Glorious and Scary
Carol and I traveled to California to celebrate our 50th anniversary in June of 2019. We had a terrific time, and our two daughters, Brit and Janea, and their families went with us.
We left John Glenn International Airport in Columbus with no hitches. The flight seemed long, mainly because I was in the very back row and it was really noisy. I only could see a white wall on my left and a guy going to Minneapolis on my right. The flight was full and I did not get to sit with Carol. The guy and I did talk and that helped. I also read some.
The trip from Minneapolis was, to say the least, eventful. There were storm warnings out all day, and a flight attendant told me there had been tornado sirens going off as well. As it turned out, we had a 2 hour delay, sitting on the plane on the tarmac, waiting for permission to take off.
We finally got that permission, and after we left, things really got interesting. I was by a window this time, next to Carol, and at one point, I looked out my window in time to see a MASSIVE, forked lightning bolt flash off to the North. My response, “Yikes, this is going to be…interesting!”
It was.
The flight was REALLY rough, as storm winds pummeled our plane that now seemed really small by comparison. The pilot tried to get above the storm and at one point wound up at about 37,000 feet, maybe more. It did not help a lot, but we finally made it to San Diego, and good old “terra firma” never felt so welcome.
One scene that I now wish I had taken a picture of was one of those “God specials,” where He seems to work overtime to create something really spectacular. The dark blue storm clouds were beneath us with lightning flashing off and on inside them creating a ghostly scene. The horizon above the clouds was clear and a lighter blue. A breath taking sliver of the moon, looking like a small banana, was just above the horizon seemingly suspended in mid air. I felt small and vulnerable in the tiny (by comparison) steel thing we were in, but I also felt protected by the Lord of All who made all of that, who was probably feeling a flood of creativity. I could envision Him saying, “Hmm…yeah…that’s good; no wait…that’s VERY good!”
It was scary and glorious at the same time. God does that occasionally. My daughter Brit Eaton said it was God showing me a bit of his glory.
I decided to check out some scripture about this. Psalm 19 came to mind first.
“The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.” This is obviously the glory part, which, at the same time, can be a bit scary.
However, we don’t have to recoil in fear as he is also our heavenly Father and we are his children. Just think, our Father made all of this.
Here is a different look at the One who created that breathtaking scene above the clouds. Paul puts it this way:
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.” (2 Corinthians 1:3-4; both scripture quotations from the NIV)
My MVNU students used to hear the words “transcendent and immanent” in church music classes in an attempt to put God into understandable perspective. Of course that is a feeble effort, but we now understand Him to be beyond all time and space, eternal, his own eternity. He is also at our side walking with us as we journey on.
Just think, we are the sons and daughters of the Creator. It does not get any better than that.
Thanks be to God.
