I never cease to be impressed by the sheer power of nature, and I have to admit Hurricane Matthew has not diminished my respect for it one iota. Its lethal cocktail of wind and rain were simply mind-boggling. I just hope and pray lots of us will respond to the cries of help coming from Haiti. Sadly, the inhabitants of that sad island seem to get the short straw every time. My heart goes out to them.

I have no personal contacts in Haiti, but it’s rather different when it comes to Florida. I have lots of friends there and I was able to keep in touch with them as that devastating mixture of wind and rain headed their way. I have very happy memories of Daytona Beach for example and it was sobering to get a message from a friend telling us that she was resigned to losing everything she had. I don’t know how I would react in her position, but her response was simply amazing. “I slept very well last night,” she wrote “and have chosen not to sit in front of the telly and be frightened and overwhelmed. I am in God’s hands.... He knows my steps and He has plans for me. I’m waiting for my orders from my King.”

Linda’s response is a wonderful illustration of what it means to be a Christian because in the final analysis the Christian faith is all about faith, or better still trust. The word faith seems to focus on an intellectual conviction whereas the concept of trust goes much further. It reminds us that God wants us to put our confidence in Him, whatever may be happening to us, however difficult the path.

My good friend Ladislav Ruzicka understands this as well as anyone I know. I first met Ladislav in early 1992 when his beloved land of Croatia was being torn apart in a bitter civil war and Ladislav suddenly found himself caring for a church situated in the middle of no mans land. There were those who thought he and his family should leave for a place of safety (many did). But Ladislav, and his equally impressive wife Melanija told me that God knew what He was doing when He placed them in the town of Karlovac, and that they would rather be where God wanted him even if that meant living on a battlefield! As far as they were concerned, He was their Heavenly Father and could be trusted at all times.

Margaret Morgan had this kind of trust too. Margaret, a diminutive lady from South Wales was martyred in Thailand in 1974. She left a little slip of paper in a notebook beside her bed which said: “Now it seems to me as if you and I are enclosed in God. An arrow comes from the enemy’s bow. If God liked, He could let the arrow pass this way or that. But if my God opens and permits the evil to pass through His compassing power to my heart by the time it has through God to me it has become God’s will for me. It is ever so much better for peace of mind to accept the will of God; to accept His permission and His appointment; to look up into His face and say ‘Even so Father’.”

Is it any wonder I tend to smile when people tell me, as they often do, that the Christian faith is completely irrelevant?

Rob James is a Baptist Pastor broadcaster and writer who currently operates as a church and media consultant for the Evangelical Alliance Wales. He is available for preaching and teaching throughout Wales and can be contacted at [email protected]