Key Bible Verse: "This is our God. We trusted in him, and he saved us. This is the Lord, in whom we trusted" (Isaiah 25:9). Bonus Reading: Psalm 18:1-3, 30-33

Sixty miles or so up the sunshine coast from Vancouver is the Stawamus Chief, a 2,000-foot-high vertical slab of smooth granite popular with rock climbers. On summer days, they are spread out across its face in varying levels of ascent. Looking up from the valley floor with my naked eye, the climbers appear to be improbably exempt from gravity. But with my binoculars, I can see that each climber is equipped with ropes and carabiners and pitons.

I've listened to my sons—both climbers—plan their ascents. They meticulously plot their route and then, as they climb, put in what they call "protection"—pitons, sturdy pegs constructed from a light metal, hammered into small crevices in the rock face, with attached ropes that will arrest a quick descent to death.

Our protection comes as we remember and hold on to times when we've experienced God's faithfulness in our lives. Every answered prayer, every victory, every storm that has been calmed by His presence is a piton which keeps us from falling, losing hope, or worse yet, losing our faith. Every piton is a steppingstone in our ascent toward our ultimate goal of finishing the race and receiving the crown of glory.

—Eugene Peterson in The Unnecessary Pastor

My Response: A piton of God's faithfulness that can anchor me as I inch upward is …

Thought to Apply: All I have seen teaches me to trust the Creator for all I have not seen.—RALPH WALDO EMERSON (author)

Adapted from The Unnecessary Pastor (Eerdmans, 2000) by permission.

Prayer for the Week

Lord, You've never let me down in my past. So help me to really rely on You for my present and future.

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