Who Knows How Long It Is

"The Idaho sunrise. Back on the road again..." That was what my grandson said about a photo he posted on Facebook this morning. Headlight of oncoming cars can be seen in the distance while the early morning sky holds a brilliant white orb surrounded by an aura of yellows and reds. A new day is dawning. Who knows what it will hold?

Who knows is a question, most often rhetorical, we ask about so many things, One of my favorites was captured on a tape recording made around sixteen years ago. My oldest son and his two boys went on a day hike just for the fun of it. Each one carried a light backpack filled with his lunch, snacks, and water. In addition, Dad carried his trusty camera and a handheld tape recorder. As the day progressed, the boys took turns recording the sights, sounds, and activities as they unfolded. From "snow so bright it hurt your eyes" to "a snake that would scare Mom," we stay-at-homers were later able to enjoy the hike with them.

My favorite part was recorded during one of the hungry hikers' stops. The younger boy's account went something like this, "We are sitting by a cold stream eating some snacks. The stream is about six feet across (pause) and eight inches deep (insert a long, long, long pause here) and who knows how long it is!"

I loved it. I could just picture him sitting there, recorder in hand, looking upstream, then downstream, and back upstream again, only able to see the stream disappear from sight as it bubbled and gurgled its way through the forest. "Who knows how long it is!"

I loved his comment for several reasons.

• Some things are so wonderful, they can't fully be explained. 
• There are situations that cross our paths from time to time that we see and feel, but don't understand where they came from, where they are going, or how we will be affected.
• Whenever we come face to face with God's love, grace, care, and even correction, we cannot begin to understand its extent. 

Sitting by the flow of God's love I know it is refreshing, it is deep, and it is wide. But how long is it? Unending!

Jan