Pastor Mike Nodland of the Christian Fellowship Church in Vining, IA.

As a kid, I listened to the radio to hear the one-minute mystery called, “Only the Shadow Knows!” We’d try to figure out the answer to his minute mystery! But only the Shadow knew the answer.

Donald Barnhouse was driving home with his children from the funeral of his first wife. Overwhelmed with grief, he wanted to help his children process the loss of their mother, when a large truck crossed by in front of them. The truck’s shadow swept over them, and a moment of inspiration came to Dr. Barnhouse. He said, “Children, would you rather be run over by a truck or its shadow?” Of course, they’d preferred the shadow! It couldn’t hurt them. He then told his children that similarly, two thousand years ago, a “truck” ran over Jesus Christ, in order that only the shadow would run over us! Jesus Christ suffered the agony of physical death, so that only the shadow runs over us!

In Psalm 23, it says “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.” Who comforts you? Jesus is the answer!