Monday June 20, 2011

I have been in Colorado, my old stomping ground with my family for the weekend and will be heading back tomorrow. We had the privilege of going up into the mountains of Colorado to experience the beauty of the white-capped Colorado Rockies. We took a picnic and found a lake to park by and eat some delicious sandwiches made my sister and my mother.

During our trip we came across a burned out part of the forest that was the largest fire in Colorado history. The Hayman Fire began to burn June 8, 2002 and wasn’t contained until July 12, 2002. It was a very sad experience as we drove thru miles and miles of burned out forest that exposed the canyons and jagged rocks and steep hills. It seemed surreal to see blackened ponderosa pine, aspen, douglas fir, and Colorado blue spruce. On the surface, the landscape looked dead and like you might find on the surface of the moon. Everything was dead at first glance. But as you looked closer, you began to see new growth starting to emerge from the burned out timbers. In fact, the fire of forest opened up new seed pods from the trees that began to germinate after the water from the snow encircled the seeds. Death from one tree began to open up life for another.

Doesn’t it remind you of something that the Lord did. His death on the cross opened the door for us to experience new life. In the same way, death needs to happen in our lives in order for new life to emerge. We need to recognize our sin and our wrongs in our life in order for God to wash away our sin so the new life and new perspectives can come forth. Our lives can be like the burned out vistas of the Hayman fire of 2002, or we can choose to die to our sinful nature and begin to experience new life in our risen Savior.

On our journey with Him today, we have the opportunity to allow God to burn away the old areas of our lives so that new growth and new perspectives for our relationships and our jobs and our lives can emerge. Choose to die so that you might live.