Friday, April 24, 2009

Spiritual Lessons from the Mist

Most mornings I start my day with a long walk. I live on a hill overlooking a valley and I often walk "up the mountain" and am rewarded with awesome views of God's creation. I pray as I walk and I talk to the Lord about whatever is going on in my life. I often ask God to help me share my faith with those around me. One day this week I started my walk earlier than normal and the mist was still hanging in the valley below. But as I walked, the sun began to come out and the mist began to lift. At first it was only a few strings of mist that began to rise up and dissipate. But as the morning progressed, more and more mist began to burn off. By the end of my four mile journey the mist had completely disappeared and the sky had become bright and sunny. The valley below was completely transformed from a place of shrouded in mist to a place of sunshine and light.

In my talk with the Lord that day I had a revelation about the mist. I realized that just as the sun slowly burned the mist away, the Son is also slowly burning the spiritual mist away from the valleys of Vermont where I have invested the last 15 years of my life. Spiritual enlightenment seldom happens all at once. It seems that in my own life and in the lives of the people I share my faith with, spiritual enlightment comes slowly as we grasp one spiritual concept at a time. It is like a spiritual mist covering the mind which must slowly disappear until suddenly the fog is gone and the Son is burning so brightly that one wonders how we could have ever missed Him in the first place.

It is easy to be fooled into the thinking that the mist is so thick and pervasive that it will never go away. But bit by bit and tendril by tendril, the mist looses it's battle with the sun. Likewise the spiritual mist that blinds the eyes of so many in my beloved Vermont will eventually lose it's battle with the Son. One day His light will transform the valleys of Vermont from places shrouded in the mist of spiritual confusion into places filled with the Light of the Gospel. Join me in praying for the mist to rise and the Son to shine in the lives of America's least religious state.

29 comments:

  1. I like the imagry of the mist. Nice work.

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  2. This article was also posted on Baptist Press. You can read it at the link below:
    http://www.bpnews.net/BPFirstPerson.asp?ID=31098

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  3. Great thought! BTW...enjoyed your Baptist Press article today as well.

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  4. Hi Terry, This is beautiful. I love it! God bless you, my friend.

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  5. Very nice article, Terry! congratulations on being published in Baptist Press!

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  6. You know we will and do pray for you and the Lord's work in VT. So thankful for you leadership and service.

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  7. Just read your article in the Baptist Press and appreciate it very much. We'll post it on the board at our church. We are very proud of what God has accomplished through you in VT. We think often about the time when Merwyn "spirited" you away from the backyard Bible club in Woodstock and took you to Washington. God has really blessed you and Kay and the family, and we pray for you every day and your work there. Please know that Lou and I are very proud to call you and Kay "friends". Keep on keeping on, doing what God has called you to do.

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  8. Great reflection in BP. Thanks for sharing it with all the brethren!

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  9. This article is now also in the Biblical Recorder which is the Baptist paper in North Carolina.
    www.biblicalrecorder.org/.../Spiritual-lessons-from-Vermonte28099s-mist.aspx

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  10. This article is also now printed in the Baptist Messenger, which is the Baptist paper in Oklahoma.
    This is the link:
    http://www.baptistmessenger.com/story/13011D413483A4157D59135851048129

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  11. This article is also now on line at Vermont Baptist news:
    This is the link:
    http://religion.einnews.com/login.php?redir=%2Fnews.php%3Fwid%3D245504686&n=1

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  12. This article is also now on townhall.com.
    The link is below:
    http://townhall.com/news/religion/2009/08/18/first-person_spiritual_lessons_from_vts_mist

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  13. This article is now also on Lifeway.com.
    The link is below:
    http://www.lifeway.com/lwc/article_main_page/0%2C1703%2CA%25253D169500%252526M%25253D200726%2C00.html

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  14. This article is now also on the website of Fellowship Christian Church.
    The link is below:
    http://www.cfifitzgerald.org/

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  15. This article is now also now on the website of First Baptist Church of Moncreat.
    The link is below:
    http://www.thechurchdaily.com/FBC/index.php

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  16. This article is now also on the website of Browns Chapel Baptist Church in Pacolet Mills, SC.
    The link is below:
    http://www.brownschapelbaptist.org/Home/tabid/36/Default.aspx

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  17. This article is now also on the website of First Baptist Church of Hazel Green.
    The link is below:
    http://members.hazelgreenfbc.org/

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  18. This article is also on the website of the Stock Creek Baptist Church of Knoxville, Tn.
    The link is below:
    http://www.stockcreek.org/Default.aspx

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  19. Really liked the article.

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  20. This article is also on the website "Spiritual Journey with God."
    The link is below:
    http://elvineve.blogspot.com/

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  21. This article is now also on the Cheetah Index, which gives news items about Africa (no clue why an article about Vermont would make it on that web site??)
    The link is below:
    http://business.africanpath.com/googleSearchResults.cfm?domains=business.africanpath.com&client=&forid=1&channel=&ie=ISO-8859-1&oe=ISO-8859-1&safe=active&cof=GALT%3A%23008000%3BGL%3A1%3BDIV%3A%23336699%3BVLC%3A663399%3BAH%3Acenter%3BBGC%3AFFFFFF%3BLBGC%3A336699%3BALC%3A0000FF%3BLC%3A0000FF%3BT%3A000000%3BGFNT%3A0000FF%3BGIMP%3A0000FF%3BFORID%3A11&hl=en&q=vermont&sitesearch=business.africanpath.com

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  22. We have read the article and copied it to send up to Lubbock so that it can be shown to all up there. It is good.

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  23. Thanks for the Word of Truth! May we pray the same prayer for thousands of other hills and valleys across North America - "Give us eyes to see and ears to hear."
    Reading Dave and Lou's comments brought back so many wonderful memories of the early days.....
    Randy Creamer

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  24. You can also find a link to this article on this blog:
    http://pamkumpe.blogspot.com/

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  25. This article is also at:
    http://bsbccarlsbad.com/aggregator?page=2

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  26. This article is also on the Tega Bay Baptist Church of South Carolina website:
    http://www.tegacaybaptist.com/Links/Newsfeeds.aspx

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  27. This article is also on the website of Immanual Baptist Church.
    http://immanuelreallife.com/index.php?view=newsfeed&catid=37%3Adevos&id=19-daily-word&option=com_newsfeeds&Itemid=49

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