One of the 13 or so international telescopes on the peak of Hawai’i’s Mauna Kea. at 13000 above sea level, you feel somewhere in between the Earth and the rest of the Universe

“…In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will,  in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory.  And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory”

(Ephesians 1:11-14, NIV)

Life is full of ironies and questions.  Some of them odd and some just plain painful.  Why does one cancer sufferer succumb to their affliction, and another recover to a renewed lease on life?  Why does a lovely, God-fearing, and sacrificial family suffer insane medical crises while other individuals far less concerned about God or others continue on in life unscathed and care free?  Why are we in the West so blessed to be born into our environment of relative ease, comfort, and wealth while someone continents away is born into abject squalor, exploitation, and violence?  These questions haunt me sometimes, because at the end of the day we can’t point to some kind of a “deserving scale” – as if those of us who don’t suffer as badly as others deserve it less.

Ephesians 1 is one of those theologically lofty chapters written by the Apostle Paul.  It can be hard to wade through sometimes, but even at a surface read you can be lifted to this amazing vista on eternity.  Paul seems to write from somewhere above the clouds of the world we know, but below an immense eternity we can’t fathom.  God, who “works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will” is a God who is not just “big picture oriented”, but He’s a God who has given us His Holy Spirit, as a “deposit”, guaranteeing what is yet to come in glory for those who follow Him.

In other words, He knows we have a lot of uncertainty and questions.    He knows our finite minds can’t possibly comprehend the answers to those “Why?” questions.  This is why in the Scriptures He never attempts to answer them.   He only reassures us of how big and powerful He is, and that all these things work in conformity to the purpose of his will.  This is why also He gives us His Holy Spirit.  His very presence in our lives is real, and it provides tangible assurance and transforming power to strengthen us in our weakness.

Charles Spurgeon builds on Paul’s point beautifully:

“In heaven our knowledge will be perfect, but the Lord Jesus himself will be the fountain of it. Dark providences, never understood before, will then be clearly seen, and all that puzzles us now will become plain to us in the light of the Lamb. Oh! what unfoldings there will be and what glorifying of the God of love! … In this world it doth not yet appear what we shall be. God’s people are a hidden people, but when Christ receives his people into heaven, he will touch them with the wand of his own love, and change them into the image of his manifested glory. They were poor and wretched, but what a transformation! They were stained with sin, but one touch of his finger, and they are bright as the sun, and clear as crystal. Oh! what a manifestation! All this proceeds from the exalted Lamb. Whatever there may be of effulgent splendour, Jesus shall be the centre and soul of it all. Oh! to be present and to see him in his own light, the King of kings, and Lord of lords!”  (Morning and Evening, August 3rd, morning)

Regardless of the ironies and the tormenting questions, the Holy Spirit in us reminds us of these realities.  He shows us truly that no pain is wasted, and that God is in control.  In fact, without the Holy Spirit in us to reinforce it, that phrase “God is in control” is just another pithy saying.  I’m so thankful the truth of it is deep, dynamic, and powerful.  And it’s all because of Jesus.

The rest of Ephesians 1 really says it all:

“I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.  And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church,  which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.”
(Ephesians 1:18-23, NIV)

The sun setting from the peak of Hawai’i’s Mauna Kea

 

 For my friend Ben and his family, the past week has been incredibly tumultuous. He has literally been dangling on a thread between life and death. If ever there has been a time when I have seen the tangible effects of God’s people praying, it has been during this week.The other day, Jen posted the following comment on Facebook when Ben was first beginning to emerge from sedation:

“Holding Ben’s hand. Looking deeply into his eyes. Hearing him say I love you. Listening to him repeat My Jesus is my strength…My Jesus is my strength. Seeing him being so thankful to the nurses when they gave him ice. Being reminded that God’s ways are not our ways. Resting in the sovereignty of Our Savior.”

Wow. I hope and pray my life can reflect that kind of grace. To awake from the nightmare of suffering and pain repeating, “my Jesus is my strength, my Jesus is my strength.”. 

