I guess we ought to just blame it on El Niño, everything else is these days. We’ve settled into the wet, misty, foggy routine in Austin, Texas. Warmer than usual, rainier than usual, and foggy a whole bunch of the time. Gray days and misty nights blend seamlessly together.

    For somebody that really needs the sunshine, it’s a real bummer. When it occurs on Sunday, especially as foggy as it this week and people can’t see across the street, the Father and I have a little talk. I think the Opposition just likes to give the fair weather folks an opportunity to bail out to see if they will. I try to convince the Father, he can overrule the Bad Weathermaker and bless us with a great day of sunshine. When I have the audacity to have such a conversation, the Father nearly always teaches me a powerful lesson, usually doing it much more graciously than my presumption deserves.

    As I carefully made my way through the fog to share in our three worship services, I reminded myself that the sun was still shining above the fog. “Great Heartlight idea,” I congratulated myself, “Above the Fog the Sun is Shining.” The Father had bigger things in mind than a Heartlight idea.

Lives were changed, hearts were touched, and the Son was shining.

    I was fretting because I knew attendance would be down and people would be late because the driving conditions were horrible. I was right… kinda. Attendance wasn’t that bad and people weren’t that late. But I was right about the main thing, I just didn’t know how to spell it—the Son was still shining above the fog.

    We had one of those days when God’s presence is real, the Spirit takes control, and the Lord Jesus grabs a hold of people’s hearts. The services were long! Real long!! Not planned that way, but then God had other plans. Lives were changed, hearts were touched, and the Son was shining. It was exhaustingly glorious.

    Yes, when it’s foggy outside, the sun is still shining above the fog. That’s what all of us sun fanatics rely on—the sun will eventually burn through the fog and we’ll have a beautiful day. But there is a far more important reality for us as believers: above the fog of our lives, the Son is shining. You see, he’s waiting for just the right moment to break through into our world and bring us The Beautiful Day—The Day when he returns to share his glory with us. But every now and then, sometimes when we expect it and sometimes just as a gift of his incredible grace, the Son comes and burns through our fog and blesses us with the grace of his presence. Why? Because he wants to remind us that above the fog of our lives, the Son is still shining!

    So what’s there to say? “Marana-tha! Come O Lord.” But until then, we’ll just keep singing “Shine, Jesus, shine!”