In a Fog...

I took this picture last week while standing on my front porch. As you can see, it can get downright foggy in the Blue Ridge Mountains. In fact, sometimes it gets so foggy that we can't even see to turn out of our driveway onto the street. When that happens, all we can do is stop, turn off the radio, roll down the windows and listen for any traffic that may be coming. (Remind you of Stop, Drop & Roll?) I'll admit its kind of scary to be in that situation. You just have to trust that you're ears are not deceiving you, because you definitely can't rely on your eyes.

Fog is a strange phenomenon isn't it? Just think, we're walking through the clouds, and they aren't always predictable. Sometimes the fog comes and goes quickly, and other times it settles in to stay a few days. In the case of this picture, it had the look of the type that would be hanging around for a while, so I grabbed my camera and took a few pictures. You can really find beauty in even some of the most dreary circumstances. But, what this "fog storm" made me think of was the fact that sometimes I'm in a situation where I feel like I can only see 10 feet in front of me and don't know which way to turn...I can't rely on what I see to determine my next move. I just have to stop, get quiet and wait to hear direction from God as to which way to go, and God is always faithful to lead. The key to this is that I have to recognize God's voice when he calls, because there are often many other distractions to choose from. I like the scripture from John 10 that talks about sheep knowing their shepherd's voice. In this analogy we are the sheep and Jesus is the Shepherd. He calls to us and we follow him because we recognize his voice. However, there is sure to be a sheep rustler out there in the field, and if we aren't familiar with the right voice we could walk blindly into the fog, right into oncoming traffic. No matter how dense the fog, the voice of the Shepherd will always lead us the right way!