The flames pushed high into the night sky, inching their way from the base to the top of the spire. Voices gasped, hearts stopped. A beautiful monument was crumbling before our eyes.
Standing on the perimeter, watching across the ocean, unable to help or save. It looked like a lost cause, now smoldering, broken, stripped of her glory, ravaged by the fires of hell.
Can she be saved? Some throw money at her brokenness, others offer opinions on her fate, all that was treasured has been removed.
Now the morning light reveals a ray of hope. The cross shines bright.
This is Notre Dame 2019.
Have the fires of hell ravaged your life? Are you damaged, smoldering, raped of treasures and value? Do you feel like a lost cause about which others have opinions or who try to throw money to ease your pain?
You may feel hard pressed on every side, perplexed, persecuted and struck down, but there is one who has come and given himself to restore.
Not a patchwork fix, but a complete restoration.
This is our state as a result of Easter.
In Christ we may face trials and troubles, but we are not crushed, without hope, nor abandoned or destroyed. We are new creations through the sacrifice of Jesus on that good, good Friday.
So, now we can say, “we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.”*
The beauty and power of the cross shine so much stronger in the debris of Notre Dame than in its majesty. This is how he shines through us — damaged by this world of sin, but shining in newness of life through Christ Jesus our Lord.
This is the hope and power of Resurrection Sunday. It is through our fallibility that his infallibility shines the greatest to the Glory of God.
He is Risen! He is Risen indeed!
Grace and Peace
*2 Corinthians 4:7 (NIV).
Picture: Christophe Petit Tesson/Pool via Reuters.
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Egypt