Seeing God in the Details: Last Word by Mike Matthews

 

A magazine whose mission is to “build a biblical worldview”— featuring vacations?

After covering some pretty heavy topics in recent issues, we decided to ask our readers to consider a practical question. How has the study of God’s creation—from a biblical perspective— affected your daily life?

When you interact with family and friends, especially in your most casual and unguarded moments, what do you talk about? When you’re alone on a walk, just you and God, what fills your mind?

Psalm 10:4 describes “the wicked” with these sobering words: “God is not in all their thoughts” (KJV).

Christ’s warning is just as potent: “For every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment” (Matthew 12:36).

In other words, if we truly have a biblical worldview, it should be evident in every detail of our lives, even when we’re on vacation.

If God is our greatest love, then words about Him should spill out of our mouths, everywhere we turn. Whether we see false claims that contradict His Word, or truths that glorify His name, we can’t help but talk about Him.

I Need Help!

In preparation for this issue, we contacted many creationists who have written for the magazine in the past. Based on their life of experience in Christian service, we asked them to share suggestions for creation worldview-building vacations.

I must confess, it surprised me how excited they were about the project. They really love what they do, and their excitement about their Creator shines through.

Dr. Larry Vardiman, for example, is a specialist in early climate and the Ice Age. He has collected vacation ideas over a lifetime, and he was delighted to share his tips for the Yosemite feature.

In all, we collected tips on nearly forty destinations, which we posted on a new website, CreationVacations.com.

With the help of the right resources, I believe Christians can transform even the most intimidating destinations—like natural history museums—into valuable learning experiences.

I wish I could go back and re-do my own vacations. Just last summer, I took my children to Niagara Falls, but I did not realize that Dr. Andrew Snelling had helped put together a pamphlet on this natural wonder. If I had brought along copies of this pamphlet, my family could have discussed the problems with geologists’ claims that Niagara Falls has been eroding the gorge for more years than the Bible’s timeline allows.

Thankfully, it’s never too late to start doing things the right way. God tells us not to give up, but stay in the race, “bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5, emphasis added).

It’s time we showed the world how a life is lived with God in every detail, including our vacations.

Mike Matthews earned a BA in English and an MEd in English education from Bob Jones University. Mike was the content manager for the Creation Museum and now is the editor-in-chief for Answers magazine

http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/am/v4/n2/details