DESERT SKY
"At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a
cloud with power and great glory."  Luke 21:27

      After our daughter, Audrey, was killed in a car accident over near the Colorado River, I felt compelled to visit the sight where she had died.  R.J. and I prepared for a three day camping trip at the river in our sixteen-foot trailer which we pulled with our Chevy truck.  I felt that it would bring closure and enable us to put this tragedy behind us and get on with our
lives.  

       Upon approaching the scene of the crash, my heart pounded wildly and I wondered if this was such a good idea after all.  R.J. and I were enable to talk to each other about Audrey's death.  Every bit of the pain of our loss was locked inside, like a sunken ship sloshing about on the bottom of the ocean.

      As we were returning home, once again passing the spot where the crash occurred, I was overwhelmed with deep sadness.  Silently weeping, I thought my heart would surely burst from the intense pain I was feeling.  Thinking, I've got to get hold of myself, I gazed out the window of the truck at the blue sky.  To my amazement, high in the sky I saw a fleecy white cloud moving toward earth.  In the center of the cloud Jesus appeared in an almost blinding light which radiated out from Him in every direction.  On His head a gold crown with brilliant jewels caught my eye.  His garment was white with gold embroidery adorning the sleeves and sash.  It nearly blinded my eyes and took my breath away!

      My first thought was, am I hallucinating?  I shut my eyes and shook my head as if to clear my mind.  Upon opening my eyes again the vision was still there.  Although I felt a little fearful, I prayed, "Oh Lord Jesus, is this a sign from You to help me hand on in the midst of my sorrow?  Are You giving me this vision to assure me that I will recover from this tragedy?"  A surge of strength filled my body and I suddenly felt like singing.  In the days following, I kept recalling the vision and somehow knew I had a reason to go on living.

      Soon after returning home, God, in His infinite mercy gave me the gift of writing poems.  I was able to pour out my pain and grief in the limes of the poems.  Even  though I cried many tears while penning them, a healing was taking place in my heart, however slowly.

      When I showed R.J. my poem called Lonely Hearts, He said, with tears streaming down his face, "I just can't read your poems, they're too sad."  I could see the anguish on his face and I never showed him any more poems I'd written about Audrey.

      My life took on new meaning as I began reaching out to others with words of hope and encouragement with poems the Lord was giving me.  At first I wrote many poems about Audrey's death, but gradually I was writing more and more poems about God and the wonders I was reading about in the Bible.  It was as though I had gone from darkness out into the light.  The sun was not just shining from the sky, it was shining in my heart.  Getting up in the morning was no longer a drudge.  I faced each new day rejoicing at the wonderful things God was doing in my life.

      To this day I have never lost sight of that vision of Jesus in the cloud high in the early-morning blue desert sky near the Colorado River, for it filled me with high hopes of better days on the horizon.