Don't Worry, Invest!

From a sermon given on January 29, 2017 at Providence Church.

Jesus said some difficult things. Among the most difficult for us Americans is what he said regarding the desire for stuff and wealth. “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions” (Luke 12:15). If taken seriously, these words (at least) cause us to reflect. But we have to eat, right? And we need clothes and a roof over our heads. All that costs money and most of us can’t walk to work! 

Jesus continues with this theme.

Luke 12:

²²And he said to his disciples, “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on. ²³For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. 

Wow. It’s almost like he’s speaking across the centuries directly to us! We obsess over food and clothing! Not like many in Jesus' day who worried where their next meal would come from, or who owned perhaps two or three sets of clothing and one pair of sandals. But we can’t get enough! We have walk-in closets full of clothes we hardly ever wear. How many pairs of shoes do you own? And food? We have hundreds of choices of stores and restaurants; we struggle with obesity, not starvation. Just think of the amount of money we spend on food and clothing. I won’t even mention other external appearance concerns we have, unimagined by those in Jesus’ day: plastic and enhancement surgery, cosmetic dental work, hair implants, makeup, skin-care products, gym memberships, and trips to the salon! Jesus continues:

²⁴Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. 

Our familiar member of the raven family is the crow. Like sparrows, they seem to be everywhere. They definitely eat corn and stuff in our gardens (scarecrow), Just this morning I saw a murder of them (yeah, that's the right term for a "flock" of crows) eating roadkill. Point is, few crows ever starve. They have a veritable smorgasbord spread out below their wings. 

^24...Of how much more value are you than the birds! 

God cares so much more about you…he knows what you need and will provide. 

²⁵And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? 

There are so many people I’ve known who were extremely health-conscious who nevertheless died young. And some, like my 100-year-old grandmother, who ate high-cholesterol foods, smoked much of her life, and never exercised, lived long lives! I’m not negating the value of good health and wise habits, but when it’s your time, it’s your time! In fact, studies show that anxiety is as big a life-shortening factor as diet and exercise! Despite all our science and medicine, life expectancy is still between 70-80 years. Funny, Psalm 90:10 says, “The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away.” That was written 3000 years ago! 

Jesus continues:

²⁶If then you are not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest? 

You can’t control when you die, so why worry about all life’s necessities?! Let God worry about that!

²⁷Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. ²⁸But if God so clothes the grass, which is alive in the field today, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith! ²⁹And do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be worried. ³⁰For all the nations of the world seek after these things, and your Father knows that you need them. ³¹Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things will be added to you. 

Did you see that? Wow. Seek his kingdom and the rest will take care of itself. What does "seek his kingdom" mean? It means long for the world to come. Jesus had been there—he knew heaven well. And he knew the great contrast and how temporary and minor-league this world is by comparison. Do you remember how petty the middle school drama seemed when you got to high school? And how silly high school seemed when you were in college? And how ridiculous our college concerns seemed once you were married? Our fears and priorities here will be so laughably shallow when we're in heaven. Therefore, we are wise set our sights on the next world. Not this one.

³²“Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. 

Heaven's going to be yours! And God can't wait to give it to you! Wow, that changes everything! 

So how do we live when dying is gain, when heaven will be ours?

According to Jesus, here's how:

³³Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. 

It is so counterintuitive to us, isn’t it? We almost can’t believe our ears (that Jesus would say such extreme things). But it’s not extreme at all…if heaven is real…if Jesus is telling the truth…if we really will live eternally, then this little time we will have spent on earth will become for us a tiny, distant memory! In view of heaven’s great riches and beauty and satisfaction and perfection, what will we think about our current obsession for earthly things?!  

I know the Bible says there will be no sadness there, but I sometimes wonder how we will not regret our present obsession with stuff. Especially when we will look back and remember all the needs around us—the people who lived in our world who through our generosity might have heard—better, might have seen—the Gospel lived out by people—Christians, us—who gladly gave up what we could not keep, to gain what we could not lose; and gave it so that others would gain it too.

