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Picture of the day -
May 14, 2006
Rhododendrons And A Cross
The beautiful town of Damascus, Virginia
kicked off this years Appalachian Trail Days festival with the annual
town-wide yard
sale. I walked up and down the streets checking everything out, stopping to
take a picture or two whenever I saw something interesting.
As I was walking past the Damascus United Methodist Church I saw the
scene featured in today's picture. The rhododendrons are in full bloom in
our region and these colorful blossoms caught my eye as I walked by. I stopped
to take a look at the flowers and didn't notice the cross right away. When I
finally noticed it I realized how fitting it is in such a setting. It sort of
reminds me of how many of us Americans live our lives.
God has blessed us in many ways. First of all, he gave us the privilege of
living in the most wonderful country on earth. Had we been born elsewhere we
might not be enjoying all the comforts of life that we're accustomed to today.
In fact, we might not be enjoying much of anything at all.
We could be living in abject poverty, struggling constantly just to survive in a
world that is very different than the one we take for granted here in the USA.
Even worse, we could have hordes of genocidal maniacs coming into our towns
looting and raping and killing at will - possibly even with the government's
blessing. There are places on this planet where people live in just such a
world - right now, today. Thank God we live in the United States Of America.
This picture with the cross sort of blending into the background also reminds me
of how many of us Christians tend to live our lives. We live from day to day
enjoying the benefits and peace of mind that go along with being a Christian -
such as knowing that we'll go to heaven when we die - but we don't give much
thought to what Jesus had to go through to give us these benefits - to save our
souls from eternal destruction!
The cross is a very powerful symbol of the pain and suffering that Christ
endured so that we could enjoy eternal life, forever singing His praises in a
paradise so grand that we humans cannot even imagine it. Over 2,000 years ago,
Jesus suffered, bled and died on that old rugged cross to pay for our sins and
save our souls. He arose
three days later and He now sits at the right hand of the
Heavenly Father, just waiting for each and every believer to come and join Him.
It would do us all good to remember what the cross actually means to us and
think about it every time we think of heaven.
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