My daughter and I were driving home from an event when she pointed at the sky. “Mom — do you see the face?”

It took me a minute. Then I saw it too — a figure in the clouds, looking up, one arm reaching toward Heaven.

I keep coming back to two ways of seeing it. Maybe it’s a man, looking up in desperation, asking God for help. Or maybe — and this is the one that stays with me — it’s Jesus, interceding for mankind. One outstretched hand, pleading our case before the Father.

Help us, O Lord.

Here’s what struck me this week, with “afford” as our Five Minute Friday word: intercession is something none of us could ever afford on our own. We don’t have the currency for it — not enough righteousness, not enough good days to outweigh the bad ones. But Jesus stood in the gap anyway. Hebrews 7:25 says He “always lives to make intercession” for us. He affords us what we could never earn.

That evening sky wasn’t just a pretty cloud formation. It was a picture of grace, a Savior with His hand still outstretched, still pleading on our behalf, long after we’ve stopped noticing.

What has God afforded you this week that you didn’t earn?