Radiate: Tristan’s blog

Our senior pastor, Fred, occasionally writes articles for the Plainfield Enterprise, one of the newspapers in the same city as our church. He is currently on sabbatical in Europe with his family, and he asked me if I would write his article for him while he is gone. [Side note: our web team is helping Fred blog so the church can feel connected with him and stay current with what he and his family are up to this summer. You can check out his blog here and read about his earlier missions trip to Romania and his current Europe travels.] In any case, Sharon and I wrote this article together. We wanted it to be accessible and interesting to the average newspaper reader and to help people relate God to events in their daily lives (in the hope that experiencing those events would cause them to think of Him). So here it is:

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What comes to mind when you hear the word ‘wonder’? Often people use the word when they are thinking out loud, such as in “I wonder if I locked the front door…” or “I wonder if it will be a good weekend to go swimming?” But there is a different way that people wonder—one that, unfortunately, many of us seem to have forgotten.

This summer I visited relatives in northern California. While there, we hiked 4 miles through the mountains to Feather Falls, the sixth largest waterfall in the United States. What starts out as a tiny creek pours over the edge of a cliff, fanning out in a spectacular 640-foot torrent of water that plummets to the river below. The waterfall was wonder-ful; that is, it inspired me to wonder about the strength of water to carve stone, the rugged beauty of nature, and the smallness of myself. Wow.

Each of us at some point has seen something that “wowed” us. This wow factor is the wonder that often gets forgotten. It’s the capacity that God put in us to be amazed and to express that amazement. Memories like my hike to Feather Falls—or your own “wow” moments—are wonder-moments that stick with us. And they are meant to. God created us and the world around us in such a way that we will be awed by what He has done. One ancient song recorded in the Bible says: “The heavens tell of the glory of God. The skies display his marvelous craftsmanship. Day after day they continue to speak; night after night they make him known” (Psalm 19:1-2, NLT). The wonder we feel is a God-thing. He gave us the ability to experience it so that we would think about Him when we see beauty and grandeur.

When we forget to tap in to our sense of wonder, we miss out. We can begin to feel weary and dissatisfied. We let all kinds of exciting moments pass by without ever taking advantage of the thrill they have to offer. But most importantly, we miss the very thing that moments of wonder were meant for—to bring us to an encounter with God.

Of course, it is easy to wonder at waterfalls on summer vacations, when busyness and familiarity are not crowding our lives. Yet even in the routine of daily life, moments of wonder await us if only we will pay attention. Did you know that the human tongue has around 10,000 taste buds? Or that a dog’s nose print is so unique that it can be used to identify that dog in the same way we use fingerprints? The world is full of potential wonder-moments!

This summer, whether you are vacationing at the Grand Canyon or marveling at the flavor of a homegrown tomato, take time to wonder at the world and remember that God gave us wonder as a gift. Think of Him, and thank Him.

Tristan & Sharon Mason
Christ Community Church of Plainfield
815-254-3800
http://www.APlaceToConnect.com