The WindshieldSample

Day 4 Sunlight

In my opinion, the best drives happen during the day: a clear blue sky, the sun high overhead, temperatures around 70–75°F, a light breeze. Everywhere you look, people are cheerful—you know the feeling. Imagine sitting in a quaint Italian village at a restaurant overlooking the azure Mediterranean Sea, a glass of red wine in your hand. Go ahead, keep dreaming. It’s certainly better than a cold, rainy, windy day, where visibility through your windshield is poor, and your truck is being tossed around by stormy winds.

But the sun has a downside ;-) It can be incredibly bothersome in spring and autumn, especially during sunrise and sunset, or when its light reflects off objects along the highway. The sun can also make you uncomfortably warm, especially behind a windshield. And let’s not forget—it reveals just how dirty your windows and dashboard really are! Still, the sun is an incredible wonder of creation.

Did you know the sun is 93 million miles away from Earth? You could fit 1.3 million Earths inside the sun, and its core can reach temperatures of 27 million °F, according to astronomers in Utrecht and elsewhere in the Netherlands. Without the sun, life wouldn’t be possible. But did you know there was light before the sun even existed? In Genesis 1:3, God says, “Let there be light,” and light appears. It’s not until the third day that God places the sun in the sky (Genesis 1:16).

I want to share with you the “Sun” of our spiritual lives—the love of God. In Greek, this love is called Agape love, the highest form of love: God’s unconditional love for humanity. The most well-known verse about this love is John 3:16:

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life."

In Romans 5:8, Paul writes that God loved us even while we were still sinners. You’ll also find expressions of God’s love in Ephesians 2:4, Ephesians 5:2, 1 John 4:9-10, and many other places in the Bible.

God’s love is immeasurable and incomprehensible. In 1 John 4:8, we read that God IS love. Let me share a small example from Scripture about what happens when we draw closer to God. In Exodus 34:29-35, when Moses comes down from Mount Sinai for the second time after being in the presence of God’s glory, his face shines so brightly that everyone notices. After speaking with the people, Moses even had to cover his face with a veil. Each time he leaves the Tabernacle after speaking with God, he does the same.

Perhaps you, too, have experienced God’s overwhelming closeness. I once felt it when I sat down in my office, and it was humbling beyond words. During prayer, I asked to feel just 1% of God’s love, to better understand how vast it is. But even 1% was too much for me to handle. I cried out, unable to bear even a fraction of His divine love. Words can’t adequately describe how it felt; sometimes, human language fails to capture such profound emotions.

I believe God wants each of us to be close to His heart. This happens when we love Him with all our hearts, strength and mind, as Jesus commands in Matthew 22:37:

"Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind."

My prayer for you is that you draw ever closer to His heart, that you shine with His love, and that you reflect His light in His Kingdom wherever you go.

Wishing you a safe journey and God’s blessing.