Episode 7

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Published on:

23rd Mar 2024

The God I Know

Ghia- What it means to celebrate and the God I know.

Canyon Wren Song and Call - American Bird Conservancy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uuiNfUxqOM



Transcript
Ghia:

Hello, my friends Ghia here.

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I'm so glad you have chosen to tune in to

the creative, spiritual journey podcast.

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I want to start off today

talking about celebrations.

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One of my deliberate goals is to

celebrate Christ in every season.

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Let me explain why.

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Two years ago while

studying the old Testament.

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I learned that the Jewish people

celebrate their God, the Messiah with

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festivals and holy days throughout

the whole year and in every season.

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Their lives literally revolve

around those celebrations.

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That's awesome.

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What a good idea.

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I want to celebrate God in every season.

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What better thing to celebrate?

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So in my quest for seasonal

celebrations, of course, I had to

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look up the definition of celebrate.

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The older I get, the more fascinated

I become with the meaning of words.

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I love to look up definitions as

well as synonyms antonyms, etymology.

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And even archaic definitions.

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So for a moment, let's take

a deep dive into the word.

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Celebrate.

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First.

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Have you noticed when you

look up definitions on Google,

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the most common currently use

definition pops up at the top.

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Turns out that definition is often

created by the Oxford dictionary.

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And it's interesting to note that they

update their dictionary four times a year.

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I generally take a cursory, look at

this definition, then scroll down

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to the Merriam Webster's dictionary,

where I generally find a definition.

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I prefer.

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Interesting to note that the

Merriam Webster's dictionary is

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only updated every 10 to 12 years.

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I find the difference between

these two dictionaries.

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Interesting.

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Despite having a written language.

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Despite having dictionaries.

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Listen to how much this word has changed.

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Here's the Miriam Webster's

number one definition.

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To perform a sacrament or solemn ceremony

publicly and with appropriate rights.

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Wow.

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Isn't that a significant difference?

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From a happy day to a solemn ceremony.

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Let me read a couple more

Merriam-Webster definitions.

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To to honor an occasion such as a

holiday, especially by solemn ceremony

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or by refraining from ordinary business.

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I like that part refraining

from ordinary business.

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Number three.

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To hold up or play up for public notice.

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I like this definition because of

the example they used, her poetry

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celebrates the glory of nature.

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That's beautiful.

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I love the idea of celebrating nature.

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Now I want to jump down to

the synonyms for celebrate.

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I was surprised by this list.

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Bless extol, glorify magnify, exalt

emblazon LOD resound, Carol, and him.

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That's cool that we can

celebrate with song.

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Here are a couple more.

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Keep observe commemorate.

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I want to read the example they

used for keep, because I love it.

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Keep the Sabbath day by

refraining from work.

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Did you ever think about keep

being a synonym for celebrate?

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What if we said celebrate the

Sabbath day by refraining from work.

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Does that kind of make your eyes light up?

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Let's celebrate the Sabbath day.

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Hooray.

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I love it.

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Okay, back to this idea of

celebrating Christ in every season.

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I want to have a special holy day,

each season where I celebrate,

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bless exalt and glorify Christ.

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I want to do this in a big way.

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Not big.

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Like we celebrate Christmas, that's

gotten a little bit out of hand,

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but with forethought, with planning,

I want to do it deliberately.

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So here we are in spring and

the obvious choice for a spring

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celebration would be Easter.

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I've celebrated at my whole life.

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But now I want to do it more deliberately.

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Dare I digress here and tell you a

little bit about the word Easter.

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I'm going to do it because I can't resist.

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Easter is a super old word.

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No one really knows for

sure where it came from.

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One theory is that it's from

the Anglo-Saxon goddess.

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Eastern.

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Or Oostra depending on

how you want to say it.

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Which might make sense because we know

that a lot of our Christmas traditions

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come from a similar background.

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But the theory I like better

is the idea of Easter comes from

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the old German meaning east Or an

older Latin meaning Dawn, both of

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which tie perfectly into spring.

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The Dawn light from

the east is our Christ.

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He is our light.

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There is one more definition

for Easter that I want to share.

