Last night another set of storms ripped through Central Ohio. That is where I have lived my entire life. Columbus, our Capital City, sits in the middle of the state. Although Cleveland and Cincinnati are more likely to come to mind when you think of the Buckeye State, Columbus is the largest city in the state.
For years, the marketers have used THE HEART OF IT ALL as the catch-phrase for Ohio. A map of the Midwest will show that Ohio, roughly shaped as a heart, sits in the mid-section of the country…associated with the location of a human heart in the chest of the body. In many ways, Ohio IS the heart of it all.
I am grateful this morning.
Let me first give thanks to Paul Walter at www.newswithviews.com and my friend Steve Quayle at www.stevequayle.com for faithfully publishing what I write. Last week I made an appeal for funds to help those in Ohio who had survived an unwelcomed visit from a tornado. Both Paul and Steve graciously published the appeal on their websites. Thanks, fellas, for helping us help others.
Thanks to all of you out there that that donated. You’ll never know the lives you touched. Thanks for trusting us. Thanks for giving us the opportunity to serve. Thanks for helping us make a difference.
I am grateful today.
Last night, as my wife of 43 years lay beside me, Michele and I heard the sirens that send chills down your spine. You know, those run-to-the-basement sirens that shake you to the marrow. Checking the radar on my cell phone I could see the ominous RED images on the radar bearing down on us. My mind flashed to Indian Lake and the devastation that we had just witnessed the week before. The memories were raw.
As the wind and rain pounded our humble abode, I thought of the hundreds…perhaps thousands…of Indian Lakers who had danced this dance two weeks ago. The mental images stung my soul as we prayed the storm would divert and that God would be merciful.
You know, the same prayer that the folks in Indian Lake had prayed two weeks ago. Why is it that tornado warnings make even the heathen pray…?
I am grateful today. The storm passed over us. Our “stuff” is safe.
One of the things that was so humbling about our rescue efforts in Indian Lake last week was trying to figure out what to do with other people’s stuff. As our crews moved about to different clean-up locations the overwhelming amount of “stuff” that littered the landscape brough to mind what my buddy Norm Emmets had said to me one time regarding other people’s possessions.
“It may mean nothing to you…but it means the world to them.” I still fight the urge to weep over what I saw.
As our crew moved about what days before had been the homes of families, the urge to scoop it all up and throw it in the trash bin was overwhelming. But then…a family picture …a necklace…a vacation souvenir…a baseball glove…a refrigerator magnet…simple objects oozing memories now lay in the ruble. Norm’s words came flooding back, “it means the world to them.”
I am grateful this morning.
What are you building your life on? That was my focus as Michele and I snuggled through the storm last night. What means the world to you?
Jesus asked us What does it prosper a man to gain the whole world and lose His soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?
Stuff. That’s what I saw at Indian Lake…other people’s stuff.
That’s why I am grateful today.
Why do some people’s prayers get answered and other’s don’t? Why did last night’s tornado cloud stay in the sky as it passed over our home? Weren’t the people in Indian Lake praying? Didn’t God hear their prayers? Sometimes, that is what makes Christianity so hard to explain.
Jesus explained it to us like this: “Suppose ye that these Galilaeans were sinners above all the Galilaeans, because they suffered such things? I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.” The rain falls on the just and the unjust…
Life is but a vapor…it is here and then it is gone. What are YOU living for? Here today, gone tomorrow. Get right with Jesus.
I am grateful today…
