Your Spiritual Journey
Inspired by God's Creation
Inspired by God’s Creation
Can you recall a moment when you were struck by God’s awesome creation. Perhaps it was a sunset that you saw or while watching a storm roll in from the ocean. Maybe it was driving towards a mountain or floating down a river. I was recently reminded of a moment when God struck me with a sight that I will never forget. It was over 25 years ago that I stood near the edge of a cliff in southeastern France and watched the sun rise over a line of mountains that filled my entire field of view. I was standing there with about a hundred Marines, several Navy Corpsman and one Navy Chaplain. I remember the chaplain because he was standing next to me.
I was on my first 6-month deployment overseas as part of what the Marines call a MEU, Marine Expeditionary Unit. Our ships were docked in Toulon, France and we had been trucked up into a training base named Camp De Canjures. Situated on the western side of the French Alps, we were working on honing our skills in some pretty rough terrain. We had been training hard for the past few days and had been up all night. At some point we were picked up and trucked further up in the mountains to the area that I now stood next to the chaplain. As the sun came up over the mountains, I remember being utterly awestruck with how beautiful the sunrise was and the beauty of the rocky hills and mountains that surrounded me. It was then that I heard the chaplain say, “How could anyone ever say that there is no God”. I looked over at him and he smiled and said, “It’s Sunday ya know”. I had no idea what day it was. I barely knew what part of the world I was in. He called everyone over to him and we sat down and listened to his Sunday Devotional with the mountains in the distance behind him. I will never forget what I saw that day and how much I was in awe of God’s creation.
That ended up being the end to the training exercise for us and we were trucked back to the barracks area to get some rest. We were supposed to be there for several weeks doing all kinds of training but ended up being called back to the ships to deploy to Bosnia. Marines have been training at Camp de Canjures with the French decades before I got there. As far as I know, they still train there to this day. I wonder how many Marines and Sailors stood where I was and got to see that amazing sunrise. I wonder how many have been just as awestruck and humbled at the sight of His creation. I wonder how many of them stood next to the chaplain and asked themselves, “Hey, when did the chaplain show up? He wasn’t running around with us in the dark last night.”
I have never been back to that specific area of the world, but I have continued to see many beautiful examples of God’s amazing creation. If you ask my family, they will probably tell you that when we have been blessed with a beautiful sunset or amazing view of God’s work, they will hear me say, “How could anyone ever say that there is no God”.
“Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations. Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the whole world, from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.” Psalms 90:1&2
In Christian Love,
Bob
P.S. Thank you Chaplains.
