Wednesday, December 15, 2010

The Incredible Power That Comes with Feeling Small

This morning as I'm listening to Christmas hymns and trying to understand why the Creator of this universe I see outside my window would humble himself to be wrapped in flesh in the form of a teeny, tiny baby, it makes me feel so small but yet so significant. A love like that can't make you feel insignificant no matter how small you actually are compared to Him. A Casting Crowns song began playing in my head, and this is how it goes (oldie but goodie)...

Who am I, that the Lord of all the earth
Would care to know my name
Would care to feel my hurt?
Who am I, that the Bright and Morning Star
Would choose to light the way
For my ever wandering heart?

Not because of who I am
But because of what You've done
Not because of what I've done
But because of who You are

I am a flower quickly fading
Here today and gone tomorrow
A wave tossed in the ocean
Vapor in the wind.
Still You hear me when I'm calling
Lord, You catch me when I'm falling
And You've told me who I am
I am Yours, I am Yours.

Who am I, that the eyes that see my sin
Would look on me with love and watch me rise again?
Who am I, that the voice that calmed the sea
Would call out through the rain
And calm the storm in me?

Not because of who I am
But because of what You've done
Not because of what I've done
But because of who You are

I am a flower quickly fading
Here today and gone tomorrow
A wave tossed in the ocean
Vapor in the wind.
Still You hear me when I'm calling
Lord, You catch me when I'm falling
And You've told me who I am
I am Yours.

Not because of who I am
But because of what You've done
Not because of what I've done
But because of who You are

I am a flower quickly fading
Here today and gone tomorrow
A wave tossed in the ocean
Vapor in the wind.
Still You hear me when I'm calling
Lord, You catch me when I'm falling
And You've told me who I am
I am Yours.

I am Yours.
Whom shall I fear?
Whom shall I fear?
'Cause I am Yours
I am Yours.

Sunday, December 5, 2010

White as Snow


Friday there was a buzz around town that we'd get some snow flurries on Saturday. Saturday morning I ran a few errands, hit the treadmill (I'm up to jogging 2.25 miles!), and sat down to check the forecast. I turned around a few seconds later, and saw the first few flurries floating to the ground. Within the hour, the ground was covered with a fresh blanket of snow, and the flakes got bigger and bigger. All in all, we got about 3 inches.

I've mentioned this before, but something about snow just warms my heart (ironic, right?). It's just so magical, and the more I think about it, it really is a beautiful picture of salvation. Snow blankets the ground, making it clean, fresh, pure, and spotless. It covers the mud and muck and dead grass underneath so that all you see is white, and it's the whitest of all possible whites too. That's exactly what the blood of Jesus is for us. His sacrifice covered us in a beautiful, pure blanket of snow to cover all our filthy sins so that all the Father sees when He looks at us is His purity. In fact, Scripture even says in Psalms and Isaiah that we'll be whiter than snow: "Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me and I will be whiter than snow" (Psalm 51:7). "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool" (Isaiah 1:18). So the next time you witness the breathtaking beauty of a snowfall, take a moment to say thank you to the One who covered your sins with His blood.