When Your Hut is On Fire

My 87 year old mother loves her email. She sometimes surprises me with the salty content of some of the jokes that she circulates from her octagenarian friends. Bless her heart, she has sent me angels and breast cancer chains and roses to pass on to all my friends under threat of dire consequences should I hit the delete button, but today she scored big.

Yesterday, during the free fall of the stock market, a friend whose husband works in the insurance and investment industries, confided that she was very worried about what would happen next. Those who are counting on their personal investments to either provide for or supplement their retirement saw their nest egg significantly diminish over the past several months with a resounding exclamation mark added yesterday.

Today during drive time on our local FM talk station the conversation turned to the subject of the financial status of our nation and the world. It was suggested that if the nation's economic situation is so dire, why can congress go off for extended vacations and why is nothing happening from Monday to Thursday. Opinions went hither and yon but one reasoned caller chimed in that perhaps during this hiatus in observation of the Jewish New Year, we should all take the time to reflect and pray for wisdom and guidance.

So enter Mom's email barrage today in which this little item arrived and put everything into perspective.

The only survivor of a shipwreck was washed up on a small,
uninhabited island. He prayed feverishly for God to rescue him. Every day he scanned the horizon for help, but none seemed forthcoming. Exhausted, he eventually managed to build a little hut out of driftwood to protect him from the elements, and to store his few possessions.

One day, after scavenging for food, he arrived home to find his little hut in flames, with smoke rolling up to the sky. He felt the worst had happened, and everything was lost. He was stunned with disbelief, grief, and anger. He cried out, 'God! How could you do this to me?'

Early the next day, he was awakened by the sound of a ship approaching the island! It had come to rescue him! 'How did you know I was here?' asked the weary man of his
rescuers. 'We saw your smoke signal,' they replied.

The Moral of This Story: It's easy to get discouraged when things are going bad, but we shouldn't lose heart, because God is at work in our lives, even in the midst of our pain and suffering. Remember that the next time your little hut seems to be burning to the ground. It just may be a smoke signal that summons the Grace of God.

Thanks Mom.