When I was in high school, I went to a retreat where they had us go out into the woods and sit alone by ourselves for 5 hours. At least, it seemed like 5 hours. It was actually around 40 minutes. I was thinking, maybe we should do that. But then I thought, ¡°if I did that, these guys may hate me for the whole weekend,¡± so I decided against doing that.
I want to make our worship experience out here memorable. Now usually pleasant experiences aren¡¯t as memorable as painful experiences. For those of you who have been on mission trips, you know that the most memorable experiences were the ones where you experienced difficulty and suffered. So in order to make our experience memorable there¡¯s got to be a little bit of pain. Is that okay if we make it a little painful? That¡¯s why I brought the brown paper bags. We¡¯re going to have a multisensory pain experience. Now I¡¯ve got you all expecting something, and you are probably going to be disappointed, but that¡¯s all part of the pain.
Let¡¯s begin with a word of prayer.
Ps 19:1 ¡°The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork.¡±
When is the last time you thought about the heavens? Can you see the stars? You can only see one star although the heavens are littered with stars. What is the name of the one star that you can see? We call it ¡°sun.¡±
The sun is our nearest star. How big is the sun compared to our earth? A million spheres the size of our earth can fit into the sun. How far away is the sun from the earth? 93 million miles. If one inch represented 10 million miles, how far would I have to go before I reached the sun. I could take one step and I¡¯d be there. If I wanted to get to the next nearest star, do you know how far I would have to travel? I have to walk forty miles. The second nearest star is 300,000 times as far away as the sun. By the way, our sun is one of the many stars in the galaxy called the Milky Way. A galaxy is a vast ¡°island¡± of stars in space. Do you know how many stars there are in our galaxy alone? There are some 100 billion stars in this galaxy.
¡°The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork.¡±
You don¡¯t have to study astronomy to be amazed. Study the human body and you¡¯ll be amazed.
Ellen White says in Desire of Ages 20 that ¡°all created things declare the glory of God.¡±
Everything God has made says something about Him. This is why Christ in His teachings would often point to nature and say things like, ¡°Consider the lilies of the field;¡¦ they toil not, neither do they spin: and yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.¡±
The love and glory of God can be seen in His created works. Did you know that Adventists have received special counsel that encourages us to live away from the cities and out in the country. I think our parents all understood that very well which is why they chose to live in Seattle. When you live in a big city, you are surrounded with very little that God has made. You see very little evidence of God. All you see in a city are things that are man made. It draws you away from God and the tendency is to become more materialistic. But the more you are out in nature, the more you are likely to be reminded of God¡¯s goodness.
When my wife was growing up, she was a hard core atheist. The people she hated the most were the ones who would walk around carrying their Bibles. And she had no appreciation for nature. My wife was very materialistic. When people would say things like, ¡°the trees are so beautiful,¡± she would think in her mind, these people are so dumb. But then she met God, and she began to see God in His creation. My wife has the greatest appreciation for nature. When springtime rolls around, the day the flowers begin to bloom, she¡¯ll notice it. This past Wednesday, my wife and I were answering calls at my brother¡¯s office in Snoqualmie. At his office, he has a variety potted plants. Some plants had longs leaves that extended out. While I was answering phones, do you know what my wife was doing? She had a wet napkin in hand, and she went around wiping the dust off of each of the long leaves. Now, you might think she¡¯s gone crazy. That¡¯s okay. I thank God for my wife. Do you think my wife begs me for expensive things in order to be happy? I could buy her a small plant, and she will be happy. Isn¡¯t that a blessing, because happiness does not consist in the abundance of things anyways! Amen!
My wife has such a great appreciation for the things God has created. In each leaf, my wife sees evidence of God¡¯s love. She sees His character.
¡°The heavens declare the glory of God, the firmament shows His handiwork. All created things declare the glory of God.¡±
In the book Child Guidance p. 45 it says, ¡°Next to the Bible, nature is to be our great lesson book.¡±
We may study our Bibles, but we really neglect nature which is to be our great lesson book.
When I was in Korea 2 years ago, my wife and I visited a nature center. The guide said that it is very important to spend time in nature. He said that people who only spend time in the Bible become very unbalanced in their understanding of Scripture.
When Jesus was growing up as a child he didn¡¯t attend a school. The teaching that was provided in the schools had become mechanical and formal. But He gained knowledge through the Scriptures and from the great library of nature.
Christ¡¯s Object Lessons (by Ellen White) p. 24 The book of nature is a great lesson book, which in connection with the Scriptures we are to use in teaching others of His character, and guiding lost sheep back to the fold of God.
I want to use nature as a great lesson book. We have neglected to use nature. We have taken nature for granted. We are so blessed to live in such beautiful country. But many of us probably take it for granted. Now I have spent close to 25 years living in Sacramento. After such an experience, you can really appreciate the beauty here.
I want to do an activity that is going to help you have a greater appreciation for God¡¯s creation. This is where the paper bags come in, and the pain.
I want everybody to put it over their heads. We¡¯re not going to do it for more than 30 minutes. Make sure you get a flow of oxygen, I don¡¯t want you to get carbon dioxide poisoning.
I want you to ask some of the more serious questions of life like ¡°what am I living for.¡± No, actually, I want you to look at the brown paper bag. You will see dark patches of brown, and then there are also the lighter areas. I want you to focus on the brown and try to enjoy it for a few minutes. In order for you to get the special experience I want you to get, we all need to be still, and quiet for a few minutes. I want you think, ¡°What if the sky was this color?¡± Imagine the heavens being brown. Imagine no green trees and no green grass. Imagine the trees not changing colors and just being brown throughout the whole year. Imagine no flowers, only thistles and thorns.
In Steps to Christ (by Ellen White) p. 9 it says:
Amid the suffering that results from sin, God¡¯s love is revealed. The world, though fallen, is not all sorrow and misery. In nature itself are messages of hope and comfort. There are flowers upon the thistles, and the thorns are covered with roses.
Mount of Blessings (by Ellen White) p. 96 All that was needed for existence would have been yours without the flowers and birds, but God was not content to provide what would suffice for mere existence. He has filled earth and air and sky with glimpses of beauty to tell you of His loving thought for you. The beauty of all created things is but a gleam from the shining of His glory.
The benefits of spending time in nature:
1. Steps to Christ (by Ellen White) 86 It helps us to think of the heaven to come. Could it be that some of us would not really be happy in heaven? If you can¡¯t stand to be in nature alone, there is a problem. In heaven we are not going to have Nintendo. The kind of exhilaration you get from playing Nintendo is not going to be in heaven.
2. Counsels on Health (by Ellen White) p. 53 Focusing on nature diverts the mind from self. So obviously it is good for your health.
3. Counsels to Teachers (by Ellen White) p. 186 In itself the beauty of nature leads the soul away from sin and worldly attractions, and toward purity, peace, and God.
