Good evening friends,
Tonight's a time like Yarrow hasn't seen since the 1980s. I hope that you are all safe and dry.
Some of us are hosting people, some of us have still offered to host. The thing that I've experienced most in the last 48 hours is the care, service and hospitality of neighbours.
We're in North Chilliwack staying at friends from Eden Mennonite who have a well-stocked pantry and lots of air mattresses for our kids. We're thankful for their generosity and the care that so many of you have shown as well.
As I pray for safety tonight I'm praying Psalm 46.
PSALM 46:1-2
God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea.
Or this contemporary translation of Pslam 46 reminds us...
"God is a safe place to hide, ready to help when we need him. We stand fearless at the cliff edge of doom, courageous in sea-storm and earthquake, Before the rush and roar of oceans, the tremors that shift mountains.
Jacob-wrestling God fights for us, God-of-Angel-Armies protects us.
River fountains splash joy, cooling God’s city, this sacred haunt of the Most High. God lives here, the streets are safe, God at your service from crack of dawn. Godless nations rant and rave, kings and kingdoms threaten, but Earth does anything he says.
Jacob-wrestling God fights for us, God-of-Angel-Armies protects us.
Attention, all! See the marvels of God! He plants flowers and trees all over the earth, Bans war from pole to pole, breaks all the weapons across his knee. “Step out of the traffic! Take a long, loving look at me, your High God, above politics, above everything.”
Jacob-wrestling God fights for us, God-of-Angel-Armies protects us."
Eugene H. Peterson, The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language (Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 2005), Ps 46:1–11.
Our God who saved Israel from slavery and fear in Egypt is the one who cares for the earth and all of us. Like we remembered last Sunday, The Creator who sits over all creation as King of Kings and Lord of Lords is the one who holds our lives and land in his hand.
God is the one who hears our prayer and the only safe place to place our faith he is still "ready to help when we need him." Whether we are evacuating or settled in someone else's home like tonight.
God is our ever-present Lord and Saviour. The God-of-Angel-Armies cares for you and I, our children and our neighbours. We see this love for the world in the power of creation, the self-sacrifice of the cross, and the power of the resurrection. Today we see it in the hands of those who serve us and the voice of God we hear as we sit in prayer.
Rest well tonight having committed your frustration, confusion or anxiety to the Creator who is the one strong enough to carry them.
Lord, some of us are warm and dry. Some of us are worried because we don't know what is happening back in Yarrow. Please hold the pumps that are draining the Sumas flats running. Give creativity to the workers maintaining them to solve problems that arise. Protect everyone who is still evacuating.
Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.
God is a safe place to hide, ready to help when we need him. We stand fearless at the cliff edge of doom, courageous in sea-storm and earthquake, Before the rush and roar of oceans, the tremors that shift mountains.
Stay safe, and commit your fear to the Lord tonight brothers and sisters,
Pastor Darnell
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