 I hope and pray we may embody the words of this final section of Isaiah 40 with the same kind of Holy Spirit-infused confidence in the strength of our God.

“Why do you complain, Jacob?

    Why do you say, Israel,

“My way is hidden from the Lord;

    my cause is disregarded by my God”?

Do you not know?

    Have you not heard?

The Lord is the everlasting God,

    the Creator of the ends of the earth.

He will not grow tired or weary,

    and his understanding no one can fathom.

He gives strength to the weary

    and increases the power of the weak.

Even youths grow tired and weary,

    and young men stumble and fall;

but those who hope in the Lord

    will renew their strength.

They will soar on wings like eagles;

    they will run and not grow weary,

    they will walk and not be faint.”

Playalinda Beach, Titusville FL

Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket,
   or weighed the mountains on the scales
   and the hills in a balance?

Grand Canyon from the South Rim

Who can fathom the Spirit of the Lord,
   or instruct the Lord as his counselor?
Whom did the Lord consult to enlighten him,
   and who taught him the right way?
Who was it that taught him knowledge,
   or showed him the path of understanding?

Napali Coast, Kauai

Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket;
   they are regarded as dust on the scales;
   he weighs the islands as though they were fine dust.

Lebanon is not sufficient for altar fires,
   nor its animals enough for burnt offerings.
Before him all the nations are as nothing;
   they are regarded by him as worthless
   and less than nothing.

With whom, then, will you compare God?
   To what image will you liken him?
As for an idol, a metalworker casts it,
   and a goldsmith overlays it with gold
   and fashions silver chains for it.
A person too poor to present such an offering
   selects wood that will not rot;
they look for a skilled worker
   to set up an idol that will not topple.

Do you not know?
   Have you not heard?
Has it not been told you from the beginning?
   Have you not understood since the earth was founded?

Moonlit sky above the clouds on Mauna Kea – Big Island, Hawaii

He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth,
   and its people are like grasshoppers.
He stretches out the heavens like a canopy,
   and spreads them out like a tent to live in.

He brings princes to naught
   and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing.
No sooner are they planted,
   no sooner are they sown,
   no sooner do they take root in the ground,
than he blows on them and they wither,
   and a whirlwind sweeps them away like chaff.

“To whom will you compare me?
   Or who is my equal?” says the Holy One.

Starry Night from my parent’s backyard in Newland, NC

Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens:
   Who created all these?
He who brings out the starry host one by one
   and calls forth each of them by name.
Because of his great power and mighty strength,
   not one of them is missing…

Sunset from the peak of Mauna Kea – Big Island, Hawai’i

For the next several days, I’d like to just sit and meditate on Isaiah 40.  It has always been one of my favorite passages of Scripture.  The poetry of it is immensely beautiful, but the reality behind it even more stunning.  God is promising restoration to a nation that has backslidden.  But the promises threaded throughout this passage are timeless and relevant to people of suffering of all times, regardless of whether you are backslidden or not.

“Comfort, comfort my people,
   says your God.
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
   and proclaim to her
that her hard service has been completed,
   that her sin has been paid for,
that she has received from the Lord’s hand
   double for all her sins.

A voice of one calling:
“In the wilderness prepare
   the way for the Lord;
make straight in the desert
   a highway for our God.
Every valley shall be raised up,
   every mountain and hill made low;
the rough ground shall become level,
   the rugged places a plain.
And the glory of the Lord will be revealed,
   and all people will see it together.
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

A voice says, “Cry out.”
   And I said, “What shall I cry?”

“All people are like grass,
   and all their faithfulness is like the flowers of the field.
The grass withers and the flowers fall,
   because the breath of the Lord blows on them.
   Surely the people are grass.
The grass withers and the flowers fall,
   but the word of our God endures forever.”

You who bring good news to Zion,
   go up on a high mountain.

You who bring good news to Jerusalem,
   lift up your voice with a shout,
lift it up, do not be afraid;
   say to the towns of Judah,
   “Here is your God!”
See, the Sovereign Lord comes with power,
   and he rules with a mighty arm.
See, his reward is with him,
   and his recompense accompanies him.

