Not by Sight

Last week Big Cass informed me that Art Sunday was coming up. The idea for this day was to finger paint a canvas with a verse on it. My job was to come up with a verse. Immediately the L-rd brought to my mind "for we live by faith, not by sight." Now where is that verse found? B.C. (that's what Maas calls her) pulled out her trusty grey bible and turned to the back where all of the topics are layed out in an easy-to-reseach way. Faith. 2 Corinthians 5. And since context is king let's read a little more:

verses 1-11

We know that when the tent which houses us here on earth is torn down, we have a permanent building from G-d, a building not made by human hands, to house us in heaven. For in this tent, our earthly body, we groan with desire to have around us the home from heaven that will be ours. With this around us we will not be found naked. Yes, while we are in this body, we groan with the sense of being oppressed: it is not so much that we want to take something off, but rather to put something on over it; so that what must die may be swallowed up by the Life. Moreover, it is G-d who has prepared us for this very thing, and as a pledge he has given us his Spirit. So we are always confident - we know that so long as we are at home in the body, we are away from our home with the Lord; for we live by trust, not by what we see. We are confident, then, and would much prefer to leave our home in the body and come to our home with the L-rd. Therefore, whether at home or away from home, we try our utmost to please him; for we must all appear before the Messiah's court of judgment, where everyone will receive the good or bad consequences of what he did while he was in the body. So it is with the fear of the L-rd before us that we try to persuade people. Moreover, G-d knows us as we really are; and I hope that in your consciences you too know us as we really are. 

That whole section resonnates with me. Of course I long to be with Jesus and that's all the more reason to live this life according to his ways. I shared this with Tom Monday morning and he said, "This gives me hope." Hope is growing in us, in the middle of our sadness. G-d's word is new every day, it is meant for us at our various points, our different experiences.

I am thankful Big Cass is in our lives, helping Little Cass to appreciate art and creating. But I suppose more importantly I am waiting for the L-rd to open the door for BC to use her gifts to draw even more people to himself. As verse 11 says: So it is with the fear of the L-rd before us that we try to persuade people.