Stand at the 10,000-plus-foot summit of Mount San Jacinto in Southern California and on occasion you can watch at close range as a golden eagle sweeps, unchallenged, across the sky. A current of cool mountain air carries him forward, and at the same time sweeps over you, renewing your spirits after the long climb to the top.
The flight of the eagle suggests something great. So does the sweep of the wind. They hint at something more than nature's grandeur. Something beyond wing and current and lift. They suggest the forward sweep of the Christ, God's message of love for humanity. The sweep of this Christ is unchallengeable and it is renewing. But while the eagle and the breeze only sweep across space, the Christ sweeps across space and also across time.
The Christ sweeps across space to reach people in need right where they are. And Christ sweeps across time to reach those in need right when they are. Think of Christ as the immortal idea of God, the timeless truth embodied by Jesus and brilliantly demonstrated throughout his healing ministry. Yet this idea of God was not really confined to Jesus. It couldn't be, since Christ is always present, continuously active, perpetually healing, saving, and redeeming humanity.
