Perfect Storm Chasers
I love the film "A Perfect Storm." I
know the plot well, probably some of the dialogue. This is not a wow
moment for George Clooney. His two day growth of beard hides some of
his gloriousness. Diane Lane is not wearing makeup. But, I love this
film because the stars of the show are the water and the weather, the
wind and the waves.
The film
recounts the tale of lives lost at sea, under some of the most freak
and convergent atmospheric conditions recorded. Warm air from
a low-pressure system was coming from one direction, a flow of cool and
dry
air generated by a high-pressure from another direction, and tropical
moisture provided by Hurricane Grace empowered the event. It was for
this bizarre synergy of atmospheric conditions that the term perfect storm was first used.
The
water scenes, which are most of the film, are fantastic. The waves are
huge and furious, really beautiful in their fury. There is such an
attractive, raw power in the wind and the waves. It made a
cinematically beautiful film.
You of course know where I am going with this...
I
confess...I am and always have been a storm-chaser. I am a lover of
storms. I love the smell of ozone in the spring air before we get one
of our dynamic Pennsylvania thunder and lightning storms. I sit on our
deck watching the storms roll in along the mountainside, not moving
until I am being pelted with huge raindrops or until the lightning is
actually striking behind my barn.
Something
about these elements, the lightning and the thunder really appeals to
me, really makes me feel hyper-alive. It feels like home. It is a
precursor of beholding the beauty and glory of Jesus face-to-face:
"For as the lightning, that lightens out
of the one part under heaven, shines unto the other part under
heaven; so shall also the Son of man be in his day." Luke 17:24
I think God has seeded the clouds of our generation; He has put the spirit of a Storm Chaser in many.
It is during the storms that guys like Peter really get going...
This just may be our Perfect Storm.
In
the past four months the economy blew a tire; we live in a time of war;
and most man-made religious structures are shaking and imploding.
These three spheres of society that are individually out-of-whack; have
converged in our midst.
But
there are those who just came into this world to thrive in a storm.
Some are twisted enough individuals that they can even experience some
exhilaration. This species came into the earth with a full measure of
the crazy-kind of faith.
My
personal expectation is that we will soon see some 'Peters' abandoning
ship, throwing themselves into the wind and the waves. They are
empowered to do this, not due to conditions, but due to preparation in
the presence of God. They have lived in a consecrated focus as David
describes:
One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I
may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold
the beauty of the LORD, and to inquire in his temple. Psalm 27:4
This
fresh generation of mad warrior-poets who have had their spirits and
hearts trained on Jesus from day one are afraid of nothing. Not
storms, not an uncircumcised Philistine giant, not the religious
structures of the day, not the empty threats/promises of the political
Saul's of their day.
I know this is striking a chord in you...
My
personal belief is that in this current, bizarre atmosphere the Peters
and Davids of our generation will manifest on the surface of the wind
and the waves. They are men and women of all ages who have such a
great revelation of Jesus and the goodness of God that they can rest in
the storm, then rise to still the tempest.
Then, best of all, Jesus is so present and so light-afoot in the storms.
His Grace will empower the storm chasers.
Kelly
Bridges
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