Hot enough for ya??

I can’t believe the heat here today. As always in the South, it is not the heat as much as the humidity. I believe it is 95 degrees outside right now, which is hot enough to me, but it is really sticky and “muggy.” This was not even a good day to take the kids to the pool. We went to the AIR CONDITIONED movie theater, and it was FREE with $1 popcorn and drinks. Now, you can’t beat that, cool, no frizzy hair and movie theater popcorn!

This heat and lack of rain got me to thinking, and you never know where my brain will take me! It is usually an odd tie-in to a Biblical reference. But God made me this way; I decided to work with it, and not against it, hence the blog! The journey ended in the book of Joel.

The prophet Joel was writing at the time of a locust plague and a severe drought in Judah. It was so bad that sacrifices could not be made at the temple. Read in the first chapter of how Joel sees all this as judgment for Judah. God had cut off the means for them to uphold the covenant. Unless the devastation was reversed, Judah would cease to exist. The book is full of the judgment, call to repentance, God’s love for his people and His faithfulness to the covenant.

Waste and desolation, heat and drought, what a way to uplift and encourage!! As always, God always gives us hope. What I see in the book of Joel is the sovereignty of God. If you keep with me and keep reading this blog, you will see that I love that we serve a BIG GOD! He is at work in everything in our lives, even waste, desolation, heat and drought. Our challenge is to live obediently through these things and give glory to God in how He works. (Notice I said CHALLENGE!)

The hope of Joel comes in Joel 2:25, He restores the years that the locusts have eaten. In our times of waste and desolation, heat and drought, He is still working to complete His plan. I know this is true in my own life. And I know it to be true for others. This brings me to a wonderful memory in the cool of the year.

I have a friend in Tennessee. I was fortunate enough to spend some time with her around Christmas this past year, when I had the privilege of speaking for her MOPS group. We spent the night drinking coffee (I LOVE COFFEE!) and discussing how great our God is and how much we love His Word. We talked of each of the books of the Bible and what they mean to us. Joel is her story. Eighteen years ago the locusts came and she had her time of waste and desolation. But the story of her life is that God restores. He is using her and her story for His glory. That He would do that for her brings her to tears….and me too, because He will do it for us all.