Hurricane Harvey, summer of 2017. We are sick of hearing about it, and we are not. It’s heart wrenching and heartwarming at once. On August 22, the wind howled while the black stormy sky dumped 50 inches of rain in the Houston area. Some heeded warnings and “got of of Dodge” in time, while others stuck it out until the situation escalated to catastrophically urgent. Thousands waited for help. Many lost everything. Some died. It is a sad part of Texas history now. The devastating effects of hurricane Harvey became historically cold and inhumane.

But it brought out the best of humanity. One of my favorite stories is the human chains that people formed to rescue animals, babies, children, the aged. On and on the true-life gritty tales of heroism grew each day. One touching story as reported by ABC was a woman in labor helped when neighbors and firefighters formed a human chain and raised the pregnant mother-to-be above the rising water level from her house to the fire truck.

There’s the story of the elderly man lifted from his flooding house to safety along the lines of a human chain. Many warm and willing hands and arms stretched high above the floodwaters, risking as they held and pushed  survivors to safe haven inch-by-inch. The lifters lifted and saved many alive.

While all of this is happening, life goes on in other parts of the state and the world. Last evening, we attendeded a banquet hosted by United Cry 2017, a prayer movement to help bring our country back to repentance and back to the original spiritual roots of Christianity. The main speaker was Rep Michele Bachman. She delivered a fiery message and plea for us to be rescuers in these times of darkness. Her call rang out for repentance and prayer that turns the tide of sin and rebellion.

“All you have to do is turn the television on for one minute on any channel and know that we live in a very different world than we did 30 years ago,” Rep Bachman stated. Everything that can be shaken is shaken. Black is white and white is gray, and absolutes are obsolete. This world is groaning for the return of the Lord and the revelation of the Sons of Light!

But oh the mocking if one believes in a good God and a straight and narrow gate that leads to heaven or hell. Old-fashioned, maybe yes, but standing the test of time, the message of salvation through the blood of Jesus and living by a moral code enabled by the Holy Spirit will never go out of style. It may be ridiculed but will become of paramount importance when the rain begins to fall again. Hard times are not coming, they are here. But it’s just the beginning.

And just like Harvey, there will be those who will refuse to be prepared — refuse the message of salvation as the world grows darker and darker. There will be great persecution of those who believe, yet we are called to stand in the gap until then and for then.

We are the humanity of the earth. The rescuers. The human chains to lift the world above the floods to the safety of the ark. Our chain of humanity begins with fervent prayer and intercession that God will have mercy on us. That He will grant us a spirit of repentance for our sins, both collective and individual. That He will turn our faces to God and our knees to humble prayer.

I still believe we are living in the most glorious moment for the people of God and His kingdom. There are signs in the sky and earth as predicted in scripture, and these may grow even more severe. God is using these. He is shouting, “Come to the ark for safety. A storm is brewing.”

©Bonnie Saul Wilks