I have decided to start a blog in effort to post a daily devotional to draw myself and any who want to listen closer to the Lord God almighty. I envision my post to be an array of different content, styles and media, each serving in their own way to further the Kingdom, spread the good news and draw us closer to the Giver of Life. I hope that this will help someone out there as I plan to cover many different aspects of our spiritual lives, asking hard questions and encouraging everyone listening, including myself, to search for the truth and make it our own, in the sense that we believe it because we have experienced and found it ourselves. I also will have a suggested daily reading at the end of each devotion. I encourage you to read the word and pray for wisdom. I’m not completely sure how I will end up organizing everything, if they will stay on this blog or another, but the details will get sorted out in due time.

This is a Christian blog, and whereas I will probably go into science and apologetics as well as possibly other religions and the divisions amongst ourselves some, I give you fair warning. I take the bible to be the inspired word of God (God-breathed) and I rest in it’s authority (I’ll tell you why later). If you come here, do not be surprised at biblical teachings. If you don’t hold to these teachings, I will not belittle you, tease you or call you ignorant. I hope you will stay and possibly gleam at least something from the teachings. I am here to spread the news to the world, and I am willing to talk with anyone who is willing to listen. If you do not wish to listen, I believe you are missing out on a truly heightened life and I am concerned about your soul, but I cannot, nor would I want to, force anything upon you. Anything forced cannot be genuine, and that would be a grave mistake. I simply ask for your ears for a few brief moments, as I try to relate the awe of the Creator, and it is up to you to decide if you believe it as truth. I’m excited at this new opportunity and hope that you will follow along one man’s journey toward the almighty.

Since it is a new year today, I thought it only fitting to start with the beginning. A clean slate, all is new and exciting.

“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.”
(Gen. 1:1-2)

“In the beginning, God…” A strong statement that begins one of the most influential books that has ever been written. I am not just a random Christian shouting that his book is the best because its from God. I’m just saying, the bible truly has influenced many cultures and nations, for good and for bad. I do not believe that bad influence was in any way the intention of God; rather, I believe it to stem from the plague of man and the scheme of the enemy. We need, however, to go back to the beginning and see that before we were, God is. It is arrogant to think of ourselves as any better than some other mere mortal, let alone draw ourselves up to be God. God is eternal, we are not (at least not in our present condition).

“And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.”
(Gen. 1:3-5)

God, the being who spoke light into existence. Many do not realize how fundamental light is to this material world. Light is the sustaining power of life. Without it, we are all dead. Past our physical needs, light (electromagnetic radiation) has unique properties that we have harnessed to give us information to study our world. I took a class called Instrumental Analysis (this is a 4000 level chemistry class, and I am a biochemistry major) in which ¾ (probably more) of the class hinged on how light reacted with matter and using its properties to make observations about that matter. I won’t bore you with the details, but let it be well understood that light is truly an amazing phenomenon, for lack of a better term. God spoke it into existance.

The story goes on to tell of the creation of the sun, moon, starts, geography, plants, and animals. Sometimes we pass this off as a children’s story, and when we do, I believe we do it a disservice. It takes away from seeing the ultimate power of God. I suggest, if you have lost that awe, that you simply embark on a quiet trip out into the nature that surrounds us and take a minute to soak it all in. Find a waterfall. Experience a thunderstorm. Gaze into a quiet, still lake at the bottom of a snow capped mountain. They all, breathtaking as they are, pale in comparison to our God. However, God had a plan to let all creation have the closest experience of himself:

“Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.”
(Gen. 1:26-31)

God, after creating all else, created man. And it was good. “And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good.” Let us remember that. Since the fall, all creation has longed to return to this time when God had made everything good (Rom. 8:18-25). Let us strive to make the first steps back today.

Suggested Daily Reading: Genesis 1 & 2.

The Lord bless you and keep you.

-Walter Harrington