Life Is Hard...Look Around

Palmer Park, Colorado Springs, Colorado

Growing up I was blessed to have a friend who had been born blind. I say blessed because he helped me see the world with different eyes (and he usually beat me when we sparred at wrestling practice).

In Junior High we students had circuit in the hallways that we walked before the first class bell rang. My blind friend would often hang on to my elbow as we walked the halls. I don't remember much of what we talked about, but I do remember his smile.

At times I thought about what it would be like for him to see creation for the first time. What would he experience if he actually saw the sun?

"Having said these things, [Jesus] spit on the ground and made mud with the saliva. Then he anointed the man's eyes with the mud and said to him, 'Go, wash in the pool of Siloam' (which means Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing." John 9:6-7 English Standard Version

The man whom Jesus healed saw the world for the first time as he, too, was born blind, and it is Jesus who gives him sight.

If Jesus has the power to heal physical blindness he also has the power to heal us of our spiritual blindness. Our sin keeps us from seeing Jesus. This sin has been washed in the pool of his blood shed for us on his cross.

Through faith, we now see Jesus. We see his compassion, mercy and kindness to those of us who have been blinded by sin. And he now invites us to look around and see both the beauty of his creation and the beauty of his redemption.

Today's Challenge: Go for a walk and stop somewhere on your journey. Take a few moments and take a deep breath and look around at the beauty of what God has made. As you look at creation, remember that God has opened your eyes to see Jesus.

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Text and Photographs ©Copyright 2012-2014 Douglas P. Brauner.  ARR.  

Facing the Giant

Margerie Glacier, Glacier Bay National Park, Alaska

I live near fourteen thousand feet peaks with one of them, Pikes Peak, in my backyard. Mount Fairweather, the dot in the right hand corner of this picture, is only one thousand feet higher (15,325 ft.) than these peaks. But here's the difference: I live at nearly 7,000 feet, this picture is taken from sea level.

Mount Fairweather is a giant.

"Then Goliath, a Philistine champion from Gath, came out of the Philistine ranks to face the forces of Israel. He was over nine feet tall!" 1 Samuel 17:4 New Living Translation

Through David, God overcame Goliath.

We face giants everyday. Your giant is probably not the same as mine, but that doesn't matter. What is difficult for us to believe is that God has overcome our giants. We struggle with them day in and day out. We wonder if we'll experience any kind of victory over our giants.

Imagine the giants that Jesus faced on the cross for us.

As we move deeper into Lent we discover that it is Jesus who faced the giants of sin, death and hell for us.  And for a moment on that cross, he was overcome by these enemies but his resurrection secured his victory.

He overcame Goliath for you.

Challenge for Today: Identify that Goliath in your life that seems to have won the victory.  Picture Jesus in the place of David slaying that giant.  Your giant has not won the victory.

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Text and Photographs ©Copyright 2012-2014 Douglas P. Brauner.  ARR. 

"Do You See What I See?"

Glacier Bay National Park, Alaska

Okay, I know that it's not Christmas but Lent, yet this question fits. Side-by-side, these two women do not see the same thing. Each one is looking in a different direction.

Glacier Bay Nation Park in Alaska is spectacular. You can't take in all the glaciers, terrain and wildlife that present themselves as you spend the day cruising this waterway. It shouldn't surprise any of us that these two women are gazing in opposite directions.

There is also a great deal for us to look at as we walk through Lent but only one thing on which to focus.  

"For I decided that while I was with you I would forget everything except Jesus Christ, the one who was crucified." 1 Corinthians 2:2 New Living Translation

As we move from Lent to Palm Sunday, to the upper room, to the cross and the empty tomb we focus on one thing, or rather one person, Jesus Christ.

Yet gazing at Christ is like sailing Glacier Bay. What he has done for us is so vast that we will always be discovering what it means that Jesus is our Savior.

Today's Challenge: Look for crosses in ordinary things of life.  Let these crosses help you focus on Jesus.

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Text and Photographs ©Copyright 2012-2014 Douglas P. Brauner.  ARR. 

I Couldn't Help Myself

Red Rock Canyon, Colorado Springs, Colorado

Red Rock Canyon is filled with miles upon miles of trails. And if you're tired of hiking in the Canyon you can slip over to Section 16 for more trails. Smack dab in the middle of these trails is this quarry. The Red Rock quarries were quite active in the latter part of the 1800's and provided Lyons sandstone to Old Colorado City, Manitou Springs and surrounding areas.

I don't like taking pictures of the quarry. As I hiked past the quarry I said to myself that I wasn't going to take a picture. But I did anyway. Even though I don't find it pretty, there is something that draws me to it.

