Walking on the Clouds

Our family spent time last week in the Smokey Mountains of North Carolina. We stayed in Maggie Valley, a little village nestled in the beauty of the Smokies. This was a nostalgic trip in that our kids grew up vacationing here in the 80’s. The temperatures were great 50’s, 60’s, 70’s and the mountain air was refreshing. We stayed in the house of our dear friends Harold and Judy Vick and every day we walked on the clouds. The picture is from my Iphone early one morning.

Walking in mountains is an adventure. We exercised as a family – up and down the steep hills of the mountain roads. Walking down hill was much easier but the view from climbing to the top was amazing. Like life, we all enjoy the downhill – when our steps are much easier (as long as you don’t go too fast). Up hills are challenging and take your breath away, but the view from the top is worth it all.

I have been doing a lot of thinking and praying about my good friends, Greg and Cathe Laurie, whose 33 year old son, Christopher, died in a car accident July 24. Christopher is in Heaven but his family is hurting. Faith is strong but the grief is great. So while reading Oswald Chambers July 29, I saw this…

“Behold, He cometh with clouds.” Rev. 1:7

In the Bible clouds are always connected with God. Clouds are those sorrows or sufferings or providences, within or without our personal lives, which seem to dispute the rule of God. It is by those very clouds that the Spirit of God is teaching us how to walk by faith. If there were no clouds, we should have no faith. “The clouds are but the dust of our Father’s feet.” The clouds are a sign that He is there. What a revelation it is to know that sorrow and bereavement and suffering are the clouds that come along with God! God cannot come near without clouds, He does not come in clear shining. It is not true to say that God wants to teach us something in our trials: through every cloud He brings, He wants us to unlearn something. His purpose in the cloud is to simplify our belief until our relationship to Him is exactly that of a child. Is the relationship between myself and God getting simpler than ever it has been?

Greg Laurie and I talked by phone about “unlearning some things.” Jesus comes in the clouds when we look for Him only. Life is more simple in suffering and finally the only thing that matters is knowing and loving Jesus.

The last evening in the mountains, we had a campfire with our family. We roasted marshmallows, made s’mores, and had a time of prayer. I reminded our kids of the importance of obeying Christ in all things that we may glorify Him. Also, of holding one another close because you never know when you might say goodbye. So, it’s been good walking on the clouds and seeing with clearer eyes the simplicity of our faith, the importance of family, and the joy of serving Christ.