In my last post I wrote of my pending trip to Northern Ontario to be at the bedside of my brother-in-law, Don Hamilton.  I arrived at the medical center in Little Current on Manitoulin Island Thursday evening and discovered that he was in a semi-coma and had not been speaking all day.  How blessed I felt that when I told him I was there, he mustered enough strength to whisper, “Good to see you.”

Sadly, those were the last words he spoke.  Of course I like to imagine that more than a greeting for me, his words were mostly a rehearsal for the first thing he said to his Savior when he was taken to Glory on Saturday morning—but spoken in Jesus’ presence with the power of emotion that exists only between friends who both know the joy that comes after one’s final suffering.

Or maybe his last words were the first words he heard after he was taken from the arms of his loved ones here and received into the arms of that great Lover of our souls—just before hearing,  “Well done, good and faithful servant!”  Had he been able to sing in those last hours, Don might well have made the words of Charles Wesley his final song:

Jesus, lover of my soul, let me to Thy bosom fly,
While the nearer waters roll, while the tempest still is high.
Hide me, O my Savior, hide, till the storm of life is past;
Safe into the haven guide; O receive my soul at last.

Good bye, my brother Don.   See you in Glory!

Dean

Don Hamilton’s obituary

Tribute to Don Hamilton

Can you tell me the unique claim of Lake Manitou?

Answer: Lake Manitou is the largest lake on the largest freshwater island in the world—Manitoulin Island—and they both happen to be in the world’s fourth largest lake: Lake Huron.  This means that the islands in the lake are islands in a lake on an island in a lake.  And there may well be ponds on those islands that have lily pads with puddles on them . . . but I think I’ve gone far enough with that!

Anyway, I am leaving early in the morning for Manitoulin Island on a bittersweet trip to be with my sister-in-law, Shirley, and her husband, a wonderful saint who became my surrogate brother when my oldest brother, Dick, died of cancer in 1995: Don Hamilton.  Don’s wife died of cancer a bit earlier, and God soon made the match between Don and Shirley, and they have since that time continued to carry out a ministry to the First Nation’s Reserve, Wikwemikong, that Dick and Shirley had started: DayStar Native Outreach.  Wiky, as they call it, also has a unique claim.  It is the only land on the North American continent that was never ceded to a colonial power.  As they say, “This is pure Indian land!”  For that reason Native Americans and Canadians from all over the continent often converge there for the annual pow-wow.

And it was at Wiky where another certainly unique event happened: the “honor drum” ceremony given for my brother on the birthday after his passing.  It was probably the first time that an American Protestant missionary was lauded in a Native honor drum ceremony in a Catholic church on First Nation’s reserve in Canada.  All who attended will never forget this wonderful event, where above all, Christ was honored.

I say that my trip is bittersweet because Don is now in the final stages of his own battle with cancer, and this will likely be the last time I see him before we meet again in Glory.  This, of course, is God’s “layaway plan.”  This plan, however, beats all the rest: you don’t pay a cent for it; it was all paid for some two thousand years ago!  Mankind’s greatest gift intended for God’s eternal Christmas.

So I will be offline at least until Monday.  Why not poke around on the WOC site in my absence.  Look at some of the longer articles, read a couple of the “celebrating” booklets under Author Resources, watch one or two of the Day of Discovery videos on the wonder of a tree or the wonder of soil, or just treat yourself to some eye candy on the Creation Pictures page.

See you outdoors!

Dean

One of the saddest commentaries on our times comes from “A Report on the Movement to Reconnect Children to the Natural World” by the Children and Nature Network.  It quotes a fourth-grader from San Diego: “I like to play indoors better ’cause that’s where all the electrical outlets are.”

I guess we shouldn’t be surprised by such a comment, since that’s the reason most of us adults play and work indoors.

