Thursday, August 7, 2003
There are few words that strike more fear into hearts in Middle America than the word "tornado" - and rightly so. Twisters can hit so suddenly and do such awful damage. That was proven again when some deadly tornadoes tore through Oklahoma in 1999 - one of them was so strong that it was almost classified an F-6 - which would have created a whole new category of tornado. In light of the power of those storms, the story I saw on the evening news was amazing. After hearing one of those tornado warnings for the tornadoes in Oklahoma, a mother and her adult daughter went into a room in their house for safety. It's called a safe room or a strong room, and it's built with concrete that's reinforced with metal. And it's built to withstand even a hit by a tornado. Well, sure enough, the tornado hit that house and there was virtually nothing left - except for one room. The safe room. And when it was all clear, the mother and daughter walked out unscathed in a neighborhood where virtually everything else had been blown away.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Tougher Than The Tornado."
There are moments for all of us when we get hit head-on with the emotional equivalent of an F-5 tornado. There are some of life's hits that threaten to blow away everything we've depended on. A divorce can do that, a disease can do that, a disaster or a disappointment. A death can sure send everything spinning. We know that most of what matters to us is something we can lose - and if and when we do, there is sometimes not much left but the pieces.
We need a safe room - some place in our life that can withstand any blow. In fact, we can never be really secure unless we know we have something we can't lose. Well, actually, someone. We've already lost enough in our life to know that our heart is hungry for one relationship that is unloseable - that no storm can take away from us. A relationship like the one that's described in our word for today from the Word of God in Romans 8:39.
God Himself, the Creator of you, promises unequivocally that nothing "in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." In fact, just before this promise, God enumerates some of the most violent tornadoes that life can hit us with - and then He says that none of those, "nothing else in all creation," He says, can take away this one anchor love, this one unloseable relationship.
It turns out that it's the relationship the Bible says we were created for - with our Creator God. But it's also the relationship the Bible says we've all missed because we have done our life our way instead of God's way. So we're locked out of the safe room of belonging to God forever. That's why no love has ever been enough love - why your heart has never really been at peace. But notice, God says the love of God is "in Christ Jesus our Lord." See, that's because Jesus opened the way to belong to God. He tore the lock off the safe room door by dying on the cross to pay the death penalty you and I deserve. He really loves you. And He's waiting to welcome you into the safe room of this awesome love relationship with God, if you'll grab Him as your Savior with all your heart.
If you want God's unloseable love, if you want to begin this relationship with Jesus Christ, then I want to send you the booklet I wrote about it called "Yours For Life." Just let me know you want it.
Ask anyone who has faced a major life storm with Jesus in their heart. They'll tell you that He was still there when everything else was blown away. And the safe room door is open for you, and Jesus is waiting to welcome you into the love that you will never, never lose.