There is one more verse. And it's a doozy.

³⁴For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

I love this verse. Because it is a key that unlocks so much. To understand it, let’s get the images in two key words: “treasure” and “heart.”

The word, treasure, is the Greek word, thēsauros. It literally means a “place of treasure,” where one puts one's investments.

The word, heart, is the Greek word, kardia. (yes, like "cardio" and "cardiograph") It can mean the physical blood-pumping organ, but here "heart" is the symbolic “seat of the passions, desires, affections.” 

Now: notice the tenses of the verbs “to be”: “is” (present tense), “will be” (future tense).

So here’s what it’s saying:

Where you place your investments NOW, that’s where your affections WILL BE.

Jesus is conveying at least two ideas: 

First, you can tell what people really live for (their future aspirations) by observing what they invest in now.

Second, you can direct your investments in such a way that will influence what you love. And if you want to love God and his kingdom more, you should invest in that.

So what?

1. Find contentment by making Christ your satisfaction. He’s the only one who truly satisfies. You will not find it anywhere else. Surrender to him.

2. Find peace in trusting God to provide for your needs. If you are simply obedient to God regarding finances, for example, peace will result. That means following God's instructions for managing your money (like, live within your means and avoid debt, save, be thrifty, budget, and be generous). We offer Financial Peace University at Providence to help people find peace by being wise with money.

3. Find beauty by your faith in Christ. Not by external appearances. Things like what you wear or your hair or makeup or youth or stylishness. Real beauty is really is about what’s on the inside. We know that’s what matters to God—what he sees. But it’s true for others, too. Young women, focus on your character and wisdom and joy. 1Peter 3: ³Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear—⁴but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious. Guys, don’t focus on curls for girls. Focus on integrity, discipline, humility, and courage. Be a man of God. That’s attractive—especially to the kind of girl who will one day be a great wife, mother, and best friend for life. Impress her!

4. Know that God desires to give you much more than mere necessities. He can’t wait to give you his kingdom. Like parents look forward to Christmas more than kids, and loves the moment they come down the stairs to see the gifts, so God looks forward to giving you what he has planned from eternity.

5. Invest yourself in the kingdom. How? There are so many ways. Think about ways God wants you to offer your time, talents, energy, and money, and invest! 

Then your heart will love him and his kingdom even more.

Sanctity of Lives

Sometimes it is good to take a step back from a portrait being painted to take it in as a whole. Our artist, Luke, has been painting a portrait of Jesus who cares about people, specifically, people the world overlooks. God sees and loves and saves those who believe and gives them meaning as he uses them for his glory. There are so many examples. Just recently in Luke 12:

⁶Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God. ⁷Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows.

While preparing for this message I was studying at home and watching the birds at the feeders on our deck. Chickadees, doves, wrens, cardinals, finches, and sparrows are regulars. Sparrows are many bird-watchers' least favorite. They’re the brownish-grey birds at McDonalds. Fact is, biologists tell us that our "house sparrows" as they are known here, are an introduced species that originated in the middle east, are now all over the world, and are perhaps the most common wild bird on earth. Coincidental? Everyone in the world knows the sparrow as a ubiquitous, hardly noticeable, insignificant little bird. But they're not to God. He knows them all by name and provides for and prospers them. Jesus uses the lowly sparrow to illustrate how important we are to God—so much so that every single hair on our heads has an individual number. Wow.

Next week we will study vv. 22-34. Here’s a little preview, and I want to pull out one aspect that illustrates what we’ve seen from Jesus as we’ve been studying Luke 12.

²⁴Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! ^...27Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. ²⁸But if God so clothes the grass, which is alive in the field today, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you… ³²“Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

We’ll unpack the whole passage more next week (there’s so much good stuff!) but I want to focus on how this reveals God’s heart for people. God loves all human lives. They are special, holy to him. Why? Because he created human beings in his own image. All other life forms and everything that makes life possible he made for us. To support human life. Not just for sustenance and survival, but for prosperity, productivity, awe, and purpose.

