Restored and made like new

I am the recipient of a miracle today. Not the kind of miracle where some3one is cured of cancer or something truly noteworthy. It only involves the restoration of some lost photos on my digital camera.

While I was in Australia I inadvertently erased about twenty five pictures I had taken at the Tarango Zoo. It is funny because half way through the day I asked myself if I was taking too many pictures. I shrugged it off with the realization that this was a one shot deal for me. I would never be there again. So even if I got some shots that were not particularly memorable, it didn't hurt to have them. That is also the beauty of digital photography. You don't pay for what you don't print.

Well, later that night I came home exhausted and was going through my pictures. I noticed one shot that was quite blurry and decided to delete it. The next morning I went to look at the photos and they were all gone. I deduced that in erasing that one, I must have erased all of them by accident. I was heart sick.

The pictures were gone forever... but then I had a thought. I quickly emailed my friend Matthew and asked if he knew of any program that could resurrect my images. The next day my answer came. He sent along a little freeware program that was sure to do the trick if I hadn't taken too many photos afterwards and corrupted my disk.

Last night, shortly after I got homer from my trip, I finally had a chance to check it out. This little program recaptured most of the photos in miraculous fashion.

As I looked at the pictures of kangaroos, Tasmanian devils, elephants and lizards, I suddenly thought about Jesus and the way he saves those who are lost. I know. I am a preacher and everything comes back to Jesus. But it is true. I have lived long enough to see some people who the world had given up on come back and find new life. I have known people who felt that their life was over only to see it begin again.

The truth of the gospel is that God can take that which is lost and forgotten and turn it around and restore it like new. Looking at these pictures is an affirmation of what God can do. He does it even better than this program for he brings us back into a perfect relationship with him as if we never strayed or sinned. He makes us like new again.

Praise God. Cal