Emergency Responders

"The rain came down, , the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house........"

As we have been processing the thoughts of our realities verses God's reality and all man being subjected to futility, we have all been bombarded with hazardous weather conditions. This reminded many people of the absurdity of self protection and how dependent we truly are upon His supernatural intercession during times of helplessness.

Of course, when things happen God's words flood in to my memory and verses begin to align with conditions in our midst.  When the verses from Matthew chapter 7 came to mind, I had to pick up my bible and jump into it:

"Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.  The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.  But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand.  The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash." (24-27)

Much of the time, when reading the verses in the past, my focus was drawn to wisely building a house on a good foundation.  Maybe it was due to the weather conditions, but the big opening scene, I saw this time from God's word, was the storm rolling in.  And as the local fire station alarms went off again I got it: This life is all about our responses to the things which come toward us!

• How will we respond to what rains down on us?
• How will we respond to what rises up around us?
• How will we respond to the forces that blow against us?

This life beats against us, that is the truth. Do we have the wisdom to know when to move, where to enter and the strength to stand till the winds are gone?  Fear of the unknown is always there; what are we up against? Which unknown will we lay down to? We know we cannot stand forever and we will be overtaken by an unknown from time to time.  No one is invincible; if by nothing else there will be death for us all.

If the gateway to the unknown we enter is a mystery of God, we may trust that He is for us and willing to uphold us through all things.  The Lord desires to share His victories with those relying on His undying love; that does not mean we will never be afraid when entering the unfamiliar or out of our control.  Fear however is an unmerciful lord, desiring to grieve us and steal anything which resembles a hope of a future; yet many will muster up all the strength they can to pass through this wide open space. 

When the storm clouds roll in....who is your Lord? When the rivers of life begin to rise up.....what traits will you employ? When the winds swirl in chaotic formations....who is the Master of your thoughts?  While there is no storm on our horizon here this day, maybe we should pause and think about these things.  

As the storm was rolling out this past week, the ice and snow were melting and the winds were whipping the moisture back home, my family and I had a conversation about how we all respond to natural catastrophes. We felt that this brings out virtues of Godliness toward others which should bring a bit of shame and humility to our "Christmas" attitudes. 

As the children of God and followers of our Lord, we should be standing at every street corner sprinkling salt (and this time it could be literally along with some sand or cat litter!) and showing others a guiding light.  If we are His body, and we are to be out in the world why do we keep all our salt in the church? Doesn't that make us more like one of those salt licks that my grandpa used to have in his field? Shouldn't we be out responding instead of expecting all the urgencies to come running to us?  And what about our lights? Aren't we rather hiding it at times under the bushel of the church roof?  

Just things I think about often.....and thought I would extend the invitation to have your thoughts merge ;)

Kisses,

C

Copyrights Reserved ©Candace Huffmaster 2014

Kaleidoscope Butterfly, Inc.®