Here's Your Sign

So, we are on our way to New Orleans to visit the seminary campus and during a stop-over in Montgomery, AL the weather report above comes out. Tropical storm Bonnie was on its way to New Orleans and would hit two days after we were to arrive. Five years ago, when we moved to New Orleans for seminary, a little tropical system known as Katrina showed up two weeks after we moved in. Of course, we had to evacuate and it was a few months later we got Macayla's diagnosis and God let us stay in South Carolina while she was still with us. We are so thankful for that time.

I was sitting in the hotel lobby in Montgomery, drinking coffee and looking at this weather map. Was it a sign we are not supposed to go back to New Orleans? After Katrina, several folks said the hurricane was a sign we should not be there. Many said this tongue-in-cheek, but several were serious. Others did not even consider it a sign but simply said it made no sense for us to move to such a place and it still doesn't. When I saw the forecast for Bonnie, I heard those statements again. We were headed down just for a visit and the tropics showed out! Well, we continued on to New Orleans and come Sunday morning, Bonnie had simply fizzled out. We were thankful it did not do more.

Is God trying to tell us something in all of this? Why, yes He is! He is trying to teach us that circumstances are not the primary communication tool He uses. If we rely on circumstances to tell us what we are supposed to do with our lives, we will never be settled on our purpose and God's will. God gave us something called Scripture for that. In the case of Bonnie, we could say, "That was God's way of reminding us to stay away from New Orleans." But, since the storm fizzled out we could say, "Look it's a sign God will protect us from the storms now and is confirming we need to move to New Orleans." Depending on our emotional state or how spicy our Mexican food was from the night before, we could come out with all sorts of interpretations of our circumstances.

That is what Scripture is for. It is the filter and lens we are to see our circumstances through. God reveals himself to us in Scripture and the clearer we see Him, the clearer we can see ourselves and our circumstances. But we have to be looking for what Scripture says about Him first. If we pick up the Bible and treat it as a self-help book, textbook, or magic formula to fix our lives, we will be very disappointed. We must seek what the text reveals about God first and from there answers begin to flow. Scripture records for us that Jesus even said, "Seek first the kingdom of God and all these things will be added unto you." (Matthew 6)

So, were Katrina and Bonnie signs? Yes, signs of bad weather! Besides, how prideful and silly it is to think God would orchestrate hurricane Katrina, kill over one thousand people and displace hundreds of thousands more just to communicate to the Smoaks from South Carolina to not come to New Orleans! Certainly God is capable of such power, but He already gave us His direction for our lives through Scripture and much prayer. For some people it does not make sense to move to a city that is located in hurricane ally and is below sea level. It doesn't make sense to us either, except for the fact God said to.

One of the things Scripture reveals about God is that He rarely calls people to a comfortable and posh purpose. It happens sometimes as we see with Isaiah and Nathan in the Bible. But when God became flesh in Jesus Christ, He came to a hard life that was rejected and misunderstood by many. The signs he performed were misinterpreted by many. After three years of ministry and miracles, He had 120 disciples. Definitely not a mega-church! He went to a literal Hell on earth at the cross where the just wrath our sins deserve was placed on Him and not us. This was certainly not "Your Best Life Now" kind of Christianity! There was no smiling at the cross! Christ died at the cross, but rose from the tomb. He called us to take up our crosses and follow Him. If that means we have to go to places that are not comfortable or even dangerous, then that is where we go. This does not mean we throw our brain in the trash can. That is not faith. It means we are to utilize our brains and see what God tells us in His Word and act on it. We have to use our brains, hearts, bodies and souls to serve Him. ("Love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, mind, soul and strength..." the Greatest Commandment.)

So, here's your sign (to quote the comedians). It's called Scripture and prayer. It is God's gift to us so that we do not have to flounder and squirm around wondering what our purpose is. Let us seek Him first, take up our crosses and go!

By the way, God confirmed for us through prayer and Scripture that we are to move back to New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. We are working toward starting on campus by next fall.