Sharing Together the Storms of Life

He was driving slowly down the street, with his car window open, when I noticed him slowing down to speak to me. “They’re saying the power won’t be restored for three days.”“Oh my,” I replied.After a little more chit-chat, the man drove off. We had just experienced the horrific storm of June 11 in Wymore and nearby areas. As I was surveying damage on our parish property, this man was driving around town, probably looking for someone who needed assistance.This short conversation doesn’t seem extraordinary at first glance. But it left me thinking this: under normal circumstances, would this man and I have ever encountered one another? Perhaps he has driven past our parish property many times. Perhaps I have seen him in the past without so much as giving him a kind Nebraska wave. From my childhood on a Blue Springs farm, my parents taught me to wave at everyone driving past on our gravel road.Something like a storm leads to a common experience that unites us. It brings out the gentler, kinder part of our shared human nature. Our solidarity as humans is lived out more obviously in times of great need.This solidarity, this kind and loving way of acting toward one another, is true whether you believe in God or not, whether you worship in one of our local congregations or not.How can men and women of every race, language, people, and nation share such a basic human good such as being kind and loving? It is because a desire for God is written on every human heart. With faith, we believe that all human person are created by God and for God. This good God at all times tries to draw all men and women back to their origin, back to him as their Creator.The man on the street shared with me a few moments of speaking the truth with love. Deep down, we all know that you ought not to speak the truth in an unloving way. You also ought not to speak untruths lovingly. Either extreme goes against the longing that God has for us and the longing he has for us to love one another.What a different world it would be if everyone saw fellow men and women with the same eyes in which God sees them! Indeed, I need to practice what I preach here in a much more intentional way.I encourage you not to let a storm or other tragic event be the way that you meet your neighbor across the street; or in my case, the man driving by on the street. If good can come out of a tornadic storm, I hope you see with me that truth, love, and kindness can rise up out of any storms in our lives.By: Rev. Loras GrellPastor of St. Mary Church, Wymore; St. Mary Church, Odell; and St. Joseph Church, Barneston

Solar-Powered Cars Passed Through County

Rex Litchenberger

Related Articles

Things That Go Squeak in the Night

The Real Problem with Fake News

Gage County Newsletter

Tree of Life