Bro John,
God is awesome. Sometimes I want to say, “God, I just can’t believe all the little things you do for me!”
Sunday night, I couldn’t sleep because I was feeling quite uncomfortable. But I reminded myself of a story you told years ago about mountain climbers being in a cleft on the side of a steep mountain. It didn’t matter how uncomfortable it was during the night, the only thing that mattered was that they were still there in the morning. I couldn’t remember any other details of the story, but I kept telling myself that part of it over and over until I fell asleep.
Then last night, I tried to fall asleep but couldn’t. So I got up and piddled a few minutes. Then I had the thought, “Hey, I wonder where my old headset-cassette player is because I can listen to it in bed and not wake Sammy. So once I found it, I looked through my box of old cassette tapes. The one I chose was “Leaking Vessels”, dated 3/15/92. I put it in the player, but it didn’t come on. Checking out the batteries, I saw they had corroded and I looked like a big mess. I put it on the counter for Sammy, to see if he could clean it up when he had time. So today, he did.
Just a few minutes ago, I put in that tape and guess what the very first thing on it was!! You started telling a story about “these two mountain climbers on a very high mountain and they were in a desperate, dangerous situation because of a blizzard. It was getting dark and there was no way they could reach the top. What they did was find a crack in the rock and tied themselves in so that when they fell asleep, they wouldn’t fall. They just waited until the next day. Those mountain climbers said this: It didn’t matter how long the night was; the only thing that mattered was when daylight came, they were still alive. They were happy to still be there when the sun came up.
That’s the way the truth is. It doesn’t matter what you have to go through in this life; we’re all on the mountaintop, and we can’t go up or down. We’ve found the hiding place, and the only thing that matters is that when the sun is shining, we are still there. That’s the wonderful thing about the truth. It keeps you tied into a safe place, and you won’t freeze to death in the blizzard. You may be cold, but you won’t freeze to death. You may be uncomfortable, and it may seem like a mighty long time, but the important thing is that you are there in the morning. There’s still a chance to go on with God.”
I was overwhelmed by this entire incident. What are my chances of finding that tape in a box full of wonderful old sermons? I was so overwhelmed, I didn’t listen to any more of the tape because I knew that was a message for me. I’ll listen to the rest of it tonight, I’m sure. God does care, and I am very thankful to have a good eye to be able to type this email to you!
Sheila