Pale In Comparison

Man, God works in strange ways, eh? Just in the midst of some pondering over how frustrating it is to be in ministry, I got a sobering text message from perhaps the dearest friend I have.

The message was highly personal but it ended with these words: "We need a miracle."

So it is time to pray, again. Time to lift up these souls to the Father. Which means lifting them up out of my personal crap. My family junk. My job frustrations. My lack of motivation to really do anything today. All that is shallow compared to the depth of pain my friends are feeling. So it really isn't that hard to reach up out of the shallow end of hurt, especially when I have finally gotten a glance at how far down the deep end goes.

Lord, I don't know what you think a miracle is. I don't know what your plans are. But I know that you have a clearer vision. Bil was right. The King James version of 1 Cor. 13 is beautiful. Where you have sightlines from eternity, we see through a glass, darkly. Today the glass seems darker, murkier than yesterday. I swing out into faith hanging precariously to the rest of that verse - soon I will be face to face and have the answers. Somehow that has to comfort me, it has to mend the cracks that are fracturing a soul. Knowing now only in part has to be enough, as long as the part I know now is that God holds my friends closer to his heart than I hold to mine.

So, I look through the glass, darkly. I pray and think and wonder and regret and hope all at the same time. Faith is so simple while at the same time it is so intense and difficult. Such a wonderful and terrible mystery. C.S. Lewis was right. Jesus is dangerous. Good, yes. But dangerous too. I forget that too often. Miracles can be scary when they come from a dangerous Savior. But they are always good. And then the glass gets too dark, the only thing to do is close your eyes and wait. Soon enough the miracle will come. And most of the time it never looks like we want it to look.