Acts of God, Revisited

I am more certain than ever that God's power overwhelms Satan's aim at evil. 

EF-5 tornado, 8th on the recorded severity list, over a hundred twenty-five dead. Tragedy beyond comprehension. 

A night I'll never forget: Hauling people in the back of my pickup in wheelchairs bleeding and shivering to the hospital. Adam and I cutting the streets open to pass. Hauling a man to his children. Searching cars for victims. I did all that. Why? Because I'm a good guy like that. A "good ole boy" as it were. NO! FOR THE SAKE OF ALL THINGS HOLY, NO! 

I, if left to my own means, would have stayed at the house and watched on TV. So, why then? Why did I load up my chainsaw, go get big Adam and head into what looked and smelled like the depths of hell? Because Matt died some time back. He died and God took a selfish bulldozer and created something new. His power through the Holy Spirit enables me to work hard (16+ hours a day for the last 4 days). It's the prayers of righteous people who love the Lord and love me that fuel me on. 

Jesus loves people and wants me to do the same. I love CCC's purpose: Love God, Love Others, Serve The World because that is what Jesus did while He was here and continues to do through His church. 

I used to be willing to work hard and long so that I could enjoy the gain. I have a new focus, a gain that will last eternally. Now, I work hard and long because the bottom line is:

My life is an Act of God.

Acts of God

"Acts of God" is the term that insurance companies use to describe catastrophes such as those our recent mission team to Alabama witnessed. I have done disaster response to 3 of these "acts". Hurricanes in Florida, flood is nashville and now tornadoes in Alabama. The power that created these indescribable messes amazes me. 
I'm inclined to look at all of these through the lens of the spiritual. Some ask, "Why would God do this?" I've been through this thought process and here's where I ended up:
God created nature, the force behind the tornadoes, hurricanes and floods. Much the same, He created people (Adam and Eve). He created it all perfect. But for perfect love to exist it requires choice. Choice on the part of we as people. If He "made" us love Him, it wouldn't be love. It would be instinct or mechanical.  
Love requires a conscious effort on our part to choose to be in a relationship with God, or not. 
So, there it is. A perfect world. One rule from the Creator, "Don't eat this fruit or you'll die." All is well until Adam and Eve ate the fruit, tainting the relationship. They did indeed die. First spiritually and then physically. 
That spiritual death introduced something to the world, sin. Sin brought some bedfellows along: death, destruction, suffering and the like. 
Sin introduced a war amongst God's creation. A war culminating in everything becoming flawed, people and nature alike. 
Does God "act" through these things? Absolutely. But not in the way some might think. He doesn't act in the cause but rather the effect. It's God that causes unconcerned people to load up and go help those whom they've never met. It's God that causes people to give money to help those who are without homes. It's the force of God that causes the positive effects, the materialization of His love in places that might not otherwise have experienced it. 
The bottom line is... God is the peace after the storm.