Noah
Pierson sat alone in his favorite easy chair. At least he thought he
was alone. Today, about this time every day, the silver-haired
widower picked up his well-worn Bible. Not knowing exactly what
scripture God wanted him to feed on today, he fanned through the
yellowing pages, with their notes he'd put there. Some notes were
great sermon tips, others were sort of a written thank you to God,
for a stormy moment that verse had helped him through.
It
just seemed that everywhere Noah went and things he heard, he'd
strive to make a note or two about it. Some were deeply heartfelt
notes with tearful memories. One Bible notation he'd made asked, “Why
has this happened to me?” As his eyes slowly traced the note over a
couple more times, it seemed like he could hear the question in Sam's
humble tone, “What have I do ne wrong, to make God mad enough to
burn me like this?” And a further question, “Is there something I
can do to really say I'm sorry God, I won't do it again?”
Maybe
in different words, these questions are like the ones asked by every
generation, “Why does God let bad things happen to good people?”
In
some of Noah's deepest moments, he still asked that same question of God.
Noah decided the best way to begin answering the question is to help
Sam 'listen' to the lesson Jesus taught about the parenting skills of
His Heavenly Father... in the last 10 verses of Matthew chapter 6.
Then
the light came on.
As
he sat at the kitchen table, lightly sliding his fingertips over some
pages of his open Bible, Noah's mind scanned over the lives of
well-known characters in its pages. The characters that came to mind
were ones that struggled with burdens, or what folks today call
'baggage'. In fact, most characters in scripture, each had their own
hurdles, that God, 'for HIS reasons', allowed into their lives. Noah
had settled long ago, that God was not sadistic by putting pain on
people, for His own personal pleasure. The Romans did enough of that
in Bible times, as a sport, themselves.
Still
running his fingers over the pages, Noah Pierson realized that God
was doing two major things in each of their lives. Number one was a
polishing process, to make them more atuned to His will as they ran
to His protective loving arms for comfort and direction. The second
was the comfort that Noah, and all of us – in our stormy moments,
would get as we saw from scripture God using those storms of doubt
and distress, to minister to others. It was like others would listen
to someone who, by God's hand, had 'been there – done that'. The
challenges faced by one, becomes a way to gain access to the heart
and hurts of another. It was like a 'pain-stained password', allowing
me to become a partner with you in discovering God's purpose and
power in serving Him with 'joy overflowing'.
Noah
got up from the kitchen chair and walked out to the front porch and
gently sat in his dear departed wife's rocker, she had soothed so
many hearts in their stormy moments. He looked at the worn arm rests,
and slowly moved his fingers across the arm rests just as he had been
doing with the Bible pages, moments earlier. The light was beginning
to show a special purpose in God taking his precious wife, Nenee home
to glory. Heaven was making room in Noah's heart for other lives full
of storms; like those of Sam and his long-ago boiling water accident.
That light of understanding even showed some faint glimmers of other
youth God has already been preparing for their terribly needed
rocking chair moments on Noah's front porch.
