Glimpses of Power and Glory

What a strange month this has been.

Where is the blazing, sunny, miserable weather we call July in Texas? It seems I’ve spent most of the summer studying radar maps and watching flooding videos. It’s all quite bizarre.

Today, as the deep gray sky covers the sunrise and raindrops fall on my roof, I’m reminded of all the tears shed over massive losses.

Why so much destruction?

I’m amazed at the amount of junk dislodged and driven downstream. Why am I mesmerized by those videos? It’s like staring at a wreck—I can’t seem to look away.

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The Need to Understand

I feel the need to defend my God when I see such overwhelming destruction—destruction He alone could have stopped. I want to explain how He works and why.

But who am I to know the heart of the Creator? Who am I to try to assign simplistic explanations to the mystery of the great I Am?

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A Strange Kind of Comfort

Watching the raw force of water gives me a glimpse of God’s power. This uncontrollable, brown current is enough to bow my prideful knee and stiff-necked head. Awestruck, I realize this is only a fingerprint of His might.

Oddly enough, it comforts me to realize that neither I nor any elected official is in control. My daily worries don’t seem so important in light of that truth. I’m just a blade of grass—here today and gone tomorrow—riding this planet for a limited but unknown number of days.

He designed this planet—its rivers, valleys, and oceans—and then gave us the gift of dominion over it. We were called to care for His creation. How deeply He must love us to entrust such majesty into our hands.

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Look for the Helpers

I was recently reminded of Fred Rogers’ advice: “Look for the helpers.”

When I do, I see God’s compassion at work. Helpers step into chaos, trying to restore normalcy after the floods. It is His Spirit within them that drives them to serve those most devastated by the raging, junk-filled waters.

In moments like these, it’s undeniably clear that God has placed His Spirit in us. We send food, money, and support—often more than the recipients can receive. And somehow, it’s easier to see God in others during these moments.

Maybe it’s because we’ve finally stopped to look.

Maybe it’s because we’re usually too busy to notice.

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A Quiet Challenge

It’s sad that it takes loss and despair to see the Holy Spirit in ourselves and in others. Are we only moved in crisis to be His hands and feet? Or is His Spirit always present—and we just don’t pause to notice?

Must devastation wrench my eyes away from my trivial pursuits? Why don’t I feel this same desire to help the hurting on a sunny day at the beach?

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A Simple Prayer

Lord, help me listen for Your voice when the sun is shining and the flowers are blooming. Give me eyes to see and meet need without the help of 24/7 news of devastation.

The Unseen

 As husbands go, mine is great at cleaning. He will clean anything that he can see.

Sometimes I start to clean a room, and he’ll say:

“I already cleaned it, so why are you cleaning again?”

To which I ask,

“Did you clean under the rugs, cushions, and bed?”

And he replies that it isn’t necessary because no one looks there.

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What We Can’t See

As science teacher, I taught kids to see the unseen. For example:

• Look through microscopes at a drop of pond water

• Study light wavelengths: Infrared, Ultra Violet, X-rays

• Learn about the eyesight of bees and other animals

I showed them there is so much more than what human eyes can detect.

One of my favorite lessons was about air pressure—an invisible force we can’t see but deeply feel. I loved demonstrating it with the egg-in-the-bottle trick: a boiled egg mysteriously pops into a bottle with no visible force. We explored how planes fly by shaping their wings just right to harness the Bernoulli effect.

Even this iPad I’m typing on functions because of what we cannot see. It will transmit this message to your device through the invisible.

Humans visually perceive but a pinpoint on the map of the universe.

The universe is so much bigger than what our 20/20s can detect.

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The Link Between Science and Faith

In my opinion, the unseen is the link between science and religion.

Those who study science are among the closest to understanding God—not because of certainty, but because they’ve trained their minds to look beyond their vision.

Many great scientists—Newton, Galileo, Kepler, Pascal, Einstein, Faraday, Mendel, Planck, Heisenberg, and Boyle—were believers. They understood the limits of what their eyes could show them and reached toward something deeper.

The unseen isn’t limited to atoms, bacteria, and pressure systems.

The Bible speaks of the unseen:

• Thoughts and motivations

• Love and hate

• Mercy and forgiveness

If we live only by what we can see, we’re living blindfolded. It’s time to untie the bandana and look for what’s really there.

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Rediscovering the Unseen

We say we believe, but rarely do we pause long enough to encounter our unseen God.

We live as if this is all there is. That “what-you-see-is-what-you-get” mindset causes us to forget the real power moving beneath the surface of everything.

We wake up, hustle from task to task, fall into bed exhausted…

and then we do it all over again—without ever connecting to what truly matters.

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So How Do We Break the Cycle?

Be still.

Create margin.

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What Is Margin?

Think of a book.

Margin is the space around the page that lets your eyes rest.

Without it, reading would be overwhelming and exhausting. Though it seems like wasted space, it’s what gives the story its rhythm.

Margin is an overlooked necessity.

And it’s just as essential in life as it is on the page.

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Living With Margin

We need time in our day to do absolutely nothing.

Not a Disney World vacation.

Not an appointment.

Not a checklist.

Margin is an agenda without an agenda.

It’s time set aside to notice the unseen—

the breeze, the heartbeat, the whisper of God.

It doesn’t require your eyes.

It can happen while walking, running, sitting… even with your eyes closed.

(Maybe that’s why we traditionally close our eyes to pray—

to shut out the visible world and lean into the invisible.)

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What Can You Do With Margin?

• Sit quietly with your thoughts

• Laugh and talk with a friend

• Listen for what your Creator might be saying

• Ask Him questions

• Do nothing—and be okay with it

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Why Margin Matters

Margin is ignored far too often, yet it’s so important to our sanity.

It slows us down.

It softens the noise.

It reveals the hidden world of faith, hope, and love.

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Your Invitation

Maybe it’s time to schedule that unscheduled time slot.

Not because you need another task—but because your soul needs space.

Let margin reveal the unseen.