February 16, 2009

Above the Storm

Years ago we were returning from home from Denver on a calm winter day. The sky was brilliant blue and not a cloud in sight. As we came out of the mountains the far reaching highway of South Park was overlaid with a blanket of white. For as far as you could see there was a thick fog settling on the valley floor. My mom slowed down going into the fog, but ten seconds into the white mass we discovered we were in a white-out ground blizzard. Around the windows of the passenger side the snow sand-blasted its way into the car. Although we couldn’t see anything out the windshield, if I looked straight down the passenger’s side of the car I could tell my mom where the yellow line was. Amazingly a semi-truck passed us and we were then able to follow him out of the storm. His secret to the navigating the blizzard was that the cab of his truck was right above the snow line. While we were blinded, he had clear vision. When I’m in a life blizzard I need to be reminded that from God’s perspective there is blue sky.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Gail;
God provides at least a connection with that blue sky, if it is His purpose. I think we all can provide examples of instances where He evidently allowed a certain disconnect. On the Million Dollar Highway is a monument to a preacher and his family who all became disconnected from the blue sky and were swept to the bottom of the canyon in an avalanche. I’ve done work for His children who have become financially disconnected from the blue sky. I’ve known some whose health has become disconnected.
The blue sky is tricky. Paul said we see dimly as through a mirror. In the early 1970’s, I was traveling over Vail pass shortly after midnight. I had been in a near white out blizzard for the better part of an hour. I could see ten to fifteen feet into the storm, but that was all. The snow accumulation was over four feet, and the snow plows had left a wall of snow along the shoulder of the road. I was on my way to Missouri, and I wanted to make good time. So I used the snow-bank as my guide and pushed my luck to twenty miles an hour or so, until the snow bank burst into my lights in front of me! I was fast on that steering wheel! I was able to get my old Ford started into a skid so I wouldn’t just knife into the bank. Good enough! We bounced off it like a billiard ball, and after swapping sides a couple more times I finally regained control on the road and aimed in the right direction. So why stop? I kept going like nothing happened, but a whole lot more educated. Blue sky is still an element of this fallible world, and it’s benefit is limited by the context in which you find it. But God gives enough of it to direct us as He needs.

Love you all,
Steve Corey