A few years ago I was catching a flight out of Houston for a business trip. We were having one of those typical Houston winters where it rains every day. After a few weeks you wonder: “Will the sun ever shine again?” It begins to creep into your mood. Well anyway, as the plane climbed upward I was surprised how quickly we broke through the overcast. We were above the clouds and the sun was shining brightly—brightly enough to make me squint. Just a few moments before I was trapped in a reality of clouds and rain, yet the reality was the sun was still shining, I just could not see it.
As I was driving home the other morning from the hospital and considering the reality of my dad’s illness, a song came on the radio. It was Amazing Grace, the one with Chris Tomlin. As I listened to the words and sang along, I realized that my dad would soon be stepping out of the rain, and joy was in my heart. For many years he has not been well. Age has reduced his mobility, and pain has become a consonant companion. But we are promised a new body, and God is true to his promises.
Faith is being certain of what we cannot see. It is not faith if we can see it. 1 Corinthians 13:8-13 speaks of this. “Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
I had once lost faith that the sun was shining until I was in its blinding light. Now when I consider this passage I realize that faith and hope will pass away, because I will see with my own eyes. There will be no need of faith or hope, but love will remain. As I consider the rain in my life now, as I worship, I feel the Son on my soul.
“When we’ve been there ten thousand year, bright shining as the sun, we’ve no less days to sing God’s praise than when we’d first begun.”
Rev. Patrick Evans
