It's a God-thing

8:01 p.m. Today's project was to wrap up against a very cold, harsh wind while hopping in and out of my car thoughout a morning of seeing Steve off on his bus, shopping for a few goodies for Wednesday Morning Makeovers, and walking from curb to house for the event once I arrived in Redlands.

Before I left the house, and during my drive, I heard of some natural oddities that defy man's explanations:

a.  Rattlesnakes are out in force in our area, our Christian radio station warned, and advised on proper attire for hiking, and not to hike alone. Since we've always had rattlers across the road in the Sycamore Canyon Wilderness Park, and our family hikes whenever the mood strikes, I just tucked this bit of information into my proverbial hat. Ever mindful of last days' scenarios rather than current danger, I thought of scriptural warnings of wild animals roaming the ruins of desolate cities. Such a judgments was pronounced (and eventually carried out) on Jerusalem, Ezekiel 14: 15:

...wild beasts [will] pass through the land and empty it, and make it so desolate that no man may pass through because of the beasts...

And Jesus spoke of "pestilences" in Matthew 24:7 as a sign of the End of the Age.

b. Another happening in our universe that caused some concern in the news were storms on the sun, or
"sun flares." .From SPACE.com:

  "The sun unleashed a cosmic double whammy Tuesday (March 6), erupting with two major flares to cap a busy day of powerful solar storms. One of the flares is the most powerful solar eruption of the year, so far.
  Both of the huge flares ranked as X-class storms, the strongest type of solar flares the sun can have.
  ...When aimed directly at earth, X-class solar flares can endanger astronauts and satellites in orbit, interfere with satellite communications and damage power grids on earth."

I also heard on the radio news that GPS communications can be disrupted--so don't get lost! Apparently planes won't be flying over the North Pole or the South Pole for the next few days. Wow! That may be why my girlfriends were discussing their random power outages yesterday in different parts of Moreno Valley. This afternoon at Starbucks in my neighborhood, the computer/cash registers were goofing up. I hadn't thought this through, so I offhandedly suggested that the all-day wind might be affecting the system.  I did, however, get my Caramel Frappucino and sat down to call and book customers.

Later at home, Steve had been watching his favorite show "The Waltons," when our DirecTV went out, for 5 minutes the first time, making me wonder if I'd paid the bill; but the second time it lasted over an hour. (The system is run by satellite). So after dinner, I played "The Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe" on our desktop computer for Steve while I went into my office to join in on a Mary Kay marketing call. The programming did come back on, though I shut it off so Steve could focus on the end of the movie.

Tornados in the midwest, powerful sun storms, a plethora of rattlesnakes--all are what you could call "a God thing." We like to use that phrase for serendipitous happenings that are positive and lead to great blessing, but God says this of Himself and His omnipotent power in Isaiah 45:6b-7:

I am the LORD, and there is no other;
I form the light and create darkeness,
I make peace and create calamity;
I, the LORD, do all these things.

Yes, God creates calamity in this sin-sick, rebellious world! Jesus verifies this when He spoke of the signs of the End of the Age in Matthew 24:7, 8:

For nation will rise up against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. and there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows.

And Jesus spoke of the signs of His Second Coming after the seven-year Tribulation, verse 29:

Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.
:
But God has a plan to redeem all of creation, through his Son's sacrifice on the cross. John wrote of this in Revelation 21:1, 5a:

Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away....Then He who sat on the throne said,

Behold, I make all things new.

As a born again believer, I look forward to being in the presence of Christ, whether at the moment when He calls His people home, or at my passage from death to eternal life!

As for the animals of the earth? Isaiah 11:6-8 says,

The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb,
The leopard shall lie down with the young goat,
The calf and the young lion and the fatling together;
And a little child shall lead them.

The cow and the bear shall graze;
Their young ones shall lie down together;
And the lion shall eat straw like an ox.

The nursing child shll play by the cobra's hole,
And the weaned child shall put
  his hand in the viper's den.
The lion shall eat straw like an ox.

Meanwhile, wear tall boots when hiking for fear of rattlers, and we will see how  God's mighty power displayed by the sun  affects the earth, my temporary home, as the flares "hit" tomorrow.

Even so, come Lord Jesus!