He tends his flock like a shepherd:
   He gathers the lambs in his arms
and carries them close to his heart;
   he gently leads those that have young…”

County Shannon Ireland – rich pasture land in Western Ireland. Sheep and cows are seen regularly on these hills

Sunrise view from Chilhowee Mountain Retreat in Tennessee – looking over the Smokies. It was a powerful reminder that “His mercies are new every morning…”

It was an incredibly long day yesterday for Ben and his family.  A nearly 12 hour surgery that the doctor described being “difficult” and at times “hairy”.  Not two words you want to hear from your surgeon.  On her facebook page, Jenn commented late last night – “Just saw Ben a little while ago….so many wires, tubes, etc. but he is alive.”  Ben is not out of the woods and there are critical days ahead.  And so much uncertainty about the future.  Please continue your prayers for this family.  Ben needs a miraculous touch, he needs all of his organs to begin functioning again, he needs permanent healing.  His family needs the kind of assurance that can only come from the Spirit of God, Himself.

Another devotional I had read yesterday reminded me of Psalm 147, which has a promise I felt was completely relevant to not only Ben’s condition, but to many suffering people I know.

From the ends of the earth I call to you,
    I call as my heart grows faint;
    lead me to the rock that is higher than I.
For you have been my refuge,
    a strong tower against the foe.

As I write this entry early in the morning, a good friend of mine prepares for surgery.  It is his second reconstructive heart surgery in about a month.  For a 37 year old, this is unimaginable.  The emotional, spiritual, psychological, and physical roller coaster Ben, Jenn, and their entire family have hoped was slowing towards an end is in fact ratcheting up for another round, almost as if its operator is asleep in the booth. At least, that’s how it can seem.

For Ben, the moments ahead are intensely fragile. He is completely in God’s hands. Like a leaf swirling in uncertainty. Like the faint hearted psalmist above, Ben and his family need the Lord to lead them “to the rock that is higher than I”. Would you join me in prayer this morning for God to literally extend the years of Ben’s life? To be a very present and real refuge to his wife and kids. Would you pray with me for God to literally create a new heart within Ben?

Father, in this universe there is nothing that surprises you or catches you off guard.  You are Sovereign and you are Good.  We feel so harassed by our circumstances, fragile, dizzied, and out of control.  Would you rescue and sustain, heal and restore, strengthen and renew Ben and his family?  Would you supernaturally do what doctors imagine is impossible, that we, together with all your saints who have fought and struggled in the faith, would glorify your name and tell the world of the wonders you’ve done.  Would you do this in the lives of every faint and battered heart that may read these words – showing yourself Great, showing yourself Loving, and showing yourself Good.  We put our trust in you, King of the Universe – we love you.   In the powerful name of Jesus,

Amen

Growing up in the Pacific Northwest, I can make a claim most can’t who grew up on the East Coast – I had a redwood tree in my backyard.  Redwoods are amazing trees.  My mom often tells the story about me and my friends climbing up in that towering tree.  On one particular afternoon, she was walking beside our house and heard my voice call out “Hi Mom!  I’m up here!”.  To her terror, I had climbed nearly to the top of that tree, to the place where the limbs get conspicuously narrow and flimsy.  I vaguely recall the sway of the top of the tree, and thinking nothing of it.

When I look back on that crazy climbing feat, I wonder first what possessed me as a child to climb to the top of that tree.  Second, I wonder just how I managed to do it without becoming paralyzed by fear.  I think the answer is simple….I never looked down!  There was one goal on my mind:  reaching the top.

Sometimes our lives are filled with grief, suffering, and severe emotional strain.  It’s like we’re climbing an enormous tree in the hope that the top offers salvation, or at the very least perspective enough to understand why the suffering.  But that top can seem an eternity away.  And the higher we claim, the more paralyzing the prospect of losing our grip and falling to oblivion.

When Tina and I visited the West Coast again in 2007, we had the opportunity to drive through the Redwood National Forest.  Tina had never seen the West Coast, and had never seen trees this enormous.  I have to admit, even having grown up in the NorthWest seeing the immensity of these ancient trees humbled me.  It was awe-inspiring.

