The Last Fading Smile

It was Julian Huxley that said, “Operationally, God is beginning to resemble not a ruler but the last fading smile of a cosmic cheshire cat.”

The more I get to know God, the more inclined I am to agree. He likes His coincidences and is not against giving us directions and watching us fumble though them. 


I often find myself wondering if he laughs at the way we try to plan our lives,  at our shocks when things do not turn out how we plan, yet often times better. 
As if He didn’t already know.

For Lent I decided to ‘take on’ reading though all of the prophets, the one part of the bible I had been dancing around for a while (for reasons I cannot explain).  It has proven to be a difficult task for me, but I have to remember that God’s word is in all parts of his book and affects all parts of our lives. I just finished Isaiah and wanted to reflect some on the book, and there they are, coincidences.

Next to Isaiah 53 I had made a note going on four summers ago. “Claude and Irma ‘07”.

It wasn’t difficult for me to recall whom Claude and Irma are.

That summer has been on my mind a lot lately for different reasons, all mission trips you take as a young student have ways of leaving behind impressions on your heart, but specifically this trip has come up a lot, it seemed like God was laughing, inviting me to laugh along at life’s coincidences.

To understand the wonder of Claude and Irma you have to know a little bit of what I was doing that summer. The youth group at my church decided that we would leave Orange County and head to Pearlington, Mississippi.  The devastation from Katrina was still prominent in the community and we were given the chance to build new houses for some of the members. Now, this was four years ago so my memory is a little hazy, stick with me.

Walking distance from the sight we were staying was a house, which likes many others, had been left abandoned, falling apart. A team from our group though it would be fun to go exploring and discovered the house, barely recognizable. Everything was ruined except for one book, the family bible, open to Isaiah 53. We found out that the house belonged to Claude and Irma, as much as I wish I knew what happened to them I cannot remember, but I remember learning that in the midst of such a terrible tragedy God’s promise was the surviving possession. “Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the LORD makes his life an offering for sin, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand. ¹¹ After he has suffered, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many” Whither this page really was the only surviving in the house, or perhaps Claude came back and left it like that, I will not ever know, but needless to say, it was one coincidence that had us all in awe. One of those moments in our lives were you see just how big God is, and small you are in comparison. 

Sometimes I have to remind myself that the Bible is living, that Isaiah spoke and it happened then,  but his words are also true today.

“For I am the Lord, your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you.” Isaiah 41:13

Well that still holds true, God give us no reason to fear tomorrow, knowing he will be with us. All of it is true. The bible is living truth. As I continue this journey through the profits now I am curious, what truths will I discover that I did not know before?

Wish me luck; I will be sure to share my discoveries with ya’ll.

For now, I hope that you see your Father not as a ruler, hanging dauntingly over you with an iron fist; but as a friend, who just happens to know more about your journey than yourself, still eager to walk with you.