Lessons From the Storm

This is what our home looked like after Katrina.

You are able to see the water (the Gulf) at the end of our street.

Every house on our street was destroyed. The next day, looters came in and stole the bricks!

I'm a teacher. An English teacher. One thing I've learned over the years is that some students have a problem with the "state of being" verbs. Some of my students had a horrible habit of saying things like, "I be going to the gym ." Many of my students today are just learning to speak English. They have a tendency to say things like, "I tired" or "I no understand". The problem with both examples is the misuse of the verb "to be".

I had the same problem, spiritually speaking. In the days and weeks and months after Katrina, God had to teach me about His "state of being" name! When God was asked by Moses in Exodus 3 what His name was, God replied "I AM". And in the New Testament, when Jesus was speaking to a group of Jewish theologians He said, "Before Abraham was, I AM" and He almost got killed by the men He was talking to...in their minds, Jesus was being blasphemous!

So what was the big lesson? I needed to learn that God had within Himself all the answers to my problems. I had to be reminded that He is self-sufficient and doesn't need a thing. I had to be reminded over and over that because He was my Shepherd, I had more than enough. You see, after the storm, we had no place to go...and we were just one family out of thousands of families. There weren't restaurants to get meals or grocery stores open to buy food. We only had one change of clothing for each of us, and no way to wash our clothes. No place to take a shower. Everything was at a standstill and we had to rely on outsiders getting down to the Coast to bring us water, food and clothing. It took a few days, but slowly supply trucks made their way down to us. Friends from church opened their home to us. But the places we thought could help us wouldn't...or couldn't. Our insurance company told us we were not covered for our loss. FEMA was a laugh. Everytime we waited patiently in the hot sun for hours to talk to a representative, they took our information, only to botch everything up! Our help didn't come from the government. Our help came from the Lord! Our help came from the great "I AM"!!!

We always have to add something to the phrase "I am". We have to say, "I am hungry", or "I am tired", but God alone can say, "I AM" period!!! He really was more than enough to meet all of our needs. And He didn't just meet them, He met them in a way that was "Far above all that we could hope for or imagine"! He shook the storehouse of heaven and caused our cup to overflow!