The Flood

Unique days we have just witnessed and are encountering.

Who would have thought of Fremont, NE being an island?  Who would have anticipated every major west artery into Omaha damaged (Maple, Dodge, Center, and Q)?  Who would have imagined standing with the Plagmans and looking west from their driveway at blue all the way to the bluff a couple of miles to their west. Who would have thought that Ranards’ cabin near the river, untouched in the ’93 flood, would be touched by these waters?  Who would have thought that the small town of Plainville would be facing huge economic challenges for not only are fields flooded and maybe unplantable this year but the stockpiles of fertilizers have been destroyed.  Then there are peoples displaced (Soes’ daughter, Desiree, lost their home in Valley) and lives lost (the Columbus farmer swept away while going to help others).  WOW!  OUCH!

I am reminded of the “gospel hand” as I call it found in I Thessalonians 1:4-5.  It reveals God’s tools to bring men and women to Himself.  The thumb is election for 1:4 reads, “knowing, beloved brethren, your election by God.”  Then verse 5 declares four “fingers” or tools, “For our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit and in much assurance, as you know what kind of men we were among you for your sake.”

The idea of power is that God uses, does, and allows powerful things into our lives to move us and to touch people.  Through Paul, God had done miracles and worked great things (a shipwreck with everyone saved).  God is powerful and uses power to show His sovereignty and to push men to see themselves in true light (we are not gods – “large and in charge”).

God uses “power” still today in a host of ways.  Many are not generally considered miracles yet none-the-less powerful and used by God.

One powerful thing used by God is death.  We have NO power over it and it has great power over us – Deane and Cary have experienced this these days.   Also, sleep and hunger – very powerful.  What about pain?  Or rain or the lack of rain?  Or snow or hail or wind?  What about fire or floods?  In the grand scheme of things we are at their mercy under God’s permission and such we are experiencing these days with the flooding.

Going to Ashland today meant crossing the raging Platte – did I say “raging”?  Yes!  WOW – an angry river it is and most of the time an “inch deep and a mile wide” – generally quite docile.  Not these days!

God allows things to happen to teach us or remind us, that contrary to common thinking, we are not “master of our own fate or captain of our own ship.”  No!  We are weak and needy and no amount of money, friends, government “help” (much of what the government does is fraught with negatives and not helpful), or preparedness (insurances and stockpiles) can rescue or redeem us from the “power.”

So what is this “power”, this flood, doing in your life?  How is it affecting your worldview?  How about Deane’s death?  Remember, your death is coming.  Are you letting this “power” impact you eternally?  Don’t let God’s use of “power” have less than a great effect on you.