"It will be good to worship today."

Monday morning, September 11^th 2017

5.00 am

Hurricane Irma was battering Jacksonville with gale force winds, flooding an already swollen St Johns River with a foot of rain.

Our house was dark. The electricity was out. I walked downstairs. No use trying to sleep. It felt like we were under attack, and I wanted to be at my post to pray and watch.

I lay on the couch in the family room, dozing, listening, praying while repeating Psalm 121, among other warfare verses that I have put to memory. The storm was at its peak, and it felt like I was engaged in a battle of prayer.

The sound of a hurricane is raw unrelenting power and rage: rain pelting against windows, wind wailing through the trees, myriad mysterious and unidentifiable sounds outside.

But laying there, in the midst of that assault of nature, a peace-giving and joy-filled thought “came to me” – it wasn’t my own brain bringing this up because my brain was overwhelmed with sound and battling to recite scriptures. Yet, there it was: “This afternoon, be ready to lead in some music and song. It will be good to worship today.”

Yes, I thought. That is definitely something to look forward to.  Will do.

10.00 am

The worst of the winds and rain had pulled north. But the ruin and the pain of this storm were just becoming evident.

The National Weather Service used the word “epic” to describe the flooding and damage in Jacksonville. I prefer the word “hellish.” According to John 10.10, we have an enemy who comes to “kill, steal, and destroy.” These are Jesus’ words; he knew something about battling the devil, and winning.

“Kill, steal, and destroy” describe what thousands experienced in Jacksonville as well as in south Florida and the Caribbean. But note this: Jesus also said, “I have come to bring you life, and life in abundance…” In the mud and sorrow that Irma left behind, we saw Jesus’ life in some rather surprising and personal ways…

12.00 noon

I took a walk down our street to see what was happening in the neighborhood. During this reconnoiter, I walked to the river, to check on a condominium where friends of ours, Camilla and Charlie, live; they are seniors and I was concerned.  And what I saw was fearful. The St Johns was washing over cars in their parking lot, and was threatening to fill up the first floor of their building. I called my wife and asked her to check on Camilla and her family. Carol texted her, “Are you guys ok?” Almost immediately a text response: “We are coming.”

Ten minutes later, Camilla, her husband and two of their neighbors came up the street to our house; they were soggy and shaken, having walked through knee-deep water to evacuate their flooding apartments. The fire department had just ordered them to leave when she got our text message; the flood waters were getting worse, and their lives were in danger. They didn’t need to be asked twice.

1.00 pm

They sat with us in our family room, resting and warming up. The oft-used expression “like deer caught in the headlights” doesn’t come close to describing how they looked. More like stunned. Numb. Even afraid. They had been looking into the face of life-threatening forces of nature.  

Each told how they got out, and why they stayed till they had to leave, and where they’ll be staying next, and how this flooding happened so quickly, and how it “had never flooded like this before.” They had lived in their riverfront home for 40 years, “…but if we lose everything, at least we’re safe now.”

It will be good to worship today. “OK. So, this is what that was all about, uh Lord?”

And so, we had an impromptu time of worship and prayer. Actually, it was not all that impromptu – it had been planned by our Father ahead of time, sometime around 5.00 am that morning.

And so, I opened my guitar case, handed out some song sheets, and invited our friends to worship in the midst of a storm. And “Church” broke out in the midst of storm damage and trauma.

When the thief and enemy of our souls comes onto the scene with his robbery and violence and havoc, Jesus will call his people to stand in the midst of that scene with works and words and songs of life, and life in abundance.

He has done it for millennium, and he did it again in Jacksonville on the morning of Hurricane Irma.

How will you bring songs or words or works of life into the pain and need of those around you?

How can you give gifts of friendship or hospitality in the midst of crisis and loss?

Look around, walk around, and be available to those who might need you to share Jesus’ life in surprising and personal ways.