Even though as a kid I lived in town, my friends and I hardly played indoors except for rainy weather and deep winter.  Actually that was true until Dickie Andrews’ family purchased the first television in the neighborhood.  Before TV, we all played outdoors after school until we were called inside for dinner.  Then came Kukla, Fran, and Ollie, Howdy Doody, and Tom Corbett, Space Cadet. And I can remember, just as depicted in the movie “A Christmas Story,” waiting impatiently for my own magic decoder from Ovaltine—and being disappointed that it was not as exciting as it looked on TV.

But come summer, daytime TV could not compete with the woods, the pasture, or the creek.  The moms of  we “OAK Boys” (Ohlman, Andrews, Kenfield) typically asked us in the morning, “Are you going to be home for lunch, or do you want me to make you a sack-lunch?”  If the choice was sack-lunch, it came along with the admonition to be home by supper-time—an admonition that was often fruitless, since none of us had a watch.  Sometimes what we were doing was very well worth coming home to a cold supper for.

I truly grieve for my grandchildren today—for their not having the opportunity to experience the joy we Oak Boys had of almost total outdoor freedom, of tree houses in the woods, of shinnying up and bending down trees, of pulling apart stumps searching for a possum, of trying our hands at milking farmer Kelly’s cows in the field, of catching “hair snakes” in the creek, or of finding and keeping track of fledgling growth in a robin’s nest—at the risk of being beaten on the noggin by the mother bird.

I even grieve their loss of such risk: risk of a dunking trying to cross the creek on a wobbly log or launching a poorly constructed raft, risk of getting a poison ivy rash, risk of getting a nasty pinch grabbing crawdads, risk of getting stung throwing stones at a paper wasp nest, risk of getting sprayed by daring to be the one who got closest to the skunk before it cocked its tail, and even the risk of falling through the ice on a shallow muskrat pond—one we had grown familiar enough with to know that it was not deep enough to drown in.  Life itself is a big risk, but it is less risky when we learn from having taken smaller risks—risks that often result in scratches, cuts, burns, bruises, slivers, rashes, and barked shins. Pain is not only a great teacher, it is also a great behavioral change agent—the whole point of spanking!

Author Richard Louv has written a valuable book that goes into all such matters and offers us adults a great challenge: to get our children and grandchildren back outdoors: Last Child in the Woods.  Louv also spearheaded the formation of the Children and Nature Network that seeks to perpetuate the ideas, concepts, and precepts he suggests in the book.  With spring coming on (the male red-winged blackbirds are back!) take time to examine these valuable resources and motivate yourself to be active in the fight against NDD: Nature Deficit Disorder—and CKD: Creation Knowledge Disorder.  If we worship the Creator, should we not become intimate with His creation?

See you outdoors,

Dean

Because Earth Day has been controversial in the church (its typically being associated with the “anti-establishment” mindset of the hippie culture and later with the New Age Movement) Christians often avoid any sort of “official” Earth Day activities for fear that we will be associated with either of those two worldviews or with the entirely secular mindset regarding the natural world.

This is regrettable, since Christians, of all people, should be the ones who best demonstrate that we value the earth and desire to be good stewards of it—because it is the handiwork of the One we know as our Creator and Sustainer, Savior and Lord.  Further, we also understand from the Scriptures that in God’s plan the earth is going to be refreshed, restored, reunified, and finally reconciled to God (Acts 3:19-21, Romans 8:19-23, Ephesians 1:9-10, Colossians 1:15-20).  In short, this troubled earth, even the cosmos, is going to be reclaimed by the One who created it “very good” and was crowned in His redemptive act by the very thorns that resulted from mankind’s rebellion against Him, its Creator.

This yet stunning fact was summarized by the apostle Paul:

For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in the Son and through him to reconcile all things to himself by making peace through the blood of his cross—through him—whether things on earth or things in heaven (Colossians1:19-20).

