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Weekly Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country
of West Texas
Opinion
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
Squarely Pegged
By Peggy McCracken
Sun keeps shining
in eye of the storm
Robert Mitchell is one of those transplanted Americans who holds dear what most of us take for granted. He believes America is on the brink of destruction because we have turned our back on the God who raised us up in the first place.
In his sermon Sunday at North Temple Baptist Church, Rev. Mitchell listed a number of natural disasters that have occurred almost simultaneously with some action by the United States that was unfavorable to the nation of Israel, God’s chosen people. Katrina was one of those disasters.
Teenie Crider’s song about storms fit right in with the sermon. “The Anchor Holds” by Lawrence Chewning and Ray Boltz likens an anchored ship in a storm to the Christian who trusts in Jesus through life’s difficulties. The chorus goes like this:
The anchor holds, though the ship is battered.
The anchor holds, though the sails are torn.
I have fallen on my knees as I faced the raging seas.
The anchor holds in spite of the storm
Teenie dedicated the song to me because I am trusting Jesus to deal with the cancer that threatens my life. I must say, though, that I have felt throughout the past 18 months or so that I was in the eye of the storm.
I have been in the eye of a hurricane, and it was sunny, calm and peaceful. One summer when I took a group of budding musicians to Paisano Baptist Encampment near Alpine, the leading edge of a dying hurricane drenched us with rain as we drove in.
Hunting for a place to register, I fell into a mud puddle. The next day, the rains stopped, the sun came out, and we had a glorious few days. Then the trailing edge of the hurricane arrived, and once again we were pelted with rain.
My guitar student, Valentin Almaraz, sang “Hungry,” which more nearly describes my longing to know God better.
Thanks to the prayers of people like Teenie and Valentin, I haven’t even felt rained on. But I am concerned that America is going to be rained on and battered if we don’t repent of our wicked ways and turn back to the God who has blessed us for 200 years. We may want to heed his warning to his beloved Israel:
“I the Lord have spoken. The time has come for me to act. I will not hold back; I will not have pity, nor will I relent. You will be judged according to your conduct and your actions, declares the Lord.” Ezekiel 24:14, NIV
EDITOR’S NOTE: Peggy McCracken is Enterprise business manager. Contact her at peg2@pecos.net
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