And though the redwood tree in my backyard was nowhere as massive as these majestic beauties, gazing up I remembered my courage as a child, and now, as an adult, thinking how such a feat was unthinkable.  “I’d never make it to the top of that tree” I thought.  And from the base I was overwhelmed by a sense of my smallness.

I suppose that’s a good place to start, however.  Reminded of our smallness, and by comparison the utter Greatness of God.  God was the designer, the planter, and the sustainer of these trees.  And like these trees, our suffering, which can seem as endlessly tall and unscalable, need not intimidate us or paralyze us with fear and doubt.  God calls us to climb, keeping our eyes fixed on Him.  Looking up constantly gives us the strength to grapple one limb at a time, to ignore what’s below and behind and keep focused on the end.  And with every inch we climb, we get nearer to that end.  Keeping our eyes on Christ reminds us that He is the creator of the tree, and strange as it sounds, there is security in that tree as we ascend higher in His strength.  For His glory is found there, in the most treacherous and stressful points of our climb.  This is how majestic and great our God is – He can make even the turmoil of our lives shine His glory, and bring Him praise.

I wonder if this isn’t part of the picture Isaiah paints in Isaiah 55:

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
    neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the Lord.
“As the heavens are higher than the earth,
    so are my ways higher than your ways
    and my thoughts than your thoughts.
As the rain and the snow
    come down from heaven,
and do not return to it
    without watering the earth
and making it bud and flourish,
    so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,
so is my word that goes out from my mouth:
    It will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire
    and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.
You will go out in joy
    and be led forth in peace;
the mountains and hills
    will burst into song before you,
and all the trees of the field
    will clap their hands.
Instead of the thornbush will grow the juniper,
    and instead of briers the myrtle will grow.
This will be for the Lord’s renown,
    for an everlasting sign,
    that will endure forever.”

(From Isaiah 55, NIV)

Isaiah was prophetically writing this to a national audience that would experience the severest suffering imaginable.  Yet, God was promising that for those who returned to Him, and who kept their eyes upon Him through the harsh suffering, He was going to bring a miraculous restoration – “Instead of the thornbrush will grow the juniper…”.

That tree of suffering that you are climbing – it has an end, and it has a top from which you will be able to finally see things not viewable from below.  But perhaps the greatest miracle in that climb is that as you keep your eyes on Christ who calls you upward, you will find that tree breaking into song beneath you, clapping its hands and reminding you of the unfathomable greatness and love of God.

Tina standing in the “Chandelier Tree” – a tree through which you can drive a small vehicle.

“Thus says the Lord God: “I myself will take a sprig from the lofty top of the cedar and will set it out. I will break off from the topmost of its young twigs a tender one, and I myself will plant it on a high and lofty mountain. On the mountain height of Israel will I plant it, that it may bear branches and produce fruit and become a noble cedar. And under it will dwell every kind of bird; in the shade of its branches birds of every sort will nest. And all the trees of the field shall know that I am the Lord; I bring low the high tree, and make high the low tree, dry up the green tree, and make the dry tree flourish. I am the Lord; I have spoken, and I will do it.”
(Ezekiel 17:22-24)

This curious passage from Ezekial is part of a larger parable God gives Ezekial regarding God’s judgment on King Zedekiah of Judah – and the people of Judah by proxy.  For more information on the parable itself and its meaning, check out this brief explanation at Bible Gateway.

To distill the whole scenario down a bit, Judah’s leadership had wholesale ignored all of God’s prophets and their prophetic warnings regarding Judah’s need to repent of all its bloodshed, idolatry, injustice, licentiousness, and outright disregard for God.  Leading up to the Babylonian captivity and exile, Judah’s morality had ebbed to its lowest point, striking rock bottom, and permanently breaking its moral compass.  Instead of simply turning to Yahweh, repenting, and embracing His covenant again, Judah’s leaders felt they could negotiate their own course to peace with Babylon.  When it was obvious that wasn’t possible, they (Zedekiah) turned to the Pharaoh of Egypt instead for military support, a move which would ultimately cost him the kingdom, and his very life.  When, all along, God was beckoning him, and all of Judah, to repent and to trust in His wisdom.

