Sitting here, in the midst of all the ugly things going on in the world, in our own country, in our own state, in our own county, in our own city, on our own street and in our own home I find it amazing that despite all things...there is still beauty everywhere.  In the dawn of a new day, in the song of a bird, the blossom of a new flower, the smile on a childs face, the fresh fragrance after the rain, at the setting of the sun....I could go on about all the beauty I see around me.  How can such beauty exist amid so much ugliness in the world?

Then BOOM it hit me.  God put it there to remind us of who He is and what He can do.  That despite what the ugliness of sin and evil has done to this world He created that He can still show His authority over it all by putting beauty in it.  A reminder to Christians to keep looking to Him, a gentle nudge to those who have lost there way that there is still hope, a two by four to the head of the sinner to show there is more to this life than the ugliness of sin....

What an amazing God we have that He can amid all the ugliness in the world still find ways to put beauty in it to remind us of who He is.  What an amazing God we have that He can amid all the ugliness in our own lives that He gave us His only Son to die for us so that we might live.  Isn't that beautiful?  And what an amazing God we have that no matter what, He has an unconditional love and an ever forgiving heart that takes all the ugliness away from us and makes us beautiful.