Safari

"God saw all that he had made, and it was very good."

Genesis 1:31

If there was one word to describe the past three days of our trip here in Kenya, it would be brilliance. Over and over again, God kept bringing to mind the word brilliance. His creation is pure brilliance. 

Every trip to Kenya, our team takes two days (minus drive time) to just go and refresh ourselves and really think about what we are encountering here. It is a really good download time for the team. It takes about 7 hours to drive to the Masai Mara where we stay from Heart House in Nairobi. The road is incredibly bumpy and is almost like an old wooden roller coaster for the last 3.5 hours. There's no really good way to describe this journey other than that. Until you live it, you really have no idea what it's like. 

After the journey though, you pull up to our lodge, the Fig Tree Camp! It is a pretty spectacular place. Everyone has a "tent" to sleep in. This consists of a military grade tent with a bathroom attached to it and a roof over the whole thing. It's a very nice place. And no matter what Scott says, it's not camping. After we arrived around 1pm, we ate lunch and then settled into our tents. We met around 3:30 for our first drive of the next few days. 

As we set out, I was reminded that this was my third time to the Masai Mara. How crazy! God has blessed me with the opportunity to come to this amazing place for the THIRD time. As we began to drive, God impressed on me the first thought of how brilliant a Creator he is. As I stood up in the open roof van, I was just looking at a 360 degree view of brilliance. God has created places on this earth that we might not ever see. God has created places on this earth that no human might ever see. God has created places that some of us will see. All of these places hold one thing in common...they are HIS creation. 

Imagine sitting at the beginning of time and just looking at a blank canvas. As you sit there, what comes through mind? What are you impressed with to fill that canvas? Is it a landscape? Is it a person? Is it an animal? Flower? Tree? This must be how God felt. He had a blank canvas and he could create, or make, whatever he felt like making. And I do mean whatever because he is God and there is nothing out of his reach. As he began, he created the heavens and the earth. Then he created light. And then water. And then sky. Then he made dry ground, produce, vegetation, stars, the sun, the moon, sea creatures, birds, living creatures, and then man.

What?!? I mean...what?!? Out of a blank canvas, God created all of this! He had order. He had meaning. He had purpose. He had vision. He had creativity. He had brilliance!! God is such a brilliant being. The definition of brilliance is excellence or distinction or magnificence; conspicuous talent, mental ability. 

Our God is a God who is excellent! As I sat in that van for the third time in the past 6 years, I was reminded that our God created all of this with great excellence. He didn't do anything half way or somewhat, he did it with full intent. He didn't settle. He didn't say, "Well that looks ok." He said that what he had just created was very good! Not good. Not somewhat good. Not ok. But VERY GOOD. 

Our God is a God who is distinct. No other God has created all that I saw today. He is a God that is very different from any other God. He is one of a kind. I can see that in all the animals and all the beauty I have beheld over the past three days. Our God is as distinct as the hundreds of animals we saw. He is as distinct as each zebra's stripes. He is as distinct as a giraffe's spots. 

Our God is a God who is magnificent. He is incredibly awe inspiring. I thought of how creative I am compared to God and how if it was up to me, I would have run out of creativity at the warthog. That's about as creative as I can be. But he moves so much past that. He created a universe that's teeming with life and breath. One that moves along the ground, one that swims in the sea, and one that flies in the air. He is great and what he made is very good!

As we finished our ride that night, it began to pour down rain. Again, it was just a reminder about how awe inspiring our God is. If you can come here, to the Masai Mara, and look at this beauty and this creation and not feel the very presence of God in your heart, there is something wrong with you! I would beg to argue that you are not human. All I want to do while I am there is stand in the van, look out over the vast landscape and drool!

Not only does this place show you God's creativity, it blesses you with the knowledge that we serve a God who is FAR greater than anything we will ever face here on earth! Our God is great and greatly to be praised! Our problems and our issues are nothing compared to how massive and over arching our God is. He is incredibly brilliant!

I could really go on and on about all that God has graced me with again this year during our time on Safari. But I will leave you with one last thought..."May the glory of the Lord endure forever; may the Lord rejoice in his works. He who looks at the earth, and it trembles, who touches the mountains, and they smoke." I pray the glory of our God will endure forever and I pray that I am reminded daily of that glory. I pray that I rejoice in his works of creation. I pray that I think about how powerful and great he is that he can make the earth tremble and the  mountains smoke!

I serve a BRILLIANT God!!

I love you Mallory