promises

We may run, walk, stumble, drive, or fly, but let us never lose sight of the reason for the journey, or miss a chance to see a rainbow on the way. Gloria Gaither

since january, our church has tried to implement a theme for each month. some examples would be "soldiers of Christ" for april, "faith in action" for june, etc. this month, the theme is "standing on the promises." we recently have installed projectors for implementing PowerPoint presentations into the worship services and i have been in charge of building multi-slide presentations of the weekly announcements. in an effort to remind everyone of the theme, i usually include a slide that states the theme with some sort of photo or illustration. in building this week's slides, i tried to think of what photo would most effectively encompass the idea of the promises God has made to His people. if you hadn't guessed it already, i immediately thought of rainbows.

after the flood, the most devastating natural disaster in the history of the world, God sent a rainbow, making his covenant and every living creature to never again send a flood to destroy the earth.

"I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth." And God said, "This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and ever living creature of all flesh." Genesis 9:11-15a ESV

i think it is interesting that God says the rainbow will be a reminder for Him, when, obviously, He has no need of any such thing. instead, i believe that the rainbow is to be more of a reminder for us, His children, of the love he shows. being fortunate enough to actually remember this when when we see a rainbow occur in nature before our very eyes is truly an overwhelming experience. it is a confirmation of God's presence right in front of us when all too often we forget that He is all around us always.

what is even better is that not only do we see the "real deal" on occasion, we are surrounded by metaphorical rainbows on a daily basis. this is what the quote i used to begin this post is talking about. that no matter what our journey may be or where it may lead us, we cannot forget what our motivation is nor can we forget to see that God is alive in all of the creation that surrounds us.

so with that, let us strive to keep the wonder in our lives and let the simple things remind us of God's promises of love and grace to all.

We may run, walk, stumble, drive, or fly, but let us never lose sight of the reason for the journey, or miss a chance to see a rainbow on the way.