Chronicles of Running: Week 5 (A Covering)

During my fifth week of training last week, I ran one day when it began snowing. It was definitely not a windy West Texas snowstorm. It was a beautiful, graceful downfall of the biggest snowflakes I had ever seen. It wasn't cold and the only difficult part was that the snowflakes kept getting in my eyelashes and limited my ability to see where I was going. Earlier in my run, before it began to snow, I looked for my view of Pikes Peak that I love to marvel at every chance I get. It never gets old to look at the mountains, and the same view looks different depending on the weather or time of day. On this particular afternoon, the clouds completely concealed any trace of a mountain. It amazes me that something as thin and fragile as clouds, made of water vapor, can cover an enormous mountain. As I made my way through this dreamlike curtain of falling snow that spread as far as I could see, I began to think about the covering of grace that God offers us.

The next morning, as we drove to church, the snow had covered everything overnight. It was what I imagine it would be like to drive through a winter wonderland. It was unique because there wasn't a thick layer, and there were not inches of snow on the ground. There was just enough to make absolutely everything completely white. It was a 'just enough' layer. It made tree branches, hills and rooftops look so different, and the shapes and details were transformed into something beautiful and new under the covering. 

It's like grace over our sins, grace for the moment. He gives us just enough to make us beautiful, pure and righteous in God's eyes. We need it everyday and often multiple times a day. In fact, that afternoon it was already beginning to melt away and the next morning it was gone. Like manna from heaven, we have to depend on God's grace moment by moment and a lot of times that's all He gives us...enough for the moment. The wonderful thing about grace is that it doesn't just cover our sins where they are hidden but still there, but it washes them away and we are without blemish. You see, we don't need more and more grace for the same sins from the past. We need new grace, because through our shortcomings, we have a new need for fresh grace. Sometimes it feels like the sin is too big or I've messed up too many times. This was just another reminder that if God can use a cloud to cover a massive rock, He can wash away sin. 

"...though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow." 

Isaiah 1:18