Hurricane

One of my favorite snapshots from Training School, one of the most powerful times, the only time I cried all year came in Tijuana. One night our group got together in the dining area and decided to have worship time. Tony, one of our members, played the guitar and had a few songs prepared for us. He proceeded through a couple songs on his list and then came to Oh How He Loves Us as he played it and we all sang along the weight of God fell on us and we felt His Spirit near, we were all moved and something special was happening. Larry then gently starting telling us a story about visiting his son in Chicago before his son left for Israel for a month. He explained how the logistics weren’t working out perfectly and it came down to the one day Larry could drive the 4 hours to spend the day with him his son had to work. Then he explained this conversation with his son after this road bump, how he explained to him that even if he could only see him on his break, even if it were only for 5 minutes it would be worth it because that was just how much he loved him… I remembered thinking how beautiful that was and then he explained how that was his love merely as an earthly father and how much more must God love each and every one of us as our true Heavenly Father… the weight hit us, the immensity of his love, the vastness, the power… there wasn’t a dry eye in the place. We then sang the song again, all of us with tears flooding down our face as God spoke straight in to each of our hearts and whispered how much he loved us, something that we don’t get that we can’t imagine, that we all miss so often. It was heavy and beautiful… The song became known as the “Hurricane” song in Training School and was our favorite song, we held it dearly.

He is jealous for me
Loves like a hurricane, I am a tree
Bending beneath the weight of his wind and mercy
When all of a sudden
I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory
And I realise just how beautiful You are
And how great Your affections are for me

And O how He loves us
Oh, O how He loves us
How He loves us all

Yeah He loves us
O how He loves us
O how He loves us
O how He loves

We are His portion and He is our prize
Drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes
If grace is an ocean, we're all sinking
So Heaven meets earth like an unforeseen kiss
And my heart turns violently inside of my chest
I don't have time to maintain these regrets
When I think about the way

And O how He loves us
Oh, O how He loves us
How He loves us all

Yeah He loves us
O how He loves us
O how He loves us
O how He loves

I spent the past week in Tijuana again, Larry was also there but the rest of the group was different which was good yet hard as we missed those we’d journeyed with all year. Tony, our guitar player, was supposed to go but decided not to last minute. As Larry and I discussed it we both understood the decision but were very sad we’d miss our on his worship music, I think both of us were hoping to hear the “Hurricane” song again and connect with it again down there. Our second night in to the trip we had a good group sharing time and at the end Larry asked one of the guys who plays the guitar to pick a song and play it for us. He started to play and Larry and my eyes met right away as our jaws both dropped… he’d chosen our Hurricane song knowing nothing of our story with it. From that moment on I knew God was right there beside us. I remembered just how big he is and just how able he is to provide for us right when we need it and how we need it. I remember what a good God he is, that loves us well.

Go here to listen to it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxTOsQ3LDE4