June's Reflection

​“The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.” (Ps. 19:1)

​I will get to the heavens, but first I want to share God at work on the earth. Last evening a doe wandered into the field in front of our house. As my husband and I watched out the window, it became clear that she had a new baby with her. The little one could not have been more than a day or two old. It was tiny with spots. They grazed for a few minutes. Then the doe’s head went up.

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The two moved more toward the center of the field, and the fawn settled into a depression in the grass. The grass is high enough that it could no longer be seen. About that time a coyote ran across the top of the field about a hundred feet away. There are bushes lining both sides of the field, so we had no way of telling if it was circling through the bush towards the deer. For maybe twenty minutes the doe stood next to her baby with head up watching the bushes. We slipped out onto the porch and stood there watching with her. Eventually she seemed confident that the coyote had run off. The fawn came to its feet, and the two of them ran off down the drive. We look forward to seeing the momma and her baby again soon. The coyote, not so much.

Scott Hoezee writes about a more dramatic display of God’s awesome creation that does have to do with the heavens: Perhaps many of us have had occasion to witness the approach of a storm over a large body of water. Having lived my whole life near Lake Michigan, I have seen gathering storms over that vast lake (people who come from Europe and see Lake Michigan cannot believe it is called a “lake” since it looks more like an ocean from the shore!). Such storms begin slowly. The western horizon out in the direction of Wisconsin begins to darken. The darkness spreads and you begin to hear the first rumbles of thunder (sound travels remarkably well across water so you hear the thunder out over a lake much earlier than over land). Then the lightning begins to appear, a chill wind kicks up and before you know it, the full power of the storm is upon you. (It is a good time to get off the beach too!) The waves kick up, the thunder is loud and seems to echo forever, bolts of lightning strike the water and the temperature can drop 25 degrees in mere minutes. Hail sometimes falls. All in all, a fearsome, even frightening and dangerous spectacle.

Our Tuesday afternoon group is studying the Psalms. First we learned that there are more Laments than Psalms of Praise. The Laments show up a lot less in our Sunday worship. They can be comforting in distress, or they can be tough reading. I find myself thankful that at this point in my life, I resonate with the Psalms of Praise more than the Laments. I also totally get that as we are walking along side of each other in troubled times, the Laments speak our heart song.

We are now in the time after Pentecost. This is the long green season of slow growth. I hope and pray in this season we will watch the baby critters grow and rejoice at the beauty and power of God at work around us. I also know that whatever comes our way the Lord is with us. May you be blessed to see the hand of God at work this day and this season.
​-Pastor Jessie McKenzie