yes, it’s been awhile….forgive me.

on sunday i spent the entire day (except when i left for church), watching the history channel.  as such is the case, i happened to catch a special on “the dust bowl.”  now before you can say “huh?”  i am sure that you all remember the history story about the dust storms of the 1930′s.  you may have even remembered that this happened during the great depression, so there were no jobs, and the farmers couldn’t get anything to grow in their drought-ravaged fields.

so…what’s the big deal about the dust bowl? i’m glad you asked?

first of all, it wasn’t just a storm…it was called a “black blizzard” and it happened over and over again for a period of about 10 years.  this meant that just when they thought a storm was over, another ball of black dust would loom on the horizon.  This meant that just as they were sweeping the floors and getting everything back in order from the last storm, that there’s another one which could be greater and last longer.  as the dust came and went, it seemed that there was no relief in sight.

sound familiar?

and, please don’t mistake it, this wasn’t your run-of-the mill dust storm.  this was black dust; it suffocated people, it killed people, some of the people of this time  had been in so many storms, that the dust had crept inside of them and entered their lungs causing something they termed “dust pneumonia.” so , this wasn’t the dust that presently sits on my glass-top dining room table. this was the kind of dust that left its mark and took a toll on the people who endured these storms.

now…let me really mess you up…i’m going somewhere i promise…

these storms were not the work of  the “wrath of God” or just a random occurence (if you believe in those), this was man made.  this was the result of people being in the wrong place and doing things that were not for their good–even though cleverly disguised as a great opportunity.  in thinking that they were doing something good for themselves and their families, they actually destroyed the land, dismantled the ecosystem and set in to motion the destruction of their lives and their livelihood at the hands of some dirt.

deep huh? now, let’s make it plain…

maybe for you  its not visible dust…a black blizzard,if you will…that is clouding your vision, and suffocating you right now, but there is something. you’ve prayed about it, you’ve cried about it, you’re even reading this blog trying to figure out when will the storm stop,  and if there will be another one like there has been time and time before.

some,  like the farmers in the plains states, have tried to leave the scene of the “crime,”  and get to a better opportunity, and like those farmers, they found none.  and maybe you decided that your God wasn’t sufficient to bring you through, so you tried a new god.  the farmers started looking at Native American religions to figure out how they could get what they needed (rain)–and that didn’t work.  they even gave the last of their money to a man that said he could make it rain–and, of course, that didn’t work either.

message!

the only way to make it through the storms was prayer and patience.  say it…prayer and patience… did they lose things? yes.  did things die in the midst? yes did it ever just look like the end? YES! did people give up? yes.

did people survive? Y-E-S!

the survivors…the people who endured these storms truly have a story to tell.  in fact, there were survivors peppered throughout the entire show, telling me–the viewer– what happened, what they lost, and how they made it through.  that was the best part of the story…knowing that through all the dust,  death and destruction, and despite the fact that we (man) caused the whole situation, that there was redemption waiting in the wings–there was a “survivor” that was saved and could tell the story of making it through a decade of storms and to let you know that you can, too–even if your storm aint got a stitch of dust in it!

hold fast to the fact that the storm will stop.  keep seeping the “dust” even if more comes.  stay faithful and know that you will tell you story, too,  when the dust stops…