The God of the small stuff

I love science. Not all of it though. Biology leaves me confused, and though I admire folks who make that their life-work, it's not a field that has much appeal to me. I love the certainty of chemistry and the 'relative' (excuse the pun) certainty of physics. But there's a field of science that I've grown enamored with in the last decade, the field of biochemistry, the study of biology on a molecular level, examining the way “life” functions beyond the level of cells, at the level of proteins and DNA. While I haven't yet found a Biochemistry For Dummies, I am always looking for a new textbook or some other entry-level book to help me understand it more. I recently bought a coffeetable book, Nano Nature by Richard Jones. He took images from scanning electron microscope, and revealed a world of beauty and detail at a level that few people in the entire world knew existed. It is easy to look at a flower, or a butterfly, and to marvel at its beauty, but to know that the scales of a butterfly's wing (I didn't even know that the wing had scales on it!) are each a separate color, and are also grooved for what I would imagine are some improved aerodynamics opened my eyes to the amazing way this world is put together.

Why's that important to me? I confess that sometimes I get to living like all God is concerned about is the big picture. I don't take the little things to Him, because He's only going to work on the major stuff, whatever that is in my head that week. (I don't know where I've drawn the line, but it's there somewhere.) And the 'big' Christian acts, like Sunday worship or teaching Bible class, get my attention, but the 'little' ones, like daily listening to Him or talking to Him, get put on the back burner. (I know, it's so backwards, but that's how we live, isn't it?) But when I read about biochemistry and see the detail in the natural world a molecular level, I'm reminded that God is as concerned about the little details too!

I don't think this is important for an AIM alumnus only, but for those of us who have been involved in the “big” picture work of sharing our faith in a 'foreign' country, sometimes the everyday living out of our faith can feel small in comparison. I hope that you will remember that God doesn't feel that way, that God wants you to be as faithful now as He did when you were in Lubbock or on the field. And I hope that you'll help us to encourage each other to reveal God in the “details” of your life.

So how have you seen God's concern in the “small stuff” in your life?

- Donovan Fox