The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want; He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still water; He restores my soul. He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil; for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of my enemies; Thou anointest my head with oil, my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
Psalm 23
The messages of the last several days were written before the arrival of Hurricane Milton. This one was written on Monday, October 14.
First, we thank God that this wasn’t worse. That being said, it was bad for many people, and I don’t want to minimize that. Hurricane Helene hit less than three weeks ago and displaced so many people throughout the Southeast whose lives won’t be the same for a long time. My home was damaged by Hurricane Milton, but it is fixable—it will just be some time probably until it is fixed. Our church sanctuary was fine, except for the usual couple of leaks. Our office complex did not fare so well—it had wind driven water intrusion and a lot of damage. Basically, all furniture and items that were on floors were destroyed. So our offices are temporarily in the gymnasium, and I’m writing on a six-foot table instead of my desk. Lots of people in Tampa Bay are still without power, including our home. Lots of people suffered from trees on their homes and into their homes, roof damages, etc. Debris is slowly getting cleaned up.
Second, I want to thank everyone for their prayers. I received lots of messages from Prayer Team members saying they were, and are, praying for us in anticipation and in the wake of these storms. Several priests contacted me to let me know they were offering Paraklesis services for our parish and our city. That was very humbling.
Third, I want to thank people for their expressions of help—people in our community of St. John who came out on Friday to take whatever was salvageable out of our office building, including packing up my office in only a couple of hours. I’m thankful for those who came Saturday and Sunday to help clean up our church grounds and empty out other part of our church complex that were affected. Our temporary office space was set up in the matter of hours. And several of our parishioners went into our surrounding neighborhood to help our neighbors clean up their yard debris. I also want to thank people on the Prayer Team who have sent donations for hurricane relief. They will be sent to people who need them.
I chose to use the 23rd Psalm for today’s Scripture because it addresses three aspects of life—the kind of life we want, the kind of life we have when things aren’t ideal, and the destination of life, whether it has been good or challenging. The life we all want is to walk with the Lord, in green pastures, beside still waters. If you close your eyes for a minute and imagine the greenest of pastures and the smoothest, bluest water, and then imagine walking with the Lord in that beautiful setting. That’s a metaphor for the best life. A beautiful and smooth ride, walking in tandem with the Lord. And hopefully everyone will feel like that at many points in life.
We all will one day have to face the valley of the shadow of death—when we come to the end of our lives, and probably earlier when confronted with serious illness. I am thankfully not in the valley of the shadow of death, but I am in the valley of the shadow of inconvenience, as are many people, not only related to the recent hurricanes, but we all are in that valley at many points of life. It is at these moments when we need to remember that the Lord is with us, we need not fear evil. In trying to sort through my feelings and in helping others sort through theirs, I think in addition to the sense of loss we feel, there is the psychological burden of a loss of freedom and control, things we value even more than material things. This hurricane (and other challenges) has disrupted the flow of life, and take away comfort and familiarity. In these times we must remember the rod and staff of the Lord, the rod that shields us from trouble and the staff which guides the way. Most of all, we must remember that in whatever valley we are in, we are not alone, the Lord is with us. Even in the presence of enemies, we are God’s chosen people (hence the reference to the oil that anointed the kings and the oil that heals illnesses), our cups can overflow with grace, even as they suffer material loss.
The end goal of life is to dwell in the house of the Lord forever. That is still on the table for all of us. God’s goodness and mercy follows us all the days of our lives, even on the difficult ones. Honestly, I feel inconvenienced, a little more anxious than usual, and a little sad. We all go through these emotions at some time or another. The Psalms provide great comfort in times of distress. And this Psalm reminds us that God is with us, in the good times, in the bad times, and His goodness and mercy shall follow us all the days of our lives if we let it, and it will lead us to His heavenly Kingdom. It just takes faith to keep walking, even on the days when we are in the valleys.
Lord of the Powers, be with us, for in times of distress, we have no other help but You. Lord of the Powers, have mercy on us.
Thank you for your prayers—for me, my family, my parish, and my city—let us keep praying for all those who are affected by the storms of the last three weeks, and for everyone who is in a valley today, to feel the goodness and mercy of the Lord!
