A Firm Core In A Shaky World

  It's quiet.  We are just days from watching our outside being shaken by this hurricane that took lives and homes from our state.  As I sit inside today enjoying the warmth of my fireplace I can't help but feel guilty that I have this.  Right now as I type this there are rescue teams pulling debris away from what was once someone's home.  My town was fortunate to only suffer from a few power outages that only took a few hours to repair.  Though our area was not affected, our inner core was shaken.  We grieve for a family that had to bury their daughter only two days before the hurricane blew in.  Her young life was taken by two young boys that were only 2 years and 5 years older that too live in this town.  Only a day before this tragedy has taken place we had a car pull out in front of a moving train and by God's grace it took the car down the tracks with it and not into the 4 children standing right near the tracks.  We are just hearing news now, three weeks later, the mother and baby were just released from the hospital.

All that was mentioned above are things that we watch on the news, things that usually happen  from somewhere far away and has nothing to do with us.  The reality of it all is that it did happen and our entire community is effected by it all.  I myself still tremble of the thought that the car that was hit by the train was only 6 feet away from my 9 year old son.  He was even closer to it before the impact but another little boy quickly pushed them all back and told them to get back.  That day felt like something out of a movie.  I kissed him goodbye for the day and he walked to school.  Within a 2 minute time span I was upstairs brushing my teeth when we hear the train whistle blowing nonstop.  Fear came over me, especially when I heard my husband shouting "why is the train even coming thru with the kids walking to school?"   Most likely a minute went by when cars were backed up on our road.  It was unsettling to think of the worse.  Sirens were going off and emergency vehicles were heading the opposite direction from the direction Michael was going.  My husband walked the opposite direction himself to see what was going on.  I was in my son's room looking out the window when I saw the emergency vehicles now going the direction my son was going.  That was when my knees dropped to the ground and my arms went up to God as I pleaded with God to please don't take my son.  I ran down the steps and flew out the front door.  My neighbor Jean was coming out her door and we both ran down together.  As we came closer to the corner we hear "hi mom" in his squeaky voice and he's waving to us.  Jean and I both hugged and I was so relieved to find out he wasn't involved.  Another adult walked him to us and informed me that Michael was standing about 6 feet from the track and only seconds before that they were only 4 feet.  As they are giving me this information I couldn't help but shout "Thank you Jesus".  Those couple of minutes of not knowing if my son was safe or not was probably one of the worse experiences in my life and I cannot even think of how that mother and father must have felt those days of searching and then finding out the worse for their child.
Times like this is when I can pull myself back and really see how tangible my faith in God is.  That moment that the reality hit that it could be my son, I dropped to my knees and connected right with Him.  I could have probably been out that door 30 seconds sooner but I needed the Lord at that moment.  As soon as I was given the news that my son's life was in danger and he was safe I couldn't help but yell "Thank you Jesus" in front of this stranger.  Please in no way am I boasting about this.  As I explained in my "About Me" description, I've only been walking in faith for 4 years now.  To see myself instinctively go right to God in times like this just teaches me how much God has changed me and how more and more I need Him.

So today, in the quiet, I spend my entire day thinking of the reality around me.  I think about the picture I took last week of my family's stack of Bibles sitting in my dining room.

How sweet it is to know that even though the world is shaking around us, my family has Jesus as our core. As our small town shook two weeks ago with the news of this hideous crime, we also joined together in faith to cry out to our Lord.  It's a true blessing to see God's hands at work in our community and just gives me one more reason to thank Him for His unending love.