…and then this happened!

Late afternoon at the end of my work day last week, I was packing up my motorcycle for the trip back home. It had been a long hot day, and I welcomed a fresh breeze which blew across my sweat stained face. But with this new wind a faraway sound entered the landscape. Like mighty rushing waters, my little breeze was cranking up the volume at an alarming speed. The birds stopped singing, the sheep and goats changed their tune to a nervous tremor. It seemed like all the Nest was holding its breath. And then, almost imperceptibly within the tumultuous wind I heard it. The unmistakable sound of trees crashing like thunder to the earth. That awful twisting crack as huge limbs are torn asunder. As if a giant was running to and fro in the jungle, uprooting ancient trees, and he was heading directly for me.

Ok so, at this point it’s just me, the sheep & chickens. Only about 30 seconds has passed and I’m not even in the thick of what I hear marching my way. I glance over into “chicken city “ (our name for the farm) and I see one of our lady workers looking anxiously my way. I simply return the look back towards her.

The violent wind now feels like a 10 out of 10, and the trees? Yep I definitely hear large trees on the Nest land coming a tumbling down. I count at least eight mighty crashes. I look up and around to the trees that surround me here and suddenly I don’t feel so safe anywhere so I just stand there and face the heavy rains that have followed in behind the wind.

Now mind you, only 5 minutes have transpired since “ oh what a lovely little breeze” to “ Oh my God I’m gonna get crushed under a falling tree !“

And just as quickly as it started, the whole thing was over. A mild, persistent rain fell, but otherwise the jungle kind of went back to normal.

Damage assessment. I knew I had to do it, but I didn’t want to. I climbed back up the hill and into a disaster zone. When these mighty big trees come down they bring all their canopy with them. What a horrendous mess. Climbing through branches and trunks I started my “walk around". Interestingly, one of our dogs OSA wouldn’t leave my side as if it was her duty to search amongst the ruin with me.

After about a 15 minute survey I was left dumbfounded and shocked. Not a single solitary structure was touched. In 3 different areas, the trees came within mere feet of utterly destroying our houses and solar panel setups. It’s as if God carefully avoided hitting them, instead simply laying them down in precisely the right spot. Sure, the animals were freaked out, the place was a tangled mess of trees and vines, but overall the Nest escaped unscathed.

The next day all our workers gathered together to start the cleanup, but not without first offering a collective prayer of gratitude and awe that we were all going to be fine.

This morning I look over the Nest grounds and it’s all back to normal like nothing much happened. Yesterday’s youth outreach was also a happy 16th birthday for our girl Naju-belle as 40 + kids celebrated together with her. And nobody knew what the Nest had been through just a couple days prior.

Now I know that this wind storm was only a glancing blow. All of us go through unexpected storms in our lives, where the natural order of things gets upended. And things could have turned out much differently than they did, thank God they didn’t. But what if they had?

I know some locals whose houses took a direct hit and destroyed their world in that very same storm. Am I willing to accept the things I cannot change? Was God favoring us over others?

Christians often quote Jeremiah‬ ‭29‬:‭11‬ “For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.”

Is my version of good, future, hope, and disaster the same as God's?

These, among many other ways of God, seem like unanswerable questions at the end of the day. Jesus said in His famous sermon on the mount that

“In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike.”

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭5‬:‭45‬ ‭

What He was getting at in that context was to always respond to others with Love. Our friends and enemies alike.

What I draw from this in this present circumstance is that God's relationship with me is an interactive experience. He is always trying to elicit a response from me. I believe He orchestrated the precise calculation of the falling trees? Absolutely. He can knit the unique DNA sequences of trillions of humans, order the galaxies, all while stirring up the delicate aromas of flowers. So yes, He is sovereign of everything or else of nothing at all.

So it always comes back to how will I respond to both His natural and supernatural order of things?

I’ll keep repeating it over and over again that this humble little Nest project continues to experience blessings beyond our own reach. We take our marching orders from a good God, and come what may we will persist in sharing the unmerited love that He lavishes on all of us.

With love and gratitude

James Beach

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