Sometimes I get so wrapped up in my own little life, preparing dinners, shopping for school supplies, doing the laundry, and then blogging all about it, that I forget about the rest of the world outside of my square footage of suburban space.
Even in the blog world, with a site meter that shows international readers, I forget that there are people out there very different from me, preparing their own dinners and doing their laundry.
Right now, some of them are packing up their belongings, boarding up their homes, and filling their gas tanks.
There is a powerful force to be reckoned with brewing in the waters of the Caribbean and headed for the warm Gulf of Mexico. His name is Hurricane Dean.
I have lived through a few hurricanes myself. Some were "nothing," and some were, well, something. Something awful.
Let me tell you that nothing on television or in the newspapers could ever truly represent the terrible suffering and destruction caused by a hurricane. Long after the News has moved on to another story about Lindsay Lohan or Angelina, people are still recovering from the storms.
While most people in the path of Dean are preparing to evacuate, my pastor is headed straight into the midst of the troubled waters. He is joining a team of other pastors on a mission trip to Central America.
This trip has been planned for months and many obstacles have been thrown in the path. Satan has tried his best (if he has a "Best") to stop my pastor and his team from traveling to Central America to share the Gospel of Jesus. Still, my pastor has pressed on, praying God's Will be done in it all.
So why would God allow a hurricane to be in the path of a mission trip?
I don't know. But God does.
I do not believe in coincidence; everything has a purpose. Perhaps God wants these messengers of Christ to be there when the storm strikes, right alongside those who will need God most. I don't know. What I do know is that God is omnipotent and omnipresent.
He knows all. He sees all. He is everywhere, all of the time. Even in the eye of the storm.
Please join me in praying for my pastor and the rest of the mission team.
Pray for all life in the path of this hurricane.
Pray that Christians will step forward and help those affected by the storm.
Above all, pray that God will be glorified, even through tragedy.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
8 comments:
I grew up in southeast Texas, Melanie, in Beaumont, and survived several major hurricanes including Karla which is the very worst one I remember. We were evacuated and lived in a local elementary school for a week while the waters subsided. Our home was totally flooded out. You're so right. Unless you've actually experienced it, there's no describing the suffering a major hurricane causes countless people.
Everyone in southern Texas is in my prayers as Dean approaches. And your pastor will now be in my prayers, too.
Hurricanes are a horrible, awesome force of nature. I've never experienced one (living on the land-locked Canadian prairies), and you're right -- it's so easy to forget that people are picking up the pieces months after the storm is no longer making the news.
My prayers are with your pastor, the lives his will touch, and that God will use this series of events in a powerfully positive way.
I've been thinking of them a lot the past few days. Bunkering down.
Prayers for all.
Thanks for reminding us of this.
Blessings,
Karla
ps -- I didn't realize that there was a Hurricane Karla (with a "K", nonetheless! much less that it was so destructive!!)
one of my best seminary friends is down there in the Dominican Republic helping with Mission Emmanuel.... she flew down knowing the hurricane was close.
now they're cleaning up debris in this poor country.
its definitely a small world we live in.
blessings
The victims of this storm are never far from my mind as Houston hasn't had a major blow since 1984. It's just a matter of time. I am still teaching children from the ravages of Katrina--some of them lost everything and can never go "home" again.
Prayers are with your minister and his team.
Praying for your Pastor and his team. Very brave people!
When our city experienced some flooding a few years back it was crazy dealing with it and insurance company's. And it was a minor thing compared to anything like that. I cannot even fathom.
Melanie, your pastor and the team will be in my prayers! God does have them going for a purpose, that is for sure!
I have never experienced a hurricane. The closest I came was right after I was married, and thrust across the country to Virginia- there was one heading straight towards us. I was left alone to face it, since my husband had to go out with his ship to possibly ride out the storm.
I remember the 700 club praying for that storm to change course....though at the time, the weather people didn't think that was very likely. I was all nervous...listening the news and watching outside all alone...but then a strange thing happened. The storm changed course!
Your reminder, though, that so often we live in our own little worlds is so true...and I'll be praying.
I never knew/understood the devastation these storms can cause until Katrina. Being in the middle of the US, we mainly get tornados. But ever since Katrina rocked our country, I now pray more for victims of hurricanes. I'll pray for your pastor's efforts.
Post a Comment