I'm awake. Listening to the thunder roll across the Texas sky. Don't tell Grace or Luke, but I'm sort of afraid of storms. I get nervous and stay awake listening for tornado sirens, planning where to go, what to get and how to survive it. Yes, Greensburg has been on my mind. I'm connected to this Kansas town because I grew up driving through it to get to my Grandma's house in western Kansas. It had an ice cream shop on the highway we'd stop at, if we were lucky. Later, a good friend from my church camp days grew up to coach football & teach high school science there. Sadly, he passed away a few years ago. I know his family mourns all over again because the football stadium, where he spent so much time & his funeral was held, is no longer there. From heaven, I wonder what he wants to tell his students and friends. I bet it has something to do with....HOPE.I can't imagine the devastation. I'm sure that praising God, who created the storms, is not foremost in the minds of those whose homes are gone. I'm sure they're crying out "Why? Why have you forsaken me?" like Jesus did on the cross.
But without that, without the cross, how would we cope with devastation? How could we find any HOPE in life at all? And without the storms, how would we ever realize our need for Him? How would we know that He is our Big Abba, our Daddy....and how MUCH He loves us and wants us to crawl up into His big ol' lap during the storms, so He can hold us? How would we come to know Him as our Provider, our Shelter, our Sustainer, if we didn't trust Him during these times of confusion and loss?
It's so much easier to see the world when the sun is shining, but it's so much easier to see heaven during the darkness of the storms.
Can you fathom the mysteries of God?
Can you probe the limits of the Almighty?
Yet if you devote your heart to him and stretch out your hands to him, if you put away the sin that is in your hand and allow no evil to dwell in your tent, then you will lift up your face without shame; you will stand firm and without fear. You will surely forget your trouble, recalling it only as waters gone by. Life will be brighter than noonday, and darkness will become like morning. You will be secure, because there is hope; you will look about you and take your rest in safety. You will lie down, with no one to make you afraid, and many will court your favor. (JOB 11)
