Your Brother’s Keeper ~ The Mean Season

Greetings Dear Reader,

They call hurricane season “the mean season” in parts of Florida.  In our era, we have days if not weeks of warning when there is going to be a hurricane.  We can track it, plot it, and mostly predict it.  When evacuations are called for, we see long lines of cars headed north using both sides of the interstate.  When I lived on the Atlantic coast in south Florida, I rode out a lesser hurricane.  I think it was then that a saw the difference between being self-centered and being my brother’s keeper.

We have a phrase that does not belong in a hurricane, and by extension, in our culture   Perhaps it is one of those phrases that never belongs in the heart and mind of a Christ-follower.  That phrase is, “every man for himself.”  What reveals this to me is the reports that come out of hurricanes of an individual going beyond the norm to help others in crisis.  If we are living as we should, those stories should not be extraordinary.  They should be common and expected.

When a storm comes in, it chews away everything in its path and reveals who we really are.  We see people mourning a lifetime of possessions.  Organizations try to provide aid and there are people who find ways to help.  What we do not see is what should be happening.  Everyone should be finding a way to help someone.  There should be no fear in those who lose all that they will not have food, shelter, and care.

When the Father comes in to sift all we have, he does it to remind us where our focus and value should be.  He does it to gain our attention.  When we see others crying out in pain over the devastation in their lives, it is not our place to judge, ridicule, or condemn.  It is our obligation to act out of love and compassion for those in need.  It is required that we be our brother and sister’s keeper.

I need the Father to come in like a hurricane and blow away all the things that distract me from loving him as I should.  It is in that devastation that I find the vision to love others as I must.  It is out of our broken lives that the Father builds a place that is his.  From this place, I have the will and the power to treat others with love and grace.  I can be free of the things that lead me away from following the Son. 

When others cry out because of the pain in their lives, we must respond to their hurt without judgment or condemnation.  I must journey with them through their hurt even if I am responsible for it.  The journey is about following Christ and bringing those in need with us by caring for their needs.  Lovingly being there for those in pain is the path home.  It is what lights our way.  When the darkness, winds, and rain ravage lives in any form, it is the light and love of Christ in me that must shine for everyone.  It is how we demonstrate that they matter, Dear Reader.

Hurricane – Jimmy Needham

I have built a city here
Half with pride and half with fear
Just wanted a safer place to hide
I don't want to be safe tonight

I need you like a hurricane
Thunder crashing wind and rain
To tear my walls down
I'm only yours now

I need you like a burning flame
A wildfire untamed
To burn these walls down
I'm only yours now
I'm only yours now

I am yours and you are mine
You know far better than I
And if destructions what I need
Then I'll receive it, Lord, from thee
Yes, I'll receive it, Lord, from thee

I need you like a hurricane
Thunder crashing wind and rain
To tear my walls down
I'm only yours now

I need you like a burning flame
A wildfire untamed
To burn these walls down
I'm only yours now
I'm only yours now

And it's your eye in the storm
Watching over me
And it's your eye in the storm
Wanting only good for me
And if you are the war
Let me be the casualty
Till I'm yours alone
I am only yours
I am yours alone Lord

I need you like a hurricane
Thunder crashing wind and rain

To tear my walls down

I need you like a hurricane
Thunder crashing wind and rain
To tear my walls down
I'm only yours now

I need you like a burning flame
A wildfire untamed
To burn these walls down
I'm only yours now
I'm only yours now

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn

Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a homeowner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store.”

(͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Every human story is part of the great story that leads to the Father getting everything back to Good.

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