An Anchor for the Storm-tossed Soul
My neighbor, Jim.
Wow! What a week last week was. Snowmageddon, the ice apocalypse, and an entire Wyoming winter all transpired last week in Texas. Now I understand why all those people from Pittsburg migrate with the geese to Fort Lauderdale.
Tuesday was 80 degrees warmer than Tuesday a week ago. That’s not a record though. Last week was the record-setter.
The per-day demand on the Texas power grid during Snowmageddon was the equivalent—each day—of one month’s energy requirement. I’m sure there were mistakes made. There always are—in retrospect.
Once the Monday morning quarterbacks are purged of advice for Texas, I wonder if they could send milk, eggs, bread, water, plumbing parts—especially connectors—doors, cabinets, carpet, hardwoods, electrical outlets, sheetrock, paint, car batteries, shrubs, street repair people…. Never mind. The list is long. Just send everything necessary to rebuild entire cities, please.
While we were chopping ice for the wild birds and our livestock, the enlightened in the UK were caught again imposing DNRs on the disabled who contract COVID. Nothing like a good purge of those you disapprove of to make society more progressive and pure. I can’t wait until we get our Socialized health system working.
Come to find out, while I was attempting to blow the snow away with my leaf blower, the Oregon Department of Education began promoting a continuing education class for educators designed to dismantle racism in mathematics. Apparently, I was not the only person to say, “What?” So, ODE explained that two and two is still four, but in order to not be discriminatory, two plus two must also total something else so no one is wrong.
The Biden Administration clarified its rationale regarding legalization of late-term abortion. They are insisting that pregnancy is—if you want it to be—a physical malady, not unlike a disease. So, pregnancy, cancer, diabetes, etc. all fall within the definition of disease according to Mr. Biden. (I wondered how he was going to get around the Catholic prohibition of abortion.) Thus, the “logic” of abortion being health care and the morality of forcing everyone to pay for what the dictionary terms as infanticide.
I noted as well, that while I was wrapping my exposed water meter line with towels and covering the box with a quilt that William Shakespeare got canceled. As it turns out, he “…was a tool used to ‘civilize’ Black [sic] and brown [sic] people in England’s empire,” Shakespeare scholar Ayanna Thompson opined. She’s a professor of English at Arizona State University.
I don’t know about you, but when I sit down to make sense of these things my head starts spinning. It feels like we’re losing our minds. Maybe we are. The people running things can’t even figure out which bathroom to use.
Is there any benchmark? Any standard? Anything unalterable, immutable, permanent, irrevocable, irrefutable, and incontrovertible? I need something immovable. This is a crazy storm?
I need an anchor.
As I think about it, not only are there anchors for ships and boats, but there are lead anchors for mortar, concrete anchors for construction, and plastic anchors for hanging pictures.
You can use bolts and screws to anchor metal and wood, and you can use adhesives to anchor nearly anything, including your two fingers. (Not that that has ever happened to anyone I know.)
Rock climbers anchor themselves to a rock face with chocks, stoppers, and pitons.
Truckers anchor their loads with chains, straps, and winches.
Cowboys anchor their saddles with a cinch and anchor themselves with their knees, stirrups, boots, and the pommel.
As Believers we anchor ourselves with the Word and character of God.
After telling us that it is not possible for God to lie, Hebrews states that we have this fact—God’s word of honor—as an “anchor of the soul.” In other words, our hope is in God through Christ, secured by the Spirit, who has made it possible for us to have close relationship and intimate fellowship with Him. When storms rage, neither He nor our place with Him shifts, moves, or changes.
Lots of folks offer lots of counsel about how to have peace, confidence, and composure—especially after you’ve endured a storm and suffered loss. “Why didn’t you have a snow shovel?” (Because no one south of Dalhart knows what one is, owns one, or knows how to use it.) But at an essential level, the character of God and the dependability of His Word is what provides an anchor for our souls.
No matter the storm, whether literal or figurative, or the depth of the deep, our soul has an anchor that holds us steady. Life’s ship may toss and it may appear incomprehensible that there is anything that will secure us, but there is enough spiritual steel in our Father’s integrity to hold life’s ship no matter the greatness of its displacement or the severity of the storm.
Carlisle said it well: “The anchor holds / though the ship is battered. The anchor holds / though the sails are torn. The anchor holds / in spite of the storm. The anchor holds.”
Indeed He does!
The Word of God and its Author must be our ever-present anchor. But in addition, we have the promises of God Himself. Check out Numbers 23:19, Titus 1:2, and Hebrews 6:18. Each reminds us that it is impossible for God to lie. Neither can He be mistaken, surprised, or beaten.
Drop anchor in the harbor of your heavenly Father’s integrity.
Before I let you go, having survived Snowmageddon and in the spirit of being neighborly with my friends in places like Des Moines, Rochester, and Buffalo, the leaf blower works on dry snow that hasn’t been walked on. Walked-on snow turns to ice. Take it from me: ice is slick.
Also, if you contact Lawn and Garden Warehouse on Hemphill Street, tell them I sent you. They may knock off $3 or $4 when you buy a leaf/snow blower. Many leaf blowers also suck and come with a leaf bag. One survivor to another: I would not recommend this feature for snow removal.