In a Fog

Last night, Penny and I went to Creston, IA for a class that she needed to take for her position as director of Noah's Ark. It is only an hour's drive from Clarinda, not bad at all. Except if the weather is bad. Last night, as we were driving over, the closer we got to Creston, the foggier it became. As we pulled into town, the fog did as well. As I sat there writing while she was learning, I checked on the weather app to see how the weather was going to be for the drive home. The app told me that visibility was not good. In fact it said that in Creston area, it was 894 1/2 feet visibility. Really? And a half foot? Who put that on there? Was that computer generated or did someone have a sense of humor? I laughed to myself.

But then I stopped laughing. Why? Because we still needed to drive home. As we left town, it was very foggy. With Penny's help, I was able to follow the road through twists and turns there by Creston. As we were west of town, the road straightened out and was a little "easier" to drive. Still could not see very far in front of us. All the way home it was that way. Very foggy, unable to see much. It made for a long trip home. We were so happy to make it home safely. Thank the Lord for His angels watching over us.

So what is the point? This is more than just telling you about our drive. I thought about how it is so easy to live in a fog in your life. You might not even be aware that it is taking over your life. You are going along, thinking that you are just fine. Life seems to be going pretty well. Then things start to become a little foggy. And over time, the fog sets in and surrounds your life. It darkens your life, your direction and your thinking. It gets to the point where you can see nothing at all. You are lost in the fog of your life, unable to see where you are going.

Then, the Son breaks through the fog. The Light of Christ comes into your life, showing you where you are to go in your life. His Light breaks through the fog of sin, burning it off so that you can see clearly. All right, so technically it is through the waters of Baptism that our sin is washed away and we are clothed with the robes of righteousness, but allow me to continue with this analogy. His righteousness shines brightly in this dark world, in your dark life! That is the Light of Epiphany shining in the darkness, the Light Isaiah speaks of in Isaiah 60. Yes, the Light of Christ shines through the fogs of sin and brings clear vision and hope for a future.

Struggle as you like, you cannot break through the fog yourself. The car in front of us would put on his high beams and I thought, "Why? That does no good. It actually makes it harder to see." And I thought, that is what we do when we are in our sins. We try to shine brighter and it only makes the fog of sin that much thicker. We can drive slower but the fog is still there. We can creep along in our lives, feeling everything that comes into our lives, only to find that it doesn't give us any freedom or relief. That only comes through the Son, through Jesus Christ.

A foggy drive, a foggy life and the Light of Christ. I give thanks to the Lord as He clears the fog of sin from my life.