Through the Mist, To the Stars

 

    Frances and I returned home this morning from visiting with our friend Jay in Maumelle, Arkansas, as mentioned in yesterday's devotional.

 

    We needed to be in Mobile by mid morning today, so we left Maumelle at 11:00 p.m. last night.  The first  75 miles or so was uneventful, and an excellent night for driving.  The weather was clear and very cold, and the traffic was light.  We settled in for an 8-9 drive, unsuspecting of the challenge and blessing that awaited us.

 

    First, the challenge.  Somewhere in southern Arkansas, we drove into an icy fog unlike anything we had ever seen.  Visibility was literally less than 10 feet, and the mist tossed and swirled in a manner that nearly precluded seeing beyond the hood of the car.  Had it been possible, we would have pulled over and not attempted to drive through the gloom.  We were on narrow, backroad highways, however, and there was little room on the shoulder of the roads.  Parking would have been dangerous because the near zero visibility could have caused an oncoming driver to come upon us with almost no forewarning before possibly crashing into us.  To make things more, shall we say, exhilarating, our GPS seemed to be affected by the atmospheric conditions.  Several times, the device either lost its signal, or went haywire with false readings.  We missed a turn at one point and had to backtrack to find a road that was completely invisible until you were right upon it.  The foggy conditions continued for nearly 100 miles, and we rarely were able to move at speeds more than 50 mph.

 

    Then, as suddenly as we drove into the icy shroud, we drove out of it.  You can imagine the relief we felt, and my grip on the wheel loosened as we set forth to freely make our way home.  Again, I've never driven in such conditions, and I hope never to do so again.  I never really felt fear or even much nervousness, but it was a moment by moment challenge to keep my eyes wide open for any object that might appear so quickly that I would have had instantly hit the brakes to avoid a collision.   

 

    After a few minutes of returning to a clear, cold, gorgeous night, Frances noticed through the windshield "how beautiful the stars are."  Since I was driving, however, I couldn't really see the scene she described.  "I'd almost like to stop the car and get out to look at them, " I commented.  "If it weren't so cold, I'd completely agree with you" responded Frances.

 

    I drove on for several minutes thinking about the stars, and then decided that this was an opportunity we couldn't miss.  Frances and I have lived our lives in the ambient light of the city where stargazing allows for very little real vision of the heavens.  In the middle of what seemed like nowhere, however, the only lumination for miles around was the headlights of our car.  I therefore pulled over to the side of the road, and we got of the car into the subfreezing temperatures and the quiet loneliness of a deserted - except for us - country highway.

 

    Then we looked up.  There really aren't words for the sight we beheld.  I'm sure that many of you have seen it.  The sky was literally dusted with stars.  Unlike our city night scenes where you can actually count the pinpoints of visible light, the darkness of a secluded country road unveiled to even the naked eye the vision of what must have been literally hundreds of thousands of stars.  They filled the sky almost like the mist we had just driven through.  The scene was overwhelming, and as tears streamed down our faces, we knew that God has chosen to bless us with an experience of His glory and wonder that we will never forget.

 

     "He made the stars also" (Genesis 1:16).  Seeming almost like an afterthought, Genesis tells us that the luminaries of the night sky are the handiwork of the Christ who declared, "I am the light of the world" (John 9:5).  Believers know this, of course, but appreciation of the glorious wonder requires at least some experience to even begin to fully appreciate.  Interestingly, however, darkness is also required to give us greater awareness of the stars' majesty and Maker.  The blacker the night, the brighter the stars.  For Frances and I last night, a long drive through a foggy, icy mist also provided backdrop for the gallery we were invited to behold.  I think our enjoyment of the starscene was all the more realized because of the challenge we faced in the mist.  Surely there's no need for me to provide spiritual commentary for this blessed suggestion.  You can easily draw your own.  Suffice it to say that we would have driven a thousand miles through that fog to have experienced our five minutes of beholding the firmament that so declares the glory of God.  Or, as the Apostle Paul declared...

 

"I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us."

(Romans 8:18)

"He telleth the number of the stars; He calleth them all by their names" (Psalm 147:4).

 

Visit The Powder Room to read Frances' version of this story.

"Face To Face"

(From the great room of our dear friend Jay Grelen, Maumelle, Arkansas).

 

    We're visiting Jay for a whirlwind trip to record his Christmas book, "The River Whispers Her Name."  We've been reading the book in our family for nearly ten years each season, and recently came up with the idea of producing a CD version.  Originally, Frances was tabbed to read the book, but the narrator of "The River" is male.  It just didn't seem appropriate for her to do so, and who better to do the reading than the author himself? (who has a very nice voice, by the way). 

