Beauty in Chaos

I realize it's been quite a while since I've taken any time to record my thoughts. What can I say? Sometimes the desire to write is there, other times, not so much. But a few nights ago, I had what could loosely be described as an epiphany. It wasn't really a grasping of new information so much as reiterating of a scriptural truth I've witnessed personally in my life. These last few months have been crazy, really crazy. There have been some great moments. We've seen quite a bit of life-change at church, we've witnessed some good friends "tie the knot," and most recently, we were in Disneyland with my wife's family for the half marathon weekend (my wife planned an awesome trip y'all, just sayin'). But there have also been quite a few stress-ridden, crazy moments and the past two weeks had taken the proverbial cake on that front. I won't go over all the details, but those two weeks can be best equated to one of the old Disney cartoons where the entire show is Donald encountering bad luck over and over again. And it was always the craziest things that happened too. Broken airplanes, broken cars, lost iPad (which is needed for work), broken A/C, sinus infections, and so on. Yep. That was just a few items from those two weeks. Aside from our time at Disney, and I do mean literally on Disney property, it seemed like we couldn't catch a break. Every day contained at least one new challenge. Some days it was three or four things. It was like we had run circles under a ladder for an hour or something, and bad luck was throwing a fiesta in our household. I thought that our stroke of ill fortunes had finished when we got to Disneyland. The trip went well and had few hiccups. But we didn't even make it out of California before the bad news bug returned. And I'll admit that my attitude was poor at best through most of this. I tried to keep a calm composure through it all but in reality, on the inside I was in scramble mode. Like a duck on the water. Calm on top but furiously paddling away under the surface. And the other night, as I was sitting in my somewhat comfy right seat, cruising along at 37,000 feet going roughly 500 mph, still somewhat sulking in my poor attitude, I began looking through some recent photos on my iPad (which I had gotten back. Yay!). As I scrolled through those pictures, I landed on the pictures seen below. And it made me pause for a moment. I had taken that picture about two weeks prior, early in the morning on our way into Chicago and while it isn't clear from the photo, we were skirting along next to a very large and powerful storm cell. Yet, out ahead on the horizon was one of the most spectacular sunrises I have ever witnessed. The picture doesn't even begin to come close. The moment captured in that picture made me think. "How powerful and majestic our Heavenly Father must be to be able to create and manipulate such unruly forces and bring forth such beauty from such a dangerous place." I remembered that He really is more powerful than I can fathom. Even more mind blowing, He loves ME deeper than I could ever hope to comprehend. That was, and is still, amazing to me. The creator of the universe would love me and has a plan for me. Suddenly, as I reminisced over the events of the past two weeks, I realized that through every obstacle, every trial, and every burden, the solution was always already present each time. Not one of the things that happened set us back. Even leaving my iPad in the back seat pocket of an airplane slated to go to the American Airlines maintenance hanger in Los Angeles wasn't anymore than a slight inconvenience. My in-laws would be traveling through the airport the next day and were able to pick it up on the way to their gate and bring it back to Dallas. Not shipping costs or long waits. It couldn't have worked out any better (short of not forgetting it in the first place). It may seem like lucky coincidence but I believe God knew the things that would happen and chose to take care of us. To take care of me. Knowing that has caused my trust in Him to grow even more and has begun to bring back a joy I haven't had for quite a while. And for that I am thankful. What I find somewhat ironic is the humor He had in creating that beautiful sunrise just before all of the craziness happened, knowing that I would look back on it two weeks later and it would completely change my perspective. What I find even more interesting is the beautiful picture portrayed that morning. The beauty we experienced was only possible because of the storm. Had the storm not been near, there would have been no canvas for the morning light to paint and it would have been a regular sunrise. But God has a plan, even down to the last detail. And He always brings beauty out of chaos for those that love and trust Him.