Got a Higher Power? Name Him.

          During Portland, Oregon’s Friday morning show on Channel 12, I heard a reporter change the facts of a story right in front of me! In her intro to a piece featuring a surfer telling of a shark taking a bite out of his board, she referred to what the surfer called “prayer” every time he enters the water as his “pre-surfing ritual.” During the clip he gestured toward the sky and thanked “God” for helping him. I assumed he was talking about the God of the Bible, our Christian God and I was thrilled the channel would allow a mention to God. But . . . well, paste this link in your browser and watch the clip. 

     http://www.kptv.com/story/15771405/oregon-surfer-shark-encounter-was-the-most-intense-feeling

Did you notice how the reporter changed the name of the Being the surfer identified as “God?” She changed the surfer’s “God” to “higher power!” That is not what I heard the man say.

Now I don’t believe she deliberately misled her listeners. I understand what she was attempting to accomplish since I’m a writer and do my best not to repeat words any more often than necessary as I write, but names matter.

My name is “Jeannie,” pronounced with a long e sound Jee’ nee. Like the mythological genie in the bottle. However, it’s not unusual for someone who doesn’t know me to call me “Jenny” like the mule. (My apologies to any readers named “Jenny.”)

So when the reporter changed “God” to the more politically-correct “higher power,” it mattered. There are a lot of “higher powers” out there who are not our God of Love and they are really, really bad dudes. The Bible calls them “cosmic powers over this present darkness . . . spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Eph. 6:12). Whether you believe in them or I believe in them or anyone else believes in those evil beings is not the point.

They exist.

They’re malevolent.

They are your enemies.

They all work with Satan who “goes about like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour” (1 Pet. 5:8). That means they all want to destroy that surfer. And they want to destroy you.

So if you have a “higher power” know who he is and use his name. Saying “God” works fine,  just don’t be vague in your own thoughts about his identity. Know that your higher power is 
the Creator of the Universe, 
the King of Kings, 
the God of the Old and New Testaments, 
the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. 
And if someone calls him your “higher power” don’t let them get away with it.

The Talking Sky

THE SKY SPEAKS

© Jeannie St. John Taylor

“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.

There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard.

Their message has gone out to all the earth,

And their words to all the world.”

Psalm 119: 1-4

            For thousands of years mankind has lifted eyes to the heavens knowing the sky would BE. 

Never changing.

A constant. 

            Constantly changing. 

For thousands of years never once exactly the same.  Not for five minutes.  Not for five seconds.  The sky moves continuously as it fulfills its purpose:

DECLARING GOD’S GLORY.

The sky whispers God’s quiet beauty as

the rising sun paints white puffs with pinks and lavender

azure melts into the deep blue of a cloudless summer sky

filmy orange stripes stretch across the horizon at sunset 

the cobalt night sky twinkles with specks of light.

The sky sighs God’s presence in the warm breeze that swirls around us, embracing, caressing faces.

The wild sky calls out the wonder of a wild God.

It roars God’s power in the storm that pulsates brilliant orange and yellow, then darkens. It lifts birds and drives them backwards. Jagged fire shoots east to west. Thunder shouts.  Clouds swirl and collide then descend as tornadoes, snatching up houses and massive oaks. 

After the storm, the sky murmurs God’s love, arching His rainbow-promise of protection through lingering droplets.

The sky’s beauty beckons us, stirring a longing in our hearts—we long to merge with God’s glory.  We ascend in metal shells.  The sky encloses us, shaking tons of steel traveling through clouds as easily as it flutters an aspen leaf. We scale the tallest peaks to touch the sky.  Its heights freeze us.  Thin oxygen sucks the breath from our lungs.

No one can survive the naked embrace of God’s sky.

Yet it reaches down to touch us and utter comfort.

It settles to the earth as fog, obliterating massive mountains.  It blankets cities with white, halting human activity. It grants permission for the sun’s warmth to pass through and coax food from frozen ground. It releases water that paints flowers with brilliant color and rushes over waterfalls.

The sky ceaselessly speaks God’s glory.

It will never pause until the day it trumpets the glory of Christ’s return,

then melts with fervent heat.