Moses characterizes Yahweh as one who went before Israel on the dark path through the wilderness to find a place for them. He went ahead of them with fire (Deuteronomy 1:33).

The image of Yahweh going ahead of me into the dark with fire is an image that sticks with me, especially because I associate it with the final scene of No Country for Old Men. If you can spare two minutes, even if you’ve seen this before …

I can’t help but feel a similar ache to the old man at the breakfast table.

Jesus has gone on ahead of us, and “he’s fixin’ to make a fire somewhere out there in all that dark and all that cold … and I know that when [I] get there, he’ll be there.” (John 10:4; 14:23; Hebrews 6:19–20).

To play on the last sentence spoken in the video, I don’t want to wake up any more than the old man at the table did. But we must, and it will be better in the end.