Thunder rumbles in the distance.  Lightening streaks across the sky.  The wind sweeps in, twisting the tree limbs, shaking the few remaining leaves to the ground. Within seconds, snow and sleet are pelting the windows.  It doesn’t take long for the ground to change from green to white.  Our first winter storm has blown in.  The calendar still says “fall,” but in Upstate New York, winter has begun.

 

The weather has been strange everywhere this year.  It seemed that last winter lasted into early June, spring lasted a week or two then summer arrived.  Our summer was short, a few hot days here and there, but it didn’t last long.  Autumn sped by and was quickly overtaken by winter.  Over the past year, our rain was heavy, flooding many of the roads and even homes (including our cellar – Praise God that He spared us any major loss).  Last winter brought 380” of snow to our town (No, that isn’t a typo – 380”, almost 32 FEET).  Bigger weather-issues abound outside of our town.

 

Early September, Hurricane Florence poured into the Carolinas, flooding homes and destroying businesses, and in early October, Hurricane Michael, the fourth most powerful storm to hit the US, devastated Florida and parts of Georgia.

 

Hundreds of thousands of acres of land in California have been destroyed by wildfire this year.  Seven hundred and thirty-five tornadoes have been confirmed in the US since January, several causing severe damage and loss of life.  Hawaii’s Mount Kilauea began erupting May 3^rd and finally paused in early August.

Volcanoes, earthquakes, Tsunamis, hurricanes are devastating villages, cities, and countries around the world.  According to a report released by the UN, there has been a 151 percent increase in natural disaster costs in the last 20 years.  A friend commented to me that the “Earth seems angry.” I had to agree.

“In the beginning God created the Heavens and the earth…and God saw everything that He had created and it was good…” Genesis 1:1-31.  When God created the earth and everything in it, He created it in perfection.  Every part was created to work together in harmony.  When sin entered the world, that harmony was disrupted.  Not only does man decay, but so does the earth.  And just as we long for the return of Christ and our renewed perfection, so does the earth.

“For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to son-ship, the redemption of our bodies.” Romans 8:20-23

 

One day Christ will return.  Those who have received Him as Lord and Savior will receive a new body – incorruptible, beautiful, perfect.  So, too, will the earth be renewed. There will be a new heaven and a new earth, there will be no more death, mourning, pain, sorrow or tears.  The river of the water of life will run through the city and those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life will drink from it and never be thirsty. Fruit-bearing trees will grow on the banks of the river. There will be no more darkness.  The Lord will dwell with us and there will be peace.  (Revelation 21).

 

This is God’s promise to us.  One day we will be free from death and devastation.  I am eager for that day, the day I can be in the very presence of God. Until that day, the earth cries with me for His soon return.