Going green

On Monday, I spent most of the day (again) at Stoney Creek. This time of year is always great for hiking because life is just starting to return to nature. Everywhere you look, colors break the brown and grey monotony of winter.
There's no shortage of "Christian-ese" metaphors between the new birth of Spring and the new birth we have in Christ. But my mind goes there anyway.
There is always new life. There's always a return to Spring, to new things; new hopes, new dreams, new awakenings. If I stop long enough to dwell on the promise we have through Jesus, it leaves me all but speechless. God - all-powerful, perfect and holy - has given us the promise of forever. Winter might come, but it never stays. It never wins.

My grandpa passed away just this past November. It was sudden and shocking. As I was driving back to Nebraska to be with my family, I got this overwhelming sense of God's assurance of forever. Grandpa never talked much about God or Jesus, so I never quite new where he was at. But I remember driving through the cornfields of Iowa feeling absolutely certain that my grandpa's ok. I still remember the warm, peaceful sensation that came over me as I sensed God telling me not to worry. "Grandpa's with me" He seemed to be saying.

Who are we that we get such promises from God? Promises that death doesn't win.
Anyway... Spring always reminds me of that.. that God has promised forever. And it amazes me... everytime...