What happened the week the waters rose. A report from Justin Lueck of City Life Church in Chilliwack, B.C.
The Old Testament prophet Habakkuk’s uncomfortably honest prayer feels applicable today. The prophet looks at his own time and asks the LORD to repeat the awesome deeds he had only heard rumours of: “Repeat them in our day, in our time make them known” (Habakkuk 3:2).
He then notes that God’s terrific acts were in fact happening and bringing a new settled joy and hope; the assurance that “The Sovereign LORD is my strength” (Habakkuk 3:19).
In between these two verses comes this one: “Plague went before him; pestilence followed his steps” (Habakkuk 3:5).
God’s awesome – and sometimes disconcerting – ways that enable his people to “tread on the heights” (Habakkuk 3:19) can come perplexingly in disguise, but they do come.
This year and a half of pestilence has been followed up in British Columbia by flood. The scenes are terrible; the impact on people and animals immense, corridors of transportation are a mess, engineered infrastructures broken, and the “you’ve-got-to-be-kidding-me!” meter tapped out.
From the midst of all this chaos emerges one church’s story. City Life Church in Chilliwack has seen God’s faithfulness go before them, beyond pestilence and flood, producing joy and a surprising awakening of their call to be ambassadors of Christ and His reconciling Good News.
Listen in as Pastor Justin Lueck shares what happened the week the waters rose.
Phil Wagler is North American Network Coordinator for the World Evangelical Alliance’s Peace and Reconciliation Network and serves as a local church pastor in Kelowna, British Columbia. This blog series is produced in collaboration with the WEA PRN. Read all the posts at faithtoday.ca/reconciling.