In my weekly Works & Wonders column, I combine a brief devotional with other interesting and uplifting bits and pieces I gleaned throughout the week. I hope you enjoy this week’s collection! It includes:
- What a God We Serve! (A Devotional)
- Ambient Earth
- Wildlife Photographer of the Year
- What Animals Can You Outrun?
- Who Would Have Dreamed 🎵
- Bird Radio
- Who Is Like the Lord? 🎵
1.
What a God We Serve!
God has wisdom to know what is best and wisdom to know how to accomplish it by the best possible means. He also has power to execute it all. But we may wonder, as it pertains to us, what is his will? What does his wisdom determine is best? What is he accomplishing through the execution of his power? The book of Romans contains words of tremendous comfort: “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28). God’s will is our good, which means that God’s wisdom and power are directed at accomplishing what is ultimately for our good, and accomplishing it all in the best ways. All the things we experience, all the things we undergo, all the things we endure, all the things we celebrate and lament, the things that make us laugh and cry—all of them are born of God’s love, directed at our good, and executed in a way that is nothing short of perfect. What a God we serve! And what a God we worship today.
2.
Ambient Earth
Ambient Earth is a great project! A guy named Seán Doran took 49,000 of Butch Wilmore’s photos taken aboard the International Space Station, then repaired, remastered, and retimed them to create an incredible 7.5-hour, 4K journey around the earth. He also added Chris Hadfield’s recording of the sounds of the ISS, which honestly gets a bit annoying, so you may want to mute it and then put on some nice instrumental music in its place. This is a great video to just leave playing on a TV in a public place.
(While we’re on the subject of Butch Wilmore, he’s a believer and recently wrote Stuck in Space, which you may enjoy.)
3.
Wildlife Photographer of the Year
I always enjoy a good photography contest and, for whatever reason, this is the time of the year when many of them announce their winners. That’s the case with the Wildlife Photographer of the Year contest, which had 65,000 entries from 121 countries and territories. That link leads to The Atlantic‘s gallery of highlights, though if you prefer to see the official site, you can find it here. As you’d expect, many of the photos are nothing short of stunning.
4.
What Animals Can You Outrun?
I suppose we all wonder at one time or another whether we would be able to outrun certain animals. The BBC did some research to find out which animals we’d possibly be able to outrun and the ones we definitely wouldn’t. Overall, the news isn’t particularly good. It’s a good thing God made us smart, since he didn’t make us particularly fast. See: The animals you can’t outrun – and the ones you can.
5.
Who Would Have Dreamed
Over a decade ago, Sovereign Grace Music released a Christmas album titled Prepare Him Room. I guess they have dusted off that album and decided to give it new life by recording a live version of it. I’m glad they’ve done so, because it has some really good songs on it. My favorite, and one we sing seasonally at Grace Fellowship Church, is also the first track they’ve re-released: “Who Would Have Dreamed.”
6.
Bird Radio
Bird Radio is a neat concept—you simply tune in to hear the calls of different birds from all around the world. God displays his creativity in many different ways and the sheer variety of bird calls is a pretty impressive one.
(Also on the subject of birds, did you know the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service maintains a feather atlas so you can learn about the ones you happen to find?)
7.
Bonus: Who Is Like the Lord?
That well-known and much-loved songwriting combination of Matt/Matt/Keith/Kristyn released a new song this week: “Who Is Like the Lord?“
Whose wisdom stood before the ages?
Whose voice sang out creation’s light?
And whose word remains though earth and heaven pass away,
The Word revealed to all mankind?Chorus:
Who is like the Lord God Almighty
High and lifted up, the Holy One?
Blessed be His name, the King who reigns forevermore
Who is like the Lord our God?
