Decay Is Renewal

Urban decay is a renewal of nature. Today I was testing my iPhone camera and I’m embarrassed to discover it is roughly as good as the little pocket camera I used the past two years, and it’s smaller and comes with a lot more functions. The first image is a parking island out behind the old Heritage Park Mall.

Almost directly behind me was this shot of the old Ward’s auto repair shop. You can just make out the “MW” logo on the handle of the pedestrian door. Right now the garage is just storage with vehicles and equipment inside.

You can’t say Life Church doesn’t splash out the cash on facilities. They replaced the fencing along the outer edge of the mall parking lot, but stopped at some obvious point, beyond which they make no claim of ownership. The original fence in exactly the same style continues on hidden inside the shrubbery and trees.

When LifeChurch first opened this Midwest City campus, there was a Whataburger store out in the very corner of the parking lot, within walking distance of the front entrance to the worship center. It died and someone bought it with good intentions of turning it into some other kind of fast food place. They used the color scheme from what was then our brand new NBA franchise, the Oklahoma City Thunder. But it never happened. Nature is slowly reclaiming the place, and the grass between the cracks in the asphalt is just one small indicator.

This was also an exercise walk, the first longer walk since the knee surgery. After strolling all the way around Heritage Park, I walked behind a still active strip mall across from Sears on the east side of Air Depot Boulevard. One of the shops still open here is one of those rental places that offers appliances and home electronics of the lowest possible quality at obscenely high prices. It’s loan sharking in disguise.

Last night was a very heavy rain. While I don’t recall seeing evidence of flooding on previous occasions walking by here more than a dozen times, it served to emphasize how nature is seldom denied doing what it does despite all sorts of human efforts to “tame” things. The slope drops to about a meter in depth back against the dock.

Let me reiterate something: In each case Creation spoke to me about these shots. “See what I can do?” In each photo, I am sure nature will also speak to you through the images. Sure, there may be some talent for photography here, but it would hardly be worth your time to see the shots if it rested solely on my abilities. In everything we do as people, in our divine calling from God, nature will speak to your heart and help you bring forth the full power of shalom in your heart-led desire to bring Him glory. This is why I’m praying for some way to get back out there in the countryside with an even better camera, because it keeps calling my name.