Pexels, Paralympic Runner, photograph, Rio, Brazil. https://pixabay.com/photos/action-adult-paralympics-prosthetic-1867014/ QuinceMedia, Gold Gavel, photograph. https://pixabay.com/photos/gavel-auction-hammer-justice-legal-3577258/ Olleaugust, East Frisla Triangle, photograph. https://pixabay.com/photos/east-frisia-triangle-wide-landscape-2313442/ Paralympic Runner - Sanctification When I view this photo it reminds me of how God has me on this race that Paul talked about, and about how we should run to win. It points out to me how insufficient my own abilities are, because sometimes I feel like I have no legs to run on. Praise God that he provides us with what we need to continue on, to be a living sacrifice to him along the way. I am also convicted that although this man may not feel whole and able that he trains intensely with what he does have. His upper body is very cut and it is obvious that he trains. We should do the same as Christians, giving ourselves to Christ, broken as we are, with the hopes of one day being complete again at the end. Gold Gavel - Justification This might seem to be an obvious one, but the sound a gavel makes when it hits the table is final. The final word on the matter is justification, and when God says we are HIS, then that’s that. I cannot fathom God could be the type of Father who adopts us into his family and then would cast us aside. Perhaps we run away from his adoption, from his continued efforts to help us rejoin him and build closeness in the family of God, but whichever way this mystery works out (as there are scriptures which cause Christians to believe both sides of that argument) when God declares us innocent it is powerful, it is perfect, and it is a legal act full of finality (depending on how you view justification, initial or final, full of eternal security or not). East Frisla Triangle - Markers like in Sanctification, ordo salutis vs via salutis This photo and its marker on a hilltop stirs me to reminder of the many different stops and markers along my own faith journey, about the whole ordo / via salutis discussion, and about how messy Christian journeys can be. Markers may look different in the lives of believers, but there are undoubtably markers somewhere, pinpointing moments where these followers of Christ recognized a significance along their journey. In my own life some were praying to accept Christ at five, being baptized at eleven, being challenged at 14, grasping my sinful and selfish heart and the true nature of the gospel in my late teens, and all the milestones of growth and understanding that took place in my years as a vocational minister. This last year has been a marker in and of itself as well, as I struggled to be still in my valley of Cherith (see Elijah's story in 1 Kings 17:3)