THE BIG STORM

Now that we are past the imagined horrors of what Hurricane Irene (fortunately) did not deliver, many people who live on the east coast are deciding what they learned from the episode. I do not intend to demean the potential disaster that could have come from a worse storm, but it was almost painful watching the reporters try to fill in the gaps as the storm got better while they were prepared for it to get worse. Those who had spent days preparing the audience for a show based on things going bad had to scramble for what to do when things started going good.

Perhaps this points to the fallacy of planning our future when we do not have control over so much that happens in life. We may plan and do all the "right" things, get all the needed ingredients in place, and then have it all displaced by something unexpected.

The pastor of my teenage years had saved his funds, made his plans, built his retirement home, and then was run over by a snowplow less than a year after he retired. Another newly retired pastor friend fell over dead while mowing his lawn. Another fellow was building a house, backed up to admire his work and was killed when fell into the basement hole.

The lesson I see in this is that we can plan for some things, but not all things. More of our life is in the hands of God than we think. Some might call this chance and others luck, but I see it as God's plan. We need always to be ready by faith for what the Lord has in store for us.

My sister refers to these things as life's "pieces of the puzzle." We can only see how they fit together after awhile. Life looks like a jumble of puzzle pieces lying on the card table. "Why did this happen now? When will I know? What were we doing? Now what?" Only as the days unfold can we begin to see how this part fits with that part, and the picture begins to take shape. 

James the half brother of our Lord wrote in his epistle chapter 4, "Come now, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit', yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that."

Which part of the puzzle are you working on right now? Which parts are giving you the most trouble? Have you see a few pieces nicely fall into place recently?

Have you given thanks to God for how He has fit the pieces together?