I just got back from a visit to SW Montana. What an amazing place! I love being in the mountains--the amazing scenery, the wildlife, the rugged nature of everything that's there. I had made the trip with some of our staff to make preparations for an upcoming mission trip with our church. As the three of us wound our way through the mountain ranges, I was like a little kid looking for the next sign of deer, moose or elk. There was one thought that kept rolling around in my mind. This beauty, all of it, was orchestrated by the hand of an amazing God. There was nothing left to chance, no need that was not contemplated as He formed it all in His mind and then created it with His words. And I was pulled back to the passage of Scripture where Jesus says for us to think about the birds of the air and the lilies of the field. Even the smallest parts of God's creation are cared for. He knows when each lily fades and when each sparrow's life ends. Why do I worry about life? How can I believe that one part of my finite mind could "aid" God in taking care of me? Through everything that I have been through and all that still remains, there is not one minute of it that has surprised God. He's got it covered--the pain, the trials, the temptations and the suffering. Through every joy and laugh, through every loss and tear, there's not one thing about my life that God cannot handle if I will but trust Him. Now, that's an easy thing to talk about but a little harder to put into practice. I just got through looking at my checkbook. Talk about trusting God. Where does it all go? You get one paycheck deposited and you are already looking for the next. Even there, I must trust Him to care for my needs and to love me more than I can love myself. I need to know that. I need to trust that. More than anything else, I must allow that to transform how I live my life and how I go through each day. In the end, it's the only real way to live life.