Who Can Stand?
Stories
Object:
Contents
"Who Can Stand?" by Frank Ramirez
"The Messenger Blues" by Keith Hewitt
Who Can Stand?
by Frank Ramirez
Malachi 3:1-4
But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears (Malachi 3:2)?
The eruption of any volcano can be spectacular. The 1980 eruption of Mt. St. Helens in the State of Washington left fifty-seven people dead, destroyed hundreds of square miles of natural wonders, and sent a column of ash 15 miles into the air.
In 2010 a volcano in Iceland named Eyjafjallajökull spewed so much dust and ash into the atmosphere it brought air traffic throughout Europe to a standstill, affecting more than ten million travelers worldwide.
Yet those are really minor events compared to the devastation that has followed truly violent volcanic eruptions. Most Americans don't live near an active volcano, but there's no question the eruption of a volcano on the other side of the world can adversely affect the way people live.
When one of the most famous volcanoes, Krakatoa, erupted on August 27, 1883, it killed over 36,000 people, certainly a horrifying result. It also sent eleven cubic miles of mountain into the air, affecting climate (and sunsets!) around the world for years, dropping temperatures an average of 2.2 degrees.
However, the eruption on April 10, 1815, of Mount Tambora (like Krakatoa a volcano that was part of the Indonesian chain of islands), caused temperatures around the world to drop an average of five degrees, leading, in 1816, to what in Europe and America became known as the "Year Without a Summer." Crops failed, populations rioted, and famine reigned. Some trace the invention of the bicycle to this year when horses became too expensive to feed. The gloomy, foggy cold also dampened spirits. One author, Mary Wollstonecraft Shelly, was one of several writers who were closeted indoors together because of the bad weather. The gloom and doom of the Year Without a Summer inspired them to have a contest over who could write the scariest story. Shelly ended up writing the famous novel Frankenstein.
However, none of these volcanic eruptions was anything close to the category known as the Supervolcano. These are unimaginably more deadly. They occur when there is a tremendous buildup of pressure beneath the earth's surface by magma trapped below and ready to burst above! Instead of ten or eleven cubic miles of dust and rock cast into the atmosphere, thousands of cubic miles of material is thrown about for thousands of miles.
One of them exists in the area of the United States known as Yellowstone National Park. The park is famed for all the bubbling pools and geysers and other evidence of intense underground activity. It is now thought that the Yellowstone supervolcano erupted 2.1 and 1.3 million years ago, as well around 640,000 years ago.
Who would be affected by another explosion of the Yellowstone supervolcano? Basically everyone in the United States and everyone around the world. It is thought that at least 90,000 people would die immediately, but much of the nation would be covered in dust and ash. It would render air travel impossible around the world, drop the temperature dramatically, make it next to impossible to grow crops in huge regions, and leave much of the nation unlivable for years.
Scientists are convinced that they would be able to predict an imminent eruption at Yellowstone, and that even though recent volcanic activity has melted the asphalt on some park roads, they insist an eruption is unlikely for ten thousand years or more.
This may bring comfort to some, but others insist there is simply no way of knowing, not if, but when the Yellowstone supervolcano will explode. If one asked, "Who could stand in the face of such a natural catastrophe?" the answer could very well be, "No one."
Which is probably also the answer to the question asked by the prophet Malachi to a people who thought the Day of the Lord would mean good news to them: "But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears (Malachi 3:2)?"
Frank Ramirez is a native of Southern California and is the senior pastor of the Union Center Church of the Brethren near Nappanee, Indiana. Frank has served congregations in Los Angeles, California; Elkhart, Indiana; and Everett, Pennsylvania. He and his wife Jennie share three adult children, all married, and three grandchildren. He enjoys writing, reading, exercise, and theater.
* * *
The Messenger Blues
by Keith Hewitt
Luke 3:1-6
It’s not all peaches and cream, you know.
The day I decide to retire -- to get a relaxing, no-stress job like putting together stars or designing flowers -- I know my siblings are going to be lined up ten-deep to take over my spot as a Personal Messenger of God. They’ll be throwing elbows and tripping each other to get to the head of the line...because they don’t know.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great gig -- between the snappy clothes and the glory that just follows me around when I visit Earth on a mission, the chance to be present at key moments in history, and the pride that comes from knowing I’ve been entrusted to deliver the Old Man’s word to his most beloved creation (not to mention line-cutting privileges at the commissary), I just can’t imagine anything I’d rather be doing.
Most of the time.
Like the time at the Temple in Jerusalem, when I appeared to the old priest, Zechariah. Once we got past the part where he’s scared spitless -- and, trust me, every call I make on a human being has that part -- I got to tell him the good news. I got to tell him that he and his wife would have a son, and not only that, but their son would grow up to be a prophet of the Lord, and would play a key role in the coming of the Messiah. This unborn child would make the way clear for God’s son to come and minister to his people...to all people.
What father wouldn’t be thrilled to get that message? What parent wouldn’t be popping his buttons over finding out that, not only was he going to have a son, but he was going to have an extraordinary son, one who would do great things in the service of the Lord?
And yet, it was also heartbreaking to deliver that message to Zechariah, because his face lit up once he believed I was who I said I was, and once he understood what I was saying. (And, no, my Hebrew is not rusty, thank you -- it’s just that a sort of sensory overload happens a lot of the time, and while the brain is processing what’s going on, some of the details get missed. You know how you start doing one thing in a program on your computer, and then you ask it to open another program...and you wait, and wait, while it’s shuffling processing power between one program and the other? It’s like that -- the brain can only process so much at a time.)
Anyway, he’s practically dancing for joy, ready to jump out of his skin with excitement over this great news, and I’m looking on, smiling my Class A reassuring smile, all the while knowing that I hadn’t told him the whole story.
I didn’t tell him that his son was going to tick off a lot of very important, very powerful people with his call to repentance.
I didn’t tell him that, one day, his son would be imprisoned by King Herod’s son, for making him angry.
I didn’t tell him that, one day, Herod would have his head chopped off, at the whim of some girl he had the hots for.
Disclosing that information wasn’t part of the plan. When I was given the message for Zechariah, it was made very clear that he was not to be read into the whole plan. And I’m not afraid to tell you, standing there, looking at his expression as he took in the news, I felt like a heel. I felt like I was giving him a gift, all wrapped up in pretty paper, with a nice big bow, but just an empty box beneath it all.
I wondered if the Old Man was doing the right thing, when he did this. Not that I ever thought about going against orders -- my siblings and I are created to serve God, and we’re constitutionally unable to disobey him; the act of will is just impossible, like a human being deliberately holding their head underwater to drown. You can try, but eventually instinct will kick in and you’ll find yourself raising your head and fighting for breath.
Or so I’ve heard.
I wonder, why does God bless them with children, if he knows it’s not going to end well? Why allow such joy, knowing that it’s going to end in grief? Is it just for the sake of “The Plan?” If that’s it, then it seems like a pretty lousy plan.
But then I remind myself that I don’t have a God’s eye view of eternity -- and maybe that’s what it takes to understand. I’ve never had the nerve to actually ask -- and I’m not sure if it’s because I’m afraid he wouldn’t answer...or afraid that he would. So I comfort myself in knowing that for awhile, at least, the birth of this unexpected child would bring great joy and happiness to Zechariah and Elizabeth. They would get to see him grow, and mature, and start to explore his special connection with God. (Prophets have a special connection to the Old Man -- one that we’re not always privy to.)
Maybe that’s enough. Apart from any plan, and in a world that has been so broken for so long, maybe it’s enough to have that joy, to feel that love, for however long you have it. After all, these are things that can’t be quantified, they can’t be measured -- and, in the end, they can’t be taken away, because they exist in the heart and mind, they connect to the soul. They can be overwhelmed, they can even be forgotten -- but they’re still there, waiting to be found again...waiting to be recalled.
And maybe that’s enough.
But the longer I do this, the more I start thinking that some day, when I decide to retire -- when I decide to start putting together stars or designing flowers, instead of delivering God’s messages to his people -- some day, I’ll ask.
And maybe he’ll tell me.
Keith Hewitt is the author of two volumes of NaTiVity Dramas: Nontraditional Christmas Plays for All Ages (CSS). Keith's newest book NaTiVity Dramas: The Third Season will be published September 2012. He is a local pastor, co-youth leader, former Sunday school teacher, and occasional speaker at Christian events. He lives in southeastern Wisconsin with his wife, two children, and assorted dogs and cats.
*****************************************
StoryShare, December 6, 2015, issue.
Copyright 2015 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to the StoryShare service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons, in worship and classroom settings, in brief devotions, in radio spots, and as newsletter fillers. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to permissions@csspub.com or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
"Who Can Stand?" by Frank Ramirez
"The Messenger Blues" by Keith Hewitt
Who Can Stand?
by Frank Ramirez
Malachi 3:1-4
But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears (Malachi 3:2)?
The eruption of any volcano can be spectacular. The 1980 eruption of Mt. St. Helens in the State of Washington left fifty-seven people dead, destroyed hundreds of square miles of natural wonders, and sent a column of ash 15 miles into the air.
In 2010 a volcano in Iceland named Eyjafjallajökull spewed so much dust and ash into the atmosphere it brought air traffic throughout Europe to a standstill, affecting more than ten million travelers worldwide.
Yet those are really minor events compared to the devastation that has followed truly violent volcanic eruptions. Most Americans don't live near an active volcano, but there's no question the eruption of a volcano on the other side of the world can adversely affect the way people live.
When one of the most famous volcanoes, Krakatoa, erupted on August 27, 1883, it killed over 36,000 people, certainly a horrifying result. It also sent eleven cubic miles of mountain into the air, affecting climate (and sunsets!) around the world for years, dropping temperatures an average of 2.2 degrees.
However, the eruption on April 10, 1815, of Mount Tambora (like Krakatoa a volcano that was part of the Indonesian chain of islands), caused temperatures around the world to drop an average of five degrees, leading, in 1816, to what in Europe and America became known as the "Year Without a Summer." Crops failed, populations rioted, and famine reigned. Some trace the invention of the bicycle to this year when horses became too expensive to feed. The gloomy, foggy cold also dampened spirits. One author, Mary Wollstonecraft Shelly, was one of several writers who were closeted indoors together because of the bad weather. The gloom and doom of the Year Without a Summer inspired them to have a contest over who could write the scariest story. Shelly ended up writing the famous novel Frankenstein.
However, none of these volcanic eruptions was anything close to the category known as the Supervolcano. These are unimaginably more deadly. They occur when there is a tremendous buildup of pressure beneath the earth's surface by magma trapped below and ready to burst above! Instead of ten or eleven cubic miles of dust and rock cast into the atmosphere, thousands of cubic miles of material is thrown about for thousands of miles.
One of them exists in the area of the United States known as Yellowstone National Park. The park is famed for all the bubbling pools and geysers and other evidence of intense underground activity. It is now thought that the Yellowstone supervolcano erupted 2.1 and 1.3 million years ago, as well around 640,000 years ago.
Who would be affected by another explosion of the Yellowstone supervolcano? Basically everyone in the United States and everyone around the world. It is thought that at least 90,000 people would die immediately, but much of the nation would be covered in dust and ash. It would render air travel impossible around the world, drop the temperature dramatically, make it next to impossible to grow crops in huge regions, and leave much of the nation unlivable for years.
Scientists are convinced that they would be able to predict an imminent eruption at Yellowstone, and that even though recent volcanic activity has melted the asphalt on some park roads, they insist an eruption is unlikely for ten thousand years or more.
This may bring comfort to some, but others insist there is simply no way of knowing, not if, but when the Yellowstone supervolcano will explode. If one asked, "Who could stand in the face of such a natural catastrophe?" the answer could very well be, "No one."
Which is probably also the answer to the question asked by the prophet Malachi to a people who thought the Day of the Lord would mean good news to them: "But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears (Malachi 3:2)?"
Frank Ramirez is a native of Southern California and is the senior pastor of the Union Center Church of the Brethren near Nappanee, Indiana. Frank has served congregations in Los Angeles, California; Elkhart, Indiana; and Everett, Pennsylvania. He and his wife Jennie share three adult children, all married, and three grandchildren. He enjoys writing, reading, exercise, and theater.
* * *
The Messenger Blues
by Keith Hewitt
Luke 3:1-6
It’s not all peaches and cream, you know.
The day I decide to retire -- to get a relaxing, no-stress job like putting together stars or designing flowers -- I know my siblings are going to be lined up ten-deep to take over my spot as a Personal Messenger of God. They’ll be throwing elbows and tripping each other to get to the head of the line...because they don’t know.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great gig -- between the snappy clothes and the glory that just follows me around when I visit Earth on a mission, the chance to be present at key moments in history, and the pride that comes from knowing I’ve been entrusted to deliver the Old Man’s word to his most beloved creation (not to mention line-cutting privileges at the commissary), I just can’t imagine anything I’d rather be doing.
Most of the time.
Like the time at the Temple in Jerusalem, when I appeared to the old priest, Zechariah. Once we got past the part where he’s scared spitless -- and, trust me, every call I make on a human being has that part -- I got to tell him the good news. I got to tell him that he and his wife would have a son, and not only that, but their son would grow up to be a prophet of the Lord, and would play a key role in the coming of the Messiah. This unborn child would make the way clear for God’s son to come and minister to his people...to all people.
What father wouldn’t be thrilled to get that message? What parent wouldn’t be popping his buttons over finding out that, not only was he going to have a son, but he was going to have an extraordinary son, one who would do great things in the service of the Lord?
And yet, it was also heartbreaking to deliver that message to Zechariah, because his face lit up once he believed I was who I said I was, and once he understood what I was saying. (And, no, my Hebrew is not rusty, thank you -- it’s just that a sort of sensory overload happens a lot of the time, and while the brain is processing what’s going on, some of the details get missed. You know how you start doing one thing in a program on your computer, and then you ask it to open another program...and you wait, and wait, while it’s shuffling processing power between one program and the other? It’s like that -- the brain can only process so much at a time.)
Anyway, he’s practically dancing for joy, ready to jump out of his skin with excitement over this great news, and I’m looking on, smiling my Class A reassuring smile, all the while knowing that I hadn’t told him the whole story.
I didn’t tell him that his son was going to tick off a lot of very important, very powerful people with his call to repentance.
I didn’t tell him that, one day, his son would be imprisoned by King Herod’s son, for making him angry.
I didn’t tell him that, one day, Herod would have his head chopped off, at the whim of some girl he had the hots for.
Disclosing that information wasn’t part of the plan. When I was given the message for Zechariah, it was made very clear that he was not to be read into the whole plan. And I’m not afraid to tell you, standing there, looking at his expression as he took in the news, I felt like a heel. I felt like I was giving him a gift, all wrapped up in pretty paper, with a nice big bow, but just an empty box beneath it all.
I wondered if the Old Man was doing the right thing, when he did this. Not that I ever thought about going against orders -- my siblings and I are created to serve God, and we’re constitutionally unable to disobey him; the act of will is just impossible, like a human being deliberately holding their head underwater to drown. You can try, but eventually instinct will kick in and you’ll find yourself raising your head and fighting for breath.
Or so I’ve heard.
I wonder, why does God bless them with children, if he knows it’s not going to end well? Why allow such joy, knowing that it’s going to end in grief? Is it just for the sake of “The Plan?” If that’s it, then it seems like a pretty lousy plan.
But then I remind myself that I don’t have a God’s eye view of eternity -- and maybe that’s what it takes to understand. I’ve never had the nerve to actually ask -- and I’m not sure if it’s because I’m afraid he wouldn’t answer...or afraid that he would. So I comfort myself in knowing that for awhile, at least, the birth of this unexpected child would bring great joy and happiness to Zechariah and Elizabeth. They would get to see him grow, and mature, and start to explore his special connection with God. (Prophets have a special connection to the Old Man -- one that we’re not always privy to.)
Maybe that’s enough. Apart from any plan, and in a world that has been so broken for so long, maybe it’s enough to have that joy, to feel that love, for however long you have it. After all, these are things that can’t be quantified, they can’t be measured -- and, in the end, they can’t be taken away, because they exist in the heart and mind, they connect to the soul. They can be overwhelmed, they can even be forgotten -- but they’re still there, waiting to be found again...waiting to be recalled.
And maybe that’s enough.
But the longer I do this, the more I start thinking that some day, when I decide to retire -- when I decide to start putting together stars or designing flowers, instead of delivering God’s messages to his people -- some day, I’ll ask.
And maybe he’ll tell me.
Keith Hewitt is the author of two volumes of NaTiVity Dramas: Nontraditional Christmas Plays for All Ages (CSS). Keith's newest book NaTiVity Dramas: The Third Season will be published September 2012. He is a local pastor, co-youth leader, former Sunday school teacher, and occasional speaker at Christian events. He lives in southeastern Wisconsin with his wife, two children, and assorted dogs and cats.
*****************************************
StoryShare, December 6, 2015, issue.
Copyright 2015 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to the StoryShare service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons, in worship and classroom settings, in brief devotions, in radio spots, and as newsletter fillers. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to permissions@csspub.com or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
