by Pastor Douglas Brauner

Seeing God’s Promise Through Our Struggles

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

I’m blessed to live in a  city that has a view of a 14,000 foot mountain framed by windows, trees and buildings. It’s a unique city in which if you turn to the east you might think you’re in Nebraska or Kansas and if you look to the west you feel that you’re in the midst of the Rocky Mountains.

My favorite view is to the west, to Pikes Peak and the Rampart Range. I don’t know how many pictures I’ve taken of America’s mountain, but I could probably save plenty of hard drive space if I deleted those pictures.

The mountain doesn’t change, but how I frame it does, and it’s the framing that gives me a different perspective of the mountain. In this picture, Pikes Peak is framed through the pain and destruction of a forest fire; the Black Forest Fire.

“For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.” 
Romans 8:19-21 English Standard Version

We frame the promise of God through our pain. Like Pikes Peak standing in the distance, God has promised a day when not only creation will be liberated from its pain, but you and I will also be set free. The day is coming when God will wipe away all tears. The day of pure joy is coming, a day that our feeble minds can hardly comprehend.

This picture of Pikes Peak has a beauty because it is seen through the pain of creation. May God give us eyes to see the beauty of our coming life with Christ through the pain and suffering that we endure.

Copyright Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado