Ain't She a Beauty?

Cape Meares Lighthouse, Oregon

Click on this SoundCloud link to listen to an audio recording of today's Blog.

The Cape Meares Lighthouse hosts a first order Fresnel (pronounced Fraynel) lens made in Paris, France. It arrived at the Oregon coast by way of Cape Horn.  This lens traveled over 200 feet up a rocky cliff on a ramp made of local timbers and reflected the light of an oil lamp for the first time on January 1, 1890.

The lens is made of eight panels, of which four are bull's-eye panels. These panels gave the Cape Meares Lighthouse its unique signature.

As beautiful as this lens is and as functional as it might seem over 200 feet above the ocean, it has been replace by a nondescript 57,000 candle power lamp that stands only fifteen feet higher but shines further out into the Pacific.

The sobering news for each one of us is that we are replaceable.

Or are we?

"You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother's womb." Psalm 139:13 New Living Translation

There are two realities for Christians. First of all we can be replaced. We are not indispensable. Someone else will take our job. Someone else will live in our home.

Secondly, and contrary to the first, there is no one like us. There is no one who can take our place now and for eternity. It is our uniqueness in Christ that we celebrate.

Inevitably we will be replaced in certain areas of our lives this side of the grave but we will never be replaced in the heart of God.

Join the conversation on our Facebook group: Praying With the Eyes

You can listen to the Praying With the Eyes podcast on iTunes on the 1st and 15th of each month, as well as at SoundCloud.com by searching for "Praying With The Eyes."  

(Click on picture to enlarge.)

Text and Photographs ©Copyright 2012-2015 Douglas P. Brauner.  ARR.