Undercover Victory!

We have entered that time of year where I have to check the weather forecast every night in order to discern if I need to cover my tender outside plants overnight or not.  Last night was a good example, The weather listing on my iPhone said that it was supposed to go down to the mid thirties.  So I decided that it was best to be safe rather than sorry and to cover them against the treat of frost.  When I got up around 7:00 AM I looked outside and sure enough, there was frost on the rooftops as well as on our outside deck. 

Later in the morning I was temporarily stunned as I gently lifted off the covers, by the brightness of the red flowers from one of our geraniums that seemingly exploded right in front of my eyes.  What came to mind was the thought of how easily that vibrant beauty was hidden from view by a thin bed sheet.  It brought back the Word that I had read earlier from 2 Corinthians 2:14.  Here the Apostle Paul told of his thanksgiving to God “who always leads us in victory because of Christ Jesus…”  (Gods Word ©)  As I meditated on that familiar verse, I took it as an encouragement to never give up, even when the victory seems hidden from view or even totally impossible!

A few years ago my older son introduced me to the Dirk Pitt Adventure books written by the popular New York Times Best Selling author Clive Cussler.  He baited my interest by telling me that these books were just like Hardy Boys Mystery Adventures for adults.  I had grownup with a love for that series written by the fictional author Franklin W. Dixon and had helped to develop a similar interest in both of my sons in their childhood.  In the Cussler books the hero always finds himself in perilous situations with no hope for escape when suddenly, a miraculous solution is come upon that pulls him and whoever he is rescuing to safety, all within a hairs breath of calamity.

While these books are fictional in nature, they do contain an important comparison to our faith in God’s word.  Dirk Pitt is described as an individual bursting forth with confidence and a zest for life that enables him to spit in the eye of the grim reaper.  As Christians we should project the same confidence and zeal for life based solely on our unmovable faith in the power of Jesus Christ as our unflappable leader who always leads us in victory (see I Corinthians 1:24).  Like my pulling of the sheet trick this morning, we need to walk in such a way as to emulate our belief that the victory of our faith, although unseen, is available to us under the cover of the current situation that we might be experiencing in our lives.  The victory is there, it is just temporarily covered and waiting for us to pull it off!

So don’t give up.  Keep the picture of that bright red vibrant geranium hidden under that sheet forever before you, as you come ever closer to the unveiling of the victory that you are believing for!  Have a great day, stay tuned and keep asking yourself… “What VICTORY am I expecting today?”