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Thoughts and Tips
Lest we forget to remember
Have you had your theophany today?
Just to be clear, it’s a fancy name for an overpowering manifestation of God’s presence. So, now that I’ve got your attention, I’m betting you think you haven’t because you don’t consider yourself worthy of an all-consuming sign of God’s presence on a daily basis.
And here’s the rub. I should add that perhaps you wouldn’t want to be a regular recipient of a God moment because a traumatic event can often precede one. And it could happen with a sudden temporariness that changes nothing yet changes everything. Just ask some of the people in my debut novel Thank GOD it’s YOU! who’ve had their God encounter in the midst of suffering and been left sitting in the metaphorical ashes, curiously enlivened with a new perspective and sense of hope. That’s the kind of two-in-one-miracle that’s hard to explain.
Even before Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt to the Promised Land, they experienced an awesome number of theophanies. God freed them from the bonds of Pharoah through a series of freaky and unthinkable miracles. During forty years of wandering in the wilderness, manna fell from the sky and they were guided by a 'cloud of smoke by day' and a 'pillar of fire by night'. Not that God’s goodness silenced their grumblings and complaints when they became footsore, weary of the desert landscape and thirsty.
The Israelites succumbed to repeated bouts of spiritual amnesia. They forgot to remember, just like some of the survivors of an Air France jet which in 2005 overshot the runway in Toronto. Unfavourable weather conditions and poor landing decisions made by the flight crew were found to be major factors leading to the crash. The plane split into three pieces and became a fireball. Well-trained crew helped all the passengers make a safe and speedy exit from the burning wreck. It was described as a 'miracle', but many passengers complained afterwards about not being reunited fast enough with those waiting to pick them up at the airport. Their theophany had become just another annoying delay in their travel schedule, not a heaven-sent miraculous escape from a gruesome death.
Perhaps it’s worth asking again, ‘Have you had your theophany today?’