Joni is honoring a mentor by dipping into her radio archives. Enjoy the conversation between Joni and her former co-host Al Sanders about the glory of God’s handiwork.
See Joni's Facebook post about her mentor.
Hi, I’m Joni Eareckson Tada, and we all have mentors in our lives, and just a couple of days ago mine graduated to heaven. Early in the morning of November the 7th, heaven welcomed home 94-year-old Al Sanders, the founder of Ambassador Agency – they’re the ones who produce and distribute the Joni and Friends radio program. I tell you, everything I know about radio I learned from this remarkable Christian statesman. Hey, take a listen to a program that Al and I did together back in 2008…
AL: Although the weather this month can be pretty dismal and cold, it still makes me long for those times when Margaret and I had our family home up in Oregon.
JONI: Al, I loved it when Ken and I could spend some time with you up there. I think my favorite part was sitting in that living room that overlooked the Sun River and beautiful Mt. Bachelor in the distance.
AL: I only wish we could have gotten Ken out on the river with his fly fishing rod.
JONI: I don’t know. He would have been nervous with me watching him from the living room window, I’ll tell you! But what we both still talk about was that incredibly, crystal clear dark night…
AL: And the stars were shining like a million tiny diamonds.
JONI: (Singing) “The stars at night are big and bright, deep in the heart of Oregon!” And you know, Ken and I – I don’t know if you remember this – but we were sitting on your back porch after most of you all went to bed; he leaned my wheelchair back, and I tell you it was like watching a star show at a planetarium. The night was so clear and I cannot remember the number of shooting stars we saw, but never, ever did I realize the night sky could have that many stars, like powdered sugar on black velvet! And it was the very first time I ever saw an actual satellite go speeding across from one horizon to the other.
AL: I think we saw about 8 or 9 satellites that night.
JONI: Yes, you came outside and joined us. And you know, that whole experience is such a great illustration of Psalm 19 where it says, “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge.”
AL: And it’s interesting to note that God did not inspire the psalmist to say that the earth declares the glory of God or that the earth proclaims the work of his hands.
JONI: You know, I caught that, too. Because there’s just something absolutely breathtaking, something unique, different about the glory of the heavens. A star-studded night displays God’s glorious handiwork in a way that, well, I don’t know, but earth doesn’t quite match. It’s probably because we know the earth; we’ve explored it; we’ve got it figured out; we’ve got it mapped; we’ve got it measured. But the heavens – there is no way we can understand or know or explore or figure out or map or measure it. And that is why it glorifies God in such a unique way – I think reminding us that we’ll never, ever be able to figure out the depths of his character, explore it all. We’ll never have him mapped and figured out.
AL: And I'm fascinated by the fact that when the psalmist looked up into his night sky, he had no idea about the billions of galaxies which his naked eye couldn’t see.
JONI: Yeah, and that the Hubble telescope and many more telescopes now see, right? Oh, the stars are beautiful up in Oregon. And friend listening, no matter where you live, would you please step outside tonight, and just take a couple of minutes to marvel at the oh-so-unique declaration, the display of the glory of God – the glory that you will never quite map or measure or figure out from your back porch.
I hope you enjoyed that exchange between Al and me. I tip my hat, I honor, I am so grateful for the life and legacy of Al Sanders, often referred to as “the voice of Christian radio.” Want to learn more and see some photos? Well, look for my Facebook post about Al Sanders. God bless you!
© Joni and Friends