It’s extremely sad….tragic really, when in duress we choose to run to every other human resource imaginable instead of the reliable, compassionate, strong arms of our Holy God and King.

And despite this sad state of affairs for Zedekiah and the unrepentant masses of Judah, God still brings a promise.  He will swoop down as the ultimate Eagle, break off His own sprig, and plant it on a high and lofty mountain.  It will become a dwelling for every type of bird and a shade for all who are harassed and “lowly” in spirit.   This is a messianic prophecy and that “tender shoot” planted by God’s design in the driest, most unlikely mountain dwelling is none other than Jesus Christ.

I believe this Ezekial parable has two messages for us today:

First, it’s never too late to turn to Christ in repentance.  The worst thing we can do is trust in our own cleverness, resourcefulness, or strength.  It is our nature to try to run to human powers, institutions, and game plans when life gets challenging instead of running immediately to God.  This was Judah’s devastating tendency, and it continues to be ours today.   Whatever you are facing, before you consider anything else, run to God and His mercies.  His strength and wisdom is ultimate and unending.  He may lead you to pursue help from human resources or institutions, but if you don’t start with Him you’ll miss the path He intends for you.

Second, Christ is that tree planted on the heights (the desolate, unexpected places) that beyond comprehension or explanation, becomes a life-giving shelter and resource of strength to all the weary and beaten-up in spirit who flock to His branches.  I find that comforting.  God didn’t plant Him in the middle of the most fertile valley or by an Oasis – as if He was a desert mirage – but He is right there present in the midst of our desolate places and life experiences.  Isaiah prophetically described Him as a man accustomed to suffering, bruised and afflicted for our iniquity.   All for our redemption.  Jesus suffered, and that brings us great comfort, because He KNOWS suffering, and He KNOWS bitterness of soul.  But He also knows victory, resurrection, and redemption.

With a Savior like this, why would we ever run to an inferior worldly or human alternative?  Today, whatever it is you are suffering, whatever affliction you bear, run to God first, cry out to Christ and find shelter in His sturdy, weather-worn, resilient, and life-giving branches.

Wind Blown Trees on South Point, Big Island Hawaii

On our 15 year anniversary trip to Hawaii in 2013, Tina and I spent some time touring around South Point on the Big Island (Hawai’i).  At the very southernmost part of the island, which is also the southernmost point of the United States, these wind-formed trees caught my attention.  Evidenced by the numerous wind turbines dotting the landscape, this southern point of Big Island is consistently one of the windiest parts of Hawaii .  What was amazing to me was how the trees formed on this portion of the island all grew in contour to the wind gusts they had to withstand.  That said two things to me:  they were flexible, and they had really strong roots.

We often are called to face turbulence in this life that it seems impossible to withstand.  Yet, when we have put our hope and trust in Jesus Christ, and have filled our lives with His Word,  two things happen.  First, we grow spiritual roots that anchor us deeply in good, strong, and gripping soil.  These are roots we don’t typically see (being beneath the surface) but whose powerful evidence are felt most acutely when our spiritual muster is being challenged.  Second, because of those roots, we don’t just withstand the wind, we actually grow in it and in spite of it.  The Apostle Paul describes this spiritual phenomenon in 2 Corinthians –

“But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body. … Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” (2 Corinthians 4:7-11,16-18, NIV)

It is the very life of Christ in you that gives you resilient roots, that courses life-giving sap through every limb and branch, and that molds you into something unexpectedly beautiful in the face of harsh, unrelenting wind.  The conditions are rarely something we’d willfully choose for ourselves, but in God’s gracious and sovereign wisdom He uses them to shape us, and He uses that miraculous renewing and sustaining work in us to prove to the world He is real.

“For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”

The Space Shuttle Discovery on display at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Dulles, VA.

