“In the beginning, God…”
“In the beginning, God created…”
“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”
— Genesis 1:1
“Creation in its early stages begins like any great work of art—with uncut stone or a mass of clay, a rough sketch, a blank sheet of music. ‘Formless and empty’ as Genesis 1:2 has it. Then God begins to fashion the raw materials He has made, like an artist working with the stone or sketch or page before Him. Light and dark, heaven and earth, land and sea—it’s beginning to take shape. With passion and brilliance the Creator works in large, sweeping movements on a grand scale. Great realms are distinguished from one another and established. Then He moves back over them again for a second pass as he begins to fill, color, detail, finer lines.”*
*Captivating by John and Stasi Eldredge
The fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the beasts of the earth, and man in the image of God.
“And God saw everything that He had made, and behold, it was very good.”
— Genesis 1:31
“It is more astonishing than we could possibly imagine.”*
God created the universe from nothing. There were no rules or limitations He had to follow.
“Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said:
’Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?
Tell me, if you have understanding.
Who determined its measurements—surely you know!
Or who stretched the line upon it?
On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone,
When the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?’”
— Job 38:1,4-7
He created the universe from His pure imagination. “Creation itself is a great work of art”*, unblemished, untainted, astonishing, breath-taking, beautiful—pure imagination.
As we travel through Central America, I can’t help but think of the masterpiece of God’s creation—the expansive ocean, the towering volcano, the magnificent sunsets, the lush plantations. He created it all with only His voice.
We recently toured a local coffee plantation. On our tour Roberto, our tour guide, explained to us the difference between different species of coffee plants. The robusta coffee plant is very hardy and the cherries are easily picked, however it’s cherries have a bitter taste. The arabica coffee plant produces a far better tasting cherry, but it is delicate and the cherries need to be handpicked. Roberto continued explaining that at this plantation they use a hybrid coffee plant. They graph the better tasting arabica coffee plant onto the roots of the hardier robusta coffee plant. This allows the plantation to produce higher quality coffee beans, while increasing the life and the health of the plant.
Wow! My Grandpa graphs many different plants together to get pear trees that produce several different kinds of pears on the same tree or a rose bush with many different colors of flowers, but I never imagined that the weaknesses of two different coffee plants could be eliminated by graphing them together. It amazing to think that man was able to create a hybrid of the two coffee plants, but it’s even cooler to think that God created these coffee with opposing strengths and weaknesses in the first place.
God’s creation is unbelievable and I am only talking about plants; each day God’s creation is “more intricate and noble and mysterious than the last. Then God sets His own image on the earth.”* I am so excited to see more of God’s creation, His design, His imagination—especially in mankind. Man is so intricate, so complex, he is made in the image of God. And if man is so astonishing, so breath-taking, I can only imagine the beauty of God himself, it’s beyond comprehension.
Volcano El Fuego at our debrief location.
V Squad on top of Volcano Pacayah!
Filadelfia Coffee Plantation Tour
A ripe coffee cherry.
Green coffee beans. The mucus lining on the outside of the bean tastes really sweet!
The Ambassador ladies tasting world class coffee!
