Well, in just a few days from now, the youth of St. Alban's (and a few of us old folk!) will be working in the beautiful rolling hills of Tennessee. Ah yes, there's nothing better than the cool mountain air on an early summer morn! The work? Lovin'!!!...simply trying to be an expression of the love God has shown us.

Living here in Texas...hills are few and far between. So much so that it is easy to forget the beauty and creativiy of the Almighty God. What comes to your mind when you think about rolling hills and majestic mountains? Do you think about the eternal Artist who formed and molded each cliff and slope? Or do you think about the animals He breathed life into that make their home in the shade of each tree and shrub that this Gardener planted? Perhaps you think about the Potter that took the landscape into His hands and drew the streams and rivers with His fingertips.

The band Third Day had a few thoughts on it--so much so that they wrote a song called "These Thousand Hills", which is inspired by Psalm 36:

These thousand hills roll ever on
Footprints of a Mighty God
They bring me to my knees in praise
Amazing love, amazing grace

Was on a hill my Savior died
A broken heart and bleeding side
Hill of the Skull, Mount Calvary
The blood He shed, He shed for me

When Heaven's hills at last I roam
Forever settled in my home
I'll join the saints around Your throne
Your kingdom, Lord, rolls ever on

These thousand hills roll ever on
Ripples of a coming storm
The morning star precedes the dawn
These thousand hills roll ever on

What a song!!! And completely inspired by Scripture! But I must admit...until I saw the lyrics, I thought they sang:

These thousand hills will never know
The footprints of a mighty God
He brings me to my knees in praise
Amazing love, amazing grace.

(Yea, yea, yea...so I was a little off!)
I love the "real" version of the song...but I so much like my misinterpreted version as well!! For I know that while I'm in Tennessee next week, I'll be looking at the hills around me and thinking that all these thousands of hills in their beauty, might, and splendor will never know the love of the God who made those footprints!

So let me encourage you--whether you're in Texas, on the ocean, or working in the Appalachian Mountains--to spend some time and allow yourself to soak in His love. For while He made the huge bulging mountains, the raging seas, and the great rolling plains...He also designed each and every one of us for a purpose.

Remember that Christ Jesus tells us in Matthew 17:20-21 that our faith needs only to be the size of a seed in order to move those same mighty mountains that He created! So soak up His love....let Him nourish that seed of yours so that it can sprout, and grow, and bloom!