Sunday, 31 January 2010

Dear Friends,                                                                                                                                 

 

At 6am this past Wednesday I was canoeing—doing my usual 10km stretch between 3 Anchor bay and Clifton.  It was slightly drizzly without a breath of wind.  The water was like glass.  A few hundred meters out I came across a seal enjoying an octopus for breakfast (the octopus was not enjoying!).  A little further out I saw two Southern Right whales and paddled right up close to them.  They were around 15m in length.  Huge animals—gently floating—powerfully blowing—and one waved at me with a vertical show of its enormous tale.  A few minutes later I saw some other whales that were slightly smaller and finally on my way back again as the sun was breaking through the morning cloud I almost bumped into the original two whales who were now swimming only about 150m off shore. 

 

This magical moment reminded me of psalm 19 that tells us how the beauty of God’s creation is ”day to day and night to night” preaching and proclaiming about God’s glory.  According to the psalmist, God’s creation/creatures preach loudly yet silently:

 

“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.” [Ps 19:3].

 

There were no words spoken in my encounter with the whales YET I was surrounded with a sense of God’s glory and the pure and rich gift of just being alive.   With gratitude, Alan.