Yesterday several staff members and I were having a conversation with our visiting preacher, Marcus, about hiking. He and his son were going to take an evening hike so everyone was chiming in with advice, most of which was intended to have a little fun at his expense: watch out for bears, we said; beware of mountain lions, we (only half) kidded. I finally chimed in that there would be no moon out and the night before had been pitch black so they might want to get down before nightfall. Immediately the entire room disagreed with me. “I couldn’t sleep last night, it was so bright!” one said, “I had to put a pillow over my head to fall asleep,” someone else complained. “It says right here on the calendar it is a full moon,” they got all nit-picky factual on me.

Yet when I went to bed the night before, my husband and I had both commented on the blackened sky. Our kids were camping so we noted they would have a particularly dark night. I had no need to pull the blinds in order to block the brightness of a moon. What was going on here?

“The storm,” they all said almost in unison. It had been storming for several hours and when I went to bed at 9:45, it was indeed dark, the moon completely obscured by the dense cloud cover. By the time those young’uns went to bed, apparently, the clouds had dissipated enough to see that the moon was there all along.

I had no choice but to accept that my friends had indeed seen and experienced the moon in all its glory.

Blessed are those who do not see, and yet believe.

It might seem like a silly example of faith — after all, we can experience the moon every single day. Even when it’s hidden from view we know it’s there. And when others tell us they saw the moon, we know this is most likely true because we have experienced it ourselves enough to believe.

Then again, we are offered a chance to experience Jesus each day, too, are we not? 

How are you experiencing Jesus today? How is it changing you? I’d love to hear from you! 

xo

Charla