For our oldest son’s college graduation this past May from Virginia Tech, our family rented a cozy mountain top airbnb in the town of Copper Hill. The drive was beautiful, twists and turns through the mountains of Virginia offering breathtaking vistas and nature filled scenic views. But on the drive home one night, coming back from dinner in Blacksburg, we found ourselves completely enveloped in a fog that was so thick, we could not see more and a foot in front of our SUV. We were engulfed, swallowed up…overshadowed. In Luke chapter one the angel Gabriel tells Mary that the power of the Most High is going to overshadow her. The Greek word here for “overshadowed” is only used a few other times in the New Testament. Matthew, Mark, and Luke all used this word to describe the cloud that “overshadowed” Peter, James, and John on the Mount of Transfiguration. It is also used when Peter’s shadow in the books of Acts fell on people as he walked by, healing them of their infirmities. The angel Gabriel gives Mary some other promises, ones that as Christians we have come to expect to be for us. He says, “The word of God will never fail you.” He says, “The Lord is with you.” He says, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you.” But do we expect this other promise…that the power of the Most High will overshadow us? May this Christmas season be filled with many things for each of us, especially being overshadowed by the power of the Most High!
by City Life