To demonstrate this wonderful hope, I believe it would be good for Christians to take this annual event and help turn it into a rousing creation celebration—a springtime “thanksgiving day” that recognizes the Creator, reminds us of our stewardship responsibilities regarding it, and rejoices in the hope for the creation that only the biblical worldview provides.  By doing this, we both declare and demonstrate the gospel.

Resources for Earth Day

WonderOfCreation.org has resources that can help you and your church or small group take an active and Christian role in this annual celebration and throughout the year.  Consider these:

Dean Ohlman, the WOC host, speaks around the country in churches, colleges, and Bible study groups on Christian environmental ethics, the theology of nature, care of creation, and the biblical worldview that includes examining the place of the natural world in human moral history.  Dean can be reached by calling RBC at 616-942-6770 or by writing him at the address below.  (The only financial obligation for this service is the cost of Dean’s travel expenses.)

Dean Ohlman
RBC Speaker Request
PO Box 2222
Grand Rapids, MI 49501

Day of Discovery video documentaries on “The Wonder of Soil” and “The Wonder of a Tree,” plus other related programs that Dean has helped to produce.  These are viewable online.

Wonder of a Tree
Wonder of Soil

And “The Wonder of Soil” is available for purchase here.

Discovery Series booklets on “celebrating the wonder of creation” that can be obtained for distribution in your church, class, or small group.  You can preview these by reading them online here.

Discovery Series booklets by Dean Ohlman

More in-depth articles on the WOC site here.

See you outdoors!

Dean

The title of today’s post is from a sticker printed by my long-time creation-care friend Peter Illyn, director of Restoring Eden.  It’s in reference to Luke 5:16 that speaks about Jesus going into the wilderness to pray.  When I looked up the verse in my Bible software, I discovered that several biblical translators found in the original language a sense that this was a regular occurrence for our Savior and Creator.  One translation says He “used to withdraw” to the wild places.  Others say He went there “habitually” or “constantly” or “often.”

I think we can assume that Jesus did do this regularly.  And I bless the camp counselor who first sent me out into “the creation” for a personal quiet time like that.  It was at Camp Michawana in west-central Michigan.  My dad was on the board of the camp.  He had been since Lance Latham, the founder of AWANA, was compelled by a Michigan state land-use policy decision to move his Chicago-based youth camping program out of Michigan to Wisconsin in 1945. The camp program was conducted for about eight weeks each summer at facilities built in the thirties by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC).  It was set on the sandy shore of a shallow little lake.

The counselor believed it was beneficial for his boys to have a time of solitude and quietness with God for about a half hour each morning; so we were assigned to go into the woods to find our private spots.  The significance of his assignment is highlighted by the fact that some fifty years later, I could still take you to that spot.  Images of it remain vivid in my mind: A mossy hump at the base of a big white pine that leaned over the shore of Long Lake.  Some of the tree’s roots arched into the water where their shadows provided cover for shelter-seeking bass.  Turtles, frogs, and dragonflies were my companions as I sat there contemplating my Bible-study lesson for the day.  I realize now that the biblical principles I was consciously absorbing were virtually parallel in benefit to the spiritual values I was receiving unconsciously from being alone and receptive to the voice of God in the wild.

Several years ago I picked up an old book titled Work, Play, and the Gospel, by Malcolm Spencer.  In his chapter on the beauty and life of the Spirit he speaks of the significance of natural beauty to our souls:

Grace is the word which we attach preeminently to that quality of the life of Jesus which makes us long to be like Him, and it is also the word we use to express that overflowing bounty of God which produces in man incalculable inflows of spiritual life.  We have but to awake to the beauty of things, and to believe that life is meant for discovery and reproduction of beauty, because God is like that, and from every corner of the world where beauty lurks, spiritual life and energy come flooding into our souls.

Take some time today to tend to your soul by experiencing and dwelling on something beautiful from the hand of our Creator, be it the African violet on the window sill, the hummingbird at the feeder, or a walk in the park.

See you outdoors,

Dean