Next week, we will get back to our iRetire4Him Blog

To say that the last two weeks have been exhausting would be an understatement.  There are many horrible things about hurricanes.  Regardless of the outcome, the toll of a hurricane is taxing on our mental status for sure.  When a hurricane forms off the coast of Africa, we hear about it incessantly.  Even when a storm does not come close, we hear about it in every weather forecast. Most of the time, it seems annoying and inconsequential.  With Harvey there was very little notice. Many have suffered devastating losses, from the wind and incredible flooding.   50 inches of flooding is unprecedented since the worldwide flood.

With Irma, the weather forecasters nailed it, almost from the start.  I don’t know how they figured it out, but they forecast a major hurricane that would impact Florida, and it did.  Irma devastated island nations and vacation spots across the Atlantic and Caribbean and came up through the Florida keys with incredible strength.

So much destruction and loss of life.  

This storm was monstrous – at over 500 miles wide.

Martha and I got out ahead of the storm because of radio broadcasting in Cincinnati this week. When we left we thought the storm was mostly an East Coast Event but we prepared as if it was going to cause us to lose everything. It was a powerful exercise, knowing that we may lose everything except that which we could fit in our Chevy Equinox.  

The stress was incredible, we had to let it go.

All of it.

In the end, we were at peace. We were ready to start over from scratch. None of the things we left behind define us, none of them impact our ability to have a relationship with our Heavenly Father. They are just things and stuff. Sure it took a lifetime to accumulate them but we still have more life left. 

Contemplating the complete redefining of what life looks like in one or two days is exhausting.

Don’t miss the significance of this Irma event.

If your life is all about your stuff, you are missing something much greater…a life about Jesus and the incredible miraculous work he did on the cross – rescuing you and me from death and destruction.

This world and all of our things will one day pass away, but our relationship with our Heavenly Father goes on for eternity.  Take this opportunity to reflect on your life and see where the focus has been.

Maybe it’s time to take the focus off of your stuff, and start focusing on that which is Eternal.  The two hurricanes, earthquakes, and fires this past week give us reason to stop and consider what  this life is really all about…and why on earth do we live in Florida!

Matthew 6:19-21 ESV

Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

‭‭Mark‬ ‭10:22‬ ‭NLT‬‬

At this the man’s face fell, and he went away sad, for he had many possessions.