I saw God on TV last night. Not on the 700 club, “Christian TV” just can’t fit God into the schedule, with all the guest authors pushing answer-books like dealers pushing meth in the south Bronx. I think God understands. And anyway, He was chilling on Project Runway.  

I admit it. I had a hard time with this. Project Runway is not exactly . . . masculine. Maybe I shouldn’t categorize a TV show in terms of gender, but if you have ever watched it, you know what I mean. Flamboyant Tim, dancing around the work room making snarky comments. The tall and elegant Heidi, certainly one ingredient that could draw more male viewers, making kissing sounds next to people’s ears. And the designers, as they snip, tuck, and pick out fire-engine red pumps from the Macy’s Wall. Not the kind of show that features Budweiser during the breaks. 

But as I watch, I get these vivid glimpses of God. Doesn’t it seem significant, that as scripture opens in the first chapter of Genesis, we are introduced to God creating? The earth was “formless and void,” intended to be a blank canvas. As the Creator pondered his initial brush stroke, design potentials flowed like water. Then, the brush moved forward.  

And I see this on the show. A reflection of God creating, as a baker’s dozen of designers are set loose on a pile of newspapers and asked to make something that a skinny model can wear and look beautiful.  

But God is the original creator, the One who set all following acts of creation into motion. In doing so, he established hope, a virtue or capacity that distinguishes humanity from the rest of creation. Humanity, as a product of His creative work, reflects God’s capacity to think and design with optimism and with a determination to make something better. The capacity to create with hope was intentionally crafted into us in anticipation that the created would add to the artistic stream as it flows from its source.  Good design has both form and function, or aesthetic and use.  

But in Genesis, one can see that the original creator designed before He created, and that the design included both beauty and truth. Beauty is an aesthetic quality that moves us, and truth is a design that functions correctly within the limitations of our human context. Design that results in beauty and truth produces hope and results in being fruitful. Like crafting a stunning raincoat out of newsprint.  

So between Tim crafting cutting comments and Heidi smooching, it seems to me that God is glorified as they design and create, producing objects that are beautiful and true.  The more I watch it, the more I realize I’m watching a reflection of the one that created me. And I love it.