"Just a Thot"
for
July, 2008
We have been shocked at the loss and devastation caused by the floods in
Iowa and other parts of the Midwest in recent weeks. People lose everything in just a short time. Life is changed with suddenness. With the image of the floods on the television news, it reminds us of the flood in the Bible and Noah. The waters had been rising around Noah. He had been cooped up on board an ark for 40 days and nights with every imaginable
animal on earth as well as his own family. The world as he had known it had disappeared. He was having to start over.
That happens to people, doesn’t it? The world as they know it suddenly disappears. A new widow who has never worked outside the home is now having to go to work for the first time in a world for which she is unprepared.
A middle aged man is laid off by his company and his skills are suddenly obsolete. A single mom with two children must now bring up the children on her own. The father decided he was not ready for that kind of responsibility. She has lost the financial support as well as the emotional support. The waters around are rising.
Life does that to us sometimes, doesn’t it? We try to do what God wants us to do and we end up sailing with a boat load of animals toward a world we cannot even imagine. This is Noah’s story but it is also our own.
What do we do when the waters are rising and the world around is rapidly changing and life seems dreadfully frightening?
For one thing, we recognize that beyond the rising waters is a rainbow. Storms do not last forever. Grief subsides and time heals. The rainbow was a symbol of God’s promise to Noah that never again would the waters overwhelm him—or us. We also have God’s promise. For you see, the God who created us will be with us through the storm.
Chuck
