10th Day of Lent
One Among Many
"When he came down the mountain, great crowds followed him." Matthew 8:1

With today's devotion we complete the first quarter of the 40 day season of Lent.  I encourage you to continue faithfully on the journey.  Hopefully these daily readings have caused you to think about what it means to be a "Followers of the Cross."

One of the most significant spiritual moments in my life was the first time I went to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area on the Canadian border in Northern Minnesota.  My family never did any camping, so this was my first wilderness camping experience.  I was in 10th grade and the canoe trip was for high school youth from our church.  One clear night we laid out out on the rocks and looked up to the night sky.  I had never seen so many stars in my life.  The youth pastor read from Psalm 8: 3-4.  "When I look at thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast established; what is man that thou art mindful of him, and the son of man that thou dost care for him?"  It was then that I was filled with wonder that God, the Creator of the stars and all the universe, could also personally care about me.  Amazing.

I thought of this while reading today's devotion.  After his teachings in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus had achieved a kind of rock star status.  Great crowds followed him.  He could have allowed his ego to take over, I suppose, and continue preaching to the masses.  Who wouldn't feel good about impressing so many people?  But Jesus doesn't do that.  Instead, he responds to an outsider, a lone leper, who kneels before him and seeks healing.  He doesn't pass by, but focuses on that one person in need.  God the Savior cares about the one.  Amazing.  How good it is to know that God the Creator and Savior cares about the one.  Even me.  Even you.