TITLE: One of Life's "Pop Quizzes" By Tim Brown 08/03/07 |
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Test. The word can strike fear in some hearts and spur others on. Tests in school seldom bothered me unless they were “pop quizzes” and I wasn’t prepared. After graduation, I found that tests are part of life. Since then, I’ve endured a number of them, but the ones that left lasting impressions were the “pop quizzes” that life often gives.
I used to travel a lot in my ministry and often upon leaving; I left my house in God’s hands. Sometimes thoughts would come like “What would I do if I came home to a burned down house or one emptied by thieves?”
My answer was usually “No problem. It all belongs to God and I trust his protection.”
I didn’t expect anything to happen. We live in a small town with neighbors that look out for each other and are a couple of blocks from the fire department. One winter though, the pop quiz came. Did I really mean those words?
We live near a creek flowing from reservoir that supplies water to New York City. The winter began with several snowstorms, followed by a warm spell that melted much of the snow. Then, two days of rain came. At the dam holding back the reservoir, the level was climbing past flood stage.
The combined circumstances were too much for the creek to handle and it became a raging torrent, overflowing its banks. The water crept closer and closer to our house, but we were confident it wouldn’t reach us and sat down to watch TV.
Suddenly, we heard the sound of water flowing in through a basement window. Looking outside, we discovered our house surrounded on three sides with water and knew the creek wasn’t supposed to crest for several hours. We would have to leave.
Important things were put up as high as possible. We arranged to stay with a friend, packed and got our boys ready, and waded through four inches of water to get to the car. Now the water completely surrounded our house and we knew it would rise higher.
I started the car, put it in drive, and slowly pulled out of the driveway. Heading down the street, I looked in the rear view mirror, saw the water around the house and experienced a sinking feeling in my stomach.
“God, the house is yours. I have no control on what happens, but you do. The house is in your hands and I will trust you whatever happens,” was my prayer. At that moment, a peace settled over me I could not explain. Things were going to be all right.
When God gives His peace, others take note. The friend we stayed with remarked several times how calm and peaceful we remained during the trial, allowing us to be a testimony to her and her children.
Later, we discovered the water came to within nine inches of our living room floor. The only things damaged were two items in our crawl space. God had indeed watched over our house. The realization also hit—I had passed the test.
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