Just finished reading 'through painted deserts' by Donald Miller. Im sad... I dont know if anyone else feels that way after finishing a book, but I always feel sad when I finish reading a book I really love. I really enjoy reading him, he is honest. I get his sense of humor and the way he thinks about life and about God. The story is about two friends who leave behind their jobs and everyday normal life to adventure into the unknown on a cross country road trip. The questions he asks about life and God along the way lead him to a deeper understanding of God's glory and his grace on us.
He says of watching the sunrise: 'These mountains, which have seen untold sunrises, long to thunder praise to God. Instead they stand reverent, silent so that man's weak praise should be given God's attention. It is a wonder that those exposed to such beauty forfeit the great questions in the face of this miraculous evidence. I think again about this small period of grace, and thank God for it, that if only for a season, I could feel the why of life, see it in the metaphor of light, in the endlessness of the cosmos, in the miracle of friendship. And had these mountains the ability to reason, perhaps they would contemplate the beauty of humanity, and praise God for the miracle that each of us is, pondering the majesty of God and the wonder of man in on bewildering context.'
Reading this book, I was inspired and I was thankful for my journey, for all of the adventures and seasons that God has given me to experience adventure, beauty and friendship. Throughout the book I thought of my travels in Europe with my best friend, my summer at Hume Lake, my mission trip in Kyrgyzstan and countless other experiences that helped me understand God in a new way. As I look at life today, Im also thankful that God does not need me to travel or do something new to teach me about his beauty and his grace on me... the quiet thread of God's teaching in my life is working through the normal, the everyday joy and adversity. Praying that God will open my eyes to see him in my everyday...
