The Ocean Desert Paradox
(a Steve Orr Bible reflection)
The view: breathtaking mountains, sculpted cliffsides, high, jagged peaks—paved highways winding their way through the connecting valleys. All around me were signs of desert life: cacti, scrub, and juniper—dry ground and dry air. To the casual observer, it would appear I was driving through a desert.
They wouldn’t be wrong.
But it was also an ocean.
We’ve been told that if we turn back the clock 265 million years, the area where I was driving was far beneath the waves. I was on dry land in far West Texas and, simultaneously, the bed of the Permian Sea. It can be a bit disorienting to juggle those two thoughts.
If you're visiting the Big Bend area of Texas, what you see are mountains, valleys, cacti, scrub brush, and desert life. But if you’re willing to allow a different perspective—to believe what we’ve been told—you can also see something from a different time: an ocean teeming with aquatic life.
This week’s Philippians passage is about such things: perceptions and perspectives. The apostle Paul calls on God’s people to trust Him for their needs, to rejoice always. God has a better perspective from which to see all that is true and real, much of which we cannot perceive. God can see it all, understands fully, asks us to trust Him when it comes to facts not presently in evidence.
According to Philippians, we can join him in this if only we are willing to fill our minds with:
whatever is true
whatever is honorable
whatever is just
whatever is pure
whatever is pleasing
whatever is commendable
whatever is excellent
whatever is worthy of praise.
The real world is still the real world. The desert is still the desert. But the spiritual world surrounds us. When our thoughts are engaged with the matters on that list, God opens our spiritual eyes to see what else has been there all along.
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BONUS MATERIAL:
There’s a wonderful example of the unseen spiritual world being revealed in 2 Kings 6:8-23. The home of the prophet Elisha is surrounded by a foreign army sent to do him harm. He asks God to open the eyes of his distressed servant so he can see the invisible (and much greater) angel army already surrounding the enemy.
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On Friday morning, we gather on Zoom* and in Waco at Our Breakfast Place for DaySpring’s Lectionary Breakfast. Join us at 8:00 for Bible, prayer, discussion, and laughter.
Blessings,
Steve
*Zoom link (Zoom allows you to mute the camera and the microphone if you don’t wish to be seen or heard):
SCRIPTURES FOR SUNDAY AND THE COMING WEEK
Exodus 32:1-14
Psalm 106:1-6, 19-23
Isaiah 25:1-9
Psalm 23
Philippians 4:1-9
Matthew 22:1-14
Proper 23 (28) (October 11, 2026)
