Recent weather events had many doing the unusual. While my area did not suffer from much flooding, we did have so many trees down and power lines down - for miles and miles - spreading as far as county to county. For days we could not readily get to gas or food supplies.The neighbors we previously just waved to when driving by? They let us plug our phones into their generator. When others had phones that weren’t working - we walked down with the updates we received on ours. Restaurants GAVE AWAY meat instead of letting it all spoil. People pulled their grills out by the road so anyone with meat could cook it up instead of spoiling in the fridge. Neighbors shared their stash of gasoline with one another, instead of hoarding it all for themselves. Responses so unlike the worldly version of “self first”. People on our street we barely knew, we are now on a first name basis, as we all shared information and checked on each other for any needs to be met.
And before the storm? We accidentally bought three boxes of protein bars at Costco. Thinking it will take a month of Sundays for us to eat all those. But they became a main source of nourishment for a few days of no electricity. Before the storm, I purchased over $200 of bible study books and got paid back in cash. What were we going to do with all this cash in the house? Well, the few stores that were operating would only accept cash. So we were able to purchase a few things to supplement our food supply while the power was still down.
God’s providence?
You bet.
i pray you don’t need a traumatic event to realize the hand of God moving in your life. I pray you aren’t afraid to lend a helping hand of your own, to check in on people, neighbor, friends… on ordinary days. I pray you aren’t hesitant to share. Believe in God’s provision and supply in every kind of circumstance. Both for you and through you.
May God’s “unworldly” kind of love be evident to all. In you and through you and for you.
My pastor nailed it on Sunday morning saying, “We may not have electricity here, but we are full of power!” Amen!
Make sure you don’t take things for granted and go slack in working for the common good; share what you have with others. God takes particular pleasure in acts of worship - a different kind of “sacrifice” - that take place in kitchen and workplace and on the streets. (Hebrews 13:16 MSG)
