Forest Lake Baptist Church, Tuscaloosa
Last year my wife and I spent a few days in the Colorado Mountains. It was a nice vacation after having been in the troughs of disaster recovery for several months at our church.
Our city was one of the hardest hit by the tornado of April 26, 2011. Block after block were leveled around our church campus and the storm almost destroyed our church buildings. I spent most days in a daze, reeling from the suffering around me. So when offered the chance to get away for a few days of respite, we welcomed it.
Driving through the Rocky Mountains, for me, was no small feat. The majestic tops of those peaks surrounded us at every turn.
Though the valleys were beautiful, I wanted to climb higher to catch a glimpse of the area from above. My problem was direction. I didn’t know which road to take to help me out of the valley. Fortunately the hotel staff did. Positioned in the lobby each morning was an assistant who offered maps, favorite tourist spots, first-hand knowledge of the sites and, most importantly, directions. Before long we were winding our way up the mountains to a breathtaking view of God’s creation for miles around.
When the storms hit our city last year, I saw a lot of people looking for direction. Those who suffered through the trauma of the storm were confused. All the familiar landmarks were gone. Their immediate response to the destruction was to search for God. It was not that God was lost, but somehow they were.
Our church and many others like it were flooded with storm victims. They didn’t really know what to do, but they knew what they needed. They needed God, and somehow felt they could find him in a church building.
I am glad to say that many people found God through faith in His Son, Jesus. Since that day, the victims keep coming to our church for help, and our church members keeping pointing them to Christ.
If you want to know God, look to Jesus, for it was He who said, “I am the way.” (John 14:6).
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