God's Word in Today's Language 
DAILY DEVOTION
2 Corinthians 5:1 "For we know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down--when we die and leave these bodies--we will have a home in heaven, an eternal body made for us by GOD Himself and not by human hands."
I don't know about you, but my body is showing some wear and tear. My hips pop, my elbows sometimes lock, and my knees don't always "do" their job. My eyeballs just required a stronger prescription, and my stomach really doesn't like certain foods anymore (although my taste buds still do!) What's with that? And I'm confused as to how my neck got "spurs"....I don't even have spurs for my horse!
My insides are slowly falling apart...
And so is the outside packaging! My hair is no longer brown with blond highlights, but brown with grayhighlights. Where my lashes and eyebrows have gone to, I do not know! As for my skin, it's beginning to resemble the worn leather on my saddle more than the elastic smooth skin of my youth. No amount of wrinkle cream will reverse the gravitational pull.....I've tried! The "crinkles" are turning into "wrinkles." "Painting the barn" now requires special "paints" that promise to "float" on the surface of my skin. But eventually, even the paints need a life preserver! They alldrown in the cracks around my eyes and the furrows on my forehead by the end of the day! Things are just not what they used to be. I fight this aging process the best that I can, but I know I AM losing this battle....
Praise GOD!
PRAISE GOD!!
PRAISE GOD!!!
This body is TEMPORARY! This body is SHORT-TERM! This body will be REPLACED!!! And my falling apart body reminds me daily of a much better future to come! "We grow weary in our present bodies, and we long for the day when we will put on our heavenly bodies like new clothing. For we will not be spirits without bodies, but we will put on new heavenly bodies. Our dying bodies (these worn-out containers that betray us more everyday!) make us grown and sigh, but it's not that we want to die and have no bodies at all. We want to slip into our new bodies so that these dying bodies will be swallowed up by everlasting life. GOD Himself has prepared us for this, and as a guaranteeHE has given us His HOLY SPIRIT (2 Corinthians 5:2-5).
LORD, I thank you for the years you gave me with this body working pretty well. But I thank you more now, for this body that betrays me! Its shortcomings keep my eyes looking forward to the day that I reach my REAL home, with a body YOU've made specially for me! A body that time will no longer ravage! A body that can keep up with my kids! A body prepared for worshiping YOU forever! A new body for the New Jerusalem! I'm ready, LORD, to soar in that new body to YOU!
"So we are always confident, even though we know that as long as we live in these bodies we are not at home with the LORD. That is why we live by believing and not by seeing. Yes, we are fully confident, and we would rather be away from these bodies, for then we will be at home with the LORD. So our aim is to please HIM always, whether we are here in this body or away from this body" (2 Corinthians 5:6-9).
LORD, falling apart is not fun! I ask YOU to preserve and heal these temporary bodies of YOUR children so we can keep serving, keep bringing glory to YOU. However! YOU know we keep our eyes on YOU better, cling to YOUmore, when our bodies betray us and we have to depend on YOU...YOUR will be done, LORD, not ours. To YOU be the glory! May our falling apart bodies bring YOU the honor YOU deserv