Rooftops and Floods and Such

 We've had a lot of rain and storms here in the Tennessee Valley/North Georgia region. The ground is saturated and since there is a lot of variation in the elevations, we have high water and flooding. 

This Sunday I taught the Bible study, and I did it around how we picture faith. I asked the women to draw a picture of what faith looked like to them, then showed some photos/art. This was one of them:

It's not exactly what I was looking for, but it suffices. Someone is being rescued from his rooftop by a helicopter. We'll assume it's a flood. 

There's an old joke about a man floating on his roof during a flood. He prays, "God, rescue me!" A man in a boat comes by. "I'm here to rescue you." "No, I'm waiting for God to rescue me!" The man rows on. Then a man on a jet ski comes by. "I'm here to rescue you--jump on!"  "No, God will rescue me!"  Then a helicopter comes by and drops a basket with a first responder to help the man. "No, I'm trusting God for a rescue." The man does not survive, goes to heaven, and stands before God. "Lord, why didn't you rescue me? I had faith and I prayed!" "I sent a boat, a jet ski, and a helicopter! What did you expect?" says God. 

Not that God would talk like that. But I think it's an apt story for a lot of things. Vaccines: "Lord, deliver us from this pandemic." Well, we have medicines and immunizations for it! "Lord, show me how to live! Show me your will!" Well, there's this book called the Bible.... "Lord, help me to have the money I need..." Well, there's this thing called a job, and then there's saying no to everything you want, and ways to invest..."  

I'm reading a book called Take the Stairs. I'm mostly reading it to see if it's something I would want students in a first year experience class to read. We have been so encouraged and pushed to take the easy way in every thing (like go to the ATM at any time of day to get money instead of going during banking hours; eating out regularly, and taking the escalator rather than the stairs) that we see no personal value in doing the extra, taking time, being thoughtful, and choosing the hard thing. And every time we choose the easy way, ..... something happens.