The Barnabas Award

I am honored to have been nominated by Beverley at Becoming the Oil and Wine for the Barnabas Award!

I love what Acts 11:23 says about Barnabas after he witnessed what God was doing in Antioch: “When he arrived and saw this evidence of God’s blessing, he was filled with joy, and he encouraged the believers to stay true to the Lord“ (NLT). Now that’s someone I want to be like when I grow up!

Thank you, Beverley, for encouraging me on my journey.

The way this Award works:

Thank the person who nominated you, and share their blog.

Think of five bloggers that encourage and inspire you and nominate them.

List five things about yourself.

Lastly, ask your nominees five questions. Why five? Because five is the number that signifies grace.

I Nominate These Five Encouraging and Inspiring Bloggers:

Debbie, at Readplenish, writes encouraging words from a depth only reached by holding tight to God’s grace through very trying times.

Emily reminds us at Lemonade & Co., “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade!” She loves “inspiring people to let their faith be bigger than their fears and to put Christ first in everything.”

Thabiso Leboho shares encouraging thoughts at Living the Abundant Life, helping us to hold onto the good despite life’s uncertainties.

Ben encourages us to “Be in the world but not of it” at Stand Apart.

Of course, how could we leave out Barnabas Man when it comes to the Barnabas Award? Barnabas Man strives to “give Holy Spirit inspired messages to reach today’s man for today’s work.” I’m not a man, but the messages remain applicable, and encourage me in my faith walk!

Be sure to visit these blogs, and be encouraged yourself!

Five Things About Me:

  • I love seeing God’s truths displayed in the world around me.
  • I am married to a pastor, and we have three children.
  • I am in my first year of grandparenthood! ♥
  • Because my children are all grown, I have a dog so that at least someone depends on me for their existence!
  • I enjoy playing in my flower garden and getting dirt under my fingernails.

Five Questions and Answers:

1) Who in your life is your biggest encourager?

My husband

2) How do you see yourself as being an encouragement to others?

I enjoy encouraging others in their faith through writing.

3) When was the last time someone gave you words of encouragement?

A few weeks ago I was auditing a Master’s level class, and one of the students commented positively on my ability to communicate through my writing.

4) When you are down, what encourages you to get back up and keep pressing on?

First, a good night’s sleep! Second, knowing that God’s mercies are new every morning. Everything will be better with the sunrise!

5) Who was your greatest encourager when you first accepted Christ? 

My best friend in those days

Five questions to nominees:

1) Who in your life is your biggest encourager? 

2) How do you see yourself as being encouragement to others?

3) When was the last time someone gave you words of encouragement?

4) When you are down, what encourages you to get back up and keep pressing on?

5) Who was your greatest encourager when you first accepted Christ?

We look forward to hearing from you!

 

But Wait, There’s More!

One of the stops my husband and I made during the first month of sabbatical was Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming. Grand Prismatic Spring was on my husband’s must-see list, so here was our view from above!

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The range of colors is fascinating. Could it be created by different chemicals in the water or mineral deposits on the edge of the pool? What’s really going on is much more complex than that.

The colored bands around the edges of the spring are actually created by an entirely different ecosystem from anything I was taught about in school growing up! Each color represents a separate thermophile, or heat-loving microorganism. The pool can reach temperatures of 189°F near the center to 131°F around the edges. I don’t think any of us would be comfortable living in those conditions, but there are a few organisms that make it work.

Different Diet

In the center of the pool, at temperatures of up to 189°F, there isn’t much life . . . but there is life! Life here mostly consists of organisms that eat inorganic compounds like hydrogen gas. Mmm, mmm, good…

Summer Tans

The first band of color on the outer edge of the blue (where temperatures are in the 165°F range) is created by a cyanobacteria called Synechococcus, which makes food using chlorophyll in photosynthesis. In the summertime it looks yellow, but in the winter it looks more blue-green. What is going on?? Synechococcus actually prefers cooler temperatures and less harsh sunlight. To protect itself in the summertime, it gets a kind of summer tan! How crazy is that?? It has a secondary pigment, or carotenoid, that is produced under conditions created from high summer sun intensity, and looks yellow. The carotenoid takes the harsher wavelengths, and passes the energy from them on to the chlorophyll, which in turn creates food. In the wintertime the extra protection isn’t needed as much, and the Synechococcus looks a bit closer to its normal blue-green color.

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Another hot spring at Yellowstone

As you follow the rings away from the center and the temperature of the water cools, you can see different colors produced by additional strains of cyanobacteria, each of which uses a different type of carotenoid as sun protection.

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And another!

Life in the hot springs of Yellowstone wasn’t even discovered until 1966, and it is believed that there are still more species to be identified. Scientists are in the process of gathering information and learning about how these organisms live in such harsh environments. They don’t have all of the answers yet, and they haven’t come close to knowing it all!

Keep Learning!

No matter where you are in your faith journey, you haven’t reached the end. Just like the scientists studying Yellowstone hot springs, you don’t know it all yet — there’s more! There’s more truth in the Word to discover, more tuning of our spiritual ears to hear our Shepherd’s voice, more learning to live in the light no matter our circumstances, and deeper faith to lean on when our own strength is weak. There are more ways to learn how to love, how to worship, how to serve, how to give, and how to live a life of compassion for those around us.

But above it all, there’s more of our Heavenly Father to discover. He is more than our mortal minds can conceive . . .

“For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:9NLT),

. . . but He wants to be known by us!

“If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me.” (Jeremiah 29:13)

There’s a knowing because someone told you something or you read it somewhere, and then there’s a deeper knowing based on personal experience. Do you know your Father? Do you know his unfailing love and his goodness?

“Your unfailing love, O LORD, is as vast as the heavens; your faithfulness reaches beyond the clouds.” (Psalm 36:5)

I can say without a doubt that I personally know God’s love, goodness, faithfulness, strength, joy, peace . . . and so much more. But I’m not done yet! I know there’s still a lot waiting for me to discover.

Are you searching for him with all of your heart? Maybe you’ve gotten tired of seeking, and become satisfied with how far you’ve come, and all that you know and have experienced. Perhaps you think there’s not much left that you haven’t found out already. My friend, don’t give up now! There’s so much more!

 

You can read more about the Grand Prismatic Spring at Smithsonian.