fires

The Best Gift This Christmas

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / Leave a comment

I’m still in shock over the absolute devastation that’s taken place in East Tennessee. So many people lost everything, including some that lost loved ones. I can’t even begin to fathom the grief they’re experiencing right now.

I’ve decided that the best gift you or I can give this Christmas isn’t so much presents but presence, as in you and I being fully present with our families and friends during this Advent season.

By fully present, I mean more than just sharing the same room. I mean making full eye contact and actively listening to what the other is saying. I mean you being glued to the other person and not to your smart phone.

I confess I’m guilty as much as anyone else of choosing technology over people. It’s easy to do when your phone is doing everything to get your attention, up to the point of saying, “Hey! Look at this comment to your status right this very minute!”

I have yet to meet anybody who regrets not checking their latest Facebook updates. I don’t know of anyone who will shed tears because they failed to reply promptly to a comment on one of their Instagram photos.

I do know that people’s biggest regrets are those moments when they wish they could go back in time to tell a friend or family member how much that person meant to them. I have a feeling some will look up from their phones and realize they missed so much. It’s better to take time away from social media to have that meaningful conversation with someone than to wait too late and have to talk to their headstone.

You have an incredible opportunity to speak into the lives of your spouse, your children, your parents, and your friends. You have the blessing of having them speak healing and life into you. Never take that privilege for granted. You never know when it will be taken away.

 

Earthquakes, Fires, Tornadoes . . . . Oh My!

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This may be common knowledge to be filed under the file drawer labeled “DUH!”, but I felt it needed to be said (or more accurately, written down).

The same God who went before the Israelites as a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night still reigns. The same God who took human flesh and stilled the waves of a storm in the person of Jesus still has authority over all storms.

This God is Lord over earthquakes and tornadoes and hurricanes and wildfires and any other catastrophic natural occurrences you can imagine. He still has the power to speak over storms and bid them be still.

That goes for the storms in your own life.

I don’t know why he allows storms to come. In the end, he is able to work good out of tragedies such as Hurricane Katrina or any of the devastating tornadoes or earthquakes that strike anywhere in the world.

I think that part of the reason for storms is that creation suffers under the effects of the fall. The Bible speaks of creation groaning and awaiting a time when Jesus will come and set things right again.

Creation and nature are out of balance and out of whack since Adam and Eve sinned (and don’t even get me started on who’s to blame on that one– they both messed up).

Sometimes, God causes storms. In the Old Testament, God stirs up wind and fire and other natural elements to do his bidding. Storms show that God is not only a God of love and mercy, but of power and justice.

The point is that God is still God in the midst of the storm as he is on a clear and sunny day. He has just as much power and He is just as able to rescue those who call on his name.

I love the quote that says that sometimes God calms the storm, but sometimes he allows the storm to rage and instead calms his child. I think that’s so very true.