How important are you to him? He made you unique and wonderful, he created all things for you, he has created a plan to show you his love/forgiveness/grace by dying in your place, and he wants to give you the kingdom! And not just you.

Today is what Christians call “Sanctity of Human Life” Sunday. Yes, that's when we acknowledge that God cares for human beings, even at their most vulnerable place—beginning in the mother’s womb.

Psalm 139:13-16
¹³For you formed my inward parts;
   you knitted me together in my mother's womb.
¹⁴I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
   Wonderful are your works;
      my soul knows it very well.
¹⁵My frame was not hidden from you,
  when I was being made in secret,
      intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
¹⁶Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
   in your book were written, every one of them,
      the days that were formed for me,
      when as yet there was none of them.

God sees every human life—beginning with it’s very inception—as precious.

Here's my question:
If Christians don’t stand for life in the womb, who will?

One of the many reminders that evil is alive and well in the world is the continuing diminishment of the most innocent and vulnerable lives—unborn children. This is our age’s infanticide—an evil common to most ages (be it ancient civilizations like the Aztec, Maya, Inca, as well as some Euro-asian tribes, and seen in the Bible in ancient Egypt when Moses was born and even Israel when Herod heard of one "born King of the Jews" killed the children around Bethlehem). Abortion is ours. There have been about 60 million abortions since Roe vs. Wade. Half of them little girls, and 18 million of them black babies (that's 1/3). That's stunning.

Good news is we’re making a difference. A report released this week showed that the abortion rate has fallen 50% from it's height, to a historic low since Roe in the U.S. For the first time since 1973, under 1 million babies were aborted in a year.

One million...babies killed. Wow. We still have so far to go.

The issue of abortion is certainly not where it ends. Too many times when we hear “Sanctity of human life” we think only of the unborn. But they are not the only lives being diminished and devalued in our culture. Yes, you no doubt know that racism & sexism still exists. There seems to be a lot of conversation about these things. Of course, racism is evil. God sees no color. Of course sexism is evil. Gen. 1:27 NIV So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. We, regardless of race or sex are image-bearers of God.

Unfortunately not all the conversation regarding these hot topics is healthy. In fact, when you throw in political aspirations and people who have other self-serving agendas, we can find ourselves taking steps backward. It is important that Christians stand for truth and demonstrate God’s love to all. As bad as these things are—and they have many derivatives—I want, today, to talk (frankly and briefly) about some other denigrated people, who don’t get as much press.

•There are orphans and kids needing foster care who need parents and families to do as God has done when he pursued & adopted us as his children. Most of us never consider what it must be like to not have someone to call mom or dad. We Christians can make a difference.

Because their lives matter to God.

•Homelessness is an ongoing problem in our nation. You can’t drive to Turkey Creek or downtown without seeing homeless people. What isn’t as obvious is the brokenness and mental illness and addiction and abuse from which these people suffer. We support KARM. You can give… but you can also volunteer, serve meals, and help in many other ways.

Because their lives matter to God.

•Elderly and disabled/handicapped/infirm— Our culture seems to discard the elderly. We who are healthy forget those who are disabled or sick. This category includes people all around us, and so many times they are overlooked. Who in your life needs help, encouragement, or just a friend? 

Because their lives matter to God.

•Immigrants and refugees—Knoxville is a city that has been chosen by our government to receive refugees from war-torn parts of the world, and because of our universities and Oak Ridge, we attract people who legally are here from other parts of the world. We can welcome these people. We support KIN and Bridge, but more importantly, we want YOU to seek friendship with internationals. Most of the time they are eager for friendship. We have ESL and we need volunteers.

Because their lives matter to God.

•Addicted people. There are people in this room who have overcome addictions by God’s help. I know many who are in process. The best hope people have is Christ. One thing we want to do is create a mentoring ministry to help people overcome. Addiction is a HUGE problem in the USA. If the church isn’t the answer, what is? I am praying that God will raise up some who will lead us in meeting this need.

