Weekend Review

I am sure that each of you can identify with a busy weekend.  It seems that each week just rushes by and you find yourself looking at the beginning of a new week.  I am learning the valuable lesson of time management and it seems that the older I grow the more that I need to manage my time so that I can continue to be effective in my personal life as well as the Ministerial side of my life.

Friday was a very tragic day in the area of the country in which we live.  A severe outbreak of deadly tornadoes struck both in Kentucky and across the Ohio River in Indiana.  We were thankful that our immediate neighborhood and much of Louisville was spared any major damage.  But that was not the case for our neighbors north of the Kentucky border in Southern Indiana as well our fellow Kentuckians east and south east of Louisville.  Over 30 people died and much property was damaged as a result of the horrific encounter with the fury of nature.  This tragedy also revealed many testimonies of the miraculous intervention and protection of God.  It is amazing how often we hear the name of God mentioned in the aftermath of difficulties.  I am reminded of a statement made by a preacher many years ago; "You can't have a testimony without a test."  Just as nature spawned the outbreak of the destructive forces of winds so did these same events spawn words of praise and thankfulness for the Hand of God being stretched out over the lives of individual people.

I want to briefly share a story that was shared on the news last night.  I am unsure of whether this story will make the national news but it is certainly worth re-telling over and over.  An Indiana school bus driver left school early to take some children home.  She noticed the storm was moving toward her and she said that she stopped the bus, bowed her head and asked "The Lord to let her know what to do." She feels directed to go back to the school and she arrives around 1 minute or two before the storm hits that area of Henryville, IN.  The principal assists her in unloading the children and they head for the safety of the school building.  Just seconds after the bus was unloaded the empty school bus became a projectile that was catapulted across the road and deposited in the side of a restaurant located across the road from the school.  The bus driver believed that it was God who got her back to the school and off the road and out of the destructive force of the tornado.  There were eleven students plus the driver on the bus.  Can you imagine the devastation of those families if their children had been on the bus as it was "shot" across the road almost like a missile?  In the midst of the test there arose a testimony and that lady bus driver has been sharing that testimony with those who took time to listen.  Each of us will face our own set of tests.  Your test may not be a school bus that has become a missile but in the midst of your test you can see the opportunity to share a testimony.  Be encouraged today and remember that "God is not dead but He is still alive" and that He walks in the midst of your tests and trials.