It is impossible for us to fully comprehend the Trinity. We know the doctrine, and we all have our own devices to help us explain it. I like to think of a three leaf clover. Yet, none of us quite understand how the one and only God is three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Consequently, I think most of us tend to think of each person of God as a total separate being. 

How else can we conceive of such a concept. Considering the Trinity is like considering a new color. That is impossible. The best we can do is come up with variations using mixtures of existing colors. 

In this single passage of John 14:25-28, Jesus ties Himself, the Holy Spirit, and God into the concept of overcoming fear. Because the Holy Spirit is to arrive… and because Jesus is returning to the Father, who is greater, we are not to fear. 

So, it is the person of the Holy Spirit who lives within our hearts, teaching us, speaking to us, helping us to pray. It is Jesus who sits beside the Father, acting as our advocate. It is the Father who sits upon the throne. Yet, all three are one. Got it. Sort of. 

Best I can. 

I understand it…

… Like I understand a new color. 

Let me go back to the clover: three leafs, one clover. 

Oh boy. 

I may not understand, but I will not fear, for Christ returns to the Father, who is greater, and has sent us the Holy Spirit.

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 Holy, holy, holy

Though the darkness hide Thee

Though the eyes of sinful man Thy glory may not see

Lord, only Thou art holy and there is none beside Thee

Perfect in power, in love and purity

– Holy, Holy, Holy

Reginald Heber and John Bacchus Dykes, 1861

With an eternity to spend in heaven, one of the questions I hope to ask is why God doesn’t like mobile homes. For my international readers, let me explain. Every spring and summer, the heartland of the United States witnesses phenomenal storms that produce tornadoes. To those living in that heartland, myself included, iseems like every tornado takes aim at mobile homes. 

I’m sure the answer will be that it only seems like God doesn’t like mobile homes… that mobile homes are more easily destroyed. 

For a couple years while growing up, my brother, David, and I lived with our mother in a mobile home. One summer day, we were home alone when a tornado set its sights on our mobile home park. I was frightened, for we could see the funnel cloud coming straight forward us. 

The smart thing to do, would have been to take shelter. Instead, David and I stood out in the front yard watching it dance toward us. It was not alone. A smaller funnel formed on either side of the tornado. To me, they looked like cloud fingers, taunting us; three fingers, set to flick us into oblivion. Only the center funnel cloud fully formed, and it grew larger as it moves towards us. 

The winds grew wild. Hailstones the size of marbles fell around us. I was convinced that we would be sucked up into the clouds. I whined to go inside, but my brother told me we would be fine to stay on our patio and watch it. When I saw that he wasn’t scared, then I was no longer afraid. Let the winds blow. I wasn’t frightened so long as my big brother wasn’t. 

At the last minute, David and I ducked inside. Good thing, too, because the tornado ripped the roof right off our patio. We watched it from inside the mobile home. As impressed as I was with that storm, what I remember most all these years later was how reassuring it was to watch my brother stay calm. It was almost as if he was in charge, not only of me, but the storm, too. 

Christ, the only begotten Son of God, really does stand beside us through life’s storms, reassuring us, the adopted sons and daughters of God. “It’s okay,” He says…

My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

– John 14:27b 

Fear Not, and let not your heart be troubled.