 

    My history with Jay is very interesting.  He wrote columns for the Mobile Press Register from 1993-1999.  He became a beloved figure in our city during that time, and the mention of his name still brings smiles to faces, and the comment, "I cut out and saved a bunch of his columns when he was here."  Interestingly, Jay and I never met face to face while he lived in Mobile.  We had one brief contact by mail when I responded to a column he wrote about his beloved daughters, Samantha and Rebekah.  We still have his response, "Dear Mr. Davis..."

 

    When Jay and his family left Mobile, I was disappointed, along with a lot of other folks in town.  I found his email address at the Daily Oklahoman in Oklahoma City, where he had taken a position as a columnist.  I wrote Jay to tell him how much we would miss his writing.  And, I did something I have never done before or since.  I asked if he would be interested in receiving the Orange Moon devotionals, which we had just started writing and sending out the year before.  Jay is the only person, other than family, to whom we have ever made that suggestion completely unsolicited (we only send the Orange Moon messages to those who have requested them, or whom a friend has recommended).  Little did I know the blessing of friendship and fellowship in Christ that would result.

 

    As he is to so many, Jay is an inspiration, example, and expression of our Lord's character to us.  Jay is Jay.  What you see is what you get, and what you get is what you see.  That's not something you can say about a lot of people (although let me say that so many of you who read the devotionals fit that bill also).  Jay and I have spent hundreds of hours on the phone, and sent thousands of emails back and forth in the last ten years.  Our face to face time, however, has been limited to perhaps 5-10 hours during his infrequent returns to Mobile over the years.  To have a day in his direct presence, therefore, is a gift of God to me and Frances (who feels the same affection for our dear friend and brother.)

 

    There is an obvious spiritual analogy in this.

 

    "For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face" (I Corinthians 13:12).

 

     One day we shall see our Savior.  We will hear His voice.  We will touch Him, and perhaps even the prints of nails and the wound of a spear.  We will smell His holy fragrance, and in every way, our glorified senses will rejoice in the joy of "face to face"  (as Frances just said, "that's what we have senses for!").  As the old hymn so beautifully expresses, "What a day that will be when my Jesus I shall see!"  The thought is beyond thrilling, and in this brief time with Jay, our Heavenly Father has given us a foretaste of an unspeakably wonderful Day to come.

 

    On the way to Maumelle, Jay and I were talking by phone about our limited face to face time, and how different it would be to have more than a few hours in each other's direct presence.  It goes without saying that it's been as blessed as we expected it to be.  I thank God for the gift of this wonderful time, and again, for the hope and expectation it foreshadows.  We shall see the Lord Jesus face to face, and in that holy moment, every longing and dream of our hearts will be filled and fulfilled forevermore.  What a Day that will be...

 

"For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words."

(I Thessalonians 4:16-17)

 

(Personal note to Jamey: we'll be going back by your route through Memphis, my friend.  There's some dark and lonely stretches of highway between Mobile and Little Rock, especially when traversed in the middle of the night!)

Mercy Received, Mercy Given

 

    Our capacity for mercy flows from our personal reception and realization of God's mercy provided in the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

    "Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful" (Luke 6:36).

 

    To the degree we realize how patient and forgiving our Heavenly Father is to us, we will distribute the same to our offenders.  Recall the servant in the Gospel of Matthew who had been forgiven a great debt, but who would not bestow the same mercy to one who owed him a pittance (Matthew 18:23-35).  The servant had been forgiven what he owed.  His realization of mercy, however, was faulty.  He either quickly forgot or simply didn't appreciate the kindness of his creditor and the vastness of his absolved debt. 

 

    Born again believers in the Lord Jesus Christ require God's ongoing mercy as we live our Christian lives.  In the absolute sense, our sins are forever and irrevocably forgiven.  "Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin" (Romans 4:8).  Concerning our walk with God, however, acknowledging and confessing our transgressions is required for the maintaining of a clear conscious and ongoing communion with God.  "If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another and the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin" (I John 1:7).  Remembering that God delights in mercy, and responding by humble and sincere confession of sin, maintains the awareness of our personal reception of His abundant pardon.  Upon this basis, we then find ourselves able to bestow mercy upon others as the pardon we consciously receive focuses our attention far more upon our own sins than those of others.

 

    The debt owed by other people to us pales in comparison to the sins for which God has forgiven us.  Our Heavenly Father commands that we forgive as we have been forgiven, and He enables us by His indwelling Spirit to "be ye therefore merciful as your Father in heaven is merciful."  Much remembrance of His mercy personally received will go far in much determination and enabling to bestow mercy upon others.  The Lord Jesus is revealed thereby, our hearts are kept in peace, and the Gospel is proclaimed in a spiritually tangible expression that leads others to our God of mercy.

 

"Freely ye have received, freely give."

(Matthew 10:8)