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This is an adjective describing

things toward or near the east.

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Listen to the sentence

written by the Italian poet.

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Ludovico Ari stro.

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The dawning broke and all the

Easter parts were full of light.

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I think that sentence has forever more

changed how I will think of the sunrise.

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I already thought they were

glorious and beautiful.

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And I know they are a

gift from a loving God.

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But now.

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Now a sunrise will always

remind me of Easter.

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The resurrection of Christ,

the return of light.

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Which brings me back to

my Easter celebration.

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I'm not big on candy or

cutesy chicks and bunny stuff.

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Not that I don't like animals.

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I do.

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I'm just not cutesy.

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So here's how I've decided to

deliberately celebrate Christ

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in the season of dawning light.

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We call spring.

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To explain.

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I want to use a talk by Emily

Bell Freeman entitled walking in

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covenant relationship with Christ.

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At one point in the talk, she is

addressing someone who might not

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have a developed faith in Christ.

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And she says, Ask someone you trust who

was on the covenant path to introduce

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you to the savior they have come to know.

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Am I, the only one that chokes

at those words, I mean, I

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really have to stop and think.

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Could I introduce someone to God,

to the Jesus Christ that I know.

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This set me to work.

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I opened a word document on my

computer, titled the Christ.

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I know.

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With the intention of writing

things from the scriptures

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about the character of Christ.

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I hadn't gotten very far

when I recalled a talk.

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I recently heard a church.

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The speaker suggested, adding the

little word because to our prayers.

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To make them more of a

living discussion with God.

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For example.

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Dear heavenly father.

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I'm grateful for my family because.

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They helped me feel loved.

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I cared for and like, I belong somewhere.

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Or dear heavenly father, I'm

grateful for this free country.

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Because I can make my own choices.

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I can live wherever I want and

I can worship whoever I want.

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I've learned to love this little,

because it genuinely enriches my prayers.

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One day while praying.

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I said, I'm grateful for the

sunrise I saw this morning because.

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Because it helps me see

that Jesus is an artist.

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That he loves this world and

that he wants me to love it too.

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I stopped after saying those

words, they surprised me so much.

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Of course, Jesus is an artist.

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I just never exactly

articulated it before.

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So this idea of seeing Christ

character in a sunrise evolved.

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The God I know project from the scriptures

into the God I know from the natural

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world, I get to see around me every day.

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I have created a list of eight

special things I know about God.

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As part of my Easter celebration, I'm

going to text one thing on my list to my

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family each day of the week before Easter.

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And one thing on Easter

itself, which makes eight.

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I'm also going to share my list with you.

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Here we go.

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Number one.

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I already said the sunrise teaches

me that Jesus Christ is an artist.

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Isn't that a wonderful

thing to know about him.

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The God I know is an artist.

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Two.

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This one came from my husband.

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Jesus is a mathematician because

Fibonacci sequences can be found

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all over nature, including seashells

artichokes, pine cones, flower

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pedals, even hurricanes and galaxies.

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Just quickly.

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A Fibonacci sequence is a series

of numbers where each number is the

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sum of the two proceeding numbers.

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It starts off small, think the center

spiral of a seashell and gets bigger.

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The numbers go.

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Zero.

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1 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21 34 55.

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Now it starts getting bigger, faster

eighty nine, a hundred and forty four.

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And so on.

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Those numbers are all over in nature.

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I think that's cool.

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The God I know is a mathematician.

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Number three.

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I believe Jesus loves mysteries.

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I recently walked what is

called the trail of time.

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It had plaques along the way that

explained petrified river bottoms.

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Rocks with wind and water erosion.

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And mystery of mysteries, some

strange white strata in the rocks.

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I have no idea how anyone ever figured

this out, but some scientists took

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the challenge and discovered that

the white stuff was dinosaur bones.

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Mystery solved.

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The God I know, likes a good mystery.

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Four.

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I was outside sleeping in

the 10th the other morning.

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You have to know that I prefer

sleeping outside all seasons of

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the year, except believe it or

not summer, which is too hot.

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And as I lay there, it

was completely silent.

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There wasn't even a whisper of wind.

