This morning’s devotion comes from none other than John Zahl.
Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
One weekend, my wife and I went antiquing in rural South Carolina. We were looking for a new coffee table. Soon after entering a small shop in Walterboro, my wife discovered a beautiful, old, wrought-iron flower box, which, she quickly became convinced, would make a perfect coffee table if we just turned it on its side and got a piece of glass cut for the top. The owner, a very nice lady, asked us where we were from and we told her: Charleston. She mentioned that she had grown up in Charleston, on Sullivan’s Island. My wife commented that I, her husband, currently worked on Sullivan’s Island. The lady mentioned briefly that her father had served as an Episcopal priest at the little church there, a church called Church of the Holy Cross. Flabbergasted, my wife responded: “My husband is one of the ministers at Church of the Holy Cross!” Everyone got the chills.
Clearly God wanted us to have this coffee table, and through a seemingly random, far-fetched series of events, had made it obvious that our entire day had been part of a much bigger plan. We returned home, with our new coffee table component in tow, excited to finally get it into the home where it had been destined to serve.
An hour later, we were home, carrying the flower box through the front door and into the living room. We sat it down in the middle of the room, up-ended so that we could see what it would look like. It was not right at all. It looked terrible.
God is definitely in our midst, but what it is exactly that He is doing in a life at a particular moment is rarely a thing that can be easily perceived.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UeFaayyw3o&feature=related&w=550]
COMMENTS
4 responses to “Hopelessly Devoted: First Corinthians Chapter Thirteen Verse Twelve”
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How linear and explainable we all wish it could be. We are profoundly vexed when mysteries remain mysteries, and are always outside our understanding and control.
Speaking of mysteries… 🙂
Do you have any update to the mystery of the missing PZs Podcast? I am missing my “fix” something awful. Could new episodes be shuffled over to the Resources downloads for the interim?
Jim- Glad you asked! What happened is that the cast was being hosting on Apple’s mobileme, which ceased to exist earlier this month. Needless to say, we didn’t get the memo. Fortunately, we’ve been able to move things to our server and the feed has been resubmitted to iTunes so it should be ready in the next couple of days, at which point a pair of new ones will be available. It may take a week or so to get the archives back up (“lounge crooner classics”!), but rest assured, we should all be able to get our fix again soon. Thanks for bearing with us!
DZ
I think sometimes God just allows us moments like this simply to remind us that His hand is there guiding. Maybe there is no purpose other than that sometimes. Either way these moments are always moving and draw me to thankfulness. I actually read this verse a few times this morning and then came to work to find it posted here. Strange.