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“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such

a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off

everything that hinders and the sin that so easily

entangles, and let us run with perseverance

the race marked for us.” Hebrews 12:1 (NIV)

Our Cloud of Witnesses, who is in it? The writer of Hebrews tells us the heroes of the faith from chapter 11 are there. We believe that people who walked with God and whom we have known when they lived are interspersed throughout.

Can we imagine being in that cloud of witnesses with Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses’ parents, Moses, all those who crossed the divided Red Sea and the others spoken of in the faith chapter? This thought gives me pause; I can barely take it all in.

This past spring, I attended a wedding. The bride’s mother had entered heaven just over two years earlier. The groom’s parents also resided there. Early that morning, I thought about my friend’s mother and how she’d like to be at her daughter’s wedding. The thought came to me that the mother was in the cloud of witnesses and would be watching from above.

As the service began, the pastor spoke of all of us who had gathered for the special occasion and then he spoke of the cloud of witnesses, and said that the bride’s mother and the groom’s parents were watching from that cloud. I couldn’t contain the tears.

When we lose someone in death, if that person followed the Lord, we know God has received him or her into heaven. We miss them and we feel badly because we can’t visit or even talk with them. During these times we can go through times of doubt and feeling of tremendous loss and, yet, God understands our emotions. He hears our inmost thoughts and comforts us.

The writer of Hebrews gives us guidelines to help us as we go through life.

● “. . . let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. . .” What does this mean to us? If we have a habit that seems to get us in trouble, we need to turn it over to the Lord and ask for His help to overcome it.

●“. . . and let us run with perseverance the race marked for us.” Let us approach the things God has planned for us with zeal and energy. We need to be able to commit to things for lengthy periods. Even something as simple as helping distribute food to people who struggle with raising their families can help aid in reaching out with God’s love to others.

If each of us could help one person learn of God and have a viable relationship with Him. We would be doing the Lord’s will and acting out the plan He has for our lives.

But we say we are too busy. We have our own things we do. We aren’t talented enough. We haven’t got the funds. We don’t know people well enough to find out their needs. We use any excuse we can think of not to work for the Lord.

If we are to be aware of a need or a situation involving people we know, God places us where He wants us in order to receive the information.

Sometimes, if we make ourselves available to people and get to know them, they will open up to us. Sometimes, it’s a God thing. We have these times when God allows a conversation to go in the way that gives us information to help us minister to the other person. We need to remember: “God equips the called.”

_______________________________

Five days ago, Sunday, August 7, the people of our church had a friend and fellow church member suddenly enter into that great cloud of witnesses. We will miss him and are in constant prayer for his wife, daughters, and grandchildren.

"'Winging It" from Stan Smith

Inspired