OH MY GOD!

Image via Wikipedia 





I heard it again, the comment, "Oh, my God," I don't know whether it was said by a believer or one who doesn't have any faith. I simply know that it is a frequent response out of our mouth when something happens that amazes us. 
Whether it be at the scene of an accident, at the birth of a baby, during a natural disaster or opening the door at your surprise party we often make that comment to indicate our surprise at the unexpected.

Just a few days ago, a hurricane took much of the Northeastern United States under it's command. The video demonstrates how familiar places can seem unrecognizable as forces of nature take control. Hurricane Irene

                                Image via Wikipedia  Growing up near a river, I experienced some unbelievable experiences which even today remind me how little is in our control. While not nearly as forceful as a hurricane, flooding which often occurred when ice jams far upstream would break up and melt in early Spring became a constant concern for residents like my family who lived a stone's throw from the water. I can remember several years of water filling the basement and beginning to seep onto the first floor. For my parents, who not only had a home but a business, it meant enormous stress and diligent preparation as well as often a significant loss of property. I have seen pictures of a flood  before I was born that made the home I grew up in unrecognizable as all one could see were the third floor windows, where no streets were visible as people attempted to rescue loved ones in boats dodging everything from pianos, dining room tables and wardrobes which floated amid the debris. It still amazes me to see those pictures and try to imagine how people felt returning to mud caked structures they once called "home".

It has been over 100 years since  New York was hit with the damage Irene left behind and never in the history of it's existence has the city seen an evacuation like this one closing its subway system and leaving crowded tourists spots looking like abandoned ghost towns. We grow so used to the comfort of what is familiar to us, it can be easy to feel too complacent with our lives sometime, thinking that we are immune to the catastrophe just ahead. We often plan, insure, rearrange and take significant precautions to protect our comfort levels and yet, we have very little under our actual control. It doesn't take more than a single defining moment whether it be something like Irene, or one more personal in your life to recognize that it can all change on a dime. Life is far more fragile than we can ever hope to insure, prepare for or even invest in. We must go beyond those moments when we think we have covered everything we need to do to be secure and realize that God is the only one who has anything in control. Nothing is impossible with Him. Whether it be a hurricane in the middle of a busy metropolitan city or an exceedingly older couple(like Abraham and Elizabeth) finding out they were pregnant.

Image by sgs_1019 via Flickr
Of course, there will be people who have many reasons and excuses filled with scientific explanation and personal rationale to discount God's hand in anything. But regardless, one thing I have learned is that I am limited in what I am capable of but He is not. AMERICAblog.Working on my second book, I continue to be amazed at God's ability to change lives forever even when lives hijacked by moments we never see coming.ONE MORE SERVING 

My life is a gift which I must trust to Him and as much as I have free will, I do not make things happen just because. It is in those moments when He takes my breath away that I can whisper, "Oh, my God" and know how powerful, how awesome and how in control He will always be.  

Have you experienced an "Oh my God" moment? How has it changed your life?