GLORY!

"...all the earth will be filled with the glory of the LORD."

Well, that sure has happened THIS fall.  The photo on the left (made by D. R. Keck Photography) may be my favorite fall blaze of glory picture.  It was made around the golf course at Bella Vista on October 30th.

Mike and I have spent time this month at our "little cabin in the woods", which is waaay out in the Ozark Mountains and square in the middle of nowhere.  It's where my husband breathes freely and there's even an unexpected cell tower to keep me connected.

God has said He makes everything beautiful in its time and we agree as we see the maples and hickory and gum and understory dogwoods and sumac.

The blaze of this sumac is made brighter with the backdrop of an overcast day and the brown woods.  We took this picture on the way to Hawksbill Crag in the Upper Buffalo River wilderness.

Mike hiked down to Whittaker Point (Hawksbill Crag) while I waited and read up at the trailhead.  It was three miles total and he got some nice shots along the way.

This is spectacular unless you have trouble with heights.

Mike says the people on the trail were all very chatty and friendly; their cars were from several different states.  There was a group of Mennonites (with their hair gathered under their white pleated caps) happily having lunch on the point.

We have heard this place is the most photographed in Arkansas.

And then on the way back to the cabin, had to stop for this tree with soft orange leaves...

...and this creek in the woods.












Our BSF study this year has been in Exodus and several lessons ago we talked about the burning bush. I remember our discussion about how the Angel of the Lord (the pre-incarnate Christ) appeared to Moses in a flame of fire from within a bush that was not consumed.

One morning we had a mini-burning bush of sorts at the cabin.  We had finished breakfast and were sitting, contemplating the view over coffee.

The day was overcast, but the view is always quieting...so I took a picture.

It wasn't two minutes until I thought I was seeing things.  All of a sudden one of the sun's rays broke through in a pinpoint.  You can see it lighting up the trees in front and then the light running up the hill.

Pretty cool, eh?  It made the trees look like they were  on fire.  God's glory made our day.

What is God's glory, anyway?

We see creation and call that glory. We read that we were made for His glory.  Sometimes we hear heaven described as "going to glory".

The heavens declare the glory of God, and so do the blazing trees.  But material things don't last; all the gorgeous leaves will blow away.  A deeper understanding of glory expressed as brightness...is the essence of God's character.  It's His goodness and purity and kindness and mercy and justice that are all the fountainhead of glory.

Later in Exodus, Moses asks the LORD to show him His glory.  God told Moses he couldn't see His face and live, so Moses was hidden in the cleft of the rock.  God covered Moses with His hand while He passed by.  God was sheltering Moses from the dazzling light that comes from God's purity.  In the presence of a holy God, man sees his corruption.  

Moses' sheltering rock was Horeb, the rock that had previously brought gushing water to sustain two million Israelites in the desert.  Now the rock hid Moses from God's justice.  In 1 Corinthians 4 we learn the rock is Christ.  He shelters and provides and covers us from God's wrath.

Glory, hallelujah!