As the kids wind down the school year, many of us are making summer plans. Family trips and times of well-deserved R & R are on the docket. Newspapers and magazines even offer special summer "preview" editions of things to do, movies to see and the like. Well, building on that idea, for the next couple of days, as you prepare to enjoy the lazy, hazy days of summer, I too offer up a "spiritual summer preview", some lessons that I have learned from summers past.
(On behalf of all my pastor friends out there let me say that the first thing we should all do before heading out for vacation is to pre-give our weekly offerings. Churches take a beating financially in the summer time because the faithful forget the offering plate while they are away. Just give ahead of time and you won't have to "catch up" in September and the pastors won't have to fret all August. Now that that's over...back to the issue at hand)
Now, I offer this "summer preview" as part of my current series on Creation and Community. In this series, I have been exploring two questions:
- Why so many people who love God’s good creation, struggle with worshipping and serving the Creator God amongst his people.
- Why so many of God’s people—believing Christians—who wholeheartedly affirm God as Creator, don’t seem to care that much about caring for our enjoying creation.
In the last post, I discussed the confusion between "worship" and "inspiration". Allow me to say more on this through this "travelogue" of lessons learned.
Last summer my family and I spent two weeks traveling to Zion, Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks. We clocked a couple thousand miles on our GMC Yukon and a rented motor home as we looked for wildlife and sunsets and fishing streams. We were joined by some old friends and had a thoroughly memorable time. But there were some interesting lessons that I learned along the way.
• I learned that Jello is the official state food of Utah.
• I learned that there has been documented over 300 stupid ways to kill yourself in Yellowstone National Park.
• I learned that there are more Starbucks in San Clemente than in all the state of Wyoming.
• And I learned that there are few better ways to spend two weeks than in an RV on an adventure with Beth, Brooks and Ali.
But I also learned again in rare first hand fashion, just how spectacularly beautiful this world really is: 
Of course, I am not the first to notice this. Indeed, the psalmists tell us over and over again, that the beauty of creation declares the presence of the creator. Look at Psalm 19:
The heavens are telling the glory of God; and the firmament proclaims his handiwork.
Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night declares knowledge.
There is no speech, nor are there words; their voice is not heard;
yet their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.
Now, I am by training and calling and with sheer delight a most enthusiastic Bible teacher. I treasure God’s word. I have read all of it, I have studied most of it, I have memorized a good many passages of it. Not many days go by that I don’t spend at least some time in the wisdom, wit and wonder of the Word of God.
But here is something else that I have learned from my vacations. Something that I have known all along, but re-discovered last year first hand when for the better part of two weeks, I never once so much as cracked open my Bible. As much as I love and value the Scriptures, I learned that it’s easier to spend time in nature than it is to spend time in the Word.
For some of you, that is a confession that is just this side of scandalous. How can a preacher prefer waterfalls to the Word of God?
For others of you, that acknowledgment is simply stating the obvious. All things considered, for just sheer soul-stirring goose-bump causing spiritual sensations, nature can be more inspiring than the Word… 
Whether it is seeing
• A large dolphin breakthrough the glassy ocean while running one morning as I saw last week at the pier,
• The late summer sunsets that have been splashing red across the sky…
• The shooting stars that created a natural fireworks show for our teenagers at summer camp…
• Or seeing the sun come up on Yellowstone Lake while riding a bike up a mountain pass as a friend and I did last year,
We offer a hearty “Amen” to the writer of Psalm 19 who declares:
The heavens are telling the glory of God; and the firmament proclaims his handiwork.
What I learned again last summer, that I’ll bet a few of you also experienced while on vacations with more breathtaking views than Bible studies is that nature can be more inspiring than the Word. But inspiration is not enough.
While inspiration can motivate us to live vibrantly
While inspiration can encourage us to walk through this world gratefully,
While inspiration can stimulate us to reflect on our days deeply,
Inspiration itself offers no instruction, no direction, no wisdom for responding to what has so moved us.
That is why experiences, even spiritual experiences are insufficient by themselves. Inspiration is not enough. Creation is not enough. I need revelation. I need guidance from God, a light to my steps.
• Mountains are beautiful but they don’t teach me how to live my life.
• A geyser is breathtaking but won’t help me keep my promises.
• A shooting star can stir my soul but not transform it.
• A dolphin has never offered me wisdom.
• A sunset has never granted me forgiveness.
True wise and good living, true spirituality, true faith, a true response to the good God who created Mt. Moran, the Snake River, the Montana Sky, the Badlands of the Dakotas and Seal Rock of San Clemente is to listen and heed the Word of the Creator.
That’s why the Psalmist so moved by the wonders of God’s creation that he declares that the earth is pouring out praise to God every day, then says
The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul;
the decrees of the Lord are sure, making wise the simple…
Experiencing creation leads the person of faith to crave revelation.
Seeing the wonders of the world elicits a longing for the wisdom of the Word.
Beauty creates a yearning for truth.
Taking in God’s handiwork inspires a desire to have God work in us.
The earth, O Lord, is full of your steadfast love; teach me your statutes. (Psalm 119:64 NRSV)
And so here is my first lesson of summer, especially for those of you who like me prefer a walk on the beach to a desk and open devotional, who are tempted to think that inspiration is enough: Let the wonder of creation lead you to the Word of revelation.
I’ll say more on HOW to do this tomorrow.
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