Scripture
1For everything there is a season,
a time for every activity under heaven.
2A time to be born and a time to die.
A time to plant and a time to harvest.
3A time to kill and a time to heal.
A time to tear down and a time to build up.
4A time to cry and a time to laugh.
A time to grieve and a time to dance.
Ecclesiastes 3:1-4
Observation
King Solomon wrote this book at the end of his days. His heart had grown cynical over the years and it shows in his writings here. However, just because he’s cynical it doesn’t mean he’s not accurate. Though this list of the realities of life seems so diametrically opposed they often happen simultaneously. Like a hot and cold front coming together that creates a storm filled with lightning and thunder, our world has found itself in the middle of a storm no one was really ready for. Yet, in the middle of the whiplash realities of birth and death, killing and healing, crying and laughing, tearing and building, grieving and dancing Solomon finds the eye in the storm in verse 11: “Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end.” The crisis brings clarity. The collision of our comfort with the pain of this crisis will reveal the eternal realities at work.
Application
According to meteorologists, “the eye of the storm is the only peaceful part of the hurricane. Getting through the eyewall is the dangerous part, as is exiting the eye, again through the eyewall. The center of low pressure in the storm is the eye. The lower the central pressure, the fiercer the storm, and the higher the winds - nevertheless, the eye is calm and peaceful.” Is it possible to find this place of peace in the middle of the panic and pain filling our homes and streets? I believe it is. God’s beauty can be seen even in these times of pandemic and prejudice. I was reminded of this last Saturday. I was watching SpaceX getting ready to launch. The 15-minute mark was counting down and my boys were at the beach completely missing it. I texted Elijah and Aden and told them to watch it as their generation had not seen this happen and they would be telling their kids about this historical event. I was jumping out of my skin excited to be watching this happening live-streamed on my computer. Then, a text I never expected came on my phone, “I’m taking Aden to urgent care.” In a nanosecond, I was ripped from wonder and dragged right into worry. I called up Elijah and he explained that Aden had come up under a wave into his surfboard fin and that it had come dangerously close to his eye. As we packed up to meet Aden at the urgent care I watched as the first privately owned manned space shuttle launched into the heavens. I was looking up and down. I was excited and scared. I was hopeful and fearful. The hot and cold front had hit and I was stuck in a storm of emotion. So, too is our country. Just as we began to see a light at the end of the COVID Tunnel a suffocating wicked darkness descended upon our country as footage of George Floyd’s murder under the knee of a police officer filled our phones and broke our hearts and our country into pieces. This prejudice cannot continue. This miscarriage of justice must stop. Voices and skin colors started uniting as one in peaceful protest bringing much-needed attention to the situation. Then, the courage started getting overshadowed by chaos and violence on all sides. When it’s hard to know which end is up that’s when it’s time to get down on our knees and look up. I can’t see the whole scope of God’s eternal work in the middle of our mess but I’m getting glimpses. As I see African American leaders encouraged by the voices of every nation finally speaking up I can see some good could come from this. As I see the pictures of police officers on their knees, and hugs between them and those in protest I can see the beauty in the ashes. As I see The Church coming together as one in prayer meetings and peaceful yet powerful gatherings across the country I can see what God has planted in the human heart finding some light once again. It’s up to us, those that know our eternity is secure through Jesus to bring that perspective into the temporal tearing going on around us. As a people of faith, we can be that eye in the storm. It’s not going to be easy, but someone has to stand instead of taking sides. Someone has to be the love in-between.
Prayer
God, You are at work and Your work will prevail and stand no matter how the winds may blow. Half an inch closer and Aden might have lost his eye. Instead, he walked away with 4 stitches. Thank You Jesus for your angels that work overtime for him. I’m praying that where the enemy of hatred and prejudice has sought to make us blind we will see all the clearer. We may walk away with some stitches, but Lord I pray we will have learned the lessons of love. The SpaceX launch was the first time I had seen men launched into space since I was a sixth-grader and watched the tragedy of seven astronauts losing their lives as The Challenger shuttle was engulfed in flames before my eyes on live TV. All these years later God You redeemed that tragedy with this triumph. I believe You will do that again in our country. Where we have watched our country engulfed in flames on live TV let there be flames of revival that will bring a much needed spiritual awakening to our land, Lord. What the enemy has meant for harm I pray that You would turn it for good! That’s who You are. That’s what You do. You are my eye in the storm. Let me find You in this so I can be that place of peace for others.
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