There is a contemporary Gospel song from many years ago called Heaven in the Real World. In the middle of that song Steven Curtis Chapman sings, To stand in the pouring rain and believe the sun is gonna shine again, to know that the grave is not the end. To feel the embrace of grace and cross the line where real life begins, and know in your heart you’ve found the missing part.
For some time now I have been looking for the sun to shine again, and keep shining. There are always glimpses in our lives when we see the rays of the sun for brief moments, but so often the clouds come back, and darkness returns.
That is a battle I have been fighting for a couple of years now, and often it takes away the words that I have to say here in this place. Over the last couple of months, we have received calls here at the paper office from readers wanting to know what happened to me. Some even surmised that I must have left, some even supposed that I must have died.
In fact, I didn’t leave nor did I leave this world, there were just no words for me to say through the clouds. Without inspiration, or purpose, or leading from on high, to put words here in the place would be pointless, just ramblings to fill the void.
There are so many in our area that I know feel the same way. I read their words on social media and I talk to them out on the street and I hear the void in their words. There is so much pain in the world. So many grieve what once was, those who were once here, lives lost too soon. I get that.
