Last week I posted a note about Hurricane Helene that passed by us limiting the damage in our area. Unfortunately, it continued north with devastating results. My wife, Roberta was raised, in Black Mountain and she was informed that her hometown no longer exists as she knew it.
Today, while I’m writing this note, the television is on, and the news is telling me that a windy fella named Milton is dancing across the horizon, with his eye on our little burg known as The Villages. His dance moves are wild yet graceful, rotating slowly, gathering momentum, his arms sweeping in wide arcs, as he spins faster and faster. We are impressed by his form and his moves until they start to become erratic, no longer elegant and agile, but unpredictable, and frightening, sweeping across the dance floor in an unstoppable rhythm. Milton isn’t going to ask us to dance, he’s going to demand it. He’s no gentlemen, but rather an aggressive abuser, bent on satisfying his own desires with no consideration or thought of others.
We have been told to watch for the likes of Milton, and how we can best prepare to deal with his advances. Some heard that he was coming and left early before the dance began. Others waited until they could hear the music, and then it was too late, they had to stay. Still others elected to playout their dance card, so they dressed in shutters and plywood, and adorned themselves with sandbags, canned foods, propane, bottled water, and of course, toilet paper.
Today the band is tuning up, the music hasn’t begun, but soon the wind will begin its rhythmic beat like the stroke of a snare drum, building progressively into a cadence of dancing palms swaying to the pulse of gale force winds. Slowly it will fade and silence will fill the dance floor.
In the Book of Ecclesiastes, we are told there is a time for everything, “a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance.” Let me suggest that as we prepare to dance with Milton, we are the ones to choose the music. Let us not fear but prepare, and do so with confidence that whatever takes place, we have a compassionate and loving God that is greater than all the Miltons we will ever have to dance with. With our Lord’s help, we will be the ones who lead.
Listen to God, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)
You are all in our thoughts and prayers.
Ben