After slaying his brother Abel, God said to Cain, "If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it." Genesis 4:7 English Standard Version

Therein lays the problem: Sin does rule over us. We cannot free ourselves from that impulse to stop and take the picture; to keep sin from ruling over us.

When you think about what Jesus did for us by submitting to the cross it becomes evident that he allowed sin to rule over him, drag it to the grave and bury it there.

What we cannot do, Jesus did for us. By submitting to death he ruled over sin. You and I cannot master sin so Jesus did it for us.

Our response is not to throw up our hands and say, "Oh well, there's nothing I can do." Our response is to humbly get on our knees and thank God for the grace that covers our lives and live our lives as a thank offering to him.

Today's Challenge: Lay at the foot of the cross that which causes you to throw up your hands and say, "Oh well, there's nothing I can do."

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Text and Photographs ©Copyright 2012-2014 Douglas P. Brauner.  ARR.  

Peek-A-Boo, I See You!

Red Rock Canyon, Colorado Springs

When you saw this title your probably thought today's blog would feature one of my grandsons. I'm sorry to disappoint you.  I happened upon this deer as I hike Red Rock Canyon. Since there are many people who hike, bike and run on these trails, this Mule Deer wasn't afraid of me.

But it still kept its distance.

"Draw near, O nations, to hear, and give attention, O peoples! Let the earth hear, and all that fills it; the world, and all that comes from it." Isaiah 34:1 English Standard Version

Some of us, if not most of us, want to keep God at a distance and view him through the branches. We don't want to get to close to God as it might mean that we'll have to change. We falsely believe that we must first change before God calls us to the cross.

It works the other way around.

We are called to draw near to Jesus Christ. His Spirit grabs us and brings us to cross. It is from the cross that God works his change in our lives.

This deer was afraid of me and eventually took off. There is no need for us to be afraid of God and bolt from his presence. We draw near to him because he first drew close to us with his grace and mercy.

Today's Question: What keeps you from drawing close to God?

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Text and Photographs ©Copyright 2012-2014 Douglas P. Brauner.  ARR.

Don't Forget to Look Up!

Red Rock Canyon, Colorado Springs

The beauty of hiking a trail that you've never been on before is that you don't know what to expect. Granted you can do your best to follow a trail on Google Earth but it isn't the same as exploring a new trail.

Even when you've hiked a path numerous times and you could walk that path blindfolded, the weather conditions and time of day might cause you to see something you haven't noticed before, but you've got to look up to notice these details.

Hiking with my camera forces me to stop looking at my feet and gaze at my surroundings. Does that cause problems? When I took this picture I almost fell flat on my face as I stumbled over a rock. That's the risk of walking with your head up.

"Lift up your heads, you gates; be lifted up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in." Psalm 24:7 New International Version

On Palm Sunday. God will invite us to lift up our heads to receive the one who rides humbly into Jerusalem as our King. If we stare at our feet we might miss the beauty of this event.

Besides, if you lift your eyes, you might see something different about your King of glory as the Holy Spirit reveals to you the one who not only rides a beast of burden but who is that beast of burden on the cross.

Question for Today: Why is it hard to lift up your eyes to see Jesus?

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Text and Photographs ©Copyright 2012-2014 Douglas P. Brauner.  ARR.  

Black with Jealousy

Stanley

Stanley was our first introduction to parenting.  We picked him up at the humane society in Lincoln, Nebraska the year before Joel was born.  He wasn't happy when Joel came home from the hospital.  Shortly after his birth Stanley decided to get even with us by peeing on Joel's clean cloth diapers.  The next day we put him in a kennel for our trip to Oregon.  We never had a problem with jealousy again.

"Anger is cruel, and fury is overwhelming, but who can survive jealousy?" Proverbs 27:4 God's Word to the Nations

Most all of us have been on the bad side of jealousy.  Nothing good comes from envy.

Yet the best way to deal with our jealousy is to understanding that God is jealous...for us. God does not want us to give our supreme affections to anyone or anything but him.

Understanding that God is jealous for us can help us deal with our jealousy.  Other people's possessions mean nothing to us when we understand that God possesses us.  He is what we need more than anything else.

The water's of baptism are a daily reminder of God's jealousy.  We belong to God because he is jealous (and zealous) for us.  There is nothing that others possess that could take the place of what we have in God.

One day that bigger and better widget that we envy will end up in the landfill or junkyard.

We never will!

Today's Challenge: Identify one thing that you covet and imagine yourself handing this item to God and placing it in his hands...then walk away.

Join the conversation at Praying With the Eyes on Facebook. http://www.facebook.com/groups/173881749421231/

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Text and Photographs ©Copyright 2012-2014 Douglas P. Brauner.  ARR.