Jesus said to them, “The light is among you for a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going.” John 12:35
My husband is a huge weather buff. Growing up in Alabama, a land of tornados and hurricanes, he had many opportunities to develop his fascination for the weather. He has often said throughout our marriage that he would have been a meteorologist if math and science had not been challenging. Anytime a significant weather event is happening, he is always up to date with the latest predictions and forecasts, and last week with hurricane Ian was no different. Ian officially made landfall in Cayo Costa, Florida, around 3:15 pm on Wednesday, September 28th, as an intense Category 4 hurricane, the fifth-strongest hurricane to strike the US. The tagline for the Tuesday Tidbits is “seeing God in the little things of everyday life,” but often we have to look for God in the big things of life, even devastating events like hurricanes.
Many images of the afternoon hurricane caught on film looked like they had been shot in the dead of night. Over two million people were without power in the aftermath of the storm. Many survivors reported that the darkness, combined with the deafening winds and rain, made for the most terrifying day and night of their lives. My roommate from our quarantined time in Israel, lives in Tampa and she did not evacuate. In my communication with her during the storm, her responses, no matter how frightening, ended with “God is with us.” She was confident in the promise from God quoted in Hebrews 13:5, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”
In the days following the hurricane, one major story is the lack of electricity in many areas. Power is necessary for many life-sustaining necessities of living. Among other things, electricity brings light into the darkness. The people reported that the darkness was terrifying and equally terrifying is life without Jesus, the Light of the world (John 8:12), even if most of humanity doesn’t acknowledge that truth. Apart from Jesus, we live in darkness. Life-sustaining power doesn’t exist without Jesus.
“I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will guide them; I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth. These are the things I will do; I will not forsake them,” says the Lord in Isaiah 42:16. In the aftermath of catastrophic events of life, whether natural, man-made or physical the promises of God are our lifelines. We must cling to them as tightly as the rescued hold fast to the rope pulling them from raging flood waters. The path for many tragedy survivors is one they have never walked before, but God promises to guide them as they rebuild their lives, if they turn to Him. And most importantly, Jesus shines through the darkness of any disaster or tragedy through His followers. In times like these, He is asking us to use our resources, our talents, our prayers, and our hearts to illuminate hope to the hopeless, and faith to the faithless. By doing so, the darkness is dispelled, and there will be Light. And that’s your Tuesday Tidbit.
The picture depicts the calm after the storm in St. Augustine, Florida. The picture was taken by Christine Jenne