‘Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift.’ 2Cor. 9:15

He was an old man when I met him. White hair, big wrinkled hands, the whole package. He seemed to know everything without acting like it. The thing that struck you when you met him was that he was kind. The second thing? He never stopped acting like a kid. I mean...he seemed to see the world through a child’s eyes.

The other day, or maybe it was longer ago, it doesn’t really matter, we were walking together. It was one of those days in the fall that people are always trying to take pictures of. Half of the leaves lay on the ground forming a luxurious carpet of texture and colors while the other half clung tenaciously to the branch on the tree where they’d spent their entire life. The days were getting shorter and while the sun felt warm on your face you could almost smell winter on the cool breeze that was blowing.

We headed down a path towards the woods where there was an old stone fence that he wanted to show me. A creek flowed past on the right, seemingly going much faster than we were. This was going to take longer than I’d planned. I fired off a text letting someone know I was running late. Walk along. Listen to the water flowing. Look at the leaves. Hear him talk.

At around 4:15 I had just replied to a text when I heard him say something that caused me to listen.

His voice had dropped almost to a whisper. "I call it afternoon twilight."

"What are you talking about?"

"This time of day. Look! If you watch close you’ll see it change."

I looked. It all looked the same to me.

He eased himself down and sat on a log next to the trail.

He sort of smiled at me and said, "I don’t know if it makes sense or if anyone else calls it that but that’s what I call it."

"It’s that time of day when the sun begins it’s descent into the west not long before sundown. It gets at just the right angle and everything changes. All of the sudden you can see little corners that were in shadows all day. Colors become vibrant. Little details are all of the sudden clear. It’s almost like God takes a paintbrush and changes the whole scene from brown and burnt umber to the most vivid crimson and gold, yellow and orange, blue and green. Suddenly, in a spot where you’ve looked all day, you see a patch of flowers or a cool looking rock that you hadn’t noticed until now."

"I don’t envy you," he went on. "You seem to work twice as hard and go twice as fast as I did at your age to accomplish about the same thing."

He picked up a small stick and threw it into the stream. I watched as it disappeared around a bend. That stick was going to reach our destination long before we did.

"Too many distractions," he was saying. "Makes it hard to see the details. Seems like when we miss the details we miss those special times that God creates for us."

"You ever see somebody running on a treadmill? Blank expression on their face, can’t wait to get it done. Just staring at a wall or a screen. Me, I like to take a walk or a run and see what God did today. This is just one of those special times of the day."

It was somewhere between 4:30 and 5:00 when he stopped talking and we started walking again. His words had caused me to think about things. How busy I seem to be, how busy everybody is. I stuck my phone in my pocket and bent down to pick up a stick. I threw it into the stream and watched as it hurried away.

We came to the old stone fence deep in the woods and he told me a story about the people that built it. Suddenly it happened! It was as if a brilliant flood light came on and every detail in the dark forest became clear as a warm glow enveloped the entire area. I stood in awe and literally gazed upon God’s splendor.

The old man smiled. "We better head back. It’ll be dark soon."

That night I layed in bed and prayed. It seemed like Jesus was one of those details I’d been missing. I knew He was there, I just hadn’t stopped to look or to listen. It’s funny how God works in little details and how He places little details in everyday circumstances and huge events. I’ve decided I don’t want the distractions to smother the details that God created for me.

What started out as just a boring walk has impacted me. I think it’s changing my life.

I call it... afternoon twilight.