Funny isn’t it, how life hands you stories, memories,
trials, and lessons that you never fully understand the impact of until years
later on in life? It’s kind of like getting handed a puzzle piece, and not
having any surrounding pieces that match it, so you toss it aside and deem it
as “insignificant” or “unnecessary” until – one day, it all makes sense.
One such life story came to me when I was in the 8th
grade.
It was the summer of 1998, and my church’s youth group
decided to take a mission trip to Oklahoma to help with disaster relief from a
recent tornado that had taken the entire city literally by storm. Everywhere
you looked, there was darkness, destruction, devastation, and teenage kids from
all over the nation. You see, this trip was huge, actually. Much larger than
just my youth group, it extended its reach out to kids from all around the U.S.
of A.
Even though we were from various parts of the country and had next to
nothing in common, many youth groups bonded that week. Why? Well, for one, we
were all on a similar mission. There’s something about coming together to help
others who can never repay you that creates a bond in people. And for two, we
were all staying in the same place.
When the tornados hit Homestead, OK in 1998, they hit the
city straight-on, demolished everything in sight, and then decided to take a
turn right before hitting into a large church building. So, that’s where all of
the youth groups decided to stay when we got there to help the relief efforts.
The building was still standing, yes. But several parts of it would be deemed
sub-par – especially for occupants. Ceiling tiles were missing all throughout,
the rafters were exposed, not to mention a rumor circulated that the choir room
was doubling as a morgue. (I realize now that one may or may not have been
true... but, for the record, it did scare the sleep out of me on several nights while we were there.)
With all things considered, things were going well. We were
working long, hot hours during the day; “bonding” with other youth groups at
night; and all-the-while getting a kick out of the fact that people really do
grow up saying “yous guys” – even as I type that, my autocorrect has a problem
with it. hah.
Anyway, one night, towards the middle of the night, a girl
got up to go use the bathroom. A light flickered on. Ceiling tiles fell. A hockey-masked man
scurried away through the rafters above the women’s restroom. A fire alarm went
off. And a shriek literally awoke a hodge-podge of teenagers from all around
the nation.
In the dead middle of the night, everyone evacuated the building.
The masked man escaped with his buddy in a rickety-old pick-up truck. And my
youth pastor went RUNNING after the car, in attempts to track the license plate
number, but only returned with the endearing nickname “Flash.”
I don’t remember much else from that night.
I remember that I was cold.
I was tired.
I was scared-to-death.
Perhaps what I remember most of all was not understanding
why it all happened.
Several questions circulated in my mind:
"How did that man get into the ceiling? Why was he there?
What did he want? What was he going to do? What would have happened if he
didn’t get caught the way he did?"
I’m assuming I’ll never have the answers to
those questions, and that’s okay. It was a super long time ago when it all
happened. I’m just thankful God protected everyone from what could-have-been.
FAST FORWARD: To this day, I think that event in my life had
some significance. Doesn’t everything in our lives have significance? God is a
God of detail, order, and purpose. Is He not? He is.
So, follow me here for a moment… many people in the world
are living in and surrounded by darkness. Some are pleasantly sleeping in their
darkness-sleeping-bags, unaware. Others have grown cold and are just plain tired of where
they’re living. Some still are scared-to-death of where their lives have carried
them at this point in history.
>CONTRAST<
Christians are
called to be the lights in a dark world.
The flashlights in the bathroom in a storm-beaten church in Homestead,
OK in 1998, if you will. Sadly, a lot of “Christians” get caught up in
pretending, rafter climbing, and hockey-mask-wearing.
People living in darkness get scared by people who show up
wearing masks – just as you would if you were that girl in the bathroom on that
summer night in 1998 in Homestead, OK. They don’t want to see someone who pretentiously “has
it all together;” they’re longing to experience something real with the One Who
holds it all together.
Tonight, take off your hockey mask. Get out of the rafters. Stop scaring people who live in darkness.
Turn on your flashlight instead.
People want to see who you really are.
More importantly, people need to see what a love relationship with Him is really like.
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