The scriptures today are the kind that appeal to me.  Black and white.  Old Testament, Cecil B. DeMille type stuff.  In Job, God is a little sarcastic in laying things out to Job.  God is the creator.  Earth, light, water, life, death.  God sits in judgement of the wicked.  Basically, God tells Job that “I am God and you are not.”  Job agrees and falls down with cries of  “I am not worthy.”  I like it.  The psalmist proclaims that God knows everything.  Everything.  The idea that we can run and hide from God is ridiculous.  The psalmist gives thanks that he is “fearfully and wonderfully made.”  An interesting choice of words.  In Luke, Jesus is giving a warning.  He has performed untold miracles that would have brought Tyre and Sidon to repentance, but they are ignored by those who should recognize him.  Jesus tells his disciples “Whoever rejects you rejects me.  And whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me.”  These are strong words.  Pretty black and white.  It’s a little scary, but I like this stuff.  Special effects, lightning bolt from the sky.  God is huge and easy to recognize.  The message is clear.  But life isn’t always that way, is it?

A recent event in my life pointed out that God is not always big screen, special effects and sometimes God’s voice isn’t always loud and clear.  Nor is it when, where or what we expect.  My family vacationed recently in the Snowy Range area of south-central Wyoming.  I love this area.  Truly God’s country.  We were hiking by Lake Marie at the foot of Medicine Bow Peak when we came around a bend to a sight that took my breath away.  A cool breeze, the scent of pine, snow capped peaks, a mountain lake and an alpine meadow.  God was here, I was sure of it.  I turned to my family and exclaimed “look!”  They nodded and smiled.  However, my three-year-old was examining something by the path and wouldn’t even look up.  I said again, “look at this incredible sight!”  They were all focusing on something on the edge of the path that had caught Seth’s eye.  Can’t these kids see God?  Am I raising a bunch of spiritual mutants?  I was losing patience.  I went to see what was so fascinating.  A tiny white flower.  Big deal!  God is painting a tapestry before us and they can’t get their eyes off the ground.  We’d walked through umpteen alpine meadows full of flowers of every color.  Why is this flower special?  This flower is growing out of a rock.  It’s a miracle.  I looked more closely.  It was amazing.  I looked at the faces of my sons.  It really was amazing.  Sometimes God is easy to see.  Other times it seems that God is nowhere to be found.  Those are the times you just have to look a little harder.