I apologize if I sound like a Weather Channel correspondent but the storm last night gave me a perspective to share. I would have posted this last night, but by the time my electricity was restored, I was well into Dreamland.
I left work yesterday and drove straight to Farragut. The sky was barely even cloudy in South Knoxville at the time. I was on Pellissippi Parkway at Northshore Drive when it started raining just a bit. When I got to Westland Drive, the situation became grave. I hit a wall of water, literally. It was like I drove off into the lake. Instantly, I couldn't even see the front-end of my truck. And that's no exaggeration. I slowed rather rapidly and pulled over to the shoulder; I think it was the shoulder, it was somewhere to the right of my previous location.
I sat there for only about three minutes then proceeded. By the time I got to Smith Road and Kingston Pike, everything had passed and the weather was normal, just a light shower. But, philosopher that I am, I started thinking about life. Spenser, life is like a category 4 hurricane.
Sometimes we cruise along, all conditions normal, or at least what we think is normal. But it might just be our own personal definition of normal. It may be what we have convinced ourselves is normal. We see no danger or changing conditions on the horizon, just the same normal that we enjoy, and protect. We tell ourselves that we are okay, that we are right where we should be. No worries, we have all the answers, and the skies (future) are cloudless and bright.
Then, darkness. No sight, no vision, no equilibrium, just the storm. Life has instantly been transformed from paradise to hell. Everything we thought we knew has become BS, everything we held confidence in has crumbled, and life is forever different. We look for stability, something of the joy of the past to hold on to, but nothing remains. Nothing, that is, but God. The same God who allowed, or created, the storm.
I don't want to sound like an old geezer (no jokes, please), but I have experienced this more than once in my life. Sometimes because of my decisions and sometimes because of other people's decisions. If you think I'm overstating the suddenness and impact of such an event, I hope you are never proven wrong. Or maybe I hope you are.
The gut-wrenching part is that sometimes the storms foretell their arrival. There are signs, forecasts to warn us of a coming change. If we would pay attention to the forecasts we could change our direction and avoid the bad weather. If we kept our eyes focused above, we might just see the trouble ahead and take steps to prepare. We would have time to seek shelter.
God wants our attention. He wants to grow us closer to Him. He wants to prepare us for the future He has planned out for us. Sometimes that requires drastic measures to get our attention. But the storms we go through for Him are designed to slow us down, focus our attention on Him, make us dependent on Him, and then set us back on the path after having strengthened us.
Life, even the good life, can change in an instant. But the life that is truly good is only found in obedience to God. There is no compromise. And there is no faking it.
I don't usually like the storms because I have to work in them and they usually increase my workload. But when the next one comes along, I'm going to slow down and see God in it. Not just in the storm's fury, but in the bright, clean world it leaves behind.
Have a great Friday, everyone.
