Back to the start

(Originally written November 14)

Today: Genesis 1-3

Today was full of déjà vu moments. Yesterday, we talked about God as the ultimate Imagineer…and today’s story of Creation definitely illustrated that. I once again found myself on an airplane today showing…you guessed it… Julie & Julia (the movie that inspired this entire project).

In addition to the movie, my in-flight entertainment included a BBC-produced film about Yellowstone National Park. It was a piece tightly aligned with today’s passage in its illustration of the beauty and intricacies of Creation.

I don’t normally watch nature shows, but in light of the passage…and you may totally laugh or think this is ridiculous…I teared up on the airplane. It was just so overwhelmingly beautiful and obvious that the ultimate Imagineer was at work. I watched as a small beaver meticulously built his dam and stored food for the winter. His ability to defend his home and food from a (much larger!) moose was so simple, but so obviously God-given (he whacked the water with his tail and scared the moose away). The piece also profiled a bird at Yellowstone who took thousands of seeds from pine trees and buried them throughout the park as food for the winter. The narrator said that astoundingly, the bird would remember where he placed 700 out of 1,000 seeds (a 70% success rate). The forgotten seeds? Not forgotten by the ultimate Imagineer—they would grow into trees that would feed the animals for years to come and keep the cycle of life at Yellowstone in motion. How cool is that?

The short film about Yellowstone and the repeat of Julie & Julia moved me in many ways. It was like God was saying to me, “See—I didn’t forget about you, either. I see what you’re doing, what you’re thinking. I made you—and I love you so much more than that beaver and that bird. I’ll always take care of you.”

Please take that as a message for you, too…because it is (check it out here). Of all the incredible things in Creation, only men and women were created “in God’s image” for a relationship with Him. Don’t believe me? Check out today’s passage and go back to where we started from.

Tomorrow: Genesis 4-7

The Imagineer

(Originally written November 13)


Today: Revelation 20-22

I’m going to Disney World!

Well, actually I went earlier today. For the first time ever, I went to Hollywood Studios in Florida. Every Disney park has this incredible sense of…magic. When you enter, you automatically find a fountain of youth—you turn in to a kid again. You walk in wonder as you look at the rides, the palm trees, the scenery, the dancing Christmas lights. You hum along to your favorite Disney songs. And you don’t really care that you’re surrounded by strangers. You don’t think about work. You don’t think about any of the challenges you’re facing in the real world. This is Disney—and it’s magical.


As fun and amazing as Disney parks are, they don’t even come close to what heaven is like. For starters, you and I eventually have to leave Disney parks and go back to our work, back to our challenges. And the Disney experience (while amazing!) isn’t totally perfect. Sometimes there are lines and crying babies and your feet get sore. That kind of stuff doesn’t happen in heaven because heaven was designed by the ultimate Imagineer.


I was reminded of this today when after returning to my hotel from Disney World, I learned of an acquaintance who passed away from Lou Gehrig’s disease. As I read today’s passage, I thought about him.

"Look! Look! God has moved into the neighborhood,

making his home with men and women!

They're his people, he's their God.

He'll wipe every tear from their eyes.

Death is gone for good—

tears gone, crying gone, pain gone—

all the first order of things gone."

For the past few years, the man I knew was confined to a wheelchair. Now, he’s standing (Or maybe dancing? Skipping? Flying?) through golden streets in the Happiest Place That No One on Earth Could Even Imagine. That’s pretty cool!

God is the ultimate Imagineer—the Creator who transcends our imaginations. Think about the incredible creativity and dreams of Walt Disney: What do you think God Himself could do?