message
Ichiro Terao
Two prospectors went to a desert in search for gold. They
carefully
noted every landmark, because to be lost could mean certain death. One
night a great storm drove them into a cave, and from there they watched
the
lightning flash. Soon the rain began to pour and floodwaters gushed
across
the desert, ripping up cacti and completely changing the terrain.
One of the prospectors cried out in panic, "All the landmarks are
swept away and we are lost!" But the other man calmly said, "Wait! Soon
the
storm clouds will be gone, and we will see the sky." Sure enough the
clouds
rolled back and when the two prospectors saw the stars, they found
their
bearings.
The prospectors have faded into history, but the panic that one
feels
when the landmarks are swept away is still in the hearts of many people
today. People see the landscape of humanity destroyed and are quick to
panic. As the prospectors had to wait and look up, so the solution to
your
concern lies in looking upward.
Two things give me peace amidst the storms of life. One is by
looking
at the stars in the heavens, I realize that the God who placed them
above,
eons of years ago, is the same today. Second, by remembering the ruins
of
ancient civilizations, I realize that the problems confronting me are
not
here to stay. They are merely part of the challenge of life, and they,
like
the civilizations of the past, will not be with me forever.
It is by looking upward that gives us bearing when the
circumstances
of life are chaotic. There is the anchor of a loving God who never
changes.
He speaks to our hearts today amidst the thunder and roar of life.