Strength for Today

It was only for a split second and then it was gone. Evelyn and I were preparing to go to the store and I turned to head for the front door. And there, sitting in our blue wing back chair next to the fireplace, was my father. He was wearing a plaid shirt, a familiar blue sweater that I had loaned him, and both hands were resting atop his cane. A smile was on his face. But how could this be? Dad died in 2009 and this was 2011. And then he, or the vision, was gone. Just like that. Have you ever had an experience like this? I have "seen" Dad many times since he died, but those were all in my dreams. This was in broad daylight. Was my mind playing tricks on me? As I recall, I had not dreamed about him the night before. I just turned around and there he was. I have no rational explanation for this experience. I do know that in the Bible a number of people saw visions of other people. A man from Macedonia appeared to Paul in a vision. Even the Christ appeared to Paul in a vision. Isaiah saw the Lord, "sitting on a throne, high and lifted up." I have never had visions like these and I am not saying that I had a vision when I saw my father sitting in our wing back chair. He did not speak to me. He only had that wonderful smile. Dad told me once that he saw my mother like that once after she died. He was sitting in his living room, looked up, and there she was, smiling at him. Dad was as rational as I am. She never spoke to him, only smiled at him. I guess these things may be what the Bible means when it says that the secret things belong to the Lord. I don't try to explain them because I do not know that they can be explained. I do know, as the old hymn says, "Just one glimpse of Him in glory will the toils of life repay." That I know and believe to be true.