From The Pastor's Desk....
By Hal Polk, BraceBeagling 
February 02, 2006

February, 2006:

I write this on one of the rare but beautiful days in a Michigan winter. The air is crisp, the ground is covered with new-fallen snow and the sun is shining. It's the kind of day that lifts one's spirit and--if he is a believer--creates in him a joyful sense of thanksgiving.

Underneath the snow is the drab, bleak Michigan countryside. If it weren't for the snow, everything it now covers would be disinteresting if not unattractive.

I'm reminded of how God in Christ has covered the blackness of our character with the brightness of Christ's righteousness and "whited out" His own record of our sins!

Now when God looks at us He sees not the reality of our deeply flawed nature and lives, but the beauty of the holiness of His own Son, imputed to us.

I find myself thinking of this each time I feel the invigorating chill of the air blowing across the snow made dazzling by the bright light of the sun.

May God bless you as you rejoice in His mercy!