Monthly Archive for April, 2011

A Tornado of Compassion

by Jonas Harley | April 28, 2011

Nahum 1:3, “The LORD is slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked: the LORD hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet.”

In the last couple of weeks the Southeastern states has been the victim of many severe thunderstorms that have included many harsh tornadoes.

On Saturday, April 16 my son and I had our first father/son adventure and interaction with a tornado. It was mid-afternoon and I was making some final preparations for a youth activity when I received word to take immediate cover for approaching tornadoes. I quickly scooped up my son, gathered some pillows and blankets, and huddled in the hallway. A few moments later, a tornado came swirling through the farm leaving behind severe damage to many homes, farm buildings, and vehicles! After the storm passed, I was amazed at how much destruction tornadoes can do in a matter of mere seconds!

It wasn’t long before emergency vehicles arrived and residents starting peeking out of their newly shaped homes looking at their newly arranged landscape. Although these tornadoes did some major destruction and claimed many lives there was another type of tornado that came through and that was one of compassion. Let me explain…

It wasn’t long after the storm passed that fellow citizens from nearby neighborhoods and church family started showing up to help clean off debris from our homes and yards. I was greatly encouraged by and reminded of the love neighbors and church members have for one another.  

Days after the tornadoes passed I (and others) were receiving endless encouraging phone calls, several invitations to spend the night at someone’s home, many offers to receive a home-cooked meal, etc. The flow of compassion kept coming!

Above all, the greatest compassion I was reminded of was God’s compassion on mankind! Through the entire storm I was at complete peace that God loves me and has complete control of every wind, rain drop, and tornado. I praise Him for His compassion and protection! I praise God for this tornado of compassion!

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Spiritual Umbrellas, part 2

by Jonas Harley | April 14, 2011

I finally got my wish! One of the members in my youth group held an umbrella over my head! It was awesome to have this kind of treatment, especially during my birthday week!

The next Spiritual Umbrella that every young person needs to recognize and submit to and that is the umbrella of parents.

Why Parents? Parenting is the agency that teaches the next generation the ways of God! Take some time and read through Deut. 6:1-9 and you will see the huge responsibilities that parents have. Talk about pressure! In order for you to have God’s blessing in your life you must submit to your parents! How? Ephesians 6:1-3.

You must Outwardly Obey your Parents (v.1) – This is manifested in your actions. Obeying your parents outwardly means to submit, yield, and surrender to their authority. God calls this righteous living!

You must Inwardly Honor your Parents (v.2) – This is where it gets tough! You can go “though the motions” of outward obedience, but do you inwardly respect your parents with your attitude?

You would have no problem regarding (honoring) a highly educated, well-known doctor, because he knows what he is talking about. You would take his advice with no problem. This should be your attitude towards you parents! They may not be perfect, but they are God’s way of protecting and guiding you. So honor them! Many times they know what they are talking about!

Why? Why? Why? (v.3) – God promises blessing and protection when you living under the umbrella of your parents. Read the verse! You can’t go wrong here!

If you are in a position of rebellion against your parents, you are among the most miserable people walking the planet. Don’t spend your life trying to break free from your parents rule. God will honor and bless you if you obey and honor them! Go do it!

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Spiritual Umbrellas, Part 1

by Jonas Harley | April 1, 2011

Umbrellas have been part of culture more many centuries! They have served many purposes throughout those centuries. For example, in ancient Middle East history servants would hold an umbrella over their king’s head while he rode around in his chariot (only if we could get youth groups to do that with their youth pastors! Ha!).

 

In ancient Egypt the princess would travel around in her chariot (those things must have been popular, where can I get one?!) with an umbrella to not only protect herself from the sun rays but to show off its decorative qualities. I’m sure they had lots of fun at those annual umbrella fashion shows!

 

The Aztecs used umbrellas as flags made with feathers and gold. Its humors to think about manly Aztec warriors marching and fighting to an umbrella! I would have paid money to see that!

 

There is an awesome spiritual lesson we can learn from something as simple as an umbrella, and that is living life under authority.

 

Right now, the “sun rays” of Satan and pop-culture are trying to get us to question, reject, and resent authority. They want us to believe that it is a wonderful and liberating thing to have no restraints or authority. They are attempting to “soak” us with the lies that authority is out to take advantage, manipulate, exploit, and make our life miserable.

 

Can I tell you the truth? This is something that Satan and pop-culture will not tell you? Ready?

 

Submitting to God’s structure of authority will always result in God’s blessing. Alright, stop and read that again!

 

Here are 4 fast facts about authority! This is Authority 101.

 

1) Everyone is under authority – You will never live a day of your life when you are not asked or required to submit to some kind of authority. You will never out grow it or avoid it. Everyone lives under authority and the sooner you embrace this as part of your life you will grow in spiritual maturity and see God’s blessing in your life.

 

2) Human authority is not perfect – Every person reading this right now could easily find some kind failure, hypocrisy, or mistake in human authority. If you are looking for a reason to not trust and submit to authority in your life, then you don’t have to look very far.  However, just because human authority falls short doesn’t cancel out authority in your life. Authority is still a wonderful thing!

 

3) Human authority is for your protection – Think of the authorities in your life as a wall of protection or a hedge. They are there to protect you!

 

The first thing that came to my mind to illustrate this truth was software that protects my computer from corrupt viruses. The software/program can be very expensive, time consuming, devours a lot of memory, and can slow my computer down, but I know it’s fighting to protect my computer from nasty trojans.

 

In the same way, authority (parents, pastors, teachers, etc) in your life are doing the same thing! They are fighting day and night to protect you from danger that lies ahead. They are standing shoulder to shoulder diligently willing to fight off the spiritual enemy on your behalf! You may not be able to see or understand all the reasons why your authorities protect you in the way that they do, but realize that it’s for your benefit.

 

4) Authority is a gift from God – There aren’t too many people these days who are willing to stand up for what is right and protect and warn you from danger. THANK GOD FOR THOSE WHO DO! Many of your authorities engage into battle on your behalf and are willing to risk your hate, your resentment, your rejection, but they love you way too much to see you get hurt.

 

Stop believing the cultural lies that authority is bad and start thanking God for moms and dads, pastors and youth pastors, and teachers who are willing to be that umbrella of protection for you!

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