Because their lives matter to God.

•Victims of sex slavery- Y’all may know that I’m on the board of Street Hope. There is a real problem of especially girls pushed by pimps or sometimes family to have sex with men for drugs or money. The exploding porn industry is much behind it. I just read a 25 page report by Vanderbilt and government agencies that horrified me. There is so much pain, and we have so far to go. The church must respond to this evil, as we did in abolition.

Because their lives matter to God.

•Unborn babies and women in crisis pregnancy- now back full circle to abortion. Let’s not forget our church's first partnership. Way back in 1996 at the height of the abortion crisis, we decided to be a part of the solution in a positive way and were a founding church that supported Hope Resource Center. Many of you are a part, and we need many more. Here in Knoxville, over half of the abortion clinics have shut down since HRC began. Our prayer is that more unexpectant moms will have their babies, and that God will continue to redeem these women who find themselves in bad circumstances. This happens often at HRC. You can be a part.

Because their lives matter to God.

All these lives are precious to God.

So what can you do?

1. Repent from diminishing people. That means stop seeing them as less-than-precious. Search your heart regarding your own attitude toward others. Do you consider some as less-worthy to be image-bearers? Turn from sin to surrender. See things God’s way, embrace it, and adopt it as your own. Get off the intellectual bench and recognize all lives are precious to God and change your attitude wherever need be. Go through the categories: Do I have racist feelings? Do I have sexist feelings? Do I feel ill-will toward homeless, immigrants, addicts? Or how about this: Do I consider a gay man’s life any less important to God? Do I harbor hatred toward a transgendered person?

Here's the minefield we're in: many voices (even some "Christian" ones) are urging us to compromise. On the one hand we are urged to soften the Bible's definition of sin. We must not. On the other hand (and just as harmfully) we are urged to shrink from the Bible's call to love. We must not. On either side of Christ's hard way there are ditches of sinful compromise. What it means to be Christian is to be like Christ. Regardless of what culture says, be it the media or Hollywood or political pundits or someone at work or your parents or neighbors or anyone else. We obey Christ. That means truth AND love.

Check this out: In Ephesians chapter 4, Paul tells us that God gave leaders to equip you for ministry and to build up the church... ¹⁴so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. ¹⁵Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, Speaking the truth in love. 

We do not compromise truth. Sin is sin. BUT WE ALSO DO NOT FAIL TO LOVE. If you claim to be a Christian, and there are people who you can’t love, you need to repent. 

John Barber this week reminded me of Cory Ten Boom, a Dutch Christian who wrote The Hiding Place, who was sent along with her sister Betsie to a Nazi concentration camp for hiding Jews. After being cruelly treated by their captors, Betsie (who eventually died in the camp) made it a habit to pray for these inhuman guards who abused them and the other prisoners. Cory objected, but her sister reminded her that Christ said to pray for our enemies, and that if we look at them through Christ's eyes, we can love them.

That's what it means to be Christian.

2. Make a change in your mind to care. Do you feel indifference? I think that’s probably the more important question we should ask ourselves. Even if some of us do not have racist/sexist/condescending feelings for others. We’re so often indifferent. We’re so preoccupied with our own lives that we have no energy or concern for others. It’s time to look at people as Jesus did: with compassion. He looked at a sister who lost her brother and wept. He looked at a crowd stuck in sin and without leadership and wept. He had compassion on those who were lepers, Samaritans, gentiles, poor, blind, lame, hungry. But as Jesus demonstrated, our job doesn't end with just feeling compassion.

3. Pray. When you feel the darkness and hopelessness and anger and hurt (and you will if you change your mind from sin or indifference to surrender), you should pray. Make this an automatic response to the high blood pressure that compassionate people feel. It’s not a stress-management methodology. It’s not the least you can do. It’s the MOST you can do. Phil. 4:6-7 Do not be anxious about anything… Pray for those HARD to love. Pray that God will HELP you love. Ask God HOW you should show love.

