Pray for the folks in OK

Ardmore, OKLAHOMA (BNO NEWS) -- At least 9 people have died after a large tornado devastated Long Grove in Oklahoma last night, Carter County Sheriff Ken Grace told BNO News on Wednesday.

Sheriff Grace told BNO News that at least 9 people were now confirmed to have died after the storm struck the city. Some reports say that sirens in Long Grove did not work, leaving the residents unprepared as an F5-tornado raged through the city.

"It's like a war zone down there, a war zone," the sheriff told BNO News. He said more than 50 people have been injured and that at least 81 people are missing at this time. Rescue workers are continuing the search for survivors and casualties, he added.

http://www.bnonews.com/news/105.html

A new look (for me at least) at an old parable

I figure when God wakes me up with a passage of the Bible in my mind, I would be well advised to get up, find it and read it. Particularly when it is completely out of the blue - no sermons, no reading, no nothing along the lines of this one.

What was it? The parable of the ten virgins, Matthew 25:1-13

"At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were wise. The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. The wise, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep."At midnight the cry rang out: 'Here's the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!' "Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish ones said to the wise, 'Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.' " 'No,' they replied, 'there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.' "But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut. "Later the others also came. 'Sir! Sir!' they said. 'Open the door for us!' "But he replied, 'I tell you the truth, I don't know you.'"Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.

Growing up in my Southern Baptist church, this was always about being ready for the Lord's return. Which in my head meant, I gotta be good, I gotta be ready, I gotta be something, or else Jesus is going to come back and I'm getting left. Well, I know that's not so, and it hit me reading this time, that that's not what God is telling me with this story right now.

See, before waking up in the morning with this parable in my head, I went to bed praying for my future. Some very specific prayers for direction, wants and needs.

Here's what God has spoken to my heart with this story.

Be ready for what's coming. Keep my oil jars full and my lamps clean.
Get prepared - have my house, my finances, my health, my work, and everything in my life that I can, in order. Then when the amazing opportunity, the amazing gift, the amazing future, that God has coming for me this year, arrives - I'm ready to walk right into it.

So, I'm listening and taking care of things that I've been procrastinating about. I'm going to be ready.

Temptation and deliverance

1 Corinthians 10:13
No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful, he will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.

OK - let me be honest. There are times when I don't really want to stand up against temptation, I'm not really looking for a way out, but God is faithful.

Yes - God is faithful, even when I'm not so much. Now I'm not saying that God is going to be my "fireman" for repeated, stupid, foolishness. But I have found that my prayers for deliverance and strength are sometimes answered when I'm not actually praying them. And perhaps those answers are also to the repeated prayers of my parents, my grandparents (now in heaven), and others who love me. Because - I am delivered - God provides a way out - even when I'm not looking for it at the moment.

And for that, I am truly thankful.