Confidence

Sometimes I go through old journal entries instead of writing a new one. Remembering God's leading in the past often reminds me of lessons I once learned. Sometimes I need to relearn them. So, the following is adapted from my journal from over a year ago.

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It’s something I have a lot of sometimes, and hardly any other times. Sometimes I have it when I shouldn’t, and don’t have it when I need it.

I have confidence that my computer saves files correctly and isn’t going to lose my data. I have confidence that other drivers will stop at a stop light rather than going through and ramming into me. These kinds of things make normal life possible and far more pleasant than if we could not have confidence in anything. (Wait, would life even be possible then?)

But then there’s a deeper type of confidence - confidence in God and His word. And I don’t have enough of it. Sometimes I wonder if I really have any deep confidence in Him. For if I did, why do I so easily question His leading? I’ve often felt that life would be better if God understood my problems the way I understand them.

How arrogant.

What I’m slowly coming to realize is that He understands life's problems better than I do, solutions and all. And I don’t have very much confidence, because as soon as things start to look like they’re not working out right, I run to Him crying. Why are You letting this happen? 

Why? As if a feeble, weak, and struggling human mind could fully comprehend even a fraction of the purposes of the Almighty. He needs give no reason, no justification for His plans. Amazingly, mercifully, often He gives one anyway. But sometimes, He doesn’t, at least not in the moment. And it’s then that we learn whether we really trust Him or not.

He claims us as His own if we hold fast onto the confidence we have in Him, until the end. (Hebrews 3:6) I may not have started well - I’ve made mistakes, and lived my life as if I could be self-sufficient. But I have confidence that He will finish what He started. I have confidence in His plans for me even if they go beyond what I can see. I have confidence in His love. And He will sustain me through it all. Until the end.

Oh, let me run this race all the way to the finish line, and never give up no matter what. There is no other way. I need not ask for You to help - You’ve already promised that. But I ask for the humility to accept Your help.

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To approach a battle smiling with the confidence of a thousand victories won already, we must be so accustomed to giving up our own plans and accepting God’s that it will be second nature to do it again.

That’s the recipe for Victory #1001.

Inseparable

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?”

Absolutely not. 

“For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

I marvel when I try to contemplate what Paul is saying. We are to be so caught up in the love of God that trials will only draw us closer to Him. Inseparable, for eternity. That's worth any sacrifice, no matter how precious... 

This Day

January 22 started out like any other day. The air was cool, crisp, and still as I walked to the truck to leave for school. I wish I had time to stay out here and enjoy it.

As I drove over the gentle prairie hills between Chickasha and Norman, my mind was astir from my morning reading. Persecution. Faithfulness unto death. Changing the world. (I’ve started reading the Great Controversy again.)

I’m not going to pretend. I don’t have that kind of strength. How am I to change the world when I can’t even change myself? The work ahead seemed to rise up as an insurmountable obstacle, a mountain whose summit was very far off and difficult to reach. And who knew what today might bring?

Then I felt a gentle rebuke. 
You’re looking at it from the wrong perspective. Today, I’m only asking you to do one day’s worth of work for Me. Can you do that? Can you give Me today, and let Me handle the future?

“Yes.”

We’ll do it together… 

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Fast-forward 4 hours…

Computer Organization class had just been dismissed, and several friends and I were talking after class. As we were laughing and talking, I felt a vibration in my pocket. I pulled out my phone to find a new message from “OU Emergency Info.” (OU has a mass alert system that notifies students via text message when there’s an emergency.)

It could not be. It could not be. 

“OU emergency: Shooting on campus. Avoid Gould Hall. Seek immediate shelter in place.”

(Don’t worry - this story has a happy ending. But I didn’t know it at the time.)

My face must have registered my shock, for one of my friends asked me what was wrong. (I was one of the first students to receive the text alert.) I could not speak; instead, I showed my classmates my phone screen. We unanimously decided to stay right where we were, in the 4th floor of a building about 7 minutes’ walk from Gould Hall. An OU official came and told us that the campus was under lockdown, and that we would do best to stay in the classroom until things were sorted out.

It was hard to find up-to-date information on what was going on outside, but we were okay, so we all began calling or texting parents and friends to let them know we were safe. We texted other classmates and friends to see if they were okay. Finally we found a live video stream from a news helicopter, and the four of us gathered around my laptop to watch it. 

