An Absolute

"Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away." Matthew 24:35

I wasn't sure what I wanted to blog about this morning as I sat down at the computer. We just wrapped up spending a weekend with family, and we had such a wonderful time. When the kids are practically in tears the whole ride home because they're sad about the weekend ending, you know they had a great time. It was a bittersweet ending to our weekend, because on one hand, we were looking forward to sleeping in our own beds again, but at the same time, we had such a wonderful time with family, that we wished it could have gone on forever.

I bet we got a little taste of heaven this weekend.

In fact, I know we did, as our family numbers this weekend headed into 30-some people, we all decided to have our own little church service instead of hustling off to a nearby church. And really, the comments were made about how some small churches don't even have that number in attendance, which makes our family church something rather remarkable. I can't really describe the joy that was present as our extended family worshipped together Sunday morning- there was definitely a sweetness and a presence in the air. While we were already family, and related by blood, we're also all related by the power of the blood- the blood of Jesus, which was shed for each and every one of us. God showed up at our little service on the river's edge, and I think everyone took away something important for them in their own way.

I was thinking about the wonderful weekend, and also thinking about a dream I had in the night last night...

Well, I wasn't going to talk about it, but the verse above seems to fit it. I've had dreams before about tornadoes. In fact, I've always had nightmares about tornadoes, all my life since I learned what tornadoes were. A long while back, before I knew that my dreams could tell me something, I had a dream that a tornado came through our small town and leveled everything around us, except for where we were living. Even the other half of the duplex we are in was gone, but our half remained untouched, and our yard was untouched. I remembered that dream, and learned later on that it meant that we had God's protection over us in any storms to come. That as children of God, we had no need to worry about whatever this world had to dish up to us, that we would handle it, and God had our back.

Last night's dream was long those lines. I was in a parking lot when I watched a tornado form right before my eyes and start heading towards me. I was walking with my brother and mom, and there was one other person there, but I'm not remembering who it was. It was moving fast a furious, and there was no time to seek shelter, and I remember having a sense of doom, a sense that there was no escaping the path of this tornado. So instead of fleeing, we all huddled, and I started singing. I started singing a song called "You are Good", and then my brother started singing along, and before we knew it, the tornado passed, and we were still there huddled on the ground singing this song. We were untouched and unharmed from the tornado that had aimed straight for us.

I think this dream has the same meaning, but a little more intensely. What I remember of that tornado was that it was dark- very dark and sinister, kind of like an evil cartoon tornado. There were feelings like it was trying to get at us, and trying to tear us apart limb from limb, but in reality, where we should have been terrified and trying to run away from the tornado, we stuck our ground and began praising God. We praised God in the midst of a terrible and sinister storm and came away unscathed.

"Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away." Matthew 24:35

No matter what happens, no matter what life may throw at us, no matter what the devil tries to send after us, I am a child of God, and my family, and those in my home are under the protection of the Most High. God Almighty is our protector and our deliverer, and in Him will I trust.

"In that day they will say, "Surely this is our God; we trusted in him, and he saved us. This is the LORD, we trusted in him; let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation." Isaiah 25:9

When I think about this dream I had last night, I have many options when it comes to it. I could spend my time focusing on that tornado. I could be looking around at my circumstances with my eyes wide open, trying to identify what this looming tornado is going to be. I could be perched and prepared and on guard for it, and in a sense, I suppose I am. But instead, I am going to focus on the praise. I think as long as I stay the course, and continue praising God with each and every breath I have, that maybe this tornado and what it represents won't even have a chance. If I praise God in every storm, and every waking second while I live and breathe, I will be so focused on Him and what He has for our little family, that anything the devil may try to send after us won't have even have a faint shot.

And I praise God for that. I praise Him for his never-ending protection. I praise Him for what He speaks to me while I sleep, and I pray that I will be able to put what He tells me to good use, and not let it fall on rocky ground.