The wind continued unabated for hours. The trees appeared to react as if this was normal, slightly fresher for the experience with no cracks or bends to show for the hours of buffeting. The whitecaps pushed ever onwards, pounding the rocks, exploding with a white spray, yet making no headway. As the sun broke through the intensity of the night gave way to a gentle and surprisingly warm caressing wind. Where was the power and what were the results after all that wind?
The drive up to Oslo brought reflective scene after scene. The small cabin on an even smaller rock island off to the side of a calm lake nestled in the cleft of the hills. Bright green fields, with all the hope of spring, played out in harmonic patterns. Horses chased each other across the fields in an enticing game of group tag. A new friend talked about the challenges and opportunities in his life, from family to music to making hats. I watched and experienced the scenes, powerless to touch or change.
The wind brought the renewed scent of spring to the land. People talked about the hope of things to come, swimming, families, gardens, and dreams of things of tomorrow. Seeing people in action, catching glimpses of God working in their lives carried a hint of the power operating behind the set.
In times of difficulty and pain I wonder about God's power. Why can't children live without handicaps? Why should people need to face the pain of losing someone close to them – especially when there is so much life to be lived and shared? How can we deal with the struggles of daily living, paying the bills, dealing with the crisis in people's lives we care about, or find the peace we all seek?
“If God didn't hesitate to put everything on the line for us, embracing our condition and exposing himself to the worst by sending his own Son, is there anything else he wouldn't gladly and freely do for us?” (Romans 8.32)
God is the answer, for you and me.
