face to face

I'm busy today going over notes for a class I'm teaching tonight at a Seattle writers' group, Northwest Christian Writers' Association (NCWA). My class is entitled, "Fear Factor," and I'll be discussing five of the most common fears writers face. It's funny, because I only have one fear about this evening: I'm afraid of my Power Point projector. It's a finicky, wicked-bad projector; it can smell my fear the way a horse can and delights in making me sweat. So if you're of the praying sort, please pray that tonight, I win.

Not wanting to leave you post-less all day, I thought I'd give you one of the devotionals I wrote for A Passion for Jesus, a daily devotional compiled by Calvary Chapel pastors' wives.

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Gabriela was visiting California from Peru when a couple she’d befriended decided to play matchmaker. Through their prayer group, they knew of a single father in Washington state who needed a wife. Introductions were made over the phone and Dale and Gabriela began a long-distance courtship. Though they came from different worlds—she’d been an engineer in Peru and he was a farmer—they had the Lord in common.

Weeks passed as they continued their phone relationship. They soon decided to meet. Gabriela felt both nervous and shy on the flight to Seattle. She had never seen a picture of Dale and worried that she wouldn’t be able to find him in the crowd at the airport. But when she stepped off the plane, she found his eyes immediately. In the midst of a room full of strangers, she knew exactly who he was.

“I fell in love with his voice,” she explained, “but I knew him the moment I saw him.” They married just weeks later.

We, too have a Groom waiting for us. We have only His voice to cling to now, but the day is coming when we will put a face to the voice we’ve grown to love. We will look into His eyes ... and know Him in an instant.

“For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face . . .” 1 Corinthians 13:12 (NASV)