I met a Man . . .
The weather that day was looking gloomy. A front was moving through and on its edge were thunderstorms and rain and gusty winds.
It was not going to be a dry day for me I thought as I set out to go to my job that day. Because of the bad weather I ended up doing most of my work ashore. So when it came time for the sea trial and to put the boat in the water enough time had passed that we had a little bit of time between the rain showers.
I was working that day for a man in California who was buying a boat sight unseen. But he is not the man I speak of. But little did I know that I would walk away that day with a prize more valuable than the one he was buying.
During that time between rain showers I met a man. . .
I had met him before, but on this day he introduced himself to me in a way that showed the power and the love and the mystery of the God who loves us so much.
The man told me how his family was strong in its faith in Jesus. If they hadn’t been so strong he doesn’t believe he could have survived what happened a few months before. You see, he had lost a son. A young boy was lost to a terrible disease. Cancer had taken him with great misery and pain. The man explained how terrible this ordeal was but as a family of faith they had endured. He told me how his brother had lost his son also just a few months later. Two devastating losses so close together.
He told me that if their family had not been so grounded in faith they never would have survived it.
At this point the man stared off into the distance looking at the blue sky appearing between the swollen rain clouds and saw something that I couldn’t see. He spoke of the love the two son’s had had for each other. One a young child the other a teenager but they had loved each other. And they still loved each other now. They were together in a good place. They were in a place where he longs to be now. They were with Jesus in Heaven. They were in a place filled with God’s love.
He brought his gaze back down to earth and told me there is nothing left on this earth that is of importance. He has a job and he still has family but he understands completely that the things of this world are not the important ones. It is the things of the next world where we get to experience the unending joy and love of God the Father that is our reward. It is there that he invests his time and energy.
Isn’t God amazing?
How could someone lose a child and not turn against God? But instead, fall deeper in love with Him? It surpasses all understanding.
I looked at the man and could see that he was not speaking from the depths of despair or sorrow. He was speaking as a man who knows his destiny contains the biggest gift possible.
When Jesus walked among us he often spoke in parables. He still does.
Every day the people we meet, the things that do, the things we see are all parables from Jesus. They are just being played out right in front of us. All we need to do is try to walk closer to the Lord and look for his love in all things around us.
The man I met has mastered that.
His heart and Jesus’s heart are beating in sync. He knows where his reward is and that this world does not, cannot contain it. He keeps his eyes on Christ in everything he does.
Matthew 13 verses 43 and 44 speak to the reward that this man now seeks:
43 Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear. 44 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field.
The man I met has given up nearly everything on this earth. Only his family is left. He has bought that field and now he just looks to the day when he can go there and claim it.
That prize I mentioned?
It was another opportunity to get a glimpse into the bottomless pool of love that God has for us. It was seeing God’s miraculous power to turn a life destroying tragedy into one of unfathomable peace, never ending hope and an unstoppable love.
Love you all. Keep your eyes on the real prize.
Roscoe