Aha!

Yesterday I had an Aha! moment.  With the Penn State scandal all in the news, and other news from friends and family, recently I've had a heightened awareness of the brokenness in this world.  Driving into the neighborhood, though, I had a heightened awareness of God's majesty.  The brilliance in the colors of the leaves was almost overwhelming.  I'm not a sentimental person, but this struck even me as an obvious sign of how amazing God is both in His creation and mercy.  It was one of those moments that, to me, validates Romans 1:20 (²⁰ For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.)  The leaves were more brilliant than other days because there were dark clouds ahead of us, but the sun was breaking through behind us.  I just couldn't help but realize that when the clouds are dark, and we have a heightened awareness of brokenness in the world, the work of God can be noticed and seen even more brilliantly.  What a beautiful picture of grace.