An Avalanche.

I was doing a research about an avalanche. Simply fascinating! While I was at it, I could not help thinking: 'Sounds awfully familiar. Where did I hear about it before?' What I didn't realise, I had little knowledge of an avalanche, but I was closely acquainted with the affects of it.

The truth is, whether we like it or not, in life no one is 100% safe from disastrous affects of 'an avalanche'. This is a good visual, so I will us it to make my story her more vivid. 

Let's imagine a family with kids. Let's imagine a husband is really tired of the monotonous routine and moves on to where 'the grass is greener' at the moment. Let's imagine how the wife, the kids and the man himself feel and those around them such as family and friends?

When I was researching about an avalanche I've realised that there are different factors that could cause it: by humans or by nature. Guess what? When it happens it is doesn't really matter what caused it. What matters how well prepared you were for it. There is no guarantee that you will survive an avalanche. In fact there are 60% of people caught in it surely die. But if people caught in it had good companions and were well prepared in many cases lives could be spared. Wow! What a life and death difference!

Whilst I write about it, I don't want go on and on making everyone an expert on avalanche, but this is such a great illustration! In order to be wise and safe you need to have with you at least a beacon around your waste, a shovel and a probe. Those will definitely increase your chance of survival. Of course you could be extremely well prepared and bring a map, a compass, airback backpack, Avalung, avalanche safety ball and ect. Those are all extras.

Whilst the world with its pain and evil is raging all around us, it is like a wild nature force that we can't do very much about. Often we are not in control over the wars, killings, family break-ups and ect. And we can't put all the blame on God for it either even though He is in control. Our original sin passed on from Adam polluted this world and formed it the way it is. If anyone is offended by it, it should be God because He is the one we sin against. When some are saying that a concept of God is a lot of nonsense, how do they know what is good or evil, if it all evolved or exploded by pure chance? If there is NO a Moral Giver, we should all do and say as we like! Why mention about justice at all? But unbelievers do by complaining about so much evil and everything that is bad.

When on the trip to the mountains, it is vital to check all the equipment and learn how to use it, become familiar with. When an avalanche strikes, it happens in a twinkle of an eye. The person smothered by it has to be rescued as soon as possible, in a matter of minutes. You should know exactly how to use you beacon, how to 'switch it on search' and ect. In this case a survival is possible.

When we hit by our own sin or by the evildoing of others, we also could be well prepared or it could literally cripple us to the ground.

The Word of God, the Bible could be our Beacon. The Holy Spirit could be our Probe and the Pastor/Church could be our 'Shovel'. In this case, the impact will be great still, but not complete devastation.

I've listened to the people who suffered without the Lord and those who were walking with the Lord. It is heaven and earth difference. Depression, loss of desire to live and function are the main consequences to follow those who were unprepared, thinking that nothing disastrous could ever touch them and giving up Sunday for church is incomprehensible. Sunday is a shopping day! Once you depressed, the shopping will have to go along with your health and function in society anyway.   

A lady who got caught in avalanche (she was well prepared) said: 'The snow was all around, I had to breath very slowly, I could not move my arm or leg, all I could do is wait and hope to be rescued. Somehow I knew that I will be all right.' Yes, she was. Her companion was well prepared and found her in a matter of minutes. A helicopter was called and took her straight to the hospital. Four days later she was already back at home. 

A lady whose husband dropped her like an old habit (she wasn't prepared for that at all) said something like that: 'I feel like I don't want to get out of bed. I can't hear anything about them (his knew partner) and I can't stop crying. I can't believe he already has someone else. I don't want to wait any longer (the husband left her a couple of months ago). I've just filed for a divorce, he has humiliated me so much!' Their child is beyond hurt!

You see what I mean?!! It is a drastic difference between being prepared and unprepared. People can say that the Bible is 'a lot of rubbish.' I've just met with an ex-Jehovah witness. He spent his whole childhood listening to people who turn, stretch and twist the Bible in all different direction with the purpose of sheer deception.  Now he wants nothing to do with it being full of disgust towards it. I saw him leaving his Xbox on loan at Trade Inn. I was so surprised that someone will buy it and get rid of it so fast. Turns out he has no money, so he came to borrow some. Even though he is in trouble financially, he still won't turn to the true and living God.

Fighting an avalanche with your bare hands that are firmly tide up by a lot of compressed snow is fatal. The best thing I got out of this man was:' I will think about it in a few years time.' Do you have a guarantee to survive 'a spiritual avalanche' for a few years with the super powerful force up against you? Satan's lies and deception have supernatural power. Once you are enticed by them, anything ridiculous will sound just great! You can't win single handily against such avalanche or Satan's super power. You need God on your side. You need his counsel. You need His wisdom. You need the power of the Holy Spirit in your life.

Some of us could take a deep relief by saying: 'I read my Bible daily, I pray and I go to church.' What I haven’t realised myself for a while, that the Scripture says: ' work out your salvation with fear and trembling; search me, O God, and see if there be any wicked way in me…' Oh lala….. That should be as a morning exercise - prayers like this. Yes, born again Christians have the Holy Spirit indwelling them, but they are still on a very dangerous ground. Humans, believers or not are still great sinners to the core; therefore they love sin so much more than they love God, naturally. To sin comes naturally  easy. To love God is a mammoth effort at times. While I believe that salvation once obtained from the Lord stays with the sincere, true believer and his name has been recorded in the Book of Life Forever. But I wonder how much we are willing to obey Him and serve Him and display out affection towards the God who saved us from eternal punishment?   I wonder if some of the families in the West experienced what believers in Orissa (or many other places) had to deal with when Muslim neighbours cooked their children, served them on a rice platter and were put just outside their homes. How many families still will be attending the church knowing their children might be next? We can't say 'I will think about maturity later on in life.' Robert Murray M'Cheyne died before his 30th birthday,so did Jim Elliot. We are not always guaranteed tomorrows. I don’t know the answer myself. I only hope that I would be prepared and ready to face that sort of test of my faith by the Grace of God.

We must examine ourselves on a DAILY, not yearly bases! We need to learn how to spend quality time with the Lord in this fast paced life.     

We must guard our hearts from idols. We must maintain spiritual discipline, but it should never become an unbreakable tradition or a barrier for the Holy Spirit' intervention.

    

We must have godly people around us, in order to be able to have an accountability and wise council at times of need.

It does sound rather a lot, but looking at devastating consequences of an avalanche, would you rather be ready for it, or sorry because of it?

Happy Bible reading in the light of the Holy Spirit! That's what I said to an ex-Jehovah witness as he affectionately called his Xbox: 'my baby'. 'You spent hours on it. You never read what God has to say. Why do you think He would wish to spend an eternity with you in company?' Yes. That's is a good question we must ask ourselves when ANYTHING comes between God and us.

Is it worth gambling eternity with for a non-believer?

Is it worth getting vexed, being thrown to and fro by Satan while trying to reach a Celestial City for a believer?