An
Inkling
Have
you ever been to New York City? Wow –
what an impressive place! I’ve only
toured once, and I was the proverbial Gomer Pyle, gawking and “Shazam-ing!”
And
NYC is even more impressive when you think about all the ways it shapes our
daily lives, for good and for ill. More
than any other single place it impacts our arts, business, finance, media,
entertainment, publishing, education, and fashion (though admittedly this last
one has not impacted me!). Cities
multiply both the assets and liabilities of humanity, and NYC, as the greatest
city ever multiplies the most.
So
it’s striking when the Big Apple has such a big bite taken from it by the mere
collision of high and low pressure areas.
What does it mean that the heights of human potential can be brought so
low so quickly by an air mass?
Here
are a few observations and wonderments:
- Have you noticed that God is never without ready resources to remind us of our limitations? I’ll leave to others judgments about how directly God acts in such traumatic events. But whether it be simple air masses, or a simple bacteria, or a simple mistake, our towering achievements do not long exempt us from very real limitations. Wise is the one who keeps limitations in view.
- Why is it that adversity seems to work so much better than normalcy in pointing people toward sacrificial service? Police, firefighters, and line crews are bright spots in such a dark moment.
- How many events of heightened weather intensity will it take to overcome the climate change skepticism, and to enlist a broad swath of humanity in efforts to care more effectively for God’s creation?
- And finally, it has been a huge relief to have even a two day pause in this all-politics all-the-time season. Now if those winds will just blow on through!
Hurricane
Sandy has been a good reminder that there is One more impressive than our
grandest achievements. May his greatness
and goodness be made apparent in a thousand ways, even in a Big Apple with a
bite taken out.
Shazam!
Keith
