Good Fog

This week I have been in kind of a fog.  Maybe it’s letdown after finishing up my last class for the year.  Perhaps I’m still in denial about my oldest child turning 24 today and my youngest turning 20 last week.  It could be that the various ministries this week have been pulling my attention in different directions.  Whatever the reason, the week for me has been one where I’ve been watching everything that is happening around me, participating in my part, but all of it in a fog.

 

Fog often gets a bad reputation.  Maybe that’s because fog is always used in the scary part of movies, impedes our driving, and hides hidden obstacles around us.  (A deer, hit by a truck, flew over the front of my car in the fog once.  I didn’t see it until it was right in front of me!)  Fog, though, is used by God all the time to help people in their walk.  The Biblical term, though, is not fog.  It is cloud.

A pillar of cloud led the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt.  A cloud descended on Mt. Sinai to show the Israelites the presence of God.  A cloud let the Israelites know that God was in the tabernacle.  A cloud filled the temple when it was completed.  A tiny little cloud was used as a sign to Elijah.  God confirmed Jesus as His Son from a cloud.  Jesus ascended and was hidden by a cloud.  When Jesus returns, he will come on the clouds.  God has used fog (clouds) for good throughout history.

Why am I rambling on about fog and clouds, then?  Simple.  They remind me of God.  I may not have felt like I had any control over the events of the past week, but I rest knowing that God does.  Everywhere I went, every ministry I participated in, every celebration we had, every good battle we fought, every tear we shed, every paper I wrote for school, and every moment of my children’s lives I thank God for the fog – the reminder that God is there engaging, empowering, equipping, encouraging and loving.  Even fog can be good when it is the presence of God.

We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28 NIV)

Surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. (Matthew 28:20b NIV)