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Grabbing my hand from the other side of a cold, small cafe table, Tyler looked at me and said, “Thankful for another one.” With a grin, I turned my gaze from the window to look at him. Every time Tyler stops to observe the sunrise or the sunset, he tells me those words; every time since we shared a sunrise and sunset at Ronald Reagan. This marked the last sunset (at least for a good while) that we would share in this country.
There, in the Auckland International airport terminal, I pondered the making of a good sunset. This certainly was a good one–full of color, dynamic clouds. While we waited for our plane flight home, Tyler and I watched the clouds, which stood like huge masts, slowly sailing across the horizon. The evening sky flooded with intense pinks and oranges and then faded as the light went to rest. We don’t get sunsets like this in Los Angeles often. But why?
***
A few days prior, we stopped at a place called Lake Tekapo. While planning our trip, Tekapo was one of the spots we looked forward to most. We longed to see the glacier blue lake by day, and the millions of stars visible to the naked eye by night. When we arrived, however, all we saw was gray. A thick, heavy, stinkin’ layer of gray. This came as no surprise to us, because on the journey over we passed through bouts of rain. Half way through our trip, we were tired, burdened, and now sorely disappointed. We sat on the rocks that covered the shore, surrounded by old lupins, now withered by the escape of summer’s heat.
Night fell; still gray. We chased a small clearing in the sky and saw mere glimpses of stars, but it was nothing like what we had seen in books and photographs. I even anxiously awoke at 4 am in search of the stars, but had little luck. Tyler and I had a long drive ahead of us, so we packed away our things and opted for a power nap before hitting the road.
When our alarm blared, we rolled out of bed and trudged to the campsite kitchen to make some coffee and eggs. From the kitchen window, I saw a long, white cloud, aotearoa, resting on the lake. The sky slowly started to fill with light as we waited for the water to boil. Before our eyes, the thick layer of gray began to loosen, and strokes of orange lined the clouds. Blue sky peeked out from behind. I turned to Tyler and said, “I’ve got to get this.” And like best friends do, he said, “I’m coming with you.” We rushed to our cabin to grab our cameras like gold was slipping through our finger tips. Then, in the calm of the new morning, we photographed the most beautiful sunrise I have ever seen.
***
Hand in hand, boarding passes in the other, we waited at the terminal as our plane began to board. Thinking back on our trip, I thought, LA rarely has skies like these, because it experiences very few storms.
In life, we will go through storms. There will be seasons where our plans are thwarted, we are heavy laden with disappointment and sorrow; all we can see is gray. However, in the storm we are not alone. If Jesus is with us in the midst of the storm, there is no other place better for us to be. In the storm, He asks for us to trust Him. In the storm, He is the only comfort that endures. In the storm, He assures us that we have no reason to fear, because He is with us. In the storm, we are refined. After the storm, there are the most magnificent sunrises.
“Remember this, had any other condition been better for you than the one in which you are, divine love would have put you there.” – Charles Spurgeon
My soul is bereft of peace; I have forgotten what happiness is; so I say, “My endurance has perished; so has my hope from the LORD.” Remember my affliction and my wanderings, the wormwood and the gall! My soul continually remembers it and is bowed down within me.
But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.”
Lamentations 3:17-24
The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD forever.
Psalm 23
Home is wherever I’m with You,
L
