I love a good storm. There’s just something heavy rain and flashes of lightning that is just so exciting. One of the many reasons I was excited about being here in Africa during the rainy season is the fact that they have some crazy storms.
On our first day in Zambia, the team and I found ourselves hunkering down all of our things getting what we could inside on the eve of our first African storm. In the distance I watched as monstrous black clouds unleashed their flood waters in the distance and while we waited for this storm system to land on us we were hit by gales of wind carrying dust and sand.
Once everything was safely inside and weighted down the team and I waited under the safety of the front patio for our first ever African storm. Under my breath I quietly prayed that God would show His power and glory in this storm. As time went on the winds slowly began to die down and the clouds in the distance began to lighten up I remember saying to myself, “C’mon God, give us a good one.”
About an hour later the impending storm system had completely dispersed leaving us with sunny African summer heat. In that moment I was disappointed with the turnout. Everything was set and I was excited to see God is that storm and just like that nothing happened.
Well, luckily the story doesn’t end there. Later that night as I crawled into my tent ready to call it a day that storm that I prayed for finally showed up. It began with a light wind and the soft pitter patter of rain hitting my tent. Soon the sky would light up with lightning in the distance and thunder crashing a good 30 seconds away. As the hours of the night went on the rain got heavier, the winds got stronger, the lightning and thunder got closer and before I knew I was sitting in the heart of the storm with lightning lighting up the night sky, booming thunder overhead, torrential down pour and winds howling all around.
While I sat there praying that no one would get struck by lightning I couldn’t help but smile knowing this was exactly what I had prayed for even if it wasn’t exactly when I had expected it to come.
I can’t help think about my relationship with God in this light. How often do I ask for a small glimpse of God’s power and authority? Do I want to simply watch as God floats by from a safe distance, treating a relationship with Him as mere spectacle only when everything in my life hunkered down? Or will I let myself everyday choose to be fully immersed in His all consuming love and power?
God isn’t a God of convenience, where He enters into the picture only when He’s allowed to or where He is welcomed to. He’s the kind of God who is all consuming and doesn’t settle for being a sideshow to be observed from a safely. He pulls us into the middle of things so we can experience the fullness of life spent with Him and it’s beautiful and wild.
