Loves like a hurricane

So the past several weeks I've had these song lyrics in my head. It's Kim Walker's "How He Loves" song and if you have never heard the song then I highly suggest it! I could listen to the song for hours.  Here is a link to her singing it live at a concert.  The David Crowder Band also sings a version of the song that is just as good!  I especially love the lines..."He is jealous for me / Love's like a hurricane, I am a tree / Bending beneath the weight of His wind and mercy." I have heard & sung this song sooo many times but when you actually stop and think about the words, it's really kind of overwhelming. To think of God loving me so much, being jealous for me...wanting me and ALL of me.  The God of the universe, who created all of life, wants a relationship with me.  He doesn't want me just on Sundays or when things are going bad or when I remember that I need Him in my life.  He wants to hear from me all the time.  Christianity is so much more than just going to church and having head-knowledge about the Bible. It's about walking & talking with God on a more intimate level, sharing with Him about your fears, joys, struggles, sadness, & excitements in life.  And yet I still find it so hard to grasp the idea of God actually being jealous for me. Why me? What would make Him care so much?  There are 6 billion people on this earth and yet He wants to know little ol' ME.  Wow. 

Then the phrase about God loving me like a hurricane - I've never experienced a real-life hurricane, I've only seen them on the news or heard them described. But I've been trying to get my thoughts around the idea of a love so strong that it can be described as a hurricane.  I was in Prescott a few weekends ago and on that Saturday we had almost 3 straight hours of pouring rain - rain that was actually a result of the hurricane coming up from Mexico.  I was sitting on the couch, watching the rain pour and pour and pour and I started thinking again about those lyrics.  It was so cool! Obviously it wasn't close to being an actual hurricane BUT even with the pouring rain that I experienced, I was overwhelmed when trying to compare it to God's powerful & strong love for me. I've known my whole life that "Jesus loves me" and all that stuff that you hear so much but sometimes I don't fully appreciate it.  Seeing the rain come down and the trees blowing over in the wind that weekend was incredible to me because I was actually able to get a small, very small picture of what God's love is really like. It is that strong! Wow.

I also love the line "If grace is an ocean, we're all sinking." God's grace is another thing that I have trouble comprehending sometimes. Why would God choose to give me grace and to forgive me when I screw up time after time after time?  Because He loves me.  His grace is amazing and none of us deserve it.  But He still gives it to all of us freely and straight out of love.  We can't earn it or do enough "good" things to get it from him.  He simply pours it out on us.  And comparing grace to an ocean gives me an image of how deep His grace & love really are for us.  It completely surrounds us.  Wow.