God's Love
“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.” 1 John 4:7
On Monday, May 20, 2013 a deadly tornado hit the town of Moore, OK. Jim Routon knew his neighbor, Hezekiah Darbon age 7, attended the heavily hit Briarwood Elementary School.
Immediately after the tornado, Jim left his storm shelter to offer his help to those in need. The closer he got to Briarwood Elementary, the more devastation he saw. In the midst of the chaos, Jim and Hezekiah made eye contact with one another. They both began to run toward one another with all their might. Hezekiah jumped up into Jim’s arms and Jim held him tightly. Their embrace was caught on camera and was shown around the world.
During an interview the next day, Hezekiah told his neighbor Jim “I saw you and ran up to you and just jumped on you and I knew that you were gonna pick me up, so I just jumped. And you picked me up and I just started hugging you really hard and I was crying a little bit and I was happy I survived.” Jim told the reporters, “I think I needed that hug as much as he did. The embrace that we had- it was a very emotional connection.”
This is a picture of how God loves you. We only need to jump in order to feel his embrace. God’s love is not based upon our performance. His love is rooted in His own good pleasure and is displayed most clearly through the sacrifice of His Son on the cross. His love for us is perfect and nothing can separate us from it.