Batman and Robin decided to go camping. They set up their tent out in the woods and went to sleep. A couple of hours later, Batman woke his faithful friend. “Robin, look up at the sky and tell me what you see.” Robin, who is used to these midnight lessons, replied, “I see millions of stars.” “What does that tell you?” asked Batman. Robin pondered for a minute. “Well, astronomically speaking, it tells me that there are millions of galaxies and potentially billions of planets. Astrologically, it tells me that Saturn is in Leo. Chronologically, it appears to be about 3:15AM. Theologically, it’s evident that God is all-powerful and we are small and insignificant.”

“Why?” continued Robin. “What does it tell you, Batman?” Batman is silent for a moment, then speaks. “Robin, you’re an idiot. It means somebody stole our tent while we were sleeping.”

How many of you grew up watching the television show “Batman?” Batman began as a comic book, evolved to TV, and is the recent subject of several new movies. This story is first told in a twelve-frame comic strip in 1939 in issue #27 of Detective Comics. Bruce Wayne and his parents were walking home from the theater when an armed robber accosted them. His father stepped in front of his mother and took a bullet. Then the gunman turned the gun on his mother while Bruce watched. The robber ran away, leaving Bruce standing over his dead parents. His guilt and life-long suffering over standing by helplessly while his parents were murdered turns the boy Bruce Wayne into the superhero crime-fighter Batman. He dedicated his life to stopping criminals and defending the weak.

Batman’s life is a statement about how we can use suffering to give us purpose and to make us stronger while we wait on an unknown future that is way off on the horizon. This little story is also a reminder that sometimes you have to get out from under the tent to truly see what is on the horizon.

Jeremiah 29:11 (New Revised Standard Version)

¹¹ For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope.

Jeremiah was an Old Testament prophet who served God during a time of great discord in Israel. He was called to warn the kingdom of Judah about the coming destruction by the Babylonians. God was allowing this to happen due to Israel’s apostasy. Even with this impending doom, Jeremiah had the ability to see beyond the immediate to the future with hope.

I am reminded of a story one of my pastors told about the first time he took his 6 year old daughter on a cruise ship. As they made their way out to sea, she looked left to right and then right to left and exclaimed, “Oh Daddy! I can see as far as I can look!” Her first view of an unlimited horizon was breathtaking.

So should ours be.

God has prepared an unlimited horizon for us that includes a resurrection body, a new Eden, peace, and fellowship with him. So no matter what troubles you today, look up! See the stars. Watch the horizon. Be encouraged. This life is not all there is.

Get out from under your tent.

Unlimited Horizon by Michelle Robertson