Message form Andi O'Dell, Junior High Teacher

I’ve started reading a book, Crazy Love, by Francis Chan. The title of the first chapter made me wonder if this book was something other that what I thought it was. It states boldly, “Stop Praying”. The challenge is to not rush into God’s presence with words, but to take a long, hard look at Him. (If you have a few minutes, check out “The Awe Factor of God” at www.crazylovebook.com.) It makes me feel insignificant when I realize God’s power in creating our universe; most of which has not been observable until Hubble telescope took the pictures.

Psalm 19:1-4 speaks of God’s creation declaring His glory, reflecting who He is, and what He is like. The book states some interesting fact about God’s amazing details. Did you know that a caterpillar has 228 separate and distinct muscles in its head? The average elm tree has 6 million leaves, there are hundreds of different types of bananas, and there can be 3,000 different species of trees within one square mile in the Amazon jungle.

God’s creation and diversity is not to be ignored or merely tolerated. He is God, who instructs us to worship and fear Him. Sometimes the world has so many distractions for us that we forget to love Him. When we don’t make an effort to keep that “awe factor” alive, we forget that He is worthy to be worshipped and loved. Here are a few reminders…

- God is holy. His perfect holiness cannot be explained with our words. We worship a God we cannot exaggerate!

- God is eternal. Not being able to understand this is frustrating. We can’t limit God to what we are able to comprehend.

- God is all knowing. It’s incredible to think that God CHOOSES to know all the little details about each of us. (Good or bad!)

- God is all-powerful. Everything was created by Him and for Him. Col. 1:16. God isn’t obligated to explain His actions to us; because He is God.

- God is fair and just. God is the only Being who is good, and the standards are set by Him. He hates sin; enough to send His Son to be tortured, mocked, and beaten because of our sin.

God is truly amazing. Take time to stand in awe before Him, whose tremendous worth becomes more evident as we see our own puny selves in comparison.

Rev. 4:8 “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come!”

Rev. 4:11 “You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.