Show me your Glory

I lost a cousin two weeks ago. He was 17 years old, a senior in high school, with a full and promising life in front of him. I went to the visitation at the church the night before the services and was humbled and amazed at what I saw.

My cousin had been involved in the mission field at his church traveling to several places in and outside the US. He was involved in starting and growing a couple of student organizations in his middle and high schools. He was an enthusiastic and successful racer on the ATV circuit.

At the church that Wednesday night, I estimate that no fewer than 1000 people came through the line for him and his family. The vast majority of them were high school and middle school youth. While I'm not glad that my cousin died, I am glad that he had an impact on so many young lives. He had obviously touched their lives while living, even if only in a casual way. It was very obvious that night that he had touched all those lives in a much deeper way with his death.

The day that I learned about his death, my Sunday School class was doing a Bible study on Exodus 33:12 - 23. In this passage of Scripture, Moses has gone back up the mountain to talk to God. This is after the Israelites have made the idols and, effectively, thumbed their nose at God. In the end, God agrees to send his presence along with Israel as they continue on. At that point, Moses says "Now show me your Glory." (Exodus 33:18). God then tells Moses that he will shelter in the cleft of a rock, covered by God's hand as he passes by. The last thing God says in this chapter is "Then I will remove my hand and you will see my back; but my face must not be seen." (Exodus 33:23).

I, being the concrete thinker that I am (daggum engineering and technology education), have always taken this as literal. God has a body much like ours and Moses was allowed to look at his back. Well, at the Bible study, someone brought up that the original Hebrew words used for the "see my back" could be translated as "see where I have been." One very intelligent young lady said that she thought that the passage might mean that we are supposed to pay attention to what God has been doing to see his Glory.

Well, that hit my heart that Wednesday night sitting in the church. As I looked around at all the people and all the pictures and all the memorial items, I realized that God was showing us His Glory in Luke's life. God had been at work in this young man's life and by looking at where God had been, we could truly see the Glory.

I caught a glimpse of Your splendor
In the corner of my eye
The most beautiful thing I've ever seen
And it was like a flash of lightning
Reflected off the sky
And I know I'll never be the same
("Show Me Your Glory" by Third Day)

Curtis Luke Byars
April 7, 1990 - January 12, 2008
May you rest in God's arms