My husband and I are originally from Michigan, but we have lived in Georgia for almost 9 years. When we lived in Michigan, we had an occasional tornado, and some heavy snow storms that we had prepared for, but neither of those type events created the preparation that we dealt with recently. We found ourselves in our first ever path of a hurricane, hurricane Irma, one so strong that outside of Atlanta we were under a tropical storm warning. Outside of the threat of Y2K, I have never prepared for anything like this – and it was fun and a little weird all at the same time.
We moved all outdoor objects that could be easily picked up by the winds into our garage, we shopped for bottled water and non-perishable foods earlier in the week, we prepared buckets of water, and made sure all our flashlights were in working order and had batteries. We charged all our electronics, did all our laundry, filled our propane tanks and had full tanks of gas in all our vehicles. Many hours went into preparing for the storm.
We live in the country and our house sits on a hill, surrounded on three sides by rows of trees. As we spent time looking around our property and for any potential threats from the surrounding trees, John and I both saw a tree we have never noticed before – a tree as tall as the ones surrounding it, yet it was dead. We have lived in this house for 3 ½ years and neither one of us had ever noticed it before – that was until our sight changed. Our sight was no longer just on the trees, but we were looking through eyes that were preparing for what could be imminent danger. The dead tree was now no longer overshadowed by all the live trees all around it. We were aware now of the danger and prepared our property as best we could for the worst case scenario.
As I looked at the dead tree and the amount of time we spent preparing for the potential of this storm, God quickly revealed this to me – am I this pro-active in preparing people for their eternal destination? Do I actively look for those who are walking around “dead”, not knowing who Jesus Christ is, and sharing with them how to prepare for eternity? Do I only do what needs to be done, to protect us and our things? Do I spend time preparing myself through deepening my relationship with Jesus Christ, praying and digging into His Word, to share with people when their storm comes and they need the hope of Jesus Christ? Do I look at every angle and potential danger, to share Him no matter the circumstance, or do I remain comfortable in my words and actions? As I face storms in my life, do people see Jesus or do they see fear, hopelessness, worry and control?
I desperately need to change my sight – to change what I look at as important! My sight needs to change to eternity and remember, that this is not our home – as believers and followers of Jesus Christ, we are here on assignment for a time such as this. Our sight should always remain on Heaven and eternity – and if we chose this, how our lives would change! To see people as God sees them, not as humans with so many flaws! We would be ignited by the fire within to share the One and Only Hope every time a door opened for us to do so! We would see everything around as temporary and we would more willingly share Him with those around us! We would be making preparations for the day we meet Him face to face and to boldly stand in front of Him knowing we were obedient to His call and to hear Him say “well done, good and faithful servant”
Hebrews 12:2-3 (MSG) “Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we’re in. Study how He did it. Because he never lost sight of where He was headed – that exhilarating finish in and with God – He could put up with anything along the way: Cross, shame, whatever. And now He’s there, in the place of honor, right alongside God. When you find yourselves flagging in your faith, go over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility He plowed through. That will shoot adrenaline into your souls.”
Change your sight to Him and watch your world and the world of those around you transform for eternity!!!