As I look back on the year, I have a special memory of a conversation I had with the pastor of the First Baptist Church of San Antonio, Texas. A couple of years ago, during the evacuations after hurricane Katrina, Pastor Guthrie’s church took in all the special-needs families who were airlifted from their rooftops, or from the Superdome or the freeway bridges around New Orleans. The church asked to house special-needs families and they put them in their gymnasium, putting up cots, giving everybody blankets, clothes, food, and diapers. The church set up an around-the-clock volunteer schedule to help everybody out, and we at Joni and Friends sent First Baptist church about a hundred wheelchairs, walkers, and crutches for those families.
Anyway, when I spoke with Pastor Guthrie recently I asked him about how that hurricane strengthened or weakened the faith of those families… and he told me the most interesting thing. He said that nearly every person shared how close they felt to God as they sat and waited on those rooftops or on the freeway bridges throughout the night, waiting for help to come. Virtually everyone said, when they looked up, they described that they saw the stars as they had never, ever seen them before. Oh my, were they bright and beautiful, and there were so many of them – they had never seen so many stars!
That’s because there was no electricity, no city or neighborhood lights, no store lights or stoplights or highway lights. And because it was so dark, the stars above New Orleans were visible as never before. Plus, those families had nothing to do but look up anyway, right. The heavens really do declare the glory of God – oh, those stars – especially as those disabled children and adults and grandparents and families had lost everything, who couldn’t even save their wheelchairs or walkers through the high waters.
I got a lump in my throat as Pastor Guthrie shared that story. Every one of those families were so grateful for the help. Maybe that’s because God poured out his love, not only through the church, but also during those nights they sat on their rooftops… like the stars poured forth speech and knowledge about God during starry nights.
And friend, I don’t know about the dark times you’re going through right now, but we can all learn a lesson from this. Because when things are at their darkest, well… that’s usually the time we can see God the brightest, if we would but only look up. Look up, for your redemption draweth nigh. Look up and you just might see what’s bright and beautiful. Look up, for your rescuer, your deliverer comes. Look up and be reminded that God is near.
Used by permission of
JONI AND FRIENDS
P.O. Box 3333
Agoura Hills, CA 93176
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