God’s love for you is greater than your fears.

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

“For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” 
Romans 8:38-39 English Standard Version

It looks like it’s been a while since this fire hydrant has been spruced up, but it received some tender, loving care at one time and it still captured my attention as I walked Main Street in Canon City. After uploading it to my computer I noticed the “N13” at the top. How would you feel with hydrant number 13 in your front yard?

Canon City, Colorado

Maybe the businesses feel the same way about having fire hydrant 13 as their primary source of water for fighting fires. We don’t like the number 13. We don’t like Friday the 13th or the thirteenth floor (which most hotels omit). Triskaidekaphobia is the technical word for the fear of the number 13 (you can find out how to pronounce it at dictionary.com).

We might laugh at people who are afraid of a number, yet most of us live with fears of one kind or another. Paul mentions a few of these fears in Romans eight: life, death, angels, rulers, the present, the future and so on. You can add your own phobia to the list.

It’s hard to see God why traveling through fear, yet God never loses sight of us.

Jesus took his journey to the cross that we might know that even in our deepest fears we are never alone. The Scriptures call us to hold on tightly to Jesus when we are confronting our fears because his perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4:18).

Triskaidekaphobia might be real, but even more real is God’s unfailing love in Jesus.

Picture and Text Copyright Douglas P Brauner