Crying Wolf

Ice Storm 2005

Monday morning, shelves of bread and milk were emptied from our grocery store.  Lowes sold out of generators by 10 AM.  You would have thought they were giving away gas.  Lines stretched across the parking lot at Costco, and rather than free, they raised the price by 22 cents/gallon.

The weather industry was predicting a huge ice storm across the midwest, including central Indiana where I live, and everyone was making preparations for a huge week-long, state-wide power outage.

Well, as usual, it wasn't as bad as predicted.  Better safe than sorry I suppose, right?

It seems, though, that every time I turn around, the weather is predicting either buckets of freezing rain, 12 inches of snow, golf ball sized hail, or massive tornadoes that will wipe out the neighborhood.  Thunderstorm Watch.  Tornado Watch.  Winter Storm Warning.

And of course I thought of the boy who cried wolf.  In this case, however, it's different, because there COULD be the bad weather - it's happened before - so we'd rather be prepared than stranded.

Then I read Revelation 15:3-4.  (Adapted for prayer by Face to Face.)

Great and marvelous are Your works,

Lord God Almighty!

Righteous and true are Your ways,

King of all the nations!

Who will not fear You, O Lord, and glorify Your name?

For You alone are holy,

All nations will come and worship before You,

For Your righteous acts have been revealed.

Then it hit me... at any moment, God could release the ice from heaven - not a lot, just two inches - and destroy our power lines and take away our comforts that we take for granted.  Heat, Electricity, Running Water, Phone Lines.  The convenience of a refrigerator and freezer.  The ability to drive wherever we want whenever we want.  Facebook, blogging, twitter.  (I'm speaking to myself here.)

At any moment, it could all be gone, with just a little frozen rain.  Who will not fear Him?

I am confident that I am safe in the arms of my God, in disaster or ease, danger or peace.  However, it is good to remind myself occasionally that this world I've created around myself could be gone, just like that.  Am I finding peace in IT or HIM?