Daily Boost is a year old

March 1, 2007

Today is Daily Boost’s first anniversary. Readers from all over the world have been encouraged by a year’s worth of daily devotionals. So here we go for our second year.

I also recently passed a milestone, reaching 10 years at Today’s Pentecostal Evangel. As a retrospective, I would like to take you back to the very first editorial (Vantage Point) I wrote for the magazine. It takes you back to a time when I was pastoring in southern Oregon. With all of the storms of recent months, the message is still relevant. Here it is, with a little extra material there wasn’t room for in the magazine.

— Ken Horn

Ride out the storm

By Ken Horn

Winds and driving rain slammed the western states unmercifully on New Year’s Eve, 1996. At Ashland (Ore.) Christian Center, our Watch Night service was dramatically lower in attendance. During the service we did not suspect that major flooding had blocked those who were missing, nor did we know that multitudes were fighting for their possessions, their homes, and some even for their lives.

While we sang and prayed in our warm sanctuary, one of our members, Helen Meyer, huddled on high ground with another flood victim, desperately awaiting rescue. Earlier, as the waters of Bear Creek rose and entered her home, Helen had attempted to wade out of danger.

Holding her purse in one hand and a frantic kitten in the other, Helen had been swept beneath the surface. As the kitten desperately clung to her back, Helen reached for a hold beneath the water and grabbed something that slashed her hand. Having regained her footing but bleeding badly, she realized she would never get out on foot.

Spying another lady attempting to negotiate the same perilous crossing, Helen convinced her to turn back and together they found high ground. While we prayed in church, Helen shivered and prayed through a near three-hour wait. Rescue came when an operator removed the women in the bucket of a back loader. At the hospital, Helen’s hand required several stitches.

Other families in our congregation were among the multitudes evacuated. One couple watched as the small stream behind their home swelled to a torrent, washed away their back yard and collapsed their home into the deluge.

Oregonians braced for continued destruction as water poured incessantly for days. Lithia Creek leaped its banks and became a watercourse of destruction, inundating downtown Ashland and ironically causing Water Street to collapse. Below freezing temperatures turned standing water into dangerous ice slicks. The city water system was shut down for a week. When it was finally over, Christians and non-Christians alike found themselves needing to rebuild their lives. Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber visited the devastated city.

Insurance companies called this an “act of God” and denied the claims of those who had no flood insurance. Though the power of the storm was a clear reminder of man’s weakness and God’s greatness, the true “acts of God” occurred in far less dramatic ways.

The Bible tells about a man of God who thought he was alone in the storm. The Lord passed by Elijah “and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains ... but the Lord was not in the wind.” Neither was He in the earthquake or fire that followed, but after the fire came “a still small voice” (1 Kings 19:11,12, NKJV).

In Ashland, it was the still, small voice of God that outshouted the storm. It was the whisper of God’s presence as Christians rallied to help those in need. It was the hushed confidence of believers that God is a loving God who brought His people through the flood, and although possessions were lost, none lost their greatest possession. (See Mark 8:36.)

Is there a storm in your life and you feel alone and don’t know what to do? Elijah wasn’t alone, Helen wasn’t alone and you’re not alone. Listen closely and above the tempest you will hear God’s voice. And you will know:

God loves you. This storm won’t last. You don’t understand now why you must go through this trial — and you may not know for a long time. But God brings good out of evil and while you have suffered loss, look at what you still have. If you have lost everything in this world, and know Jesus, you have life’s most important possession. Like those who went through the Oregon flood, you may have to rebuild — but you will have the help of the Master Builder.

Greg and Helen Meyer lost their home and a brand new car that was swept away and totaled by the torrent. But the storm couldn’t take their victory. When a TV newsman attempted to interview Helen, she told him to interview someone less fortunate, someone in greater need.

Greg and Helen were in church the next Sunday, and as we prayed for people in need, their hands were raised, thanking God for His goodness.

So don’t give up. Better weather is in the forecast. With God’s help, ride out the storm.

Ken Horn is the editor of Today’s Pentecostal Evangel.