Let There Be Light

Well, top of the morning to you. This is Dick Foth, Stories from the Road. It's gonna be a scorcher. It's mid-August and the sun has just come up and sprinklers are watering lawns in the neighborhood. There's a little background noise from heavy equipment moving around. And as I watch the colors come up, on the far horizon looking out to the west as the sun lights it up i'm just reminded of a little eight minute podcast that we did three years ago with two or three friends up in southern wyoming and i thought it would be great to reprise that for this mid-august day so here it is Can you believe it? It's August. We're in the last days of summer, at least in terms of being on vacation or traveling or not having to start school again. And here we are about to start school again. This is Dick Foth with Stories from the Road. And I want to talk to you about light and the sun. What I've always loved about summer is just that. I love that longest day in late June when the sun stays up, if you will. We talk about the sun coming up and the sun going down. We don't talk about the rotation of the earth. We're much more poetic than that. But what I've always loved about light, whether it's the reflection of the sun 93 million miles away from us or a starlit night looking up, say, in the desert or the mountains at the Milky Way where city lights don't infringe upon it, or a harvest moon coming up, you know, low over the horizon, a big orange ball in the fall. What I like about it is that it puts things in perspective, in relief. It brings growth. It brings warmth. All of the things that you think that are associated with light generally are quite positive, quite apart from the fact that this has been apparently the hottest summer on record mostly around the world. But here in the United States, this thing called the heat dome, the hottest July on record as the... elements high up hold the heat in a dome over our country. But when I think about The sun coming up in the morning, a fresh day, dawn. There's something so refreshing about that. And recently, I was a bit north of here, where I am in Colorado, with three friends. And on the spur of the moment, early morning, I just asked their input on this subject. And here's that conversation. So I'm standing early in the morning looking out southwest. over the southern Wyoming Rockies. I'm looking past aspen trees over a lake. I see the blues and the browns of stone and sand and I'm seeing the grays of clouds and just the colors are stunning to me. And the air is crisp. And whenever I look at a scene like this, I'm always thinking of those first four words in Genesis where the first thing recorded by God for us is let there be light. I once asked a friend of mine, who's a specialist in using light for scientific measurement, why he thought that God said that first. And he said, well, it's the basis for everything else. It's the heart of the universe, life comes from that. But I'm standing here with three friends. One from Wyoming, one from Seattle, one from Arizona, but all three have traveled the world and seen the sun come up in a lot of places. But, Kurt, when you look at this and when you think about the sun rising over the last year, just what comes to mind? You know, I think of it as God's palette. that he just decided to create and paint. And it's hard to just explain his majesty. And he just did an amazing job. And this morning, the painting is complete. So we look at God and say, God, as they say in Australia, good on you. Good on you. Yeah, that's good. So, and you're an artist. I mean, at heart, you're a sculptor. So, Phil, you're from Seattle. You rarely see the sun. So this has got to be terrific. It is a treat. I had heard about it. I saw it once in the Bahamas. It made me think of this, but I've had the same thought for decades, which is, is mercies are new every morning. And it's one of my favorite times. And because when the light comes up, it makes you feel great. Start of the day, new day, all of that. But it just filled for me. It just filled with hope. The light is there. God never changes. Faithful God every morning. Fabulous. Okay, Vern, you're a Navy guy. You've sailed the seven seas. You've seen the sun come up in all kinds of... What do you think of when you see this? Well, I would say as a frame of reference, I do tend to focus on the horizon. And every morning, that's exactly what I would do first. When I look here, though, I love the way Kurt said it. God's palette what a wonderful description. This is just one of the most beautiful settings I can ever imagine At the start of the day though I'm always thinking about The opportunities that exist as the light came up today Let there be light also means to me There will be opportunities And when I see this, I look out here. This is just so stunning. I promise you, this is much more inspiring than watching the waves go by. But it is just wonderful to think about what he has done. And that he planted us here this morning to see this. And we're supposed to do something when we have opportunities. That's the way I see the dawning of a new day and the light that comes in the morning. On that note, we're done. Thanks, boys. Let's go get a little breakfast. All right. Let their big breakfast. Let their big breakfast. All right. I love that takeaway line, let there be breakfast. There's a song lyric from thousands of years ago in the Psalms, the Hebrew writings, Psalm 113, 3, that says this, From the rising of the sun to its going down, the Lord's name is to be praised. From the rising of the sun to its going down, the Lord's name is to be praised. I think that's what my three friends are saying. And I say amen to that. And we're out for this week. But thanks for listening. Thanks for subscribing. Thanks for looking at the sun when it comes up tomorrow morning and saying, here are God's mercies. Here is God's palette. Here's an opportunity. I think that's a good place to stand. God bless. We'll catch you later. Bye-bye.