Slideshow image

 Every time Ruth Hamilton of British Columbia goes into her bedroom she looks up at her ceiling and says, “Yep, it really happened.”  In her ceiling is a hole about a foot or so wide with a piece of sheet rock hanging from a flap of the paper coating on it.  At 11:35 at night she heard a crash and then felt debris falling on her face.  Frantically trying to understand what was happening her best guess was that a tree had fallen on her home.   Nope.  Calling 911, Ruth looked at her bed and was surprised to see there a large gray rock the size of “a large man’s hand.”  An officer came to her house and suggested it was debris from a road work explosion nearby.   Except there had been no demolition that day.  Then the officer remarked, “I think you have a meteorite in your bed.”  The rock weighed 2.8 pounds.  So I did some research on this incident and found a TV news report about it.  The news anchor was laughing and smiling through the whole thing.  Then I found interviews with astrophysicists and astronomers who were giddy talking about it.  They were so excited because they had received reports of a fiery streak racing across the sky.  If there are videos of that trajectory, coupled with Mrs. Hamilton’s pillow upon which the meteorite came to rest, the astronomers can determine exactly from whence the meteorite came.  Here is a quote from one of the scientists, Alan Hildebrand, who said they were just so happy to get their hands on the meteorite, “I think we hugged.”  All this laughing and hugging!  The stone from outer space landed on Mrs. Hamilton’s pillow.  But that’s why there could be so much joy!  It wound up next to her on her pillow.  It did not strike her, which surely would have been lethal.   Reading about this I knew it had to be put in a Sanitizer for the Soul.  But how?  A Bible passage from the Psalm immediately came to mind.  Psalm 91 says, For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler     and from the deadly pestilence; he will cover you with his pinions,     and under his wings you will find refuge;     his faithfulness is a shield and buckler. You will not fear the terror of the night,     nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness,     nor the destruction that wastes at noonday. A thousand may fall at your side,     ten thousand at your right hand;     but it will not come near you.  If I were Mrs. Hamilton, I would put this quote on my refrigerator and read it with true gratitude every day.  Is there a scripture passage that comes to mind for you?[1]  What can we take away from this?  How about a prayer of thanksgiving to God for things that did NOT happen to us today, such as being struck by a meteorite?  By the way, the scientists said the odds of being hit by a meteorite are one in ten billion.  On my list of prayers of gratitude is one every time I cross Millstone River Road and am not struck by a speeding vehicle.  Every time a hurricane diverts it course form us, I thank God.  There is that wonderful feeling when you leave the doctor after a physical and heard, “Nothing is wrong.”  Finally, there is always that prayer when bad news strikes that we are not alone but held in the palm of God’s hand with Jesus at our side. Here is the end of Ruth Hamilton’s take of the meteorite, “I never got hurt,” she said. “I’ve lived through this experience, and I never even got a scratch. So all I had to do is have a shower and wash the drywall dust away.”(NYTimes, 10/14/21) Please pray with me.  “Gracious and loving God, you bear us up and watch over us.  You protect us.  Nothing can separate us from your love in Christ Jesus our Lord.  Give us humble thankful hearts.  And Lord, help us to help those who face misfortune this day.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.”