DRIVING along the coast road and the front in Gourock and then on to Lunderston Bay this week, the hills across from Gourock were lit up because of the sunshine on them in a way I hadn’t seen before.

I thought how pretty they looked and that they will have looked that way on and off for thousands of years.

Then leaving Gourock and to my left, there was a wave of autumn colours in the trees, creating a lovely blend of colours as they showed off the splendour of the autumn season.

These little two episodes made me think and realise what a beautiful world we live in. And that’s before the encyclopaedia of animals, birds and fish and their unimaginable varieties in the world, many with such beautiful colours.

Men and women have had nothing to do with any of this, except to plant and nurture what is already there. What else have we added?

In a word, and a current word, its destruction. Towns and cities flattened by bombs and warfare. Instead of a thriving humanity, there seems a bit built within us to get it completely wrong. The bible calls it sin.

We can fight over the slightest thing, as individuals, neighbours, cities and nations. And yet in the midst of this there can come over some of us the deepest sense of peace we have ever known, and the knowledge that heaven will be so much better.

The problem is our sinning. And ultimately sinning against God who made us. We are so prone to say the wrong word, do the wrong thing and go the wrong way.

Yet all the time God calls to us by our name and says, ‘I know a better way. A way where you are forgiven all your wrongdoing. A way that will being happiness and joy much beyond what you already know. A way which brings with it One you can absolutely trust, who knows you inside out and wants only the best for you.’

History outlines so much destruction. So much hatred and wars. So much suffering and death. Jesus said ‘I am come to bring you life and it more abundantly’. Please take Him at His word and follow the Master of everything.