We woke up to the distant sound
of thunder followed by cracks of lightning. For the next 10-12 hours we endured
9 emergency alerts, 3 tornado warnings, hail hitting our windows in the dark,
huge amounts of rain bombarding the streets and a power outage that lasted 10
hours. The rain and wind were so ferocious that at one time, I watched the rain
go sideways. The trash can that was put
out the night before, was in someone else’s yard, not sure who put it upright
and brought it back to us in the early morning hours. (Thank you)
The result: Houston has experienced historic
flooding. Lives have been lost, property
loss and hearts overwhelmed. We have
experienced these disasters before, but this one felt weird, almost
unexpected. Yes, we all heard that there
would be severe thunderstorms and rain, chance of flooding….But I think when we
get in the groove of life, we just expect each week to look a little like the
last. BUT….
This world is aching; it is
waiting for all of this to be over. Sin
is a funny thing, it affects everything- our lives, our hearts… our world. The earthquakes and droughts, tornados and
extreme snow, heat, floods, all of this is a result of a hurting world. This world is waiting for this time after the
“fall” to be over.
CREATION IS GROANING!
For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the
pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves,
who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for
adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were
saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But
if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. Romans 8:22-25
I was talking to someone today as
I got ready to combat the streets to get to work. They told me when the rain first started;
they began to pray because God has answered them before when it came to weather. But God told him “I’m not going to answer
this time, they need this”.
Most of us could not imagine a
God who says He loves us, not answering.
We can’t imagine that He would just sit on His throne and ALLOW us to go
through this, again! While talking to this man, his take away was
that we become better versions of ourselves when we get out of ourselves. When we see a crisis, we tend to become
answers to problems, instead of creating them.
The images of community helping community will burn in our minds for a
while. (That is ….until we get past this
and forget, then we are subject to start treating each other like enemies
again.) But somehow in the midst of
tragedies, God can remind us that we actually care about these same people we
talk about. We actually have more in
common than we have different. We want
to be loved, accepted, encouraged, and taken care of. All of us want this.
I love the feeling of true
community, especially when my family has changed so over the last few years. My mom is gone, my stepfather gone, I'm single again, my kids are growing up and my dog is OLD! But God has soooo many great people around… good
people who I can care for and allow them to care for me. That is how we can see Christ in Our Crisis…
He is seen in our love for one another.
So this storm will pass. We will
recover, we will note the day it happened.
News channels will remind us next year and show us the images again. But hopefully, we will remember more the
images of community, people reaching out to each other, neighbors who have
never spoken, checking on each other. Remember
those who allowed someone to charge their phone, or when someone lit the BBQ
grill with everyone in the neighborhood’s meat that was thawing due to power
outages. Sharing and loving.
That is how Christ is seen in Crisis! The real question is: Can He be seen through you?
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