What we saw was astonishing. Police cars lined the South Oval and completely blocked the streets. Gould Hall was cordoned off with yellow tape, and police officers were everywhere. SWAT teams were on the scene as well. At one point we saw a group of police and SWAT team members cautiously entering Gould Hall, every one of them carrying an assault rifle.

View from a helicopter (photo: News9)

“I can’t believe this is happening on our campus,” one of my friends commented. “This has happened at other schools, but it seems impossible that it’s happening here.”

This seems so unreal… 

Not your everyday police officers (photo: Tulsa World)

Police cars lining the Oval (photo: KFOR.com)

Time passed, and we sifted through the many conflicting reports coming in from the internet. Finally, though, it began to become clear that no shooting had actually occurred. Multiple people had reported hearing gunshots, but no shells or bullet holes were found, no one was injured, and no students were suspects. The lockdown was lifted, and we could finally leave to go eat lunch.

At 1 pm, OU President David Boren announced in a press release that it had been a false alarm. Classes in the afternoon continued as usual, and Gould Hall was reopened. 

(The official OU report is here.)

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Driving home that evening, my mind kept replaying the events of the day. There were many things to ponder, but one question stood out. What if it hadn’t been a false alarm? What if one or more of our students had died today?

Life is a gift. Every day is a gift that we must not take for granted. 


This day was a gift… 

And a still, small voice reminded me,
We made it through the day, together. 

Perhaps the best (and most important) moments of life are rarely if ever experienced solo. They are lived together. (With a heavenly Companion, even in absence of human companions.)

I don’t know what the future holds. But be it joy or sorrow, happiness or tears, success or apparent failure, I know one thing. We will do it together. And we will change the world, one day at a time.

Broken Branches

Morning light had only recently filled the sky when I walked out into the frozen world. I needed to think, but I also wanted to explore after the ice storm of the night before. Half an inch of ice covered everything. The trees groaned and strained under the weight of the ice. Some of their noble branches had even broken under the stress. Still, in spite of the sometimes serious damage to the trees, there is great beauty in ice.

I stood alone; pondering, gazing at the crystalline world around me. What does it truly mean to love?

Love is a principle, not a feeling. Love comes back after being pushed away, just as a tree’s branches will spring back after the ice melts. Love hopes and endures all things. All things. Even those things which seem impossible. (Even broken branches.) But how?

“My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9)

Beautiful words, spoken to one of God’s most faithful messengers… But it wasn’t written just for him. It was written for me, too.

How often I hold onto this promise in times of trial. God’s grace is sufficient for me - there are no qualifiers or conditions in that statement. If I am losing my battles, falling behind, unable to cope with what I must face… It is not because of a shortage of Grace. It’s because I’m trying to win battles on my own. God does not promise to take away our battles. But He promises to give us strength to overcome. Failure is not caused by an increasing intensity of battle. Failure happens if (and only if) we look for strength anywhere other than His grace and power.

But the second part of the verse is less welcome, less comfortable. Perhaps it would even be easier to gloss over this point altogether. For it seems that if God’s strength is to be made perfect in a strong man, he must become weak. And in our experience, to be weak is to be vulnerable.

You mean all these walls I’ve built to protect myself must come down? 

Yes. And more. Much more. Some branches will bend and strain. Some may even break. It’s going to hurt. Nobody likes being vulnerable.

But it will be worth it in the long run. I know whom I have believed. He promised that His grace is sufficient for me. And I’m willing to risk everything on His word. That’s what loving Him means to me right now: surrendering everything to His greater love, trusting that He will work all things out for good in His own time, and (this one is the hardest, sometimes) genuinely thanking Him for leading me even during times when I don’t understand the paths by which He leads. 

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"God has a purpose in sending trial to His children. He never leads them otherwise than they would choose to be led if they could see the end from the beginning, and discern the glory of the purpose that they are fulfilling. All that He brings upon them in test and trial comes that they may be strong to do and to suffer for Him." (PK 578)

So let me learn to only love Him more, through trials and tests. For I have an incredibly patient, loving Father who does for me what I cannot do for myself, who cares about every detail of my life, and who rejoices and sorrows with me through every experience. This is what makes even the darkest days of life worth living, and the happiest days the most joyful. And though I'm only beginning to discover the extent of this truth, serving God is not only worth it in the long run.

It is worth it every single day, rain or shine. That's what it means to love.

