I Need a New Camera

Kirk and I took a drive up to Estes Park Saturday. It is one of the few Saturdays he has had where he wasn't working on a sermon. It was an absolutely gorgeous day, not a cloud in the sky. We went to a local coffee shop and hung out for about an hour and then drove back to Boulder through a canyon we had not yet driven through. It was breathtaking and I wanted to share it with you, but I didn't have a camera. Not that I forgot it, but because it is broken. So came the realization that I need a new camera.

As I have thought about Saturday I have been struck by several things. The first was the beauty and majesty of God's creation. You can't look at the mountains and not be in awe of God's creation, his masterpiece. Sometimes I feel like it is more than I deserve to look at. (For some of you, that is the feeling you get when you go to the beach.) It is like I want to take it all in so I can remember every detail so I don't forget it. Then it hit me that God has given us this earth to enjoy now, but wait until we get to spend eternity in a new heaven and a new earth that will no doubt put this one to shame!

The second thing that struck me was that I am broken. I have good days and I have bad days. During my good days I don't dwell too much on the fact that I am broken, but during my bad days it is all I can think about. God has been showing me areas of sin in my life that I really didn't think I struggled with. Let me tell you, when you see how dark your sin is and the damage that it can do to other people it will bring your to your knees and you will cry from the deepest part of your soul.

The third thing that struck me was how gracious God is. He created this world, and us, for his pleasure. And even though we screwed it up he still loved us enough to come to earth and die for us. Our women's group has been reading a book and the discussion Thursday night was about Jesus' death and resurrection. The author said several things that I had not thought about before. She pointed out that the women who had been at the crucifixion could not go and anoint his body until after the Sabbath was over. I had never thought about what it must have been like for these women to have to wait. Scripture tells us that in the morning they hurried to the tomb to anoint Jesus' body, even though Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus had already done this. But the comment she made that I really reflected on was the fact that the first person to see him was a woman. I have known that all my life, but at that moment I thought, woman was the first to sin and woman was the first to see the resurrected Christ. This act of redemption was sweet to me.

So what does all this have to do with needing a new camera? I'm not sure, but I know that someday I won't need pictures to remind me of God's creation and that I won't be broken anymore and that I will be able to look at the face of my resurrected Lord, living with him in his perfect creation. But until then, I still need a camera.