Paint Mines, Calhan, Colorado
A community of thanksgiving.
I wonder what difference I'm making in the vastness of human existence. Okay, let me say it more like Doug Brauner would say it. Why am I here? Those of you whom I have been privilege to pastor over the last thirty years might wonder how I can say this. It's easy.
It doesn't matter our position or station in life, the question of our existence is important to us.
From the President of the United States in the White House to the homeless person laying under a house of cardboard, we question the purpose for our existence.
But why would we question our existence? Maybe it's because we see more of our failures than our successes. Looking out over the landscape of life we feel that our contributions are minimal at best.
However, in the picture above, the lone Indian Paintbrush makes the picture. Though the prairie rolls on for miles, this flower gives the picture life.
"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for wholeness and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope." Jeremiah 29:11 ESV
God speaks through Jeremiah to the nation of Judah. The nation of Judah was made up of people with whom God had made a covenant to be their God. They were not alone in their daily struggles of life.
Dotted throughout this picture are hundreds of Indian Paintbrushes each one giving color to the place it's planted. And so it is in the church. We exist in community even when it seems like we're standing alone. And in this community called the Church, God accomplishes his plans for wholeness and a future of hope.
On this Thanksgiving Day may we give thanks for the redeemed community of God's people gathered at the foot of the cross and know that through this community God lives out his purpose in the vastness of human existence.
And by the way, you are an important part of that community.
(Click on picture to enlarge.)
Text and Photographs ©Copyright 2012 Douglas P. Brauner. ARR.
I wonder what difference I'm making in the vastness of human existence. Okay, let me say it more like Doug Brauner would say it. Why am I here? Those of you whom I have been privilege to pastor over the last thirty years might wonder how I can say this. It's easy.
It doesn't matter our position or station in life, the question of our existence is important to us.
From the President of the United States in the White House to the homeless person laying under a house of cardboard, we question the purpose for our existence.
But why would we question our existence? Maybe it's because we see more of our failures than our successes. Looking out over the landscape of life we feel that our contributions are minimal at best.
However, in the picture above, the lone Indian Paintbrush makes the picture. Though the prairie rolls on for miles, this flower gives the picture life.
"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for wholeness and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope." Jeremiah 29:11 ESV
God speaks through Jeremiah to the nation of Judah. The nation of Judah was made up of people with whom God had made a covenant to be their God. They were not alone in their daily struggles of life.
Dotted throughout this picture are hundreds of Indian Paintbrushes each one giving color to the place it's planted. And so it is in the church. We exist in community even when it seems like we're standing alone. And in this community called the Church, God accomplishes his plans for wholeness and a future of hope.
On this Thanksgiving Day may we give thanks for the redeemed community of God's people gathered at the foot of the cross and know that through this community God lives out his purpose in the vastness of human existence.
And by the way, you are an important part of that community.
(Click on picture to enlarge.)
Text and Photographs ©Copyright 2012 Douglas P. Brauner. ARR.
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