Keep on keeping on, and LOTS of questions.

So, we've reached the endurance part of the race.  Alot of the help has gone back to their own busy lives.  Media attention is focused on Joplin, MO and will soon be focused on some town in Oklahoma that is still awaiting their own fate, even as I type, as more storms roll through there today.  Life rolls on.  People start talking about other stuff, like NFL lock-outs and the latest favorite American Idol singer.  But at our house, we are anything but done with this event.  We still have stuff to clean, sort and put away.  We still have raw feelings and easily upset stomachs.  We still have damaged furniture.  We still need to work with the insurance companies and FEMA and the SBA.  We still have everyday stuff that needs to be done that can't be done because we can't find the cable to our printer.  We still have bills to pay, and baby showers to plan, and church duties to fulful.  Life rolls on.  But it is so different now.  I am resting in the knowledge that God IS a God who WILL be with you in the midst of the mess that your life might be in at the moment.  I am keenly aware of - and grateful for -friends in my life who have listened to His calling, and have in one tangible way or another, offered to help in ways that only GOD could have known we needed!  I am very much tuned in to the fact that MANY people have been praying for us, and that those payers HAVE made a difference, from the very beginning, before the storm even hit, with things being lined up just right for this or that thing to happen just the way it did.  For the storm it's self to have downgraded to an EF 3, according to reports (though there are those who differ with that opinion, particularly Nan and Doug, the neighbors across the street!) and not to have sucked the house right off of it's foundation, as it well could have done had it been an EF 5 when it hit us.  Right down to today, and encouraging words arriving in my text message box just when I needed them, and friends arriving to finish building the chicken coop that our poor girls (as the chickens are affectionately called) so desperately need.  We just so clearly see God here with us in the midst of all of this.  I sincerely hope that we never lose that complete trust that we have gained through this.

I do wonder, though, what about people who DON'T feel that?  What about people who lost a loved one?  What about people who just add this to the list in their mind, of reason why they can't trust God.  How do we reach out to them?  Is there some way to help them FEEL the essence of God's LOVE for them?

And what about this old world?  How much longer can we go on?  And what makes us think that, now, just because we are facing these crazy weather events, that we are any closer to some sort of end to the world of pain than any other person in any other place, such as Africa, where they have faced DECADES of weather 'issues' AND political upheaval TOO, on top of that?  Sure I want Christ to come and take us all away, but really, what makes us think that a few storms and/or earthquakes means that it is happening any sooner than it was before?  And even if it does, somehow, mean that, what does it change in what I do? 

Really, it keeps coming back to relationships.  To knowing the people around you and loving them.  To helping them in any way you can.  To taking the opportunity to listen to someone talk about how their day is going, or what struggles they are facing today.  To being open to how the Spirit leads you to reach out to those around you that are hurting or searching or even those who are NOT hurting or searching, and just simply getting to know them better.  God is a god of RELATIONSHIPS.  So much so that He could not be just one being, He had to be THREE beings, in order to have relationship, even within the God-head it's self.  He created us to be connected!  Connected to Himself and connected to other human beings.  If we are not pursuing this connection with those around us, we are missing out on tremendous blessings He has for us, and we are holding that blessing back from those whom we might otherwise be able to bless. 

Sorry, stepping off the soap-box now.  But it's a blog - so it's a log of my thoughts, and that is what I'm thinking about today.