Acts 1:11 - Why you should be a nephologist

Different sciences fascinate me. Entomology. Ethnomusicology. Nephology. That last one is the study of clouds. (Not nephRology--that's kidneys!) There are many reasons I'm intrigued with clouds; I'll give you the top three.

Reason No.1  My dad was an oil painter and some of the best features of his paintings were clouds as the background above landscapes. He had a knack for capturing the fleeting, almost intangible nature of mist--whether it was sunlight shining through fog in a forest, or different clouds in the sky. As they drove different places, he and my mom looked for cloud formations that would make a good oil painting.

Reason No.2  One year, my wife taught a summer class on weather. Our kids were young at the time, and the whole family ended up learning the names of different kinds of clouds. As we traveled on vacation that year, it was an opportunity to identify them: Stratus, Cumulus, Cirrus, Nimbostratus, Cumulonimbus...

Reason No.3  Forty days after Jesus rose from the dead, He gave final instructions to His disciples. Then "He was lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud received Him out of their sight."  Angels appeared and asked, "Why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven.” Acts 1:9, 11 (New American Standard Bible, 1995)

Revelation affirms this as an earlier prophecy from the book of Daniel:
"Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him..." Revelation 1:7 (NASB95) 

I believe that Jesus' ascension in a cloud and His return in the clouds are just as real as His resurrection. Many times when I see clouds I think, "Maybe that's where Jesus will appear." And when there is a cloudless sky, I look for a cloud to form... (1 Kings 18:44)

Today's one-word prayer is from 1 Corinthians 16:22. "Maranatha" means, "O Lord, Come!" Amen.