Not far from Toledo, Ohio, a point of land known as Lost Peninsula juts out into the waters of Lake Erie. It is an area where expanses of land, water and sky combine to attract the eye and soothe the spirit of prospective homeowners. However, its very name—Lost Peninsula—indicates its sense of isolation, a feature in these busy days which appeals to many who seek to "get away from it all.”
The location and environment of Lost Peninsula had evidently attracted a Toledo accountant and his wife who purchased from their friend, a builder, a newly completed ranch style home there. The new owners had moved in, and were still in the process of getting acquainted with their property on the Sunday before Easter, 1965.
Their tour of inspection and investigation was cut short that afternoon by the arrival of the builder and his wife, who sought the help of the accountant in preparing their income tax return. The building trade had prospered in the preceding year, and the builder had been able to lay by considerable savings. But what had he done in return to the bounteous Giver of every good and perfect gift?
Friend, are you enjoying the mercies of God as your due? Are you reaping the good things of this world as the just recompense for your labors? Have you ever acknowledged God as the divine Source of your every comfort? Let me urge you to render unto Him, the preeminent One, the love and gratitude of your heart, for "What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" Mark 8:3636For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? (Mark 8:36).
Earlier on this Lord's Day afternoon, the pleasant spring air had borne radio warnings of possible tornadoes, and the increasing sultriness made these warnings more ominous. Tense and uneasy, the two women, hostess and visitor, sought distraction by watching television, while their husbands busied themselves with the income tax return.
For many years God's warning of judgment to come has been sounding out over this darkening scene, and the gloom is fast deepening. The warning voice of divine Love still cries to a poor lost world, "Flee from the wrath to come!" But, absorbed in the pleasures of this life, deafened by the jangling sounds of prosperity, who hears? In wicked disbelief the scoffer asks, "Where is the promise of His coming?”
In spite of the gathering storm, the two friends worked on, absorbed in their columns of figures. Their wives sat staring at the changing scenes of the television. Suddenly all was silent. The picture on the screen still flickered, but the radio voices were hushed. Hurriedly, the lady of the house turned knob after knob, but with no result. The radio was "out.”
Rising now to the occasion, the builder, a wise man by many standards, ordered all house lights turned off. Together the four friends went outside to look at the sky. In the intense darkness a flash of lightning— God's lightning—split the sky, revealing the funnel of a tornado a short way off and rapidly approaching. Such a warning could not go unheeded. Nor should the voice of Him who cried from the midst of Calvary's darkness: "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken ME?" go unheeded. That cry still echoes down the ages, and every saved soul answers, "It was for me.”
Quickly the builder rushed the little group back into the house. Where would they be safe from the tornado's terrible destruction? The house had been built without a basement; but the builder was a wise man. He knew a place of safety, a way of escape. Hidden in a closet was a trap-door that led to a small crawl space under the house. As fast as they could in the darkness, the four made their way on hands and knees down through the floor and into the only place apparently safe from the tornadic winds which in a few moments were swirling about their house.
On their knees? Yes! Hidden from the sight of man, even, in the dense darkness, invisible to each other, what a God-given time and place for each frightened refugee from the tornado to turn to Him of whom Isaiah, the prophet, says: "A Man shall be as an hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest." Isa. 32:22And a man shall be as an hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land. (Isaiah 32:2).
In the horrible din and confusion of crashing walls and tumbling timbers, did no cry ascend to God from the trembling souls hiding beneath the floor? Surely one of them realized that He, and He only, was a sure hiding place, and, like Israel of old, "cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and He delivered them out of their distresses." Psa. 107:66Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them out of their distresses. (Psalm 107:6).
When the storm had passed and the builder considered it safe to emerge, the four crept from their hiding place. What a scene of chaos met their gaze! Indescribable destruction everywhere. The house itself, so lately. built and occupied with pride and satisfaction, was gone—completely gone! Did nothing remain? Yes, their four precious lives were safe, and in God's mercy, TIME was granted them to enter the haven which He has provided for all who believe on His dear Son.