Have You Seen the Opening in the Sky?!

Posted: 26 Dec 2008 01:00 AM CST
Acts 6:8-10, 7:54-59 / Mt 10:17-22
Graduations, no matter what the level, seem to follow a prescribed course, and there seems no escaping the ponderous speeches from both young and old, and the endless role call of those who tromp onto the stage. But invariably there are compensations for enduring the tedium: The graduates themselves are so filled with hopes and aspirations to do so much better what their forebears have only done well.

We can only imagine what St. Stephen must have been like at that earlier stage in his life, but the book of Acts gives us a clue in describing him as a man “filled with grace and power, who worked great wonders and signs among the people.” What a fine young man he must have been to give birth to such an adult!

Yet, despite all his goodness and all his good works across many days, Stephen found himself confronted with jealous and angry men who hated him and all he stood for, men who indeed intended to kill him. And he knew it. This was the defining moment for him. Would he flee, or defect, or deny his Lord?

He would not. Instead, his faith enabled him to see beyond the pain and death that were about to be his lot. “I see an opening in the sky, and the Son of Man standing at God’s right hand….” And confident in that vision, he met his death.

Few of us will ever face challenges like those that Stephen faced, but we have our own troubles in abundance, troubles that can easily overwhelm us if we give in to them. Only one thing stands between hope and the despairing surrender to oblivion and that is faith: The ability to see that opening in the sky.
The opening is there. It remains for us to see it and trust it!