4. Get in the game. Do something. Get uncomfortable. Talk with someone who’s not like you. Stop being indifferent and start loving people and showing it by your actions. Yes, you’re going to be misunderstood, so was Jesus. Yes, you’ll probably be hurt by some you try to love, so was Jesus.

If you remember earlier in Luke, a man asked Jesus what was the greatest commandment. He said, love God and love your neighbor. Remember what followed? The man asked, “Well, just who is my neighbor?” And Jesus told the parable of the good Samaritan. In it, those religious Jews who knew better walked by the beaten man on the other side of the road, indifferent. They were content to let him die. But thankfully for the man, a Samaritan—a hated, half-breed, unclean heretic—saw the man, had compassion, and took a risk at great personal cost to care for him unconditionally. 

Jesus said, "You go, do likewise" (Luke 10:37).

You who know better—you Christians—don’t walk by on the other side of the road. The greatest witness of Christ and the reality of the Gospel is Christians who love with their actions.

Give toward impacting these problems. Your missions giving through Providence helps these ministries. But don’t stop there. Volunteer in these ministries.

And look for ways to be Christ to those image-bearers around you who are diminished by others.

Can't Quit Daydreaming...

Benny and I behind the Jeep CJ9 with the real heroes of the
hunt, the dogs!

I used to have a lot of hobbies. Fishing (bass, trout, crappie, catfish, and others—all different), hunting (squirrel, rabbit, turkey, dove, boar, quail, pheasant, grouse, crow, raccoon, chukar, duck, goose, and deer—with bow, muzzleloader, shotgun, and rifle!), hiking & backpacking, golf, canoeing, working on cars, road biking, mountain biking, painting, playing guitar, gardening, horses, dogs (training & breeding), woodworking, four wheeling, working out, reading, caving, traveling, skiing, basketball, football, softball, weight lifting, swimming, running, and more! Whew! What a list!

But as we grow older career and family take precedent, and life's priorities and budgets force us to narrow our list of hobbies. I used to have the equipment for ALL the above pursuits (some is packed away and forgotten in the attic)!

Some, however, are still pastimes that I still enjoy (even if I have less time for them than I once did) and I try to discuss them on this blog. One of my favorite things in the world to do is quail hunt. I don't own a pointer/brittany/springer/setter, and I certainly don't have any hunting land. But every once in a while, God graciously provides for me to do what I have no budget to do and experience a day or so in the field.

The cabin in which we stayed. Belle prancing in the front.

A few weeks ago, my good buddy Benny invited me to come with him and a friend and go quail hunting at a hunting preserve in south Georgia, called Wynfield Plantation.   It. was. awesome.  We had a great time talking on the way down and back, but the hunting experience is hard for me to explain, except except to say that I felt like a rich dude. The place is so nice. And they totally serve you hand and foot. Wow!

They provide the dogs, guide, Jeeps, and food (prepared by a chef) and everything else. All you have to bring is proper clothing and your gun. And that's where I probably should be embarrassed. I have a Remington 1100 that I got for Christmas when I was in 8th grade. But I love it and I proudly walk in the field with it like Happy Gilmore walks on the golf course with his hockey stick (not that I'm as good!). Perhaps it's a little out-of-style, but it does the job. Most of the hunters (at this place, anyway) have fancy over-and-under style Brownings and Benellis.

Truth is, I'm still pinching myself. The trip seemed (and seems) like some kind of dream. We shot a lot of birds. The folks at the plantation cleaned the birds for us, froze them, and gave them to us in little coolers to take home. Amazing.

Here's Benny on the right and the little English Cocker right
behind her master, our guide. An awesome little dog.

My favorite thing about it is watching the dogs hunt. Benny had his old faithful bird dog, Belle. I was privileged to be along for what might have been her last hunt. She did great. One of the coolest dogs I've seen is the English Cocker, a shorter dog that stayed at "heel" with the guide until the pointers were on point on some birds, at which time the guide would send in. The Cocker would flush the cubby (meaning, the hiding group of quail would fly up in the air), and then it would retrieve the dead birds that we shot back to the guide. Remarkable.