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Then what did I hear?

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The descending crescendo of a canyon Wren.

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It was magical.

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Let me play one for you.

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I love it.

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Right down to the croak at the end.

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The God I know.

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Is a musician.

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Number five.

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There is a herd of deer that come down

out of the mountains during the winter

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and hang out around our property.

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We have a bird bath out, but found

the deer were drinking it dry.

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So now we have a bucket of

water to keep them happy.

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I love this because it means I

get to watch the deer up close.

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The only deer that I can recognize onsite

is a DOE whose face is grizzled and gray.

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It's obvious that she is

the matron of the herd.

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The lone survivor from past seasons.

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It's amusing to watch her.

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She is very calm.

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If I'm walking by all the

other deer are on high alert.

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But she just keeps grazing.

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When the other deer are freaking

out, trying to decide which

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side of the road to run to.

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She is content staying where she is.

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I even had to laugh one day when

I saw her kick a younger deer

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that was hugging the bucket.

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I call her grandma.

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To me, she represents the wisdom of age.

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The God I know honors elders.

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Onto number six.

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I chose bread.

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You might say Ghia bread.

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Isn't anything you find in nature.

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But bread.

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Good bread.

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Is full of nature.

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Wild yeast and bacteria

is what makes bread magic.

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The Jesus I know is a microbiologist.

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I will talk about food and other podcasts.

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So I'm not going to lay

this on very thick here.

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But I believe bread is a wonderful,

fabulous gift from a God who knows

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how to nourish the mortal body.

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In my little valley as a

seventh day Adventist farm.

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And I've had the great pleasure

of volunteering in their

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bakery for the last two years.

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It's been a wonderful experience.

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The God I know is a microbiologist.

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Number seven.

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I got home from a trip

to town the other day.

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And my husband walked up to the

truck before I got out and said,

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You know how life doesn't always

turn out the way it was planned.

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I instantly started wondering

what was going wrong.

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And then he said there is a

skunk in the chipmunk trap.

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Oh, no way.

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What do you do?

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Of course, we looked it up on the internet

and solved the problem, but oh my gosh.

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Do you think there was a little mischief

in his eye when Jesus created the skunk?

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Of all the defensive measures an

animal could have, who thought it

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would be fun to create an animal that

defends itself with a giant fart.

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Okay.

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I know it's a scent planned, but still.

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The God I know has a sense of humor.

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Number eight.

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Last, but not least.

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The Jesus I know is a long, cold

thirst quenching drink of water.

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He is the pounding waves of the ocean.

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The still reflective surface of

a lake and my personal favorite,

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the ever flowing water of a river.

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Let me end with a scripture.

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This is from the ESV

translation of the Bible.

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But I changed the pronoun.

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Whoever believes in me as the

scripture has said, Out of her heart

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will flow rivers of living water.

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John 7 38.

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The God I know can quench my thirst

as well as the longings of my heart.

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I hope all of you will find your

own way of deliberately celebrating

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glorifying and exalting our savior.

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Jesus Christ.

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The season.

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If you like texting or posting anywhere

on social media, you're welcome to share

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my list or better still make up your own.

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And if you enjoy the creative,

spiritual journey podcast,

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please share it with a friend.

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And if you are so inclined,

leave us a five star review.

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That's the only way

this podcast will grow.

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And as the dawning breaks, may all

your Easter parts be full of light.

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Nama stay.

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About the Podcast

Creative Spiritual Journey
one small, deliberate step at a time
We are all on a journey—a journey home to our heavenly parents. Any experienced traveler knows there are days you laugh and days you cry.

We aren’t here to tell you how to live—we are here to share how we live—how we survive, thrive, and even find joy!

The journey gets messy with rainstorms and sleepless flights but the hard times—the miserable times—those make the best stories.

And the vistas, the sunsets, the little birds outside the window—those are the reminders that God is in the details, he is aware of us, he has trod the path before.

The Creative Spiritual Journey Podcast is hosted by Judy and Ghia Cooley—two sisters in their wisdom years—who love the savior and are dedicated to making this journey one small, deliberate step at a time.

Join us!

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Ghia Cooley