The Fog Part 1 Series

Series – Reflections from sabbatical!

Over the next few months I will be sharing what the Holy Spirit spoke to me during my Sabbatical.

Summary from Kathy message last week!

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During my two months of sabbatical - I read and listened to 8 books – meditated thru Psalms and Romans – edited my own books – wrote sermon outlines – these all spoke to me in unison by the power of Holy Spirit at the “Intimacy Conference” which Kathy and I attended - two weeks ago!

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Opening Illustration: Fog rolls in at CHC

In the preparing for today’s message “The Fog” and event happened which helped me with an illustrate the spiritual fog which has descended on the western culture and church:

I came to work early Wednesday morning 8/9 it was fairly clear -a little cloudy but as I was engulfed in re-writing this message and thinking how I could illustrate the fog to all of you – I looked up and looked out my window and what do I see a dense fog had rolled in around the church on the hill – so I grabbed my phone and took a few pictures to show you.

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I really felt the Lord was showing me – spiritually with a real fog the current spiritual crisis in the western world and church. I was excited – a little in awe of how God speaks to me – I was speaking to the Lord “I know this is you Lord - what are the chances of this happening at this moment when I am writing and rewriting this message?” I was so excited the Lord would provide me with a literal illustration to open your eyes and my eyes to the reality of this spiritual fog which has rolled into our society.

Illustration of Clingman’s Dome and fog: Then I reflected back to our Sabbatical - One day Kathy and I decided to ascend to the highest point on the Smokey Mountains called, “Clingman’s Dome” – we had met a couple on the trails hiking a few days prior who told us we needed to go hike this and see the great sights! So, we loaded up and headed up the mountain – it had been raining and the first thing we noticed was how all the streams had turned to raging rivers and many brand-new waterfalls had appeared. Kathy talked about this last week. As we ascended higher up the mountain it got cloudy, then foggy and foggier to the point that as I was driving you could hardly see in front of the car. We watched the temperature go from 80 to 57 by the time we reached the top and came into the parking lot of Clingman’s Dome – it had also started raining and lightening very severely – but we wanted to go to do this hike – I had wanted to hike every day on Sabbatical if possible – I did have reservations about doing this and expressed them to Kathy – the crazy one who still wanted to do it – But I had a check in my Spirit that this was not a good idea! She still wanted to go! So, I saw a ranger in his car and asked him if we could go to the dome – he said I would very much advise against it! Why? “The lightening is very dangerous, and you are totally exposed up there on the lookout platform – do not do it – besides he said you will never be able to see anything but fog!” So we heeded his advice after standing outside the car and the rain was very cold and we experienced a few more lightening cracks – we got back int the car and descended the mountain.

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Illustration Ocean city in Maine and the Fog: I recall another time a few years back when I experienced fog, we were vacationing off the coast of Maine and I went for a walk one morning. I watched this fog roll in from the sea and noticed that it rapidly engulfed the quaint little Maine town I was in. A short time before this event it was crystal clear, and you could see for miles but now it was choked out by the fog. The scenic view was covered over and within minutes you could only see a few feet in front of you. My scenic walk became a walk in a foggy cloud. I almost tripped over a bench – almost banged my head into a streetlight post. The fog made everything more dangerous because you could not see that far in front of you. I observed near misses between cars and trucks all because the visibility has vanished. Clarity had been veiled. Everyone should have been more careful, but they were in a hurry – speeding along in the morning rush hour and so a few accidents started happening! First one then two. You could not see much of the accident but then I heard the crash – I would think that did not sound good - The fogginess was so thick you could plow right into people in front of you on the road and never see them until you hit them. Fog brings hindered vision and clarity. It's dangerous to speed along in the fog and not slow down to ponder what it’s doing, obscuring your visibility. Blocking out the sunlight and the ability to see clearly.