The Aftermath

Day 90

Hurricane Irma blew through our end of the world last night, with 75 mph winds and some crazy rain. As the winds howled, I couldn’t help but keep an eye on the large, swaying oak tree that threatened to deliver massive damage to our pool cage, and to continually pray that our home would not be flooded.

We had one scary moment when a tree branch crashed against a bedroom window, but fortunately it didn’t break the window. Somehow I slept through the brunt of the storm, and awoke to a dry, undamaged house that had not lost electricity.

I can’t even begin to express my gratitude. If Irma had followed the predicted path, we would have surely had horrible losses – and I had prepared myself mentally and spiritually for an unpleasant outcome. The truth is that God protected us and our belongings but there are thousands of people whose lives became as uprooted as the many trees that today lay across local roads and homes.

To those people I express my heartfelt condolences, and can only echo the words I used to prepare myself for potential loss;

This is not our home
We are eternal beings, designed to live in glory with our creator. This house, city, state, country, and earth are not our home but a very temporary, short-lived assignment. When we focus on the eternal, our concern with all of this diminishes.

It all belongs to God
Everything that we’ve been given belongs to God. We’re only here for a short time to use and enjoy it.

We can find true hope and happiness only through God’s promises
The world and everything that it represents is meaningless in the grand scheme of things. When we look to our possessions to make us happy, we will always be left feeling empty and unfulfilled.

“Footprints In The Sand”

Some people say that God will only give you as much as you can handle, but I would have to refute that. It’s in the times when life seems totally unbearable that many of us are humbled and have nowhere to turn except to him. These times of desperation often become the moments in which we experience amazing growth and faith. This is well described in my favorite poem, “Footprints In the Sand”, which hangs on my bedroom wall.

I hope and pray that no matter where you are in life, in the good times and the bad, you always know that you have a friend in God.

In love,