Article by Dr. Les Hollon, Pastor, Trinity Baptist Church

The smiles. The children smiled as they ran to meet us at their mud structure church building. The women & men smiled while we visited with them as they farmed their fields with hoes and planted seeds by hand. The village chief and I smiled as he presented me with a live chicken as a sign of gratitude for what we were doing together. These smiles showed something good was happening. This goodness is a precious gift for “All Creatures of Our God and King” to be celebrated and care “For the Beauty of the Earth.”

When you were given life, “God saw to it that it you were good.”  When God gave you talent, God saw that it is your way to make a good difference in the world. When God gave you hope, God saw to it that it is a vision for your good future. When God gave you laughter & tears, God saw to it that it is your way to care enough to feel goodness. God gave you flesh & blood, and saw to it that your eternal life had time enough to live on earth to determine your destiny. Whether to live a good life or a missed life is our decision to make.

After each day of creation, Genesis records, “and God saw that it was good.” God built goodness into all His creation. Genesis means Aorigin, the beginning; “A” referring to where people and/or things come from—our point of origin. To know “This Is My Father’s World” is to open ourselves to the wonderful nature of God and how we are to enjoy life by being good stewards of His creation. To study creation is also to open ourselves to the horror of sin and the damnable results of evil.

Genesis confronts us with choices we must make. These are not optional choices made from the luxury box seats of spectators. We are all players and our decisions are between good and evil, salvation and destruction. People were created to relate with God, nature, each other, and one’s self. People were given the responsibility to care for God’s creation. God gives us the power to join in creative acts and be accountable for our work.

We are to make a good life through God’s goodness.

Pastor Les Hollon

“Just as a prism of glass miters light and casts a colored braid, a garden sings sweet incantations the human heart strains to hear. Hiding in every flower, in every leaf, in every twig and bough, are reflections of the God who once walked with us in Eden.”

-Tonia Triebwasser, The Color of Grace

This article was written by Les Hollon, Pastor of Trinity Baptist Church.  For more information about God and your place in His world, contact Dr. Hollon, click over to Trinity Baptist Church.

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