The city I grew up in is cradled by rolling wine farms on flint-like mountains. You can breathe refreshing sea breezes one moment and see mist and cloud pour down the landscape the next.
Visually, Cape Town is an invitation to worship Jesus for all that He has made. Yet, for me, it was a non-event. You see, I grew up in church. Churches in the ’80s and ’90s were driven by the sense of Jesus’ imminent return, at which point He would take us out of this dreary world and “rapture” us away to heaven. Then all hell would be unleashed, and the earth and its rebellious inhabitants would be destroyed. Thankfully, I’d be one of those predestined to escape the coming apocalypse. All I wanted to do was get myself ready to leave. I would regularly thank God for my “fire insurance.”
Then, I discovered beauty.
I discovered beauty in the many vineyards near where I lived—beauty so abundant that it dripped like dew, or clung like clumps of silver-dusted purple grapes on vines that curled around frames and trellises—some of which were surprisingly cross-like.
It shimmered from sunsets that turned the Atlantic Ocean to sheets of moving gold.
The world really was filled with His glory, inspiring in me more awe than some of my best moments in church.
As it turned out, I didn’t really want to escape the world after all. I wanted to get married. I wanted to make a difference. I wanted to leave a legacy. I realized I didn’t just want to get people saved but also to see something of the transformation promised in scripture: the restoration of all things, the kingdom breaking out.
This is what beauty revealed to me: Jesus is Lord of the cosmos, and He wants to use you, and me, to make all things new.
THE ORIGINS OF EDEN
In the beginning, God created everything out of nothing more than His spoken word. Once the earth was formed and had taken shape, He, being perfect, declared that His creation was good.
He created a garden called Eden—a place of pleasure, life, and fruitfulness. Then, after creating man and woman, He placed them in the garden and gave them th
