He Created the Heavens and the Earth

On a trip through New Mexico about four years ago, Michala and I decided to stop to hike the rim of a dormant volcano in the north-east corner of the state. The hike was not too strenuous due to the paved road that led to the rim, but the vistas we encountered deserved an all-day affair. We were greeted with views of four states: Colorado, Oklahoma, Texas, and New Mexico.

We could see the Sangre de Cristos in the west and the Black Hills in the east. Beneath us were the remains of the lava rivers that had shaped the landscape many years prior. We were stunned. And then, with a hushed voice, Michala whispered in my ear, “He created the heavens and the earth.” Such simple words, words we’d heard countless times, words made tremendously fresh as we realized just how big and magnificent the earth really is.

Psalm 19 rightly states that “the heavens declare the glory of God.” Creation is singing His praise as it shouts to those who will listen, “Look at Him, He is beyond worthy or all our praise. He is Beauty.”

While God’s glory is found in civilization as well, many find the undisturbed wilderness particularly revelatory. This was true of the romantic artists of the 19th century, especially those of the famed Hudson River School in upstate New York. Thomas Cole wrote of nature as giving our soul “a sweet foretaste of heaven.” And his works certainly displayed this conviction. He made detailed, sprawling landscape paintings that sought to display God’s glory by manipulating light to illuminate certain aspects of his work or to paint a cross shining through the leaves. He created a series of allegorical paintings known as the “Voyage of Life” that visually told the story of life from birth to eternity.

Another famous Hudson River School artist was Fredric Edwin Church, my personal favorite. He painted massive landscapes (his most famous “The Heart of the Andes” was five feet by ten feet). He sought to not only display what was visible in nature but what was not so visible, the great depth of God’s glory just beneath the surface. Here’s a link to his entire collection of works. May you spend a few moments to meditate upon those same words Michala whispered on the volcano top, “God created the heavens and the earth.”

He is glorious!

All of Your Chains

As we turned East into a little box canyon nestled among the San Juan Mountains in Southwest Colorado, we found ourselves transported and perhaps transformed. The glowing groves of aspen trees lined the snow-capped peaks around us with an overwelmingly green bed skirt and drew us into the town of Telluride a bastion of beauty seemingly in the middle of nowhere. Our favortite phase soon became, "look!" We were like three year olds going to the zoo for the first time, bewildered by the scenery. There are a few times in life when you forget about all the pain and suffering that dominate not only our lives but all of creation itself, when you see or experience something so beautiful that it hides all the ugly. Jesus spoke about such things as the light and that the light shines in the darkenss and the darkness is compeltely overwhelmed by the light. This weekend I saw glimpses of that light and for a few moments the darkenss trembled and ran.

I don't want to over sentimentalize my experience, but my life like so many others I know has been filled with little but darkness and even the beautiful things around me have been hard to see. I have begun to doubt that the light will actually overcome and yet it often finds me in the strangest places. When my faith is dragging God has a way of showing up at just the right time although He often seems late or out of place. So in a sea of hippies, missing a shoe, listening to something akin to bluegrass music, I found God again and it was beautiful.

This trip was just a chance to get away and have some fun but I found my expectations lacking. Absent were my girls, my wife and daughter, and consequently my sanity. I struggled to survive camping on a baseball field in the town of Telluride. I found myself during some of the rippingest music I've ever encountered wishing they were there with me. I battled inwardly about whether I deserved to celebrate life when so many in the world were deprived of the very basics of life. But the reality is that life will not die, the light will overcome and when it breaks through we must dance.

In a weekend full of highlights and special moments, one stands out clearest. at a side stage in the midst of what amounts to a yard off of main street Telluride we saw one of my favorite acts, Abigail Washburn, perform an impromptu acoustic set five feet from me. As I sat on the grass and soaked up the surreal moment, tears welled up in my eyes as Abigail sang "Chains." As the wind gushed through the park the band delivered a cry for freedom, a cry that my heart longed to utter. Devoid of amplification, stripped to their rawest, I saw my soul reflected in the honesty of that moment. Life was passing me by. I was chained to darkness by my fears and for a split second the light of hope burst the chains off me and my soul lept to its feet to dance.

I could hardly wait to return home, both literally and figuratively, to start living life instead of merely watching it pass by.  Below is a video of the actual performance detailed here captured by the guy sitting beside me, a stranger, but forever a friend for grasping this spark of light.



I pray for the light to shine, for beauty to grasp us and free us. I pray that we breathe in deeply the aroma of life and give ear to the melody of God. I pray we dance.

