Thursday, January 21, 2016

Evidence

It appeared in her face. I caught just the right angle and the glimpse became a full-blown panorama. It was one of those moments you just can't miss. The enduring endearment of revelation displayed so genuinely. Sincerity in the purest form. The lighting was perfect to catch the depth of the subject. 

What was it she said?  Or does it really matter what the words were?  Words are inadequate to display this revelation. 

She spoke of her childhood in Kansas. She spoke of the relentless wind capturing the trees into bent forms. You can't see the wind but you know it has been there because of the evidence left behind. 

Evidence. 

I took a picture just three days before. I didn't see this coming. 



“And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit, so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia.”
1 Thessalonians 1:6-7 ESV
http://bible.com/59/1th.1.6-7.esv

The Presence and Power of the Word of God and the Holy Spirit leaves evidence of having been there.  Like the wind she remembered from her days in Kansas, those eyes and that face hold the evidence of God in her. 

And then MA asks what is the evidence you have on display?

Silence. In a room of 14. Silence. 

Is the evidence missing or do we not recognize it in ourselves?

Only so much self-examination is needed. Looking too hard becomes painful. But there is that suffering element presented but not self-inflicted. Suffering from being an imitator of the gospel doesn't qualify if self-inflicted. 

You can't compare an upright tree to a bent one and say they received the same exposure to the elements. 

There is a difference. 

Can you recognize evidence of the Holy Spirit's Presence when you come across it?  Is there a lack of awareness of the Presence in the display?