Browning speaks in Chapel
0Written by Hollie Hinkle
In Chapel on Tuesday, Nov. 18, Chaplain Rob Musick opened with the reading of Luke, Chapter 19. Then, the people in attendance had a group prayer, asking for a few things and people in their lives that needed the Lord’s help, and the prayer also included thanking God for all the seasons and the promise of spring.
This tied into the message the guest speaker, Dr. James Browning, had for the Chapel service. He opened by talking about his hobby of nature hiking, and how he enjoys going to Yellow Rock in North West Arkansas in the Ozark National Forest. Yellow Rock is an oxidized rock that projects out from the side of a mountain, which creates a cliff over Lee Creek. He mentioned one particular day, a Hawk flew effortlessly in the air current, and in the midst of all the scenery, it created an “aw-ha” moment.
He then mentioned Psalm 19, which is a hymn about how God is the creator and how He is expressed through nature. Browning said that God has created two books: the book of Nature and the book of The Bible. In versus 1-6 of Psalm 19, it paints a poetic picture of nature worshipping God:
“1The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. 2 Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge. 3 They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them. 4 Yet their voice goes out into all the earth,their words to the ends of the world. In the heavens God has pitched a tent for the sun. 5 It is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, like a champion rejoicing to run his course. 6 It rises at one end of the heavens and makes its circuit to the other; nothing is deprived of its warmth.”
So if we take this into consideration, we can look at nature and listen to what it is saying and see God and know that He is the creator and that He is communicating to us through nature without words.