The Weight of His Wind and Mercy
…And I am a tree bending beneath the weight of His wind and mercy.
This past weekend I was able to be back at my old stomping grounds. With me I had two other adult chaperons and a bunch of broken kids. I didn’t think about their brokenness before we left. It was revealed to me as a witnessed God care for them on a weekend separated from their normal routine.
Tool Time, a weekend retreat run by students at Concordia Ann Arbor, was our reason for being there. The theme was Bon Voyage. I silly theme I thought when I first received the passport-like postcard in the mail telling me to save the dates. When I was president of New Crew we never were this far ahead of things. I was impressed, but still slightly cynical about the title of the theme. The text for the weekend was Matthew 4:22-33. You should read it because God’s word is much better than this.
So after we got there things started off as usual. The same games, different faces. New shirts, lighting, and music. But then we sang a song that I had sung in my car, in my mind, in my house, shower, and heart so many times. The song entitled How He Loves by John Mark McMillan was written during a time where John was struggling with understanding why a good friend had died in a tragic accident. When you sing this song at the top of your lungs you can’t help but understand that God’s Love is greater than all things. To be clear, God’s love is this: That while we still rebel against Him God sent His Son to die on the cross for our sins. His love is heavy and deep and wide and greater than anything we can express. So we call it love.
When you get hit by this love you are broken. You cannot stand against it. I felt and saw it happening around me. The rest of the weekend was full of fun, silliness, and some of the same old stuff. But in it all I shown that all of these broken kids knew of this love and wanted to know it more. The teenage years can be full of personal and social storms. In Matthew we see Jesus with power over all things. I pray that these broken kids saw that as well. I know God’s word accomplishes what it was sent out to do. I pray that I can witness it’s glory more and more.
Father,
Prepare me to witness your awesome glory. I know I am not ready to receive your love and even gifted enough to share it. May your Holy Spirit work through my brokenness. In Jesus name, Amen.