For those of us who grew up in the 1980s, the events of the morning of January 28th, 1986 will remain etched in our memory forever.   At 11:38 AM EST, the Space Shuttle Challenger disintegrated in a horrible cloud of smoke and debris over the Atlantic Ocean.  I still remember the look on my 6th grade teacher’s face as she came into our room and said “…there’s been a horrible accident at NASA in Florida”.

One survey estimated that 17% of Americans had witnessed the launch (largely because of the presence of Christa McAuliffe, the first teacher in space), and approximately 85% of Americans had become aware of the explosion within an hour.  Media coverage was extensive and it was heavy in our national consciousness for months to come.  Ronald Reagan was scheduled to give his State of the Union Address that evening, and delayed it to instead offer a nationally televised address from the Oval Office regarding the Challenger disaster.  He ended his speech with a quote from the poem “High Flight” by John Gillespie Magee, Jr. that still gives me chills when I read it:

“We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they prepared for their journey and waved goodbye and ‘slipped the surly bonds of Earth’ to ‘touch the face of God.’”

For those who lived and worked in and around Cape Canaveral and Titusville (the “Space Coast”), they recall a period of depression that fell on the region.  Businesses closed, people walked away from their homes, a feeling of reproach and shame settling like a heavy, poisonous fog.  It would take almost 32 months (the amount of time the shuttle program was put on hiatus) to break out of the fog.

At a personal level, life sometimes confronts us with our own Challenger disasters.  It might be a sudden and devastating loss of a loved one, a hopeless health diagnosis, a natural disaster, or a personal betrayal that knocks the wind out of you.  One thing all such disasters have in common is that their effects linger and often precipitate extended periods depression, doubt, and hopelessness.

In Isaiah 41, God is speaking through Isaiah to a future Israel that has experienced the rebuke of God and is living in desolation.   He promises:

“But you, Israel, my servant,
   Jacob, whom I have chosen,
   you descendants of Abraham my friend,
I took you from the ends of the earth,
   from its farthest corners I called you.
I said, ‘You are my servant’;
   I have chosen you and have not rejected you.

So do not fear, for I am with you;
   do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you;
   I will uphold you with my righteous right hand...

“…The poor and needy search for water,
   but there is none;
   their tongues are parched with thirst.
But I the Lord will answer them;
   I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.
I will make rivers flow on barren heights,
   and springs within the valleys.
I will turn the desert into pools of water,
   and the parched ground into springs.

I will put in the desert
   the cedar and the acacia, the myrtle and the olive.
I will set junipers in the wasteland,
   the fir and the cypress together,
so that people may see and know,
   may consider and understand,
that the hand of the Lord has done this,
   that the Holy One of Israel has created it.”

(Excerpts from Isaiah 41, NIV)

The Space Shuttle Discovery (pictured above at the Smithsonian Institute’s National Air and Space Museum at Dulles, outside Washington DC), was the shuttle which brought the NASA shuttle program back from despair, launching its “Return to Flight” mission on September 29, 1988.  Many of the lessons learned in the wake of the Challenger tragedy were implemented in the preparation and launch of the Discovery.  Months and years of determination, perseverance, and humble reflection paved the way for success  once again.  With its “Return to Flight” mission, a new hopeful chapter in NASA’s space program had opened.

For us, life is often a Challenger to Discovery journey… or maybe a sequence of Challenger to Discovery journeys.  Tragedy becomes hope-fulfilled, loss becomes life-renewed, and failure becomes triumph.  It isn’t easy and isn’t quick, and the journey is filled with many tears, desperate cries, and forlorn longings.  But, if you are in Christ, His goodness wins in the end.  He will restore you, He will give you hope again, and He will give you peace in all the in-betweens.

It’s an interesting footnote that I didn’t realize until recently – Discovery didn’t just help resurrect NASA from failure and loss after Challenger.  Discovery did it again after the Columbia tragedy in 2003, launching its second “Return to Flight” mission on July 26, 2005.

Whether this is the first tragedy for you, or the second, third, or twenty third, God is faithful.  He will return you to flight.   Take strength from His promise:

“So do not fear, for I am with you;
   do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you;
   I will uphold you with my righteous right hand…”

The Space Shuttle Discovery on display at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Dulles, VA.