Have you ever felt powerless? I have. After hurricane Irma came through Ocala, Paulette and I were without power for three days. Others lost power for an even longer time. It was frustrating. We often found ourselves flipping a switch, subconsciously hoping it would bring the power back. For the first two days we ate out of our freezer, cooking on the grill. We even tried making coffee on the grill, but in our opinion barbecue flavored coffee will never be a big seller at Starbucks. Paulette’s sister and her husband stayed with us at the urging of their son (in California). They are older than us, and by the third day we started to worry about how the heat was effecting them. We did have to make a trip to the emergency room, and learned that opening the garage door was a real chore.

There were also some positives, and maybe even blessings, from the experience. None of us were injured in the storm and we only had minimal storm damage. Having four of us in the house for over a week was fun; we visited, shared experiences and played games (I even won – once). Sitting outside at night we watched the stars really put on a show; normally there is too much ambient light to see most of them. The angels across the street had a generator and brought us a thermos of coffee each morning. We were thankful that we never lost water or sewer. After we finally cleaned out the smelly refrigerator, the trash people arrived with smiles and words of good cheer (and it wasn’t even a scheduled trash day).

Sometimes we also feel powerless in our religious lives. As Christians our faith lets us turn to God for help. In Philippians 4:13 we read, “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.” It was another power, however, the power of salvation that first brought us into the Christian fold. (In fact, when the power came back on, Paulette started singing the hymn about the “Wonder-working power of the blood.”) Please read what Paul says about this power in Romans 1:16-17, and remember: God loves YOU unconditionally.

Jim

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed-a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: ‘The righteous will live by faith.’” Romans 1:16-17