It was May 21st 2011. I'll never forget my dad's voice on the other end of the phone saying, "Ryan, we took a direct hit." A three quarter mile wide tornado had come through Piedmont, Oklahoma and nailed my parents home and their livelihood. Everything was completely ruined. The house was totaled. My dad's shop that was his business wasn't there anymore. The 5 cars on the property were mangled. What once was, was now gone. I remember driving out to my parents for the first time right after the tornado hit and nothing looked the same. I had to park half a mile away and navigate downed power lines and a muddy road as I made my way to my childhood home. As I tried to figure out my surroundings I saw my parents and brother standing together on the driveway. I had a huge wave of emotion come over me as I realized that they were all ok.
This tornado changed everything for my family, but it wasn't in the way you might think. After the tornado, my family was closer together and I think my parents would say they are more blessed with relationships and even material things than they ever were. This got me thinking that maybe when bad things happen good things can come out of it.
I remember hearing something similar about forest fires so I did some research on the world wide web and found something very interesting. I found that forest fires, while in the moment, are very devastating, there are some positive things that can come of them. Forest fires clear the forest floor, helping stronger and more mature trees not have to fight for nutrients. They help provide healthy and new habitat. There is less water being absorbed by the overgrowth, so streams can become more full and new life can exist in the streams. They can kill disease and insects. They can open up canopies for shade intolerant plants. They can help food chains reastablish themselves so that their is a natural order of species. They can help new generations of trees and plants because their are some species of trees that require the heat from the fire to release the seeds. Ok, so a tornado took virtually everything from my family, but they are better off now than they were before. A forest fire can completely ruin a forest, but it can create new growth. I began asking myself the question is there anything biblical about this.
I found in John 2:19 in the Bible where Jesus talks about the temple being destroyed and in three days He will raise it again. He was talking about Jews killing Him and then he would be resurrected in three days. So he had to die so that we could be saved or have new life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
In John 14:12-17 Jesus tells His disciples that He has to go to heaven or leave them so that the Holy Spirit can come and so they can do even greater things than when He was with them. I imagine that the disciples and those following Jesus didn't want him to die and they didn't want him to leave them and go to heaven because he was doing too many amazing things here on earth. But, by dying and then leaving them to go to heaven better things would come. Interesting...
So the tornado, the forest fire, and Jesus' death, while horrible and sad, can bring new life or a better way of life than before, even if we can't see it in the moment. So, what can you do when you are faced with something hard or not good. Here's three ideas or takeaways for you today.
Reframe your mindset.
Maybe there is good to come of this.
Don't try to stop it. The natural disaster can be a good thing.
If you stop it you may cause more harm later on and or you may get really hurt in the process.
Keep your non-negotiable things in place.
Read Bible, take care of yourself, sleep, take care of your family, pray, worship, go to church.
Look for new growth.
Once you find the new growth, cultivate and nurture it.
References:
https://learn.eartheasy.com/articles/the-ecological-benefits-of-forest-fires/ https://www.fire.ca.gov/media/5425/benifitsoffire.pdf