A Portrait of Christ

A Portrait of Christ from Jeremy Cowart on Vimeo.

Whatever is Lovely

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Philippians 4:8

Well now that the Christmas wrapping carnage has been cleared away and the vertigo has begun to subside I wonder about tomorrow, the day after.  December 26th is a lot like a hangover as we feel the pain inflicted upon ourselves by over-indulging.  I get a little depressed after "Joy to the World" as I begin to think of getting back to normal.  One of the ways I cope is to reflect upon the good this year has brought.  While it had definitely brought its share of bad, 2010 also gave me moments that offered me a bit of hope for the next year.  I wonder what fed you this year? What piece of art or literature moved you to look outside of yourself? What relationship changed the way you felt about life? How did you live a better story in 2010?  I hope that in this last week of 2010 we can, as Paul says in the scripture above, dwell on the good and, in so doing, ignite a passion to reach for the lovely this next year.

Being a bibliophile (look it up) one area I love to dwell on is what I read this past year.  Here are some of the  books I read that made an impact on me in 2010:

Patched Together by Brennen Manning
A fictional rendition of Manning's story, this simple read exposed my doubts and wickedness and also yet awoken a greater sense of gratitude for such a wonderful Savior.

A Million Miles in a Thousand Years by Donald Miller
I reviewed this book in detail here.  In trying to turn his life into a movie, Miller is faced with reality that his is not a good story.  This memoir challenged me tho view my life as a story and to know the author and to live a better story.

The Practice of the Prescence of God by Brother Lawrence
This medieval devotional classic pressed me to know God in a very intimate and immediate way.  I perhaps will always wrestle with this book and with my God but I thank them both for drawing me into the match.

The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell
This one was hard for me.  This fictional account of a failed Jesuit mission to an alien planet was haunting and disturbing.  Yet, it made me ask some hard questions about my faith, like if we thank God for good things should we not blame Him for the bad.  I was forced to evaluate what I thought about Providence and mercy and came out the other side knowing my God all the more closer.

What did you read this year?

These next few days I will talk about other areas that inspired me in 2010 like music and relationships.

To Be (Creative) or Not to Be...

I had a friend who said that "creativity is hiding your sources." I was instantly scandalized by that comment and later thought as I heard him speak, "This sounds a lot like Rob Bell." Yet, I often think about what he said concerning creativity and wonder if he indeed was on to something. We use words like original or unique as synonymous with creativity. Yet a survey of recent pop culture shows less and less originality. No wonder that the writer of Ecclesiastes wrote literally thousands of years ago that "there is nothing new under the Sun." And yet there are those works and those people who instantly strike you as being creative. If there is nothing new under the Sun, if being creative is hiding one's sources, then what is it about these people that intrigues us so?

I think about the people how have, through their creative output, inspired me, moved me to something beyond the mundane of my everyday existence. These people showed me something truly beautiful and thus showed me something of God, people such as Langston Hughes, Frederic Edwin Church, Frederick Buechner, Stephen Watson, or Cliff Hutchison. They have each produced inspiration work; yet I believe each of these people would say that they created because they had been inspired by those before them. Yet, from those sources, they found their own voice, did not try to be anybody else but themselves, the only person they truly could be. And that is what is so fascinating about them, that they are unique because there never has been nor ever will be another Langston Hughes or Cliff Hutchison. I truly believe we are the products of those who have gone before us. We draw upon our sources and synthesize them through our own lives, thoughts, and emotions.

Perhaps we need to rethink what it means to be creative. Does being creative mean being original? I think not. While something can be 'new' for a certain group at a certain time, in the grand scheme of things it is not original, only God Himself is original; the sole creator of all things. Paul says in Colossians 1:16 "all things have been created through Him and for Him." This is why creativity is so important to us, it is a part of the Imago Dei, we bear the creator's image by creating. What is promising about this is that having God as our source means we have a limitless pool of inspiration, leaving room for uniqueness, at least as far as humanity is concerned.

Being creative does not mean doing something that has never been done before but to stir the imagination, to shock, to inspire, and to heal. Creativity is most assuredly not limited to the arts, but in imitation of God, subject to every area of our lives. The sin is not being unoriginal but being unimaginative, and unproductive.

So was my friend right about hiding one's sources? Well, maybe in method, but, I would argue, not in intention. All of our creative output must be born in a state of awareness concerning those who have gone before and ultimately seen as a gift from God to be like Him. This may all seem like ramblings, but I believe it is an important conversation. So, I put the ball in your court: What does it mean to be creative as Christians, as Christ-followers, as image-bearers?