Foggy Mountain Breakdown

I’m on the porch this morning looking into a beautiful 180 degree view of . . . fog. I can see about 30 feet in front of my face and that’s about it. 

However, just 10 hours ago, I was sitting on this same porch with a dear friend, having a wonderful conversation and enjoying a spectacular sunset on top of a seemingly endless mountain range.

It is simply amazing to me how our circumstances can change our perspectives and attitudes. The mountains are still there. The sun has still risen over them this morning, but the fog obscures my view of what I know for a fact is right in front of me.

I’m OK with the storms of life. They blow in, toss and turn me about, but I know that they will pass. Fog, however, creeps in slowly and lingers quietly--just a low-lying cloud that kills the view. It may burn off as the sun comes through, but sometimes it stays all day.

It’s a beautiful thing when we get the place spiritually where the fog no longer affects what we know to be the truth behind it. It may creep in; it may linger; but it doesn’t change the memory of a thousand sunsets--each one as different yet still as real as the next--nor the knowledge, embedded deep in my soul, that the mountains are still there, and that the Maker of the mountains knows my name.

So creep in fog. You have been defeated, broken up, and will one day be gone forever. The day of Foggy Mountain Breakdown is on the horizon.

I feel it this morning.

I know it even though I can’t see it.

So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever. 2 Corinthians 4:18

Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see. Hebrews 11:1

We don’t yet see things clearly. We’re squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won’t be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We’ll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us!  1 Corinthians 13:12