Month: September 2015

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PWTE Daily Devotion

Gazing at the Foot of the Cross

This is the foot of a cross at Bennett Hill Monastery, Black Forest, Colorado. If you look closely there are animal tracks the lead to and from the cross. Mercy is God's gift both given TO us and THROUGH us.

Life and death meet at Jesus’ cross.

You can listen to today’s devotion by clicking on this SoundCloud link.

“But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ,
by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.”
Galatians 6:14 English Standard Version

As I walked out to this cross on a untrod snowy trail, I said my usual prayer, “Lord, surprise me!” I didn’t realize that my surprise would come at the foot of the cross.

Bennett Hill Monastery, Black Forest, Colorado Copyright Douglas P Brauner
Bennett Hill Monastery, Black Forest, Colorado
Copyright Douglas P Brauner

When I arrived at the cross I looked up and tried to find a good angle from which to take a picture, an angle that would say more than, “Oh, that’s a cross in the forest.” I bent over and took a few shots up at the cross from snow level. I stood up and zoomed in on the cross beams.

Then I saw the surprise.

There were animals tracks leading to and departing from the cross. These tracks were at a perfect right angle. If you enlarge this picture you’ll see what I mean.

For Paul there is no middle ground. Everything leads to the foot of the cross and everything flows away from the cross. The cross is our death. The cross is our life.

It’s hard to explain how and instrument of death brings us life. In and of itself the cross can’t do anything.  It is the One who hung there for you and me who is the difference maker.

My hope for you today is that you follow the animal tracks to Jesus’ cross. Then, empowered by his mercy, you walk out into the great unknown of the day with the knowledge that the risen Christ walks with you.

And while you walk out into that great unknown, why don’t you pray, “Father, surprise me.”

Copyright Douglas P Brauner

Categories
PWTE Daily Devotion

The Right Path: From Guilt to Hope

Longmont, Colorado Copyright Douglas P Brauner

Forgiveness has the power to create hope even for parents.

You can listen to today’s devotion by clicking on this SoundCloud link.

“Direct your children onto the right path, and when they are older, they will not leave it.”
Proverbs 22:6 New Living Translation 

I have often struggled with this passage from Proverbs. It evokes two different emotions inside me.

Longmont, Colorado Copyright Douglas P Brauner
Longmont, Colorado
Copyright Douglas P Brauner

Initially I find myself struggling with guilt. As many of you know, I have three grown sons. I was more concerned about being a good pastor than I was about training my children on God’s path for their lives. I still picture moments when I missed an opportunity to lead them on God’s path.

This feeling of guilt would be overwhelming had not God brought me to the foot of Jesus’ cross. Though there are still consequences for my poor choices, I know that God’s mercy has covered me, and by his grace I’m forgiven.

This gift of forgiveness produces the second emotion that I experience when I read Proverbs 22:6, and that emotion is hope. God isn’t finished with me. God isn’t finished with my sons. His path still remains, and his mercy is still powerful.

For me, the visible presence of God’s mercy is revealed in the next generation of children.

I’m grateful for my grandchildren, not that they give me a second chance to do things differently, but that God allows me to once again invest myself in the those he holds most precious in his heart (Mark 10:16).

Copyright Douglas P Brauner

Categories
PWTE Daily Devotion

Focused Eyes

Estes Park, Colorado Copyright Douglas P Brauner

We fix our eyes on Jesus who rescues us.

You can listen to today’s devotion by clicking on this SoundCloud link.

“My eyes are ever toward the LORD, for he will pluck my feet out of the net.”
Psalm 25:15 English Standard Version

I’m a city boy and did not grow up around horses. From my childhood I remember riding the little Shetland ponies in circles and riding larger horses a few times, but let’s be honest, these are big, intelligent animals. Horses can be intimidating, especially when they focus their eyes on you.

Estes Park, Colorado Copyright Douglas P Brauner
Estes Park, Colorado
Copyright Douglas P Brauner

Yet the day that I snapped this photo this horse kept her eyes focused on me because she expected something from me.

The psalmist fixed his eyes on the Lord because he expected something from God. He expected that God would untangle his feet from his enemy’s net.

What’s the net that entangles your feet? What has you trapped with a feeling that you can’t escape?

For some of us the net is some form of addiction, for others it’s chronic illness, and for others it’s a past sin.

We fix our eyes on Jesus who has plucked our “feet out of the net.” He has plucked our feet out of the net by stepping in that net for us…for you. It is one thing to remove the trap. It is something else to take our place in the net. The cross was Jesus’ net and you are free.

I can’t think of better reason to keep our eyes on the Lord expecting his grace and mercy.

Copyright Douglas P Brauner