The "Son" Shines through the Clouds

The “Son” Shines through the Clouds


As I type this, I am sitting in a campground in Champaign, IL. on a mini vacation visiting my little sister and her baby, recently relocated here. Camping is a way of life for my family and I love it so. One of my favorite things about camping is the storytelling. Yes, we’ve heard the stories before, yet it seems each time they’re told they get a little sweeter. Maybe it’s because I’m getting older and realizing the importance of family and time together or that my children are hearing them for the first time and learning about their history and family tree.
So we visit, talk, and tell stories, and I listen as my father retells stories about grandkids nearly falling in fire pits, trips when it rained every day (that can be rough for a camping family), and silly fights among siblings.
I am reminded that the sweetest, funniest and most memorable events in life are sometimes created out of some of the most stressful times. Events that at the moment, we swear we’ll never laugh about. Ones we promise to forget, not retell again and again.
One of my fondest memories to share with my kids over and over is a story about a drive I often took with my parents back and forth between a river camp we owned and our home nearly every week in the summertime when I was young. My parents would stop at a convenience store before heading home and often allow me to get an ice cream sandwich for the nearly one hour drive home. To top it off, I was allowed to ride in the back of the truck all the way home (it was the eighties.) One particular drive left me sunburned and confused. My ten year old brain didn’t understand that a person could still get sun tan (or burn in my case) through the clouds. And boy did I get it. Between the wind and the sun, my face and arms learned the meaning of sunburn that day.
Now, so many years later I retell the story to my children and husband for the significance and symbolism. As painful as that sunburn was, the ride, the ice cream and the wind in a ten year old girl’s hair stands out a far more pleasant memory, than a short term sun burn.
Such is the story of life. The ups, downs, sunburns and fights eventually pale in comparison to memories made in families, and are but small stepping stones and minor disruptions in the journey of creating family and becoming the person(s) God created us to be.
Our stories, rough and frustrating, sometimes even tragic in the moment, mold and shape us for the future. “So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you have to endure many trials for a little while.” 1 Peter 1:6
Take it from a ten year old girl, the sun and “SON” still shines through the clouds.
And if we meet in the grocery store, ask me about the new fights (I mean memories) we created on this trip. They include a 4-foot catfish and run away bikes. Have you seen them? They may still be attached to the bike rack!