Last Wednesday night around 9:00 pm or so, southeast Missouri had a 4.0 earthquake. Needless to say, there was a “whole lot of shakin’ going on.” It was raining and had been thundering, so when it started – I thought it was just thunder. Then, the shaking started. The water in my aquarium was sloshing around, and my Santas started “rattling.” Steve and I just looked at each other and said, “Earthquake!” It lasted over ten seconds. Of course – the first thought is to panic. But, afterwards, when I realized that it was over and nothing catastrophic had occurred, I couldn’t help but think of how “cool” it was. We have a God who can “shake things up” every now and then. Perhaps there were lessons of which we needed reminded in this incident.
First, and foremost, God is in control. When everything started shaking, there wasn’t a thing we could do about it. There are laws of nature put into place, and there are some things that we just can’t change or fix. It is at these times that we must rely on our faith that “God’s got this.” We know that with God – “nothing is impossible” (Luke 1:37). We might not understand why things happen like they do, but our faith tells us that our God will “never leave us nor forsake us” (Deuteronomy 31:8).
Another lesson that hit me last week is that “stuff is just stuff.” Now, at the moment, my living room looks like a Christmas wonderland, and all of these items are “precious” to me, but when it comes down to it – they are just “stuff.” If something happened to our home, just so Steve and I made it out safely, I really would be okay. We should, “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not breath through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Matthew 6:19-21).
The other thing that struck me is – “We’re not prepared for an earthquake!” Living so close to the New Madrid fault line, you’d think that I’d have an “action plan” in place – just in case! But, alas, do you go to an inner room? get in a doorframe? No, that’s a tornado! For an earthquake – you get under a table in fetal position. Well – the “getting down” may happen, but I sure hope there’s someone around to help me back up! lol But, on the serious side, we should all have some bottled water, canned goods with a hand can opener, etc. . . just in case because even though we know not when, we can be pretty sure that it will happen. How many people think that others need a will or I’ve got plenty of time to “get faithful” before I die, and yet, we know not when, but we can be assured that death will come to all. “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:” (Hebrews 9:27). While we know that the “old” will die, the “young” CAN die. Are you prepared?
Are you counting your blessings this week of Thanksgiving? Oh, how we are all “simply blessed.” Courtney