Rain, Snow, Sleet or Shine: He’s In Control!

Unable to escape the standing water, once thriving fish lay in a graveyard of dried mud along the water’s edge of Lake Travis. From a distance, the limestone resembles the white sand beaches of the Caribbean but locals fear the real threat noted by the exposure of the rocks, a quickly vanishing water source.  

http://www.flickr.com/photos/texasparkswildlife/sets/72157627429641925/show/

Like a war zone, the banks expose barrels, trash, glass and lost treasures that sunk to the bottom of the once deep turquoise body of water.

Clear skies, dry air and lack of significant rain only augment the vanishing effect due to continuous usage and evaporation.

Fields of dry line our roadways, farmlands and front yards.  Footsteps amplified with crunch sounds remind us of the memory of our once lush lawns.

 

Easily, a careless burning of trash, brush or debris could ignite an uncontrollable fire taking out thousands of homes.   A mere spark from welding equipment or a chain dragging on the pavement from a trailer; could ignite a flame of massive destruction.   A flick of a smoke out the window of a moving car could seal the fate of a family or families.

The eminent danger or our state was punctuated for me yesterday with a conversation with a local fire chief. He said, “It will get worse before it gets better. We are not expecting an impactful rain until March.”

I said to him, “Oh my goodness; you’re kidding? That is so scary. We really aren’t expecting a real rain until March?”

He said, “Yes, nothing significant until March.  That came down from National Weather officials.”

He went on to say that as the water source dries up and the threat of fire rises, we are in real danger because it makes it even harder to fight these fires. Just this past week dry lightning lit fires in Burnet County.

I said to him, “Sounds like the only thing we can do is PRAY. We all need to get together and pray for rain. Six more months of no rain will be devastating. “

In a sincere softer, down home country voice, he agreed that all we had was prayer. You could hear the concern in this fire chief’s voice. His message and delivery of message stayed with me, and I decided to go for a walk.

As I walked on paths of crunchy grass and looked over hills towards a mirage of what was once an enormous lake, I prayed.

“God, I know I am only one person, but hear my prayer.  I know that you have control over everything on this earth. Only you can control the weather. I beg you to give us rain and protect us from fires. ”

Many mornings I start my day, praying over the bible. This morning,  I was not thinking about any particular concern or person or even the conversation yesterday with the Fire Chief. But today, when I opened the bible it landed on Job 37.

Two Scriptures that stood out, and confirmed our need for prayer over the drought were:

Job 37:6:

He says to the snow, ‘Fall on the earth,” and to the rain shower, ‘Be a mighty downpour.’

Job 37:11-12

He loads the clouds with moisture; he scatters his lightning through them.  At his direction they swirl around over the face of the whole earth to do whatever he commands them.

We must come together and pray every day for rain and protection from fire. We must remember that GOD is all powerful and all knowing. He is the master of this universe and nothing is too great or hard for him.  He can control all the things in our life that are out of control or feel out of control.

So whether we are talking about the metaphoric fires or storms in our life or something as out of our control like the weather, know this…God is in control, trust him and pray for his guidance and help. Rain, snow, sleet or shine, he is there to help you through them all.

Other Scriptures to consider:

Job 36: 5: “God is mighty, but does not despise men; he is mighty, and firm in his purpose.”

Job 36:15:  But those who suffer he delivers in their suffering; he speaks to them in their affliction.

Matthew 6:27
Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?

Luke 12:22
Then Jesus said to his disciples: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear.

 

 

 

 

 

 

After Thought: After writing this morning, I went to take these pictures down at the Lake. All I kept thinking as I walked in the cracked lake bottom is, ” O Ye of Little Faith, Has your faith dried up?”

  Questions:

1. Is there something in your life that feels out of your control?
2. Do you worry about something? (Hand it over to God. Pray!)
3. In your life after the storm, can you see God’s bigger purpose? What good came out?
4. Are there areas of your life where your Faith has dried up like our Lake?