The job I don't want...
Jen's parents live in Clear Lake just off the Gulf Freeway (I-45) between Houston and Galveston. If you have read the Drudge Report today you might have seen the exit before theirs on the way out of town. They are in the process of boarding their rear-facing windows (not enough lumber or time for the north-facing) and putting keepsakes and momentos into the car.
If you remember my post from August about making tough choices, it is strangely prophetic of what they are doing today: sorting through the house and choosing what will survive and what might be lost. Please pray for them and for the residents of the Texas and Louisiana Gulf Coast as another monster storm tests the character of our nation.
If you are like me, you want to pray this thing away. But where do you pray it to? Of course, the greatest hope is that the Gulf will cool overnight and that Rita will lose her fury. But if that doesn't happen, then what? I have friends all along the Gulf Coast from Corpus Christi to Alabama. To whom do I send a hurricane with my prayers? Away from Jen's parents? To Cheri's house in Corpus? Back to Roy's stomping grounds near New Orleans (potentially completely destroying that city?)
How should I pray?
The awesome fury of a storm brings us face to face with God's Majesty. It defies our human sensibilities to be able to judge and to choose and to allow some to suffer and some to die and some to be saved. We are not capable of deciding that. We shouldn't try. God's compassion should restrain us from desiring to choose one over the other.
This sentiment should apply to all of life. Favoritism is a tricky thing, and it must be avoided at all costs. We help those who need help without checking their religious creeds, their skin color, their ZAG (ZIP Code/Age/Gender), or even their righteousness. In doing that, we respond to the calamities of life exactly as they happen: treating everyone the same...just as calamity does. God allows the calamity...we help him respond with HIS OWN disaster recovery plan.
I posted that God had a disaster recovery plan that included a spiritual response to very specific needs of every single individual...that not one person would be forsaken by Heaven. I posted that prompted by God's Spirit, not just guessing. I am humbled as I read over and over and over again about the amazing outpouring for Katrina. Now Rita is upon us and we risk weariness in the working of righteousness.
May I offer this prayer for this situation:
O Master of the Storms, O God of the Winds:
You and you alone plot the path of the typhoon.
You know who will be stricken and who will be spared.
You can count the drops of rain in the deluge.
You can measure the electrons in a lightning bolt.
You know every person that is in harm's way
You carefully choose the path accordingly
Your plan for each is carefully considered
Each one gets an audience before your Throne
And as you ponder the fate of that person
That moment of attention ennobles him
That moment of consideration crowns her
And each one is made personal to you
You know of the child whose parents are lost
You comfort the mom whose newborn dies
You weep with the man who loses his wife
You shelter the family that loses their home
Nothing has ever escaped you
And nothing ever will
You can recount every story
Of your great compassion for mankind
We ask but one thing Almighty Lord
That you would reach out
With your strong right arm
And touch us with your right hand
That we would endure more struggle
That we would endure more suffering
That we would still reach to others
That we would minister renewal and revival
Our nation's greatest moment has come
As we respond to great devastation
And reach out our arms to our own nation
And it is now that we must not tire, O Lord!
In the precious name of Jesus
May it be as I have requested!
UPDATE: After 17 hours of driving, I understand my in-laws had reached the outskirts of Austin on US 290 (normally about a four-hour drive) and were nearing the home they are riding out the storm in. Pray for them as they try to calmly wait out a storm that continues to threaten their home in Clear Lake.
UPDATE 2: Rita is down to 125 MPH winds and has been downgraded from category 5 to category 3. Keep praying!!
If you remember my post from August about making tough choices, it is strangely prophetic of what they are doing today: sorting through the house and choosing what will survive and what might be lost. Please pray for them and for the residents of the Texas and Louisiana Gulf Coast as another monster storm tests the character of our nation.
If you are like me, you want to pray this thing away. But where do you pray it to? Of course, the greatest hope is that the Gulf will cool overnight and that Rita will lose her fury. But if that doesn't happen, then what? I have friends all along the Gulf Coast from Corpus Christi to Alabama. To whom do I send a hurricane with my prayers? Away from Jen's parents? To Cheri's house in Corpus? Back to Roy's stomping grounds near New Orleans (potentially completely destroying that city?)
How should I pray?
The awesome fury of a storm brings us face to face with God's Majesty. It defies our human sensibilities to be able to judge and to choose and to allow some to suffer and some to die and some to be saved. We are not capable of deciding that. We shouldn't try. God's compassion should restrain us from desiring to choose one over the other.
This sentiment should apply to all of life. Favoritism is a tricky thing, and it must be avoided at all costs. We help those who need help without checking their religious creeds, their skin color, their ZAG (ZIP Code/Age/Gender), or even their righteousness. In doing that, we respond to the calamities of life exactly as they happen: treating everyone the same...just as calamity does. God allows the calamity...we help him respond with HIS OWN disaster recovery plan.
I posted that God had a disaster recovery plan that included a spiritual response to very specific needs of every single individual...that not one person would be forsaken by Heaven. I posted that prompted by God's Spirit, not just guessing. I am humbled as I read over and over and over again about the amazing outpouring for Katrina. Now Rita is upon us and we risk weariness in the working of righteousness.
May I offer this prayer for this situation:
O Master of the Storms, O God of the Winds:
You and you alone plot the path of the typhoon.
You know who will be stricken and who will be spared.
You can count the drops of rain in the deluge.
You can measure the electrons in a lightning bolt.
You know every person that is in harm's way
You carefully choose the path accordingly
Your plan for each is carefully considered
Each one gets an audience before your Throne
And as you ponder the fate of that person
That moment of attention ennobles him
That moment of consideration crowns her
And each one is made personal to you
You know of the child whose parents are lost
You comfort the mom whose newborn dies
You weep with the man who loses his wife
You shelter the family that loses their home
Nothing has ever escaped you
And nothing ever will
You can recount every story
Of your great compassion for mankind
We ask but one thing Almighty Lord
That you would reach out
With your strong right arm
And touch us with your right hand
That we would endure more struggle
That we would endure more suffering
That we would still reach to others
That we would minister renewal and revival
Our nation's greatest moment has come
As we respond to great devastation
And reach out our arms to our own nation
And it is now that we must not tire, O Lord!
In the precious name of Jesus
May it be as I have requested!
UPDATE: After 17 hours of driving, I understand my in-laws had reached the outskirts of Austin on US 290 (normally about a four-hour drive) and were nearing the home they are riding out the storm in. Pray for them as they try to calmly wait out a storm that continues to threaten their home in Clear Lake.
UPDATE 2: Rita is down to 125 MPH winds and has been downgraded from category 5 to category 3. Keep praying!!
posted by greg.w.h@1:54 PM link-to-post
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