Shifting Sands

From being at the Banks (Outer Banks, NC) to battling a blizzard! Whew, things sure can change quickly, can’t they? Just a week or so ago we were enjoying the warm October ocean breezes and mild temps. But at least this year it was not snowing when we arrived home to WV. Well, not for a couple of days at least! It was 70 degrees in fact, on Friday before the storm hit on Monday night, plunging temps, blowing down power and phone lines, and dropping over a foot of snow in our neck of the woods. Superstorm Sandy, Frankenstorm, or whatever else it may have been called, it whipped through just the same. And we got only a taste of the terrible affects many are feeling along the coast and especially further north.

Some changes are like that storm. There are ways to prepare, at least as much as possible. Then you batten down and try to ride it out. Afterwards though, there’s always the cleanup, sometimes devastation. And when storms hit the Banks that I love, it’s never the same afterwards. It’s still beautiful, and there are evidences and even markers of past seascapes, yet the change is obvious. We had to cross a makeshift bridge this trip on Route 12 that I had never crossed before, over the ‘new’ inlet that was created when the last hurricane went through. And while there was a lot that was familiar some is changed forever.

Much of the change has been subtle as year after year shifting sands creep ever closer to the road, the one road on and off the barrier isle. Bulldozers are a regular sight in recent years pushing back the growing mountains of sand, trying to keep the roadway clear. Wild sea oats and grasses grow in patches, and fences jut out along the crest of the dunes to slow the drift, and attempts are made to keep beach erosion at a minimum. Yes, subtle change is continuously taking place, but is very obvious to those of us who only manage to make the occasional trek every year or so. Some businesses have closed, new ones opened. Some have moved location. Some cottages have been washed into the ocean. Some roads and resorts are no longer along the shoreline. There’s still sun and surf to be had and life goes on. But many of the locals feel the pinch and the impact of “changing tides”.

And today, Election Day 2012, it’s all about change in this country isn’t it? Hasn’t that been the mantra of the times for a while now? Sometimes though, I get the feeling that the change we’ve experienced in this country is that devastating kind. Much like when that coastal hurricane hits. You are warned it’s coming, you think you’re prepared for it, you’ve survived them before and they really weren’t all that terrible. Sure some things were different afterwards, but it didn’t disrupt your life to any great degree. Then, years go by and you wake up one morning only to see, as if for the first time, things are nothing like they were. And it’s not good. In fact the change is so detrimental that your whole livelihood is at stake. Everything you know and understand to be your home, well, it doesn’t feel so much like that anymore. The effect of all the change over time is overwhelming to even consider. It’s that “wow, what happened?” kind of feeling.

Change is good, but it has to be the right kind. Some things definitely need to change. The frustration is that more time seems to be spent on the fight about who gets to decide what the right kind of change is than actually seeing any real positive change take place. In the meantime, we’re like drifting dunes, shifting ever so subtly that until it’s “bulldozer time”, it’s hardly noticeable that the change that has taken place is causing massive damage and requiring incredible cleanup.

“Behold, the Lord God shall come with a strong hand, and His arm shall rule for Him; Behold, His reward is with Him, and His work before Him. Behold, the nations are as a drop in a bucket , and are counted as the small dust on the scales; To whom then will you liken God? Or what likeness will you compare to Him? To whom then will you liken Me, or to whom shall I be equal? says the Holy one. Lift up your eyes on high…” from Isaiah 40.

I lift up my eyes today to the sovereign, just, and loving Creator God. I pray, I act responsibly as His word directs, seeking to honor Him and impact others with His love and truth; and I trust. I trust Him to engage in the affairs of this world as He sees fit. I trust Him to care for His own as He has promised, no matter the shifting sands.