The Test of Faith

God loves to see faith in action. Faith that takes His word, "Give it to Me," and trusts Him with the outcome, when the deepest things in life are at stake. Faith to choose His ways instead of mine, when there is no discernible reason behind His doings.

I want that kind of faith. I ask God for it…

And then I whine and complain when He tries to train me?

A man of great faith is not born with the faith to move mountains. Faith must be developed, exercised, tested. And it hurts, when that test calls for the surrender of the dearest and most cherished dreams of life.

“Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.” (Genesis 22:2)

Even till the last moment before Isaac was to be killed, Abraham never faltered in his obedience to God. He didn’t question how God could fulfill His promise about Isaac if Isaac was to be killed - he trusted that He would, simply because He said so. And Abraham risked everything.

We have no idea what it would be like to be in that situation. None.

“And the angel of the Lord called unto him out of heaven, and said, ‘Abraham, Abraham’: and he said, ‘Here am I.’ And he said, ‘Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.’” (Genesis 22:11, 12)

He had passed the test, flawlessly. Few other men could have.

The most amazing miracles are wrought for those who are willing to put everything on the line, to risk everything for God.

So often I’ve looked at the histories of men of great faith. Of course they made those choices. Of course that was the right thing to do. Of course? When you’re in a trying situation, it doesn’t always feel that way. Maybe God’s plan crosses everything you think you know and everything you want to believe. Maybe it makes no sense at all to you.

But to quote a friend of mine, we are no followers at all, if we do not follow Him all the way. 

Before Honor

"The fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom; and before honor is humility." - Proverbs 15:33

Humility is a prerequisite for honor. Why? Because only those who have learned the lessons of humility are ready for the privileges of honor. Honor requires responsibility. Heaven will not bestow honor and recognition on those who will only waste it on themselves. It’s not as if we have anything of our own that is worth showing off anyway. Who wants to see filthy rags?

“The heavenly intelligences can co-operate with him who is seeking, not to exalt self, but to save souls.” (DA 436) 

If we put God first in every area of our lives, He will honor us in His time. “Them that honor me I will honor…” (1 Samuel 2:30) And what a privilege that really is. To be honored by the Ruler of the universe…

Sometimes in times of humiliation, we may be tempted to distrust God’s way; to be discontent with where He leads. But those times are the very times when He is preparing us to receive the honor that He wants to bestow on us someday.

Preparation

The hallway was filled with students. Some were excited, others were nervous. Some talked and laughed, others were silent. All of us were here for the same reason – the chemistry exam.

“Do you have the polyatomic ions from Table 2.9 memorized?” the girl across the hall asked the guy next to me.

“Mostly. The only one I can’t remember is thiocyanate.”

“That would be SCN with a charge of -1,” I supplied.

“Oh, thanks!” The young man seemed grateful. “I studied for 3 hours this afternoon, memorizing that table.”

He would have an easier time on the test if he had started memorizing before this afternoon, I mused.

Another girl seemed less prepared. “What’s Table 2.9?”

“It’s the table that has the polyatomic ions,” I responded.

“Can’t I just calculate those from the periodic table?”

“No. They are handled in groups, and you can’t just use the periodic table. You have to memorize the ions and their charges.”

“Oh no!” The girl was clearly dismayed. “What page is it on?”

“Page 60, right here,” another student showed her in the chemistry textbook.

“I’m going to quiz you on them to see if you really have memorized them,” the girl challenged me.

“Sure, go ahead.” I had been reviewing these ions every day for the previous week, so I knew that while I had a few weak spots, I knew most of them pretty well.

“Nitrate.”

“NO₃, charge of -1.”

“Sulfite.”

“SO₃, charge of -2.”

“Wow, you weren’t lying about reviewing these! I wish I knew them like you do.”

I thought to myself, I wish I knew all of them like I know those two. I’m not as prepared as she thinks I am. “It’s not all that hard. Nitrate and nitrite both have a charge of -1, but nitrate has one more oxygen atom than nitrite. Sulfate and sulfite both are -2, but sulfate has one more oxygen atom than sulfite. And so on…”

“How do you remember all that?”

Lots of practice, my friend…

She continued, “I’m going to have a really bad time on this test. I can just feel it. Can I sit next to you?”

I felt sorry for her. She was not prepared, and she knew it.

“Sure, you can sit where you like, but it’s not as if I could help you on the test anyway.”

“I know, but we could be really good friends and everything…” Her voice trailed off as she opened her chemistry textbook for some last minute review.

