Life after Death

Derelict building at Orton Ness

I was interested to learn this week of a place on the east coast of Suffolk called Orford Ness.  The buildings there are now desolate but a number of years ago they were the hub of investigation into British engineering and design.  The codename for the work carried out there was Yellow Sun; the design for nuclear bombs; the design to end the world.  The tall radio masts were part of a secret listening station to find military secrets of others.  But the world didn’t end and the people have gone and the work carried out here has gone. 
 

Chinese water deer

Nature has replaced and owned the landscape.  Now there are barn owls occupying the buildings.  Their secret and silent flight guarantees success in finding life-giving food.  The long ears of the hares have replaced the listening masts.  There are many other species, including Chinese water deer, avocet and spoonbill.  Where once there were plans for death and destruction now there is abundant life.  The commentator of the documentary summed it up by saying,

‘So many new and different lives in a landscape that plotted to take life away’.

The buildings of Orford Ness are falling and rotting away while nature is rising and redesigning that place that once held the secrets of destruction.
 

God’s plan is not to destroy by force, seeking power over others.  His response to destruction and the taking of life is the outpouring of love.  In a time of occupation by a foreign power God emptied Himself in the person of Jesus to show us His way of life, a peaceful, non-aggressive way of love.  God’s answer to the wrongs of the world that man has developed is shown in His creation – allowing all to be who and what they are without trying to change them or have power over them but to live in harmony and balance together – many different designs share what God has given for all.



 

God spoke and creation came into being – His words became living reality.  The Spirit breathed God’s DNA into creation and following Him we express those same ‘genes’ of God’s being in and through our lives.  We are His temple; His Spirit lives within us; we are made in His likeness; as part of His creation we carry His DNA.  Like children carrying the DNA of their parents, it’s up to us to decide to use what He has made us to be to express His nature by our attitudes and way of living.  As Orford Ness was transformed by nature, I want to be redesigned according to His DNA and show His ways.