Hurricane Wilma

Hurricanes are the price a resident of South Florida must pay for year-long warm weather. During the time we lived in Palm Beach Gardens, we experienced four hurricanes. People tend to handle hurricanes one of two ways: evacuate immediately or throw a hurricane party. Aside from the obvious safety concerns, people who stayed in town had one major concern: "Will we lose power and, if so, for how long?"

So when Hurricane Wilma was en route, we hunkered down. We filled the bathtub with water (how else can you flush the toilet when you lose power?), ate a big meal, and gathered our supplies. As soon as the front end of the storm hit, we lost power. We didn't have shutters on our sliding glass doors so we built a fort for our family in the master bathroom. My husband who is a junk food aficionado had us well-stocked to ride out the storm. My stomach couldn't handle too much of the junk food, though, so during the eye of the storm, we ventured out for some real food.

Since the power had already been out for a couple of hours, we had to plan what we would take out of the fridge ahead of time. The objective was to keep as much cool air inside the fridge as possible in hopes that none of the food would spoil before our electricity was restored. When we decided what was coming out of the fridge, someone would dash in and retrieve everything at once and shut the door as fast as possible.

We had plenty of food in the fridge during Wilma, but we were only willing to open it when it was absolutely necessary in order to conserve the coolness in the fridge.

This process reminded me of how we often act as Christians. God has given us everything we need to live the Christian life, but so many times we keep our supplies locked up in reserve only for catastrophes. When we have a major situation: an illness or death in the family, a loss of job, a possible move, etc., we pray and seek God's help. Yet in the small decisions that we must make on a daily basis, we don't consult God for wisdom or direction. Then we wonder why we've veered of the "narrow path" God wants us to follow.

Proverbs 3:5-6 says, "Trust in The LORD with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will In all you do, and he will show you which path to take."

So should we consult God on only the major life-threatening catastrophes in our lives? No! "Seek his will in ALL you do." I love all of the crazy sayings that my grandma used to say. One of my favorites is, "All means all, and that's all all means." It's pretty simple, isn't it? If God says, "Seek his will in ALL you do," then I suppose that means nothing is too small for His direction . . . even what we should get out of the fridge during a hurricane.