Storms, fireworks and ice cream

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It was a beautiful night. Not a cloud in the sky – well … not too many!

A great night for a short walk with kids and grandkids to carry enough chairs so we could all sit and watch a beautiful and patriotic display of fireworks. Yes, it was the weekend before the Fourth of July. We were in Ohio visiting with our children and having a great time.

Right about dusk, we gathered the family together, slung our “bag chairs” over our shoulders, and left the house for a great evening together. It was not that long of a walk from our daughter’s home to their designated “parking” space where, for the last few years, they had settled in to watch the display at the nearby park.

We made the short hike, un-bagged our chairs, lit some sparklers for the grandkids’ entertainment, then watched as they joined other kids in running up and down on a short grass-covered hill which separated our location from the parking lot next door. The kids all seemed perfectly happy and everything was set for a wonderful evening of celebrating our independence and watching the fireworks.

The sky continued to grow darker, which we expected, but it was not from the darkness which traditionally accompanies the end of the day! Dark, blackening thunderheads were gradually filling the greater part of the sky over our heads. We talked about it – the adults among us – and decided the worst that could happen was that we might get a little damp.

No one wanted to leave.

Oh, and did I mention that no one had thought to bring even an umbrella? We had no rain covering at all!

Then it happened! The fireworks began. I am not talking about the celebratory ones, but lightning filled the sky, and it began to rain.

Slowly at first, but then more and more water fell. So much rain began to fall that we decided to pick up our chairs and move to some sort of shelter. The eaves on the nearby building proved satisfactory for a moment, but it was not long before the wind shifted and the rain was soaking us to the bone standing there.

My son-in-law had ventured around the corner of the building to discover a large awning hanging over the entrance to the building there. By this time, all of us – adults and kids alike – were drenched. The kids were complaining about being wet… and cold! But there was nothing anyone could do, but stand there and wait for the storm to pass.

Oh, and did I mention that we prayed? Standing there soaking wet under that overhang with nothing else to do, we huddled together and prayed that God would stop the storm.

We’ve all found ourselves in these kinds of situations before, haven’t we? It really doesn’t matter whether we are talking about fireworks… or finances, about holidays… or our health.

For us that night, it was about a July 4th celebration, but for someone else, it may be about a job change or even a job loss. Wherever we find ourselves, we have discovered that the situation of our lives is something we do not necessarily enjoy, but there seems to be no escape from the dire consequences of that situation.

Often it seems, the problems just seem to come in multiples, as if God were just piling it on. And we do not know what to do. We do not know where to turn. God has “rained on our parade” and we do not even have one umbrella!

The tendency we all face is to blame God for everything. And if God is not available, we blame the government! It does not matter what the difficulty is, we point the finger at God… for the financial difficulties, for the health issues we are having, for the relational troubles, all of the them. God is responsible for our whole gamut of troubles, isn’t He?

Joni Eareckson Tada, who has been a paraplegic since she experienced a paralyzing diving accident many years ago, has made the statement that, “Sometimes God allows what He hates to accomplish what He loves.”

God doesn’t want us to get drenched by the bad circumstances of life, but He will allow those circumstances to happen in order to draw us to Himself. He asks us simply to “Trust in the LORD with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take” (Proverbs 3:5-6).

Oftentimes we will hear people quote (misquote?) Romans 8:28, and say “Everybody knows that God causes all things to work together for good”, but they forget to look at the second half of the verse, namely, “for those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.”

In other words, the “good” we all seek comes out of a relationship with God, which ONLY comes through Jesus Christ. We do not like the exclusiveness of that statement. We somehow want to think that everything will all work out well for anyone, no matter what they think about Jesus Christ.

As we stood under that awning that night, after a few moments the rain began to abate to the point where it had practically stopped. I suggested that we head for home, so we packed up our chairs and began the now-not-so-short walk back to their home.

We had walked almost the whole trip back, when suddenly the fireworks began. The advertisement had promised fireworks “rain or shine”, and that was indeed what was happening.

So eight there in the neighborhood close to home, we found a place on the sidewalk where we could see the clearest and watched the show, enjoying it in spite of the wet clothes and all. Then we went home and had ice cream!

The point: In spite of life’s circumstances, trust God … and enjoy the ice cream!

God bless …

Chuck Tabor is a regular columnist for the Times-Gazette and the News Journal. He is also the former Pastor of Port William UMC.

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Chuck Tabor

Contributing columnist

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