Below is a very quick video of me shooting a quail (it took two shots). The dogs really do all the work. I'm just so happy I got to go along.

Good times. Many thanks to Benny for letting me tag along and for the good conversations we had. Now I've got to pinch myself and quit daydreaming about it!

Feeding Birds

I really only have one person for whom to buy Christmas gifts. She basically takes care of the gift-buying for all others (with my occasional input, of course). I have to badger her to find out what she wants for Christmas, because for the first couple of months I begin badgering, she says, "I don't want you to get anything." Yeah, right. Truth is I WANT to get her gifts, and I really want her to be happy–maybe even surprised! This is a great challenge for me. If it were just one main gift, that would be hard enough. But of course I need to get a card, and there's all the little stocking stuff (that's the hardest of all for me)! And I also need to find little fun less expensive gifts.

This Christmas, I did pretty well and I feel really good about myself! In the "little fun less expensive gifts" category, I got a couple of vintage-looking, mason-jar-like bird feeders (and a bag of birdseed) to hang on our hummingbird feeder hooks.

Darla loves watching and feeding the hummingbirds, but they're only around during the warm months. I thought she'd also get a kick out of watching different kinds of birds in the winter. I even got her a Backyard Birding magazine! The gift was a hit! My immediate worry, however, was: will any birds come use the feeders? Turns out, they LOVE it. I am watching them have a feeding frenzy right now as I type. I'm also enjoying learning about what all these little guys are. Here are the ones that have been on the feeders just the last 30 minutes this morning:


• Carolina Chickadee (shown here)

• Red House Finch (shown here)

• Tufted Titmouse (shown above on the deck rail, and below on the feeder)

• Carolina Wren

• Red-bellied Woodpecker

• Northern Cardinal

• House Sparrow

Until just now (when I looked them up) I didn't know the first four of those seven species existed! Birds (of the non-huntable variety) have never been an interest of mine. I guess now I'm officially an old geezer. Truth is, we should never stop discovering and learning more about God's creation. It gives us more motivation and opportunity to praise him and be in awe of his wisdom.


Of course these pictures are not very good.

I'll try to add some better ones later.

Addition:
Today I was able to identify some new birds:

• Pine Warbler (a yellowish bird that is now a dominant fixture at the feeders, picture below)

• A grey bird with a white underside and a black mohawk (I think it is a White-breasted Nuthatch).

• Dark-eyed Junco (a little round dark grey bird with a white underside)

I didn't have a clue about any of those last three until looking them up. Ok, I'll admit it. I'm officially an old man now. I kinda like bird-watching.

Update (1/6/2016):
I was inside studying today while lots of bird activity was going on at the feeders. Suddenly out of the corner of my eye I saw a shadow and heard a loud thump outside. I got up thinking one of the birds had hit the window. But on the deck with a Pine Warbler in his talons was a Broad-winged hawk! I grabbed my phone and snapped this picture before he flew off with his prize into the woods for a mid-day snack.

I've got to say, it was pretty cool to watch. Yeah, there was a little regret deep down that we had created a cafeteria that provided easy-picking for the hawk, but that's nature. Hey, hawks need to eat too!

Update (1-9-2016)
Just saw a Downey Woodpecker on the feeder.

Update (1-20-2016)
We had a couple of Rufous-sided Towhees and a big Dove visit the feeder today and stay a while. The Dove stubbornly gorged out on seeds ignoring all the attempts of the other birds to spook him away.

Here's a picture:

You can see a female Cardinal and a House Sparrow waiting in line for the hungry dove to finish. As you can see, today we have snow, which has only made the feeders more popular.

That's fourteen different species of birds (most of them new to me) that have come to the feeders in less than a month. That's pretty cool. Watching them reveals to me God's creativity on display in the beauty, diversity, and harmony of these different species.