at the end of my rope...

so i have been stressed out a little...

actually that is kind of an understatement. i think i have been more stressed out these past two weeks then at perhaps at any other time in my life. i have been consumed with some stuff at work, and since i work for a church it kind of permeates every part of my life. at any rate, it hasn't been pretty. i have been quite a piece of work to be around. those close to me can testify to that. by the way, if you haven't heard pastors aren't supposed to get stressed out...

so the other night me and my family are watching some really bad summer t.v.. we are right in the middle of some show that has 'c' list celebrities when it got interrupted numerous times by a severe weather alert. these are pretty normal in the Chicago land area so i all but ignored it. As our show progressed though, so did the warnings, and as the warnings grew so did the fear in our children's eyes. by this time the wind was howling. finally the weatherman broke in again and this time he named our neighborhood as being one to be in the direct path of this near tornado. my wife and i glanced nervously at one another, trying not to let our kids see our own fear. we sat on the couch the five of us, arms intertwined so that you couldn't tell where one began and the other ended. we sat together.

rain was blowing horizontal, branches were being broken off, and the sky flashed like a light bulb on its last leg. i text close friends to see that they were under cover. later we would hear that the winds were in excess of over 60 miles per hour...

out of the wind, rain, booming thunder, and crackling lightening came a still small VOICE. i knew who it was before it was finished speaking. it was the VOICE of THE MAKER. HE who spun this globe into existence. HIS VOICE threaded the storm that had pounced upon chicago and made its way to my heart; 'I AM' was all HE said... 'I AM' was all HE needed to say.

everybody needs a storm once in a while for GOD to speak to them. to remind them of HIS power, to remind them that HE is the GREAT ONE. once in a while everyone needs to sit on a couch tangled up with the ones you love to remember what is really important in life, and to remember that in every lightening storm is a chance for great illumination.