Sharing the Wonder

15/02/09 20:08
I remember it well; it was an early March morning back in 1974. You could smell the warm snow that patched the landscape of this late winter day. Spring was knocking at the door but Old Man winter was still making his presence known. It was one of those days that said, “Brave the cold and chill and go outside and get some fresh air.” So, my buddy and I jumped in the car and traveled north to Cuyahoga Falls just north of Akron, Ohio. We started hiking north of the falls right into the heart of the gorge. Some of the cliffs rise close to 200 to 250 feet in the air from the bottom of the gorge. The trail offers many a spectacular view and that particular morning would prove to be a blessing beyond the norm. We had walked for about a half hour and decided to sit for a moment on some dry rocks that gave us a clear view of the cliffs on the other side of the river. The cliffs in this particular view were well over 200 feet high and attached to the top of them were large formations of ice that looked as if they were 50 to 60 feet in length and at least 20 feet in width. Picture all the ice cycles along your house rainspout and enlarge them by 100 fold. As we sat there quietly hoping to see some wildlife, we began to hear a cracking, then, all of a sudden our eyes caught a large portion of these ice formations break free from the ground above it and plummet to the bottom of the gorge. The whole scene lasted about three seconds and all was over except for large chunks of ice floating down the swift waters. Within five minutes everything was quiet, as though it never happened. We were so blessed because we both felt very privileged to have witnessed such a spectacular sight. I wasn’t a Christian, so I couldn’t appreciate the wonder to its fullest. But it didn’t stop us from trying to share with others what we saw. All of the words that we could muster never really captured that first awe and wonder that we felt in the depths of our hearts; we always fell a little short of describing it in all its beauty. Nevertheless, thirty-five years later a small fragment of the wonder still blesses me through the memory of that incident.
I could never understand how Christians could keep from testifying of the wonder of Jesus Christ. God freely forgave us of all of our sins through the blood of Jesus and actually removed the death sentence that hung over our heads. We have passed over from death to life and the promise to live eternally blessed has been given to us free of charge. This is all too wonderful to keep to ourselves. I guess Jesus was right when He said, “Those who have been forgiven much love much.” Those who realize the price that God paid to forgive them as very great (the death of His Son) find that His love is really something wonderful and they think that everyone should know about it. I can tell you how God loves me, in what way He loves me but I still cannot comprehend why He loves me –it is too wonderful. This greatest thing that has ever happened to a Christian was the day that Jesus met them at the Cross. And for a moment in time they experienced the most wonderful thing. And God promises that if they would live it He would make sure that it would never become just a memory. Live the Wonder!

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