A few minutes later, the doors opened, and students began filing into the hall where the exam was to take place. “Everyone put your backpacks up here,” one of the test administrators announced. “And turn your cellphones OFF. If your cellphone goes off during the test and we hear it, we will confiscate it, and it will be a long time until you get it back, if you get it back at all.” He continued stating the rules for the test. Only pencils, erasers, and approved calculators were allowed – everything else had to be in your backpack, and on silent mode.

I put my backpack with the stack of other backpacks, and found my seat. A girl in the seat next to me was trying to calm down her friend in the row ahead. “Don’t worry. Just take a deep breath and approach it calmly. You’ll do fine.” She turned to me. “Are you prepared?”

“Me? Well, I’m mostly prepared. I wouldn’t mind being a little more comfortable on a few things though. I’ve been reviewing the polyatomic ions every day for the last week, but there are still a few that I tend to forget the charges on.”

The girl’s eyes opened wide. “You’ve been memorizing them for the last week? That’s amazing. You’ve got it down, I can tell.” She turned to her friend in the row ahead. “See, he’s prepared and confident. You’ll do fine since you prepared for it too.”

“Oh, I’m not that confident. I prepared the best I could, so now I’m just praying that I’ll remember the important stuff,” I returned.

“Oh, come on. You’re worried now, but I’m sure you’ll get an A. With that approach, who wouldn’t?”

“Well, I guess we’ll see.” I noticed that she seemed quite confident of my ability to get a good grade. “You’re prepared too, I take it?”

“Oh, for the most part, I guess.”

Our conversation ended abruptly as the test administrator announced that calculator covers were not allowed, and they needed to be stored in a backpack during the test. My new friend and I both got up and walked to our backpacks. Incidentally, our backpacks were right next to each other. “I guess that means we’re both going to do well,” she laughed.

“One last warning. Your cellphones MUST be off and in your backpack or stored somewhere else. If we catch you looking at your cellphone, you will be disqualified.”

After a few brief instructions on how to fill out the information on our answer sheets, the exam began. The exam had twenty questions, all multiple choice. The first few questions were fairly easy, but they quickly became more difficult. But I knew the material well, and I didn’t find myself “stuck” on any problems. I finished the test in 40 minutes. There were 50 more minutes left before time would be called. I decided that since I wanted the best grade possible, I would go over every single problem and redo the calculations, in case I could discover any errors. I was glad I did, because I did find a mistake in one of my calculations.

Finally, I was finished checking my answers. I turned in my answer sheet to my chemistry instructor, and collected my belongings. I noticed that most of the students had left already, but the girl I had sat next to was still working on her test. I waved goodbye as I walked past her on my way out, but she was studiously bent over her paper, and didn’t notice.

The next morning, I joined several other students who were early for our English class. “How did you do on the test last night?” one of my friends asked me.

“Oh, I think I did pretty well. I checked all my answers, and I was pretty sure about all my answers.”

“What score did you get?”

“I don’t know yet.”

The exam key was now available on the school website. The night before, I had the forethought to make a note of the answers I had chosen, since we were allowed to keep our test booklets. So I was able to check my own work, and see what my grade would be. I opened my laptop and pulled up the exam key. I went through and checked my answers. “Hmm, that’s too bad. I calculated the wrong amount of nitrogen,” I sighed. “And it was supposed to be chloric acid, not chlorous acid.”

“Oh, but you still got a good score,” another friend said. “My roommate took that test last night too, and got 60%.”

“Really? What happened? She missed 8 questions?”

“Yeah. She didn’t study much ahead of time.”

“I see. Well, at least she’ll have the opportunity to retake it in a month.” Our chemistry professor gave us the option to take each exam twice, in case we didn’t do as well the first time. The higher score would be the one that counted for our grades. At least there would be a second chance.

Reflecting on it later, I thought about that second chance. I wonder how many students neglected getting ready, because they were counting on that second chance. Last minute cramming is no substitute for thorough study. Not every test has a second chance.

And I wonder how many people will face their final test unprepared, because they neglected the preparation of the heart…

I’m not talking about a grade in a college chemistry course. I’m talking about the judgment. And the results of this test determine your eternal destiny.

Maybe people think they will have another chance.

Or that they have time to parley with the world.

Maybe they don’t understand the depth of preparation required.

Maybe they don’t understand that the only way to success is the complete surrender of their life to God.

Or maybe they don’t realize the grave consequences of holding on to self.

Don’t let it be you.

Guarding our gateways

Imagine that every minute of every day, somebody's trying to break into your house. Sometimes, they simply bang on the front door. But usually it's more subtle. They constantly check windows and doors, just in case you left one unlocked. They drive up to your house in a truck pretending to be delivering a package, or they knock respectfully at your door, soliciting for a charity. They never sleep. 

At the same time, everybody in your house is clamoring to open all the doors and windows, to talk to people passing by, to leave the house at all hours, often forgetting to shut the door behind them.

No wonder IT executives worry so much...

Few issues are more crucial and more immediate to business executives than these. Because somebody is trying to break into their house. Every minute of every day.

-Lawrence Rout, from an editorial in the Wall Street Journal

I read this a few months ago, and I was impressed by the reality and accuracy of the comparison. Computer hackers are using all sorts of underhanded methods to take advantage of uninformed users. (And yes, we Mac users need to exercise due caution these days as well.) But it doesn’t just apply to computers.

We have an adversary who wants to steal our hearts. He always tries to sneak in through our weakest points. A chain is only as good as its weakest link. No wonder we’re admonished to keep our hearts with all diligence.

Yet, we can protect ourselves. We’re not at the mercy of our enemies. There are divine agencies provided for our use. If we would only use them… Imagine how it pains God to see His people lose battle after battle, because they leave the gateways to their hearts wide open.

Someone is trying to break into your heart. Every minute of every day… 

Let’s not let him in.

Oil rig

We live in a fairly secluded area. There are a total of 7 houses on the mile-long stretch of gravel known as Elm Road. Ours is one of them. Our neighbors on one side are sheep farmers. On the other side, it's open cow pasture. We have permission to hike on it, so we've spent many Sabbath afternoons hiking through it. We basically have had it to ourselves.

Not anymore. Now we're going to have to share. Heavy equipment is now reshaping the field. The bulldozer driver informed us that they're going to be building an oil rig. Right next to our property. The trees in the picture below are on the fence line - you can see how close this is to our property. It's going to be an interesting 3 months... I'll try to post more pictures as the construction progresses.

This is the same patch of ground as in the first picture.

Sunset over a mound of dirt...

Rainbow

All was still. Clouds filled the sky, and mist drifted down on us. But then the rising sun cast its shimmering rays through the eastern clouds.

And the gray, cloudy sky was transformed into a canvas of color.

I've never seen a rainbow from a sunrise before. But this was absolutely stunning! We could see the entire arch of both rainbows - 170 degrees. The camera doesn't do it justice... Even as the color began to fade, it was still beautiful. I'm glad God gave us the opportunity to witness such a spectacular event!

In memory of Steve Jobs

The words on the icon of the TextEdit application in Mac OS X apply quite well to Steve Jobs, with a few adaptations...

Here’s to the crazy one. The misfit. The rebel. The troublemaker. The round peg in the square hole. The one who saw things differently. He wasn't fond of rules. And he had no respect for the status quo. You can praise him, disagree with him, glorify or vilify him. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore him. Because he changed things.


A man who didn't fear to tackle the greatest challenges. He accomplished many things that others said were impossible. He wasn't afraid to try. Steve Jobs was not a Christian. But his life was an inspiration to me, a story of perseverance and innovation. And his memory lives on through the company and devices he built. He certainly left a mark on the world.

In memory of Steve Jobs
1955-2011

Just an update...

The fire is out (and actually went out not too long after my first post) but it's still extremely dry. So dry, in fact, that the grass actually preserves our footsteps. It's unbelievable.

Even though the fire is out, we're not completely out of danger. It has been very still most of the time. The fire happened almost as soon as the wind picked up. It's still again now, but if it gets windy again it will be very dangerous.

Oklahoma broke the US record for the hottest average temperature for a single month. The average temperature in July was 89.1 degrees. The previous record stood at 88.9, in July 1954.

We need rain and cooler weather...

Fire!

Apologies once again for not updating my blog very often... I'll try to do better.

But it's very, very dry right now. So dry that the ponds are running out of water, and fish are dying.

This afternoon, I noticed a whitish haze in the sky. I knew it couldn't be a cloud. At the same time, I caught a whiff of smoke. I suddenly was completely alert, and went to investigate. Turns out there's a fire about 20 miles southwest of us, coming towards us.

Five minutes after the first picture, another fire started next to the first.

We're not in imminent danger, but we'd certainly appreciate your prayers (and so would the people who live nearer to the blaze). It's tinder dry, baking hot, and windy. Not a good combination for firefighting... There's a river between us and the fire, and also a highway, but there's no telling what could happen under these circumstances...

We'll keep you updated!

Too late to prepare

It started out as a perfectly normal day (or so we thought). At breakfast, we listened to the weather radio, and the forecast was dark indeed. We were in the High Risk area, under risk of “large, violent, long track tornados, giant hail (possibly larger than baseballs) and wind gusts up to 65 miles per hour.” That was a pretty ominous forecast! However, we’ve gotten bad forecasts before, and nothing ended up happening, so we decided that we would pay careful attention to the weather, and see if anything turned up. Unfortunately, all the ingredients were in place for a severe weather outbreak – moist, warm air; a strong cap to prevent thunderstorm development in the morning; and sunlight to add energy to the mix. The past several days had followed a distinct pattern – normal morning, hot and humid afternoon, storms in the evening. But none of the storms had hit us; at least, none of the severe storms. However, this time, it appeared likely that we could get something significant.

As the day progressed, we checked the weather several times. The warnings became more urgent, and we were placed under a tornado watch.

Around 3 PM, we saw (on the radar) a large line of strong storms approaching from the west. They appeared to be moving quite rapidly, and multiplying in intensity. We prepared the best we could. Matthew and I put the chickens in their coop, and Father put the car in the shed to protect it from possible hail. It began to become very windy, though that’s not at all unusual when a storm is approaching.

For a while, we thought that maybe it was going to miss us. (It’s happened before.) I practiced my guitar, with my computer showing the latest radar. Around 4:30, I noticed a large red splotch on the radar, moving straight for Chickasha. In fact, it was almost here. Bach Preludes forgotten, I went outside with the video camera to see what I could see. It was very unimpressive. Just a bunch of gray sky, with thunder rumbles all around, and an occasional visible flash of lightning. Nothing particularly exciting or out of the ordinary. I was a bit disappointed, and went back inside. But I couldn’t concentrate on practicing, so instead I just hung around and looked up the latest weather updates. The Weather Channel was posting Twitter updates on their website, so I was reading about the tornados that were about to hit Oklahoma City.

I came downstairs again, and just sat around in my parents’ bedroom, discussing the weather and what was going on. We wondered if the storm was indeed going to hit us. Everything seemed normal at the moment. Suddenly Mother looked out the window, and asked, “Is that a funnel cloud?” I looked out the window as well and announced, “Yes, that would be a funnel cloud.” My whole body immediately felt an adrenalin rush. I ran out of the room, grabbed the video camera (which was conveniently sitting on the table, fully charged and with plenty of tape) and turned around and raced out the door. I was in such a hurry that the door didn’t open quite fast enough, and it got in the way of my foot. I managed not to fall, and someone apparently closed the door behind me. My entire consciousness was focused on getting to see that funnel cloud.

I raced to the fence on the west side of our property. There it was – a tornado dropping out of the cloud! The view here was obstructed by the hill in the cow pasture next to us, so I ran a little farther south to see better. There was no doubt about it now – this was a full-size tornado, and it was moving right towards us!

I was standing there, filming, hardly believing what my eyes were telling me. All the discussions we had had about what we would do in case of a tornado flashed through my mind. What would I really do, now that I see a tornado coming? I wasn’t quite sure. Go to a storm shelter? That was at least 5 minutes’ run away. Go and hide in the house? Definitely not. Stand out and watch it? That might be pretty dangerous. Then I realized I had no choice. I had to make sure my family knew what was going on. Inside the house, they might not be aware of just how serious this thing was. I also realized that if our house was really going to be destroyed, then not only did we need to get ourselves out, but I really wanted to save my external backup hard drive with all our photos and videos from the last 15 years. If we lost that, there would be nothing we could do to replace it. Just about everything else could be replaced.

The next two minutes merged into a blur. Apparently my family already knew the tornado was coming, and they were going to the truck to drive to our neighbor’s house (to use their storm shelter). I ran upstairs, set my iMac face-down on the carpet as a desperate measure of preservation, grabbed the precious hard drive, and scrambled down the stairs, out the door, and into the truck.

We drove slowly down the driveway, not knowing if we would ever see our house again. However, by the time we reached the end of the driveway, it was becoming quite apparent that the tornado was going to go north of us. By this time it was a massive vortex, flinging up a huge cloud of dust and dirt.

We live nearly on the top of a ridge. The local people tell us that tornados generally follow the ridge. There’s a small valley, of sorts, and then a few miles away, another ridge. As things turned out, the tornado followed the other ridge.

We were so relieved.

It later went on to Blanchard and Newcastle, and rendered about 50 homes uninhabitable. We are so thankful that God spared us from destruction. But oh, my heart goes out to those whose homes were destroyed…

I had long wanted to see a tornado in daylight. I also wanted to see one that didn’t destroy our home and property.  This met both of those criteria. And thankfully I had my video camera to capture the moment. (Good thing it was fully charged and ready to go!)

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I’ve seen many videos of tornados forming. I’ve heard lots of stories where people say, It happened so fast. But I never realized just how fast it really happens! When Mother saw the funnel cloud, it was smaller than a finger held at arms’ length. Less than a minute later, it was on the ground, kicking up debris and dirt, and destroying whatever was in its path. And it appeared to be moving very, very fast.

We had basically no solid plan in case of a tornado. We thought, if it ever happens, we can use the Chabot’s storm shelter. And, in this case, we probably could have. But what if we hadn’t seen it coming? It would have been too late to do anything. As it was, God spared us from what could have been something very terrible.

Someday we will have to face our Creator in a judgment.  And if we haven’t prepared our hearts to meet Him, it will be too late.

Too late. Forever. No second chances.

Our second chances are now. This is the time given us to get ready.

Don’t waste it.

First of all, my apologies for not posting anything for far too long… I hadn’t forgotten, but amid the bustle of things to do and to be done, blogging has slipped farther and farther down the list. I’ll try to do better in the future though.

A few evenings ago, for evening worship, we were talking about Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and the fiery furnace. That story is such a classic Bible story.

I always used to think that the purpose of this story was to show that God can rescue you out of the most dire trouble. He certainly can. But this time, I saw it in a new light. Rescuing the three friends from the furnace was only part of the story. It’s a story about worship and commitment.

The three young men were determined to stand for God – quite literally in this case. When they were called to answer for their disobedience to the royal decree, they didn’t waver. They were no cowards, even when they were standing before the ill-tempered king who ruled most of the civilized world at the time.  They were so far from being cowards that they told the king that “we are not careful to answer thee in this matter.” They already knew their answer.

“Our God is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us out of thine hand, O king.” (emphasis added) God was able to deliver them from the furnace, and He would deliver them from the hand of the king. That’s interesting. Apparently delivering them from the fiery furnace is separate from delivering them from the hand of the king.

“But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.”

“If not” what? Probably if God chose not to deliver them from the fiery furnace…

Was there any thought in the young men’s minds that God was going to rescue them? They knew that He could do it. But in plain sight was the furnace, now being heated seven times more than it was designed to be heated. I’m sure they were aware of the very real possibility that they could be martyrs.

And so they were cast into the fire, but not to death. Death fell upon the men who cast them in, however. It seems rather ironic – Nebuchadnezzar wanted to destroy the men who defied his authority, yet instead he ended up killing the “most mighty men that were in his army.” And the men who were supposed to be destroyed ended up as national heroes.

This is a showdown type of story. And God wins, just like He did on Mount Caramel, and just like He has ever since. Yet His victory is not merely based on preserving His men from harm. That almost strikes me as of secondary importance. The crucial moment was just before they were cast into the furnace. All fear of death was gone. All fear of the king was gone. Instead, it had been replaced with all trust in God. And that’s where the real victory was. The power of God to turn a feeble human being into a courageous man, with no fear of anything someone else might do to him…

So many times Christians who seem perfectly steadfast and loyal end up failing when presented with certain temptations. “Surely God wouldn’t keep me out of heaven just for that.” I’ve even tried to use that line of reasoning (better known as excuses) myself. But that’s not what Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego did. They could have come up with all kinds of reasons why it would be okay to bow before the image.

But they knew they could trust God with their lives. In fact, God was the only one to whom they could safely entrust their lives.

It wasn’t the first time they had risked their lives to remain faithful to God. But it was probably the scariest. The Bible doesn’t paint a picture of fearful men, however. These were men who had forgotten every trace of their natural self-preservation.

To them, life would not have been worth living had they purchased it by compromise.

Oh, that we would see more of that kind of commitment today…