Leaving Cloud 9Sample

     Imagine   a home being built on crooked, rocky foundation with poor materials and unskilled workers. It’s not a house that would last long or stand strong. The   consequences of a bad foundation in human beings are far more hurtful,   producing results that last a lifetime. There are consequences other people can’t understand that lead to problems that often never get fixed: shame, rage, irrationality, paranoia, inability to trust, lack of compassion. That doesn’t mean everyone has those results but it’s tough to reverse a lifetime of verbal abuse, a childhood devoid of support, love or stability. . .   .
 

    The enemy is creative in this way. When one tool doesn’t work, he heads back to the toolbox for another -- and he won’t quit. But again, we can see here evidence of God’s presence in the situation. Because, you see, if what Satan is doing is working, he can kind of go on auto-pilot with the plan and focus on someone else. But if it’s not, he has to keep trying something new.   
 

    As a child, Rick wasn’t responsible yet for choosing the Lord or even knowing what that meant. So, in an even more powerful way than it would have been for an adult, Jesus was interceding on his behalf, so Satan was having to work twice as hard to take this one down. . . .
 

    It can be difficult to see God in the story. Where was He when these little ones were being terrorized? But sometimes, it’s looking beyond the obvious storyline and seeing His hand in the details. We can’t see or understand   every situation, but if you look closely enough, you will see Him. Next to Rick in bed when violence exploded in the kitchen, keeping any man from ever laying a hand on him. strategically guiding them in some way. Maybe it was protection on the highway during that high speed chase against the cops. Maybe it was the many times he was riding in the backseat of a car with someone who was drunk or high. Maybe it was keeping them safe when the men broke into the apartment or when they were living next door to junkies in the hotel. Through it all, they made it out alive. . . . Rick was victorious. He   is victorious -- and that is to say, Jesus is. He loves his children fiercely and it broke his heart to see them languishing in such a hurtful environment.