Chased by a Chihuahua

A cup of coffee in one hand and her Bible in the other, Kalpana padded out onto the porch in her slippers to watch the sunrise. She sat down and took a noisy slurp of coffee, then leaned back and listened as a light breeze rustled through the trees. It was still dark, but a purple glow was beginning to form just above the horizon. She looked up at the night sky that would soon be lost to the rising sun, scanning the stars until she found it—a small dot emitting a warm, bluish light. Earth.

Kalpana took another long sip of coffee and gazed at her home planet with heavy eyes. She wasn’t used to these Martian days yet. She’d often wake up before sunrise, groggy yet unable to go back to sleep. Maybe she was jet-lagged. How long would it take her body to acclimate to a new planet millions of miles away from her old one?

The blue dot began to fade as dawn grew closer. Kalpana could now see trees and plants dotting the plain that stretched into the distance before curving up into a small mountain range. The dirt had a reddish tint to it, but other than that, it didn’t look much different from Earth. Of course, all the trees and plants on Mars had originally come from Earth, brought here generations ago to pump oxygen into the newly created atmosphere. It had taken hundreds of years to terraform the red planet and make it habitable for humans. Now it was a new world, and Terran pioneers were leaving their overcrowded blue planet and flocking to this new paradise. But Kalpana knew it wasn’t really paradise. Even though she loved her new home, she knew this world was just as sinful and broken as Earth. Here, people still lied, stole, and hurt one another. They still fought and suffered and died.

As the small Martian sun finally peeked over the horizon, Kalpana picked up her Bible and began to read about another new world—one that would be truly perfect. • Courtney Lasater

• What will the world be like when Jesus returns and establishes His eternal kingdom?

• We can’t bring about that perfect world ourselves—only Jesus can do it. But through the power of His Spirit, we can help make this world more like that one. What can you do now to point others to God’s grace and redemption and bring renewal to this broken world? (Ask Him.)

He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away. Revelation 21:4 (NIV)

Read Verses:

2 Timothy 2:22-26; 1 Peter 5:8-9