland below. Just as I caught my breath and looked into the sunset, I saw, framed by the magnificent spread of the Grand Tetons, a doe bending down to drink from the water -- the pristine serenity of the moment a stark contrast to my recent experience. The grandeur of what I was looking at caught me completely off guard in an instant that will forever be etched in my memory.

​When thru the woods and forest glades I wander,
And hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees,

​Thirty-five years old, backpacking in the Wind Rivers. We’d just finished a big day and had yet more to come. I slept that night under the stars, listening to the mountain brook that was just a few yards away. For some reason, I couldn’t fall asleep, though. The night sky was too much to look at — too foreign. It was like the sky was deeper than I had ever before witnessed, and the colors more brilliant. Colors! Who knew that stars could be anything but the little white specks I saw from my home in the city? The vastness of creation that night, the sheer artistry of the cosmos, spoke to me in a profound way. I look back on that night as one of the few specific instances where I can say for certainty that my outlook on life was changed by what I saw.

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​When I look down from lofty mountain grandeur
And hear the brook and feel the gentle breeze

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​Here in North Idaho we live in a place where it is easy to rejoice in the splendor of the natural world. For me, and many others I have found, this is one of the main reasons we live here. These experiences, these moments of awe and wonder, are not just about the beauty around us. They are encounters with the divine, glimpses of God's presence in the everyday, and for me, an important part of my faith. This natural beauty is a constant reminder that God is not distant or removed but intimately involved in creation, constantly revealing Himself through the works of His hands. That we have been made stewards over such magnificence is a true responsibility and privilege. Let us open our eyes to the wonders around us — the everyday miracles of creation — and let us rejoice in the Lord God who has made them all.

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​Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to thee,
How great thou art! How great thou art!

​In His Name, Logan