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PWTE Daily Devotion

Peering through the Fog

We grasp the promise that one day we will be like Christ.

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

Dear friends, we are already God’s children,
but he has not yet shown us what we will be like when Christ appears.
But we do know that we will be like him,
for we will see him as he really is.
1 John 3:2 New Living Translation

As I have mentioned in other blogs, fog is rare in Colorado Springs. On those mornings when I look out my window and can’t see the neighbor’s house across the street, I find my camera and think of places to capture the mist. There is something mysterious about fog, especially in a place like the Garden of the Gods.

Garden of the Gods, Colorado Springs, Colorado
Garden of the Gods, Colorado Springs, Colorado

The morning I took this picture the fog was dense, at least in Colorado Springs terms. The fog was not only thick, it lasted longer than usual. I had more time than usual to set up my camera and tripod. This extra time gave me the ability to “see” the fog before pushing the shutter button.

What I saw looked different from other days that I’ve strolled through the Garden. Colorado Springs is known for its sunny days. Cathedral Spires, Sleeping Giant and North Gateway rock formations look different in the fog than on sunny days. Our imaginations envision what our eyes cannot see.

John reminds us that as we stand on the eve of heaven we cannot fully see what awaits us. John is not speaking about when we die, but the day that Christ returns. He is writing about our resurrected bodies. Seeing what those bodies look like today is like peering into the fog. Jesus’ resurrection guarantees our resurrection, but we cannot see it.

Yet we hold on to the promise that even though we cannot peer through the fog of time to our eternity in heaven, when Christ returns we will be like him: no more sorrow, no more pain, no more sin.

Copyright Douglas P Brauner

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PWTE Daily Devotion

Does God Really Care about Me?

We can trust God even when life crumbles.

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

A voice said, “Shout!”
I asked, “What should I shout?”
“Shout that people are like the grass.
Their beauty fades as quickly as the flowers in a field.
The grass withers and the flowers fade
beneath the breath of the LORD.
And so it is with people. The grass withers and the flowers fade,
but the word of our God stands forever.”
Isaiah 40:6-8 New Living Translation

No one is doing anything to keep this bunkhouse from deteriorating at the Mary Murphy mine, and it hasn’t taken long for this building to look like it does. In doing research on the mine, I discovered pictures from the 1990’s. Twenty-some years ago the building looked different. More siding clung to the walls. More roofing was in tact. More wood covered the floors.

Mary Murphy Mine, Colorado
Mary Murphy Mine, Colorado

The contrast between this bunkhouse, built with human hands, and the God established mountain in the background is symbolic of our lives.

There is an enduring quality to the things which God builds, but the things we build seem to crumble and decay. We build a career only to have that career pulled out from under us. We build a family only to see that family disintegrate. We build a house only to sell that house to someone who doesn’t care for it like we do.

Does God care that the things we build fall apart? Does he care about our houses, families and careers?

God acknowledges the frailty of our lives through the prophet Isaiah. The grass only lasts for a season. The flowers bloom but for a breath of time, yet the word that storms from the mouth of God lasts for eternity. Yes God cares, but not always as we expect him to care.

He cares for us by never changing. When our lives fall apart we can trust God to stay the same. His strength, forgiveness and wisdom will never change. Through Jesus, the Word made flesh, we can trust in the character of God.

He will not change even when life is falling apart.

Copyright Douglas P Brauner

 

Categories
PWTE Daily Devotion

How Many Steps Are Enough?

It’s not that we ascend to God, but that he descends to us.

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

But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ
to die for us while we were still sinners.
Romans 5:8 New Living Translation

Whenever I return to Oregon from Colorado I immediately feel the difference in the amount of oxygen I suck into my lungs. My house in Colorado Springs sits just shy of 7,000 feet above sea level, my hometown of Eugene is a mere 426 feet. Need I say more?

Even though I live at high altitude, I noticed the difference when I hiked around the bunkhouse and tramway of the Mary Murphy Mine. The miners who called this bunkhouse home lived at over 12,000. Climbing these four steps after a long day of mining might have felt like climbing Mt. Everest.

Mary Murphy Mine, Colorado
Mary Murphy Mine, Colorado

For some reason we think that we can climb our way into God’s heart. The rich man who approached Jesus thought that there was something he could do that would assure him that he had entered the reign of God (Mark 10:17-22). Jesus gave him that one thing, but the man left Jesus even more depressed when Jesus told him to sell his property and give the proceeds to the poor.

We cannot do anything to climb into God’s heart. Instead, God descends from heaven in his Son, Jesus Christ and brings us to himself. While we were helpless, while we were sinners, while we were destitute, Jesus died for us. Sin has left us without any oxygen, or as Paul says, it has left us dead (Ephesians 2:5). The Holy Spirit has breathed life into our lungs through Jesus’ plunge into our humanity. His death is our life.

No amount of steps could keep him from reaching us.

Copyright Douglas P Brauner