Monday, November 7, 2011

The Umbrella on the Roof

Several years ago, despite being advised that in the event of a tornado, the safest place for us to go would be the basement, my husband, our four young sons and I stood in sheer amazement, watching the storm outside our living room window. In the front yard, our thin little scarecrow hung on for dear life as the wind tried to wrench him from the ground. The tornado was over in seconds...but it took several months to clean up our town. We were surrounded by fallen trees, wrecked cars and debris. On the back deck of our home, our patio table lay on its side, the chairs were strewn around the yard, and our fancy red umbrella was on the roof. We all set to work and soon, our table, chairs and umbrella were put back, our little scarecrow had his hair combed and was set upright again...and everything was back to normal. It must be part of our human condition...to put everything back just as it was.
But it made me think...if the power of the Holy Spirit blew through our ministry, like that 'violent' wind at Pentecost- what sort of things would He want to move? What changes would He want to make? And if we truly invited that to happen, would we be ready to change, or would we want to put everything back to normal, just the way it was? There is power in the Holy Spirit, and if we truly want to feel His presence, we might find our umbrellas on the roof. The question is...are we brave enough to leave them there?

6 comments:

  1. You did a good job emphasizing your scarecrow. Hmm, funny that the thing still smiles despite being torn off by the tornado. Good thing you were okay back then. It seems like your house is tough, but you still should've stayed in the basement.

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  2. I know Renatta! We are from England & were just so mesmerized to witness weather like that! We had never seen anything like that before! Thanks so much for reading my blog & commenting..I really appreciate it. Maybe there's a lesson for us in the smiling scarecrow too???

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  3. These are great thoughts to ponder upon, Glenys! :D I'm inspired by people like you who manage to move forward despite of troubled times, just like the smiling scarecrow.

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  4. Thank you Eugene! I hope you'll come back to visit my blog again!

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  5. Since Renetta and Eugene have already talked about the scarecrow, I want to ponder on your point about how "the tornado was over in seconds...but it took several months to clean up our town." It hurts when almost everything you have is lost in just a few seconds. Sadly, those moments happen, and your situation last year isn't an exemption. Hmm, just to lighten things up: I think you need to put up an army of scarecrows. That might make future tornadoes think twice about visiting your area. HAHA! :)

    Regards,
    Penelope

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