With Thanksgiving!

Posted on November 28, 2013 by Todd D. Nystrom

Philippians 4:4-7 – Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. ⁵ Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; ⁶ do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. ⁷ And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Rays from the setting sun bursting through scattered clouds. Parking lot of North Cincinnati Community Church, Mason, Ohio.

This photograph was taken on an ordinary day (June 4^th, 2010) in an ordinary place (a church parking lot) in an ordinary town (Mason) in southwestern Ohio. While this was not taken in some amazing wilderness location, and it may not be the most perfectly composed or exposed photograph I have ever taken, it has always been one that strikes my heart. I think the reason it does so is because it serves to remind me that every day is precious and that God is present with me always, even in the most ordinary times and places of my life.

On this day in America we celebrate Thanksgiving, a day often filled with family, feasting, and football; it is a time to celebrate. But, amidst all the hustle and bustle, it is really a day set aside for us to pause and reflect on all the blessings God has bestowed on us over the past year. In addition to the obvious things for which we give thanks, though, we should also remember to give thanks to our God who is the ever present, sovereign God, the one who is there with us even in the ordinary times and places of our lives.

Take time today, and every day, to look for God’s presence in all of his creation. God is there…he is calling out to you through his creation! Listen to him, seek him, and give him thanks!

Happy Thanksgiving 2013!

Yours in Christ,
Todd the Hiker

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And the Two Shall Become One Flesh

Posted on November 23, 2013 by Todd D. Nystrom

Ephesians 5:31-33 – “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” ³² This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. ³³ However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.

In honor of our dear son David and our new daughter-in-law, Felicia on the day of their wedding, this 23^rd day of November in the year of our Lord 2013. May God bless and keep them through many happy years as husband and wife!

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Before the Mountains

Posted on November 18, 2013 by Todd D. Nystrom

Proverbs 8:23-31 – Ages ago I was set up, at the first, before the beginning of the earth. ²⁴ When there were no depths I was brought forth, when there were no springs abounding with water. ²⁵ Before the mountains had been shaped, before the hills, I was brought forth, ²⁶ before he had made the earth with its fields, or the first of the dust of the world. ²⁷ When he established the heavens, I was there; when he drew a circle on the face of the deep, ²⁸ when he made firm the skies above, when he established the fountains of the deep, ²⁹ when he assigned to the sea its limit, so that the waters might not transgress his command, when he marked out the foundations of the earth, ³⁰ then I was beside him, like a master workman, and I was daily his delight, rejoicing before him always, ³¹ rejoicing in his inhabited world and delighting in the children of man.

Fireweed covered slope overlooking Grinnell Lake on the trail to Grinnell Glacier, Glacier National Park, Montana.

Read more about my “God is Revealed…“ category of posts

A Shelter from the Storm

Posted on November 17, 2013 by Todd D. Nystrom

Isaiah 32:1-2 – Behold, a king will reign in righteousness, and princes will rule in justice. ² Each will be like a hiding place from the wind, a shelter from the storm, like streams of water in a dry place, like the shade of a great rock in a weary land.

Stormy skies! Christ our King, our shelter from the storms of life!