What do you call it?

 

1 Samuel 2:1-10

After last night's online Bible study, I went to the living room to watch a movie. The kids had already started the first Christmas movie of the year. But they had to leave. So, I looked for a worthy title. I wasn't ready for "Home Alone." Other than that, I can't tell you why I landed on "The Wizard of Oz." So, I took in the munchkins, the journey on the yellow brick road and the ruby slippers. And I noticed something about the opening scene. Before she's thrust into Technicolor, Dorothy visits Professor Marvel. When she decides to return home, the weather changes. The professor notices the storm brewing and calls it a "whopper," according to "the vernacular of the peasantry." Back home, Hickory calls it a cyclone. Zeke knows it as a twister. If it was my story, I'd call it a tornado. Whatever you'd called it, there was no avoiding the havoc it brought to everyone. And so is life. Trouble comes in all forms. Every one of us faces storms that come with all kinds of names. No matter what we call them, we have a choice on how we'll face them. The opening line to Hannah's prayer offers a confident assertion. She says, "My heart exults in the Lord; my strength is exalted in my God." Hannah has made the choice to trust in God's power. She then recognizes God's activity on behalf of those otherwise stuck in the whoppers of life: the feeble, the hungry, barren, poor and needy. They all face the storms in their own way. But God guards the feet of his faithful ones. The strength and courage we have and will need is always with us in God. Think of all the names we know of God. God is Father, the Living God, God Almighty and the Lord Our Shepherd, to offer a few. No matter what you call God, you can trust that our lives are in God's hands. Stay blessed...john