Philip Yancey has always been one of my favorite writers—one who has authored many books that have provided building blocks for my own faith. The following thoughts by Philip appeared in a recent Christianity Today online article titled “A Whole Good World Outside,” which in part highlights the benefits gained from experiencing God in the outdoors. Here is a portion of that article:
It was [the]whole good world outside as much as anything that brought me back to Christian faith. I emerged from childhood with a distorted image of God: a frowning Supercop looking to squash anyone who might be having a good time. I have since come to know God as a whimsical artist who fills the world with creatures like the porcupine and skunk and warthog, who lavishes the world with wildflowers and tropical fish more beautiful than any design on display in an art museum.
Francis Collins, former director of the Human Genome Project, sees God’s hand in the magnificent coding of the DNA double helix. Pulitzer Prize-winning author Annie Dillard sees it in the creatures that swim and dive in Tinker Creek in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. From nature writers such as John Muir, Henri Fabre, Loren Eiseley, and Lewis Thomas I gain appreciation for a Master Artist they may not even believe in; their precise and reverent observations help to raise the blinds for me.
The rest of the world grows clearer, not dimmer, in the light of Christ. God created matter; in Jesus, God joined it.
I have met a pastor in Bahrain who can identify by sight 2,000 species of seashells, and a missionary in Costa Rica who has assembled
a world-class collection of butterflies and moths. Church historian Mark Noll remarks that the song “Turn Your Eyes upon Jesus” plainly errs when it says, “And the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace.” No, he says, the rest of the world grows clearer, not dimmer, in the light of Christ. God created matter; in Jesus, God joined it.
[Read the entire article on the Christianity Today website here]
See you outdoors!
Dean
July 15th, 2009 at 2:03 pm
Philip Yancey is so transparent, and what fresh writing he brings to us.
There is an interview with him on utube, a writers symposium at a Nazarene college. Its worth the 28 minutes to see. They also had an interview with Eugene Peterson (translator of “The Message” )the year prior. and that is worth viewing also.
Yancey brings views from non-christians who try to tell things honestly as they see them, and thats refreshing too. (Did I hear one of my S. Baptist brothers gasp??)
I love the line Yancey penned: “The rest of the world grows clearer, not dimmer, in the light of Christ. God created matter; in Jesus, God joined it.” We evangelical types